Adopting medical technology because it is new or novel lost its luster a long time ago. It is little wonder then that positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) has traveled such a bumpy road since the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) cleared the first PET/MR product in 2011.

After five years of almost constant lobbying efforts and numerous attempts by the U.S. House to push through a repeal of the medical device tax, legislation passed in December suspends the tax for the next two years. President Barack Obama signed a $1.8 billion taxation and spending bill Dec. 18, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016, ending the threat of a looming government shutdown. The bill also contained a variety of tax credits, including the two-year moratorium on the device tax.

With all the conflicting information surrounding screening mammography, it is hard for breast radiologists not to be just as confused as the patients and referring clinicians. As a breast radiologist, I am passionate about breast imaging and the patients I serve.

The biggest trend in contrast media injector technology today is one seen throughout all of healthcare — doing more with less, or maximizing the utility of existing technology. In the case of contrast media, vendors are focusing on systems that make full use of the existing contrast supply in an effort to reduce contrast dose. This shift is happening with contrast media across multiple modalities. Vendors are also allowing injector systems to integrate with electronic medical records (EMR), picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) and other technology to automatically record and analyze contrast dose data.