August 10, 2011 – Zotec Partners a provider of medical billing, practice management and Radiology Information Systems (RIS) software and services, announced that Medical Center Radiologists (MCR) out of Norfolk, Va., signed a five-year contract extension with the company to continue as its billing services provider. Since 2007, MCR has relied on Zotec Partners to combat rising costs and declining reimbursement, and has increased collections year-over-year.

August 9, 2011 – RapidArc radiotherapy from Varian Medical Systems can be used to treat patients with blood cancers by quickly and accurately delivering "clinically favorable" total marrow irradiation (TMI), according to a team of noted cancer treatment experts who spoke at the 2011 joint meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and the Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP) in Vancouver last week. Their recent study on this topic, which is available online as an article in press ahead of publication, is slated to appear in an upcoming issue of the International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics.(1)

August 9, 2011 – A new type of radiation therapy for early-stage breast cancer that cuts down on treatment time while sparing healthy tissue is available at Staten Island University Hospital (SIUH).

August 9, 2011 — Acist Medical Systems Inc., a Bracco Group company and provider of advanced contrast injection system technology for cardiovascular angiography, announced that its’ Contrast Delivery System has been used to help diagnose and treat 10 million patients.

August 5, 2011 — Elekta has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Nucletron, a worldwide provider of technology for brachytherapy treatment planning and delivery.

August 5, 2011 – Microscopic gold particles could multiply the effectiveness of standard cancer radiation therapy by acting as tiny missiles that destroy blood vessels feeding cancerous tumors. Early research about this method, which could shorten cancer treatment and make it more effective, was presented at the 2011 Joint Meeting of the American Association of Physicists in Medicine (AAPM) and Canadian Organization of Medical Physicists (COMP).

August 5, 2011 – Lakeview Regional Medical Center in Covington, La., has selected Resonance Technology’s CinemaVision magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatible 3-D audio-video entertainment system to bring a new level of comfort to patient scanning and to help distinguish the site in its local market.

August 4, 2011 – Published last week in The American Journal of Roentgenology, researchers from Swedish Cancer Institute and the University of Washington used positron emission mammography (PEM) to find a correlation between fludeoxyglucose (FDG) uptake values and the prognostic factors that predict breast cancer survival. The highest FDG levels were in the most aggressive cancer type – triple negative cancers. Women with triple negative breast cancer have a higher mortality because there is no tailored therapy available to them. PEM may now benefit this patient population as it may help identify when a chemotherapeutic regimen is not working. PEM also has the potential to play a role in initial staging of breast cancer in patients at high risk for multifocal or multicentric disease who desire breast conservation therapy as an alternative to breast MRI.