Newswise — Studies in the October issue of the Journal of the American College of Radiology (JACR®) highlight efforts to improve patient care. National Breast Cancer Awareness Month brings a commentary on breast imaging access and an article on molecular breast imaging radiation dose. Other articles focus on the use of CT colonography screening to provide concurrent osteoporosis screening and pulmonary rule-out criteria in the emergency department to reduce the use of CT pulmonary angiography. Below is a list of select articles that have not been previously released online.
Fighting Breast Cancer: Better Detection and Better Therapy Make for a Strong One-Two Punch in the Fight Against Breast Cancer: A woman’s decision as to when to begin breast cancer screening, particularly considering the current screening age controversy, should be informed by the data, not by the costs. Bibb Allen Jr., MD
Curies, and Grays, and Sieverts, Oh My: A Guide for Discussing Radiation Dose and Risk of Molecular Breast Imaging: The radiation dose from a molecular breast imaging exam is less than that received from annual background radiation and is therefore considered safe for use in routine screening. Carrie B. Hruska, Ph.D; Michael K. O’Connor, Ph.D
Opportunistic Osteoporosis Screening: Addition of Quantitative CT Bone Mineral Density Evaluation to CT Colonography: Maximizing the pre-existing value from imaging studies is crucial in the current era of health care reform. The authors demonstrate that colorectal and osteoporosis screening can be combined at CT examination, adding clinical and likely economic value. Timothy J. Ziemlewicz, MD; Neil Binkley, MD; and Perry J. Pickhardt, MD
CT Pulmonary Angiography Using Decision Rules in the Emergency Department: The use of pulmonary embolism rule-out criteria (PERC) in the emergency department has the potential to significantly reduce the use of CT pulmonary angiography and missing fewer cases of PE, compared with modified Wells criteria. Jadranka Stojanovska, MD, MS; Ruth C. Carlos, MD, MS; Keith E. Kocher, MD; Arun Nagaraju, MD; Karen Guy, MD; Aine M. Kelly, MD, MS; Aamer R. Chughtai, MD; and Ella A. Kazerooni, MD, MS
Can We Predict Patient Wait Time? Patient wait time prediction is an essential tool in managing clinical practices. Optimal predictive models and line-size models may provide accurate and efficient wait-time predictors. Oleg S. Pianykh, Ph.D.; Daniel I. Rosenthal, MD
Modality Access: Strategies for Optimizing Throughput: Modality capacity is relative depending on the workflow, resources and culture of an organization. There are essentially six strategies for improving imaging modality efficiency, all potentially mitigating downstream costs: Giles W. Boland, MD; Richard Duszak Jr., MD
Complexity and the Impact of Chronic Diseases: Although the scientific literature examining complexity is concentrated on therapeutics, especially pharmacologic treatments, radiology is similarly affected. This impact is particularly evident in the evidentiary underpinning of imaging appropriateness criteria and clinical decision support, both areas being advanced to reshape and influence care in a value-based health care world. Michael J. Pentecost, MD
Select October articles published online ahead of print are listed below.
Relative Roles of Radiologists and Other Physicians in Percutaneous Endovascular Neurointerventions
The Shift in Outpatient Advanced Imaging From Private Offices to Hospital Facilities
For additional information, to request PDF articles or to schedule an interview with a study author, contact Shawn Farley at 703-648-8936 or [email protected].
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