At the surface, the term “advanced visualization” seems nebulous at best. Medical imaging technology continues to develop and advance at a rapid rate, so determining what qualifies as advanced remains a moving target as well. In general, however, the current cutting edge of imaging centers around 3-D/4-D viewing and mobile technology, with different specialties implementing them in unique ways.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) gathered public comments on its Stage 3 Meaningful Use (MU) requirements through May 30. The third and final set of MU rules are a core part of the plan to reform American healthcare by leveraging health information technology (IT) to help reduce costs, eliminate redundancies and convert from a fee-for-service to a fee-for-performance reimbursement system.

Today, treatment planning — the heart of radiation therapy systems — is almost entirely computer based, and is designed to help increase productivity by simplifying data for clinicians, making workflow smooth and seamless. This is key to helping improve patient outcomes. As technology progresses, so do treatment planning systems.

In the world of imaging, we typically look at medical imaging equipment as being a valuable tool for identifying and rooting out disease. However, it also has many other scientific uses that often seem a little off the beaten path.

Researchers funded by the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) have developed a highly sensitive and accurate imaging technique for non-invasive screening of lymph nodes for metastatic cancer. Current practice calls for invasive surgical biopsies to determine whether deadly metastatic cancer cells have invaded the lymph nodes. The new imaging technique — so far tested in mice — offers a rapid and effective tool to noninvasively identify very small numbers of these cells, known as micrometastases, thus detecting cancer’s spread at its earliest stages, which is critical for timely treatment.