"Rosie" goes high tec

Robo-docs check in at Detroit Medical Center

CodeBlueBlog: CSI MEDBLOGS: CODEBLUEBLOG ANALYZES TERRI SCHIAVO'S CT OF THE BRAIN

CodeBlueBlog: CSI MEDBLOGS: CODEBLUEBLOG ANALYZES TERRI SCHIAVO'S CT OF THE BRAIN

Radiologists Tell House Committee Unnecessary and Inferior Medical Imaging Lowers Quality of Care and Costs Taxpayers Billions of Dollars

Radiologists Tell House Committee Unnecessary and Inferior Medical Imaging Lowers Quality of Care and Costs Taxpayers Billions of Dollars:
"Other examples include Arizona where imaging by non-radiologists is up as much 1,317 percent -- or ten times the national average. In Georgia, it�s up 503 percent; Louisiana, up 852 percent; Minnesota, up 442 percent; and in Texas, up 1,630 percent."

Stress OTJ

A recent Canadian survey ranked stress and workload as top issues among healthcare workers. It's a fact. We're in the down-cycle now on techs available and trained, but more are being trained all the time.
Survey results.

The MRI effect

MRI Scans Could Have Antidepressant Effect : "'We found that when we administered the magnetic stimulation to the rats, we saw an antidepressant-like effect, the same effect as seen after administration of standard antidepressant drugs,' said William Carlezon"

MRI may soon spot Alzheimer's

MRI may soon spot Alzheimer's:- - India News - Webindia123.com: "MRI may soon spot Alzheimer's:-
London March 14, 2005 1:55:15 PM IST

The markers of Alzheimer's disease - amyloid plaques in the brain - can now be detected in living mice using MRI( magnetic resonance imaging) scanners with the help of a new flourine tracer, claim scientists in Japan.
The finding raises the possibility that people without overt symptoms may soon be diagnosed and treated in time. Currently, the standard way to confirm the presence of the plaques, and thus the disease, is by autopsy.
Amyloid plaques are insoluble protein clumps in the brain which form early on in Alzheimer's disease and can precede dementia by many years. Identifying people with Alzheimer's while they are still asymptomatic means the disease could in theory be slowed, or even stopped, before irreversible neuron loss takes place. Other attempts to use brain scans, including PET and SPECT, have had some success. But PET, for example, is fifty times as expensive as MRI, has lower resolution and exposes patients to radiation.
Takaomi Saido at the Riken Brain Science Institute in Wako, Japan, and his team, have developed a new, non-toxic tracer that attaches itself to the amyloid plaques in the brain and can be detected by regular MRI scanners. The tracer is made from a form of fluorine that is a common additive in drinking water, and a form of hydrogen, which is known to bind to amyloid.(ANI)"

Modern Implantable Heart Devices Safe For Use In MRI Scans

That's what this article says, reporting findings of a study done at Johns Hopkins. Among the recommendations: keep the SAR below 2W/kg, and have a cardiologist and radiologist on hand. That's a trick in itself sometimes.
Modern Implantable Heart Devices Safe For Use In MRI Scans

Should have had aCT

IOL: A Step Beyond
He wouldn't last 8 hours at El Dorado without a CT.

Did you hear the one about the doctors who bought a hospital?

Sick of red tape, physicians are buying hospitals in an attempt to drive down health care costs. Should be interesting to check in on this group a little later on.

Newsday.com: Doctor exodus may cost Lawrence & Memorial millions of dollars

Newsday.com: Doctor exodus may cost Lawrence & Memorial millions of dollars