Since the implementation of routine screening mammography, we have seen a 30 percent reduction in breast cancer mortality. Despite these results, mammography remains at the center of controversy, with seemingly conflicting studies on its effectiveness published on a regular basis.

With 2013 on the horizon, ITN looks to see what issues and trends are likely to be prominent for medical imaging in the coming months. Industry experts from several professional societies and organizations gave their input about topics that will be at the forefront in 2013 and their expected impact across major industry segments.

The management of patient information has taken a turn toward complexity with the advent of the new healthcare delivery models as proposed by the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), meaningful use (MU) and healthcare reform — specifically: Portability and interoperability. The silo and proprietary system model that has served providers for years has been demolished and replaced with a paradigm that requires the sharing of information with affiliated and nonaffiliated providers. The solutions to manage this interoperability are as vast as the HIMSS exhibit hall.

The introduction of hybrid technology — positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT)/CT -— has revolutionized the imaging world. This technology allows the combination of the exquisite anatomic details provided, for example, by CT, with the important and much needed functional, physiologic or metabolic information provided by molecular imaging.

Computed tomography (CT) vendors have introduced several advancements in hardware and software in 2012. “You want lower dose, better accuracy, and you also want more special and temporal resolution,” said Elliot Fishman, M.D., FSCCT, professor of radiology and oncology, director, diagnostic radiology and body CT, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md. He said all CT vendors have created next-generation CT scanners to accomplish these goals. New technologies include use of iterative reconstruction, more sensitive detectors that emit less electronic noise, and new software and hardware features to lower dose. New detectors have increased quantum detector efficiency (QDE). The higher QDE, the better the sensitivity of the detector to receive more photons, so lower radiation doses are needed, he explained.