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CT Lung Screening Variation, New Job Board, and MRI Goes to the Dogs
August 13, 2026
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Together with
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“[W]e are building a second imaging economy for the worried well on top of a first one that still cannot reliably serve the acutely sick. Both use the word ‘access.’ They mean opposite things. If the next $700 million had to go where the clinical need is highest rather than where the willingness to pay is highest, what would we build instead?”
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Cerebriu CEO Robert Lauritzen, on recent massive funding rounds by longevity firms.
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Brain MRI quantification varies widely, which can make it hard to tell if a patient’s progressing, and this variation complicates efforts to build longitudinal tracking you can act on. Join us Wednesday, September 16 at 12:00 PM ET to see how SwiftSight from AIRS Medical delivers consistent, accurate measurements across MRI manufacturers and field strengths so you can follow patients over years and trust every measurement. – Brian Casey, Managing Editor
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Adoption of low-dose CT lung cancer screening is growing, and that’s a good thing. But rising LDCT utilization is also creating new challenges, illustrated by a new study in JACR that found high variability in radiologist interpretations.
CT lung screening participation rates are rising, from single digits a decade ago to 19% in a recent survey.
- But there’s still a long way to go to get lung screening to the roughly 75% participation rate seen with breast cancer screening.
One barrier to getting more people screened is false positives, which can cause patient anxiety and trigger a cascade of additional exams and procedures to work up suspicious findings.
- A major contributor to false positives may be variability in how radiologists read CT scans, so the JACR researchers investigated how interpretations for the same images changed between imaging specialists.
Researchers looked at interpretations made by 1.4k radiologists, each of whom read a minimum of 50 LDCT screening exams (a total of 200k exams), then calculated false-positive rates for both baseline and follow-up exams. Researchers found…
- High variability in false-positive rates, from 11% to 22%.
- In random pairs of radiologists, on average, one radiologist would have twice the odds of making a false-positive call as the other.
- Radiologists with false-positive rates higher than the median rate also unsurprisingly had higher sensitivity than those below the median (97% vs. 92%).
What’s causing the variation? It could be because some radiologists use image interpretation patterns that increase false positives but also catch more cancers.
- In statistical terms, researchers found that for baseline screens read by radiologists who were below the median false-positive rate, they would have about 100 fewer false-positive screens for one fewer true-positive cancer.
Radiologist variability could be reduced through programs to standardize screening interpretation, such as those implemented in mammography screening.
- These could include support tools, automated feedback systems, educational interventions, and targeted double reading.
The Takeaway
The new findings on radiologist variability in reading CT lung cancer screening exams illustrate the delicate balance between detecting more cancer at the risk of producing additional false positives. Is the tradeoff worth it? We think we know how most patients would feel.
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A New Fleet. A New Era for CT
Imaging teams are being asked to do more across clinical settings, with speed, clarity, and consistency. Introducing Rembra, Rembra RT, Areta RT, and Verida, a CT portfolio from Philips designed to support high-demand imaging environments. Learn more.
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Don’t Leave Your Patients in the Dark
Top institutions like Duke and Northwell Health are using patient-friendly radiology reports from Scanslated to boost patient engagement and satisfaction. Discover how Scanslated can work for you today.
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Remote Reading Is Essential for Enterprise Imaging
Remote reading has become essential to enterprise imaging operations because healthcare organizations need scalable, flexible solutions. Discover how cloud-based solutions from Intelerad can help solve remote reading challenges.
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- Could Reminders Boost Lung Screening Rates? The answer might depend on the method of outreach, and a JAMA Internal Medicine study is trying to zero in on what’s most effective. Among 1.8k participants, more intense outreach geared toward reminding patients and their doctors to schedule scans improved screening rates by 28 percentage points. On the other hand, patient-focused reminders sent through portals or mail were not as successful and actually led to a 4.7-percentage-point decrease in screening.
- CT Lung Screening Incidental Findings: U.K. researchers presented a structured, multidisciplinary approach to following up incidental findings detected on CT lung cancer screening exams. In a new paper in Lung Cancer, they used screening review meetings for incidental findings in 1k people who got low-dose CT scans. In all, 28% received a new diagnosis and 4.9% got medical treatment. Common incidental findings were aortic valve calcification (21%), thoracic aortic dilatation (10%), and renal abnormalities (9.9%), while untreated coronary artery calcification was common.
- Medality Jump-Starts Job Board: Finding a job in radiology might have just gotten easier thanks to Medality’s new job portal. The education platform’s expansion into employment will provide its >40k users with access to positions for radiologists, residents, and fellows across health systems, academia, and private practices. The company is also partnering with more than 100 U.S. academic institutions to connect employers with residents and fellows 1-3 years before they can practice on their own.
- Patients Warm to AI for Breast Cancer Risk: A new patient survey in Clinical Imaging found strong support for AI-based breast cancer risk assessment tools. Among 319 patients surveyed, 81% were comfortable with getting a risk assessment based on AI analysis of their screening mammograms, while 31% were comfortable with risk assessment using surveys of personal/family history. If they were found to be at higher breast cancer risk, 90% wanted additional tests, but most preferred getting risk information from non-radiologist providers like gynecologists or PCPs.
- Lack of Citizenship Sinks Screening Odds: U.S. immigrants who lack citizenship face insurance exclusions, political targeting, and limited employment opportunities. These factors restrict care access, and new screening outcomes published in JAMA Network Open quantify that. Among 1.8k women eligible for breast cancer screening, noncitizens were 43% less likely to undergo exams, with socioeconomic and healthcare factors accounting for 97% of that disparity. Since cancer is the leading cause of death for the 24M U.S. immigrants without citizenship, the authors advocated for policies to improve their healthcare access.
- Mammography AI’s Impact on Double Reading: Several large population-based studies have examined mammography AI for breast screening in Europe, but what’s their overall impact on the continent’s double-reading paradigm? A new meta-analysis in Clinical Imaging synthesizes results from the MASAI, ScreenTrustCAD, and PRAIM trials, finding that across 597k screening exams, AI increased the cancer detection rate by almost additional 1 cancer per 1k women with no change in recall rates. MASAI saw a 43% workload decline, while PRAIM discovered 204 cancers that might have been missed.
- Early Adoption of Mammo AI: Meanwhile, another article in Clinical Imaging examines early adoption of mammography AI tools. U.S. researchers surveyed 215 radiologists, finding that 47% had implemented mammography AI while another 11% were planning to adopt AI. Cost was the most-cited barrier to mammography AI adoption (53%), and most respondents saw the most appropriate use of AI as a second reader. There was a discrepancy between expected reductions in recall rates by non-users and reductions actually seen by users (59% vs. 35%).
- OSF Expands Use of RapidAI: OSF HealthCare is expanding its use of RapidAI AI solutions for detecting stroke across all 18 hospitals in its network. OSF serves communities in Illinois and Michigan, and has been using the company’s Rapid Enterprise Platform at select sites to analyze images, connect care teams, and support patient management. The health system decided to expand its deployment after seeing measurable improvements in treatment times and more consistent identification of possible stroke patients.
- FDA Clears Ultrasound Contrast Injector: Bracco Imaging received FDA clearance for VueJect, the company’s first ultrasound contrast delivery system dedicated to cardiology imaging. The injector is designed to simplify echocardiography contrast administration through improved workflow efficiency and less operator variability while supporting continuous ultrasound contrast administration. VueJect also has Health Canada marketing authorization. Bracco makes the Lumason ultrasound contrast agent (sold as SonoVue outside the U.S.).
- X-Ray Firm Varex Agrees to $1.1B Buyout: Digital X-ray components supplier Varex Imaging has agreed to be acquired by Teledyne Technologies for $1.1B. Varex supplies X-ray sources and flat-panel and photon-counting digital detectors to radiology OEMs, and has been operating as an independent publicly traded company since being spun out from Varian in 2017. Teledyne entered the healthcare market in 2011 by acquiring DALSA and now supplies digital X-ray components that are complementary to what Varex offers. The acquisition should close in early 2027.
- Micro-X Hits ‘Strategic Reset:’ Australian digital X-ray company Micro-X is hitting a “strategic reset” with a new CEO and a focus on medical CT. The company announced that Chief Scientific Officer Brian Gonzalez, PhD, has taken over from Kingsley Hall as CEO of the group. Micro-X is also shifting resources to the medical CT segment, where it is developing a lightweight full-body CT scanner powered by its carbon nanotube NEX technology for stroke detection. It also solidified its balance sheet by securing a $5.7M convertible note.
- Aidoc Forms Clinical AI Consortium: Aidoc partnered with a dozen U.S. health systems to form the Diagnostic AI Consortium to fuel development and adoption of AI algorithms that improve radiology workflow. Consortium members will work together on AI solutions to prioritize emergent cases and deliver results sooner, while also measuring AI’s impact on radiology practice. AI algorithms and governance practices developed by consortium members can be implemented by any health system, even if it isn’t a consortium member.
- MRI Goes to the Dogs: You’ve heard the old joke about CAT scans? Well how about dog scans? Researchers in a study in iScience performed functional MRI scans on eight dogs as part of research to see how canine brains responded to human facial expressions, including happiness, anger, fear, and sadness. They found that dogs process smiles in a unique brain region – the temporal cortex and caudate nucleus – and also found that dogs could differentiate between facial expressions showing negative emotions, like fear and anger.
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Scaling Innovation in Radiology
In this episode of Medality’s The Radiology Report Podcast, host Daniel Arnold sat down with Subtle Medical CEO Ohad Arazi to discuss evolution of radiology AI and why improving image acquisition is an impactful way to improve patient care.
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How AI Powers Lung Cancer Screening
Discover how DeepHealth’s AI and workflow applications are helping radiologists report findings efficiently and with consistency in the U.K. national lung cancer screening program, finding cancers earlier at more treatable stages.
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RT Efficiency – Streamlining Workflows with eForms
Paper worksheets are still slowing down radiology departments. In this clip from The Imaging Wire Show, Altamont Software executives discuss how much paper technologists still handle day-to-day, and how digital eForms let RTs enter exam data electronically – reducing errors.
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- Looking to the Cloud to Simplify Enterprise Imaging: Check out this article to discover how Merge Imaging Suite helps healthcare organizations migrate to the cloud for reliable imaging, reduced IT complexity, and better patient care.
- Integrating Clinical Data with AI Echocardiography: Cardiac amyloidosis is an underdiagnosed yet treatable cause of heart failure in which timely diagnosis is essential to access life-prolonging therapies. Read this paper to learn how AI echo from Us2.ai can help clinicians make an early diagnosis.
- Singapore’s National AI Imaging Platform: AimSG, Singapore’s national radiology AI platform, is powered by CARPL to support third-party and in-house AI through a single, secure pipeline. See how CARPL powers healthcare across Singapore.
- Driving Advances in Lung Health Through Early Detection: Earlier detection of chest conditions leads to more effective treatments and patient outcomes. Learn more about lung diseases, the impact of early detection, and tools from Riverain Technologies to improve detection accuracy and efficiency.
- AI-Powered Referral Automation: Radiology teams are drowning in referrals, and a huge chunk of that burden is purely administrative. Kailo Medical built a solution to fix that: An AI-powered referral automation workflow that handles the full intake process. Find out how it works today.
- Cutting-Edge PET/CT to Support Theranostics: Theranostics is an exciting new field that combines diagnostics and therapy. Discover how Florida Theranostics is using United Imaging’s uMI Panorama PET/CT scanner to establish a high-quality level of patient care.
- Five Years Into the Cloud – And Just Getting Started: John Muir Health in California needed help dealing with its data deluge, which became acute with the adoption of 3D breast tomosynthesis. Find out how they turned to Sectra and their cloud-based enterprise imaging management for a solution.
- Imaging Tools for Heroes: Radiology departments are currently pushed to their limits by interconnected challenges. Staff shortages and heavy workloads form a vicious circle. Different measures are needed to address these challenges. Intelligent imaging from Siemens Healthineers can be one of them.
- Purpose-Built for Modern Radiology: MosaicOS from Mosaic Clinical Technologies unites clinical expertise, AI, and advanced workflow tools in one intuitive platform. Find out how it can expand your clinical capacity and speed up turnaround times today.
- The Tale of Three Orchestrators: Choosing the wrong operational platform doesn’t just delay improvement – it can limit your practice for years before you realize it. Discover why one of North America’s largest radiology groups succeeded only after its third orchestrator – and why they now describe SWO as a completely different class of solution.
- Leveraging AI-Powered Discovery for Image Exchange: Southwest Medical Imaging, a premier physician-owned radiology practice in the southwestern U.S., partnered with Medicom to streamline their workflow. Discover how they utilize Medicom’s AI-powered Smart Search, which leverages an LLM to automatically detect and surface imaging data, to eliminate manual searching and accelerate patient care.
- Your Reporting Software Should Adapt to You: If your reporting platform forces you to change how you think, dictate or structure exams – it wasn’t built around you. Don’t compromise your workflow. Experience the difference.
- Transform Imaging Data into Actionable Predictions: When you choose Quibim, you get more than a partner for detecting and diagnosing prostate cancer on MRI scans. Learn how they can help you transform imaging data into actionable predictions by booking a demo today.
- The Enterprise Imaging Operating System: Mach7 helps healthcare organizations unify imaging workflows, connect systems, and support long-term interoperability. Discover more.
- A Clear Choice for CT: Tallahassee Memorial Hospital decided to upgrade its CT fleet, and Fujifilm’s Scenaria View CT scanner emerged as the unanimous choice. Hear how the company’s technology helped them deliver state-of-the-art care to their community.
- Smoothing the Transition to Radiology Integration: Consolidation among medical imaging providers is creating challenges when it comes to managing and integrating image data from diverse sources. In this edition of The Imaging Wire Show, we discussed how solutions from Enlitic can smooth the transition.
- Technical Brilliance That’s a Generation Ahead: Read with the highest quality and precision at ultrafast speed using Visage Imaging’s friction-less, server-side architecture, enabling you to use Visage 7 on your favorite devices without compromise.
- The Power to Explore Further: The SIGNA Sprint MRI scanner from GE HealthCare combines exceptional power at 1.5T with brilliant intelligence from their deep-learning solutions. Learn how it can help you unlock the full clinical potential of MRI.
- More than an Image. The Big Picture: AGFA HealthCare understands that striking the critical balance between clinical efficiency and quality delivery of patient care starts with the clinician experience. Learn how their Enterprise Imaging platform makes the complex simple.
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