A PACS Admin’s Life

One man takes on the world of PACS, RIS, dicom, and all that is digital imaging.

Importance of Testing Upgrades

Up until a little while ago, we upgraded to new PACS releases rather late in the game. Of course, this may have meant we gave up a nifty new feature or two, but it also meant the upgrade we got was tried and tested, and worked as expected for us. ...

Mammo viewer… progress is good

Intelerad really won us over years ago with their responsive communication. In sharp contrast to the other vendor under heavy consideration at the time (Agfa), we saw our questions answers and our concerns addressed in a reasonable timeframe time and again. I imagine a significant number of other customers would ...

Shorter PSA doubling time should prompt earlier hormone therapy

BOSTON—Early-stage prostate cancer treated with radiation therapy should begin hormone therapy immediately if their PSA level rises quickly and doubles within six months after treatment; however patients should forego hormones if PSA levels do not rise as quickly, according to research presented Tuesday at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology ...

Whole brain radiation therapy can lead to memory, learning problems

BOSTON—Cancer patients with brain metastases who undergo stereotactic radiosurgery and whole brain radiation have more than double the risk of developing learning and memory problems, compared to those who only have stereotactic radiosurgery, according to a randomized study presented Tuesday at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology (ASTRO).

Hormone therapy before brachytherapy increases mortality in older patients

BOSTON—Men over 70 years of age with early-stage prostate cancer have 20 percent higher mortality if they are treated with hormone therapy before being treated with brachytherapy, compared to men who are treated with brachytherapy alone, according to a large cohort study presented Tuesday at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society for Therapeutic ...

FDA warns Covidien about adulterated imaging agent at Missouri plant

The FDA has sent a warning letter to Covidien’s CEO and President Richard J. Meelia, based on an inspection of its pharmaceutical manufacturing operation Maryland Heights, Mo., that “revealed serious deviations from the good manufacturing practice regulations.”

Calypso’s intrafraction tracking, implantable transponders get new CPT codes

Hospitals and freestanding cancer centers now have two new reimbursement codes for coding Medicare claims associated with the use of the 4D localization system and implanted beacon transponders from Calypso Medical Technologies.

Successor to AHIC establishes board

The AHIC Successor, a public-private entity, has established a board of directors to lead its efforts to accelerate the adoption of an interoperable health information system in the United States.

Georgetown researchers suggest CyberKnife is viable for pancreatic cancer

BOSTON—Due to the fact that pancreatic cancer often reoccurs, treatment options are often limited to chemotherapy, but researchers at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., are utilizing Accuray’s CyberKnife to see if radiosurgery is a viable treatment option in select patients, according to a presentation delivered Sunday at the 50th annual meeting of the American Society ...

Shimadzu launches mobile digital radiography system

Shimadzu has introduced a new mobile digital radiography system, the MobiteDaRt Evolution, for use in North America.

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March 12th 2010
Tags: thoughts No Comments

Televox: Nifty Service, Below Par Implementation

In an effort to decrease our No Show rate, we have enlisted the assistance of Televox, to automatically place appointment confirmation calls. We had done reference checks (which I highly recommend you do!) and were told to watch out for snags during implementation. Otherwise, the feedback was stellar. Sure enough, ...
March 12th 2010
Tags: intelerad, pacs, thoughts No Comments

Importance of Testing Upgrades

Up until a little while ago, we upgraded to new PACS releases rather late in the game. Of course, this may have meant we gave up a nifty new feature or two, but it also meant the upgrade we got was tried and tested, and worked as expected for us. ...
February 9th 2010
Tags: intelerad, pacs, thoughts One Comment

Mammo viewer… progress is good

Intelerad really won us over years ago with their responsive communication. In sharp contrast to the other vendor under heavy consideration at the time (Agfa), we saw our questions answers and our concerns addressed in a reasonable timeframe time and again. I imagine a significant number of other customers would ...
January 31st 2010
Tags: thoughts No Comments

Disaster Planning… how much is enough? Part 4

One of our initiatives right now is to build a Disaster Recovery site. Unfortunately, those cost money. So the people signing the checks want to know what the project is going to provide before approving funds. This is where things get tricky. It is a DR site, it is going ...
January 29th 2010
Tags: ris, thoughts No Comments

Disaster Planning… how much is enough? Part 3

We are fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on the day!) to have a RIS developed in house. This affords us some great flexibility, but it can also cause much stress. Without a vendor to fall back on, the buck stops with us when something goes south. Happily, that doesn’t happen often ...

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