News from Around the Web
> Amyloid imaging, associated with detecting brain plaques, could also be used to diagnose cardiac amyloidosis. A study, published in the Journal of Nuclear Medicine, has found that PET with 11C-PIB provides a way to visualize amyloid deposits in the heart, which should provide physicians with a non-invasive method of diagnosing the disease. Announcement
> Scientists at King's College in London are scanning the brains of 500 unborn babies to map how the brain develops and to try to trace the origins of disabilities like autism, schizophrenia and attention deficit disorders. The researchers will use MRI with the idea of creating "a series of atlases showing the human brain at different stages of development," according to Professor David Edwards, director of the Centre for the Developing Brain at King's College. Article
> Patients at Churchill Hospital in Oxford, England, are undergoing xenon imaging as part of a trial to determine whether this imaging technique can improve the diagnosis of conditions like asthma. Using traditional MRI to image lungs is problematic, as the lungs appear black because the space left by the air doesn't create a magnetic signal that can be imaged with MRI. But the xenon imaging technique involves patients inhaling hyperpolarized xenon gas before the scan, allowing the lungs to be imaged by a specially adopted MRI scanner. Article
Health Finance News
> The House has introduced bipartisan legislation to permanently repeal the sustainable growth rate formula. The bill follows new data from the Congressional Budget Office this week that significantly lowers the estimates of how much it will cost to repeal the SGR. Article
Health IT News
> IBM and Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, along with Indianapolis-based insurer WellPoint, last week introduced a new product that will enable clinicians to provide personalized treatments to patients based on individual medical information and updated treatment guidelines and research. Article
And Finally… An Ohio prom gets washed out. Article