Ching-Jen Chen, M.D., of the neurosurgery department at the University of Virginia (UVA) Health System, was the winner of the Cerebrovascular Section Best Clinical Scientific Paper at the 2019 American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) Annual Scientific Meeting, April 13-17 in San Diego. Chen’s research investigated stereotactic radiosurgery for pediatric versus adult brain arteriovenous malformations (AVM). The aim of this international, multicenter, retrospective, matched-cohort study is to directly compare the outcomes after stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for brain AVM in pediatric versus adult patients.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is extending the public comment period by 30 days for two proposed regulations aimed at promoting the interoperability of health information technology (health IT) and enabling patients to electronically access their health information. The new deadline for the submission of comments – June 3, 2019 – will allow additional time for the public to review the proposed regulations.

Atrium Health patients will now be able to use Amazon’s electronic voice system Alexa to not only locate the nearest urgent care and emergency department, but now will be able to reserve a spot at an urgent care location as well.

The CE-certified ChestEye artificial intelligence (AI) imaging suite by Oxipit is now available in seven European languages. In addition to English, ChestEye interface now supports German, French, Spanish, Hungarian, Dutch, Czech and Lithuanian languages. The addition of multilingual support further builds on Oxipit’s strategy to increase day-to-day productivity of radiology specialists.

DiA Imaging Analysis has partnered with the Italian healthcare IT company Ebit (Esaote Group), to offer DiA’s LVivo Cardiac Toolbox as an integrated part of Ebit's Suitestensa CVIS (cardiovascular information system). The LVivo Cardiac Toolbox is designed to analyze cardiac ultrasound images based on more objective and reproducible information, as opposed to manual measurement or visual analysis methods that are currently being used.

In August 2018, a workshop was held at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Md., to explore the future of artificial intelligence (AI) in medical imaging. The workshop was co-sponsored by NIH, the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), the American College of Radiology (ACR) and The Academy for Radiology and Biomedical Imaging Research (The Academy). The organizers aimed to foster collaboration in applications for diagnostic medical imaging, identify knowledge gaps and develop a roadmap to prioritize research needs. The group’s research roadmap has been published as a special report in the journal Radiology.

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) hailed the introduction of federal legislation that would accelerate healthcare payment reform, reduce Medicare costs and better protect patients by closing an expensive loophole in the physician self-referral law. ASTRO Chair Paul Harari, M.D., FASTRO, called on Congress to support healthcare delivery and payment reform by passing the Promoting Integrity in Medicare Act of 2019 (PIMA; H.R. 2143), introduced by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.) and Rep. Dina Titus (D-Nev.).