Tune in to ITN’s latest “One on One” video series with Michael Butkus, PhD, for insights into proton therapy advancements. Butkus is the co-medical director and head of proton physics at the Dwoskin Proton Center at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, part of the University of Miami/UHealth Medical System. A board member of the National Association of Proton Therapy (NAPT), Butkus spoke with ITN’s managing editor to discuss how physicists, physicians and vendors are collaborating to expand availability of proton therapy and improve the health of patients being treated. 

Related proton therapy content:

Targeting Cancer, Tracking Collaboration: A Progress Report on Proton Therapy

ASTRO23 conference coverage

VIDEO: First FLASH Proton Therapy Trial Completed in Humans

At RSNA 2021, Philips highlighted the launch of two new innovative CT systems – the multi-energy Spectral CT 7500 and the CT 5100 Incisive with embedded AI capabilities. ITN spoke with Wendy Winkle Lawless, CT Business Market Leader - North America, Philips, to learn more about these new systems.

Walter Curran, Jr. M.D., FACR, FASCO, GenesisCare global chief medical officer, discusses three technologies that are helping advance radiation oncology care during the American Society of Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) 2021 meeting. These technology advances include:

   • Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET) imaging for prostate cancer.

   • MRI-linear accelerator (Linac) systems that allow real-time imaging during radiation therapy.

   • Remote treatment planning to help radiation treatment centers that are in rural areas.

Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers in men. The new PSMA PET imaging is expected to significantly improve how prostate cancer is detected and treated. The FDA approved the drug for PET nuclear imaging of PSMA-positive lesions in men with prostate cancer. 68Ga-PSMA-11 is a radioactive imaging agent that binds to prostate cancer cells to help localize prostate cancer cells.

Photo Gallery of Technologies at ASTRO 2021

Radiation Oncology Research Featured at ASTRO 2021

Find more radiation oncology technology news

This is an example of Canon's Advanced intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE) AI-driven image reconstruction software that is now being used to improve image quality on the Canon Celesteion Prime PET/CT nuclear imaging system. The deep learning is used to enhance the iterative reconstruction used to reduce noise and sharped high contrast resolution on positron emission tomography (PET) images from the digital PET detector used on the system. 

This example is a whole-body FGD PET scan of a patient with a large BMI with lung cancer.

The Cartesion Prime PET/CT is the industry’s only air-cooled digital PET/CT, provides variable bed time (vBT) acquisition as a standard feature. This and the new FDA 510(k)-pending AiCE technology were highlighted at the 2020 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) virtual meeting. 

Find more RSNA news

Stephen Bloom, M.D., FASNC, director of noninvasive cardiology (cardiac CT, nuclear cardiology and echocardiography) at Midwest Heart and Vascular Associates, Overland Park, Kansas. He is also a member of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) Board of Directors, explains some of the issues involved and protocols used for cardiac imaging during the COVID-19 pandemic. His discussion includes computed tomography, cardiac ultrasound and nuclear imaging.

Right now, Bloom said it is difficult to test everybody and there is a shortage of masks, gowns and other personal protective equipment (PPE), and the imaging equipment needs to be sanitized each time it is used. He said it is just is not possible to image all the patients who need imaging right now. Hospitals also are trying to limit the number of healthy people people coming into hospitals for routine visits and tests to reduce their potential exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) and help containment efforts. 

"The tests should be done, very simply, if it changes the care of the patient. If it doesn't change the care of the patient, and it can be postponed, it should be postponed," Bloom explained. "I would say 80 percent of our cardiac imaging exams have stopped. It has been very dramatic."

Related Imaging Precautions During COVID-19 Content:

Cardiac Imaging Best Practices During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Best Practices for Nuclear Cardiology Laboratories During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

ASE Guidelines for the Protection of Echocardiography Providers During the COVID-19 Outbreak 

VIDEO: Best Practices for Nuclear Cardiology During the COVID-19 Pandemic — Interview with Hicham Skali, M.D.

VIDEO: Cancelling Non-essential Cardiac Procedures During the COVID-19 Outbreak — Interview with Ehtisham Mahmud, M.D. 

VIDEO: 9 Cardiologists Share COVID-19 Takeaways From Across the U.S.  

VIDEO: Telemedicine in Cardiology and Medical Imaging During COVID-19 — Interview with Regina Druz, M.D.

VIDEO: Use of Teleradiology During the COVID-19 Pandemic — an interview with radiologist John Kim, M.D.

Study Looks at CT Findings of COVID-19 Through Recovery

Experts Stress Radiology Preparedness for COVID-19

VIDEO: Imaging COVID-19 With Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) — Interview with emergency physician Mike Stone, M.D.,

VIDEO: How China Leveraged Health IT to Combat COVID-19 — Interview with Jilan Liu, M.D., CEO for the HIMSS Greater China

ACR Recommendations for the Use of Chest Radiography and CT for Suspected COVID-19 Cases

VIDEO: What Cardiologists Need to Know about COVID-19 — Interview with Thomas Maddox, M.D.

The Cardiac Implications of Novel Coronavirus

Regina Druz, M.D., FASNC, a member of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) Board of Directors, chairwomen of the American College of Cardiology (ACC) Healthcare Innovation Section, and a cardiologist at Integrative Cardiology Center of Long Island, N.Y., explains the rapid expansion of telemedicine with the U.S. spread of novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2).

Druz spoke on the unprecedented expansion of telemedicine in the U.S. under COVID-19, seeing more use in the last two months, as opposed to the past two decades. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) previously only reimbursed for Telehealth in rural areas it determined had a shortage of doctors. However, in early March 2020, CMS dropped the geographic requirements and allowed Telehealth usage across th country as a way to mitigate person-to-person contact and keep vulnerable, older patients at home for routine check ups with doctors.

Druz has subspecialty certifications in nuclear cardiology, adult echocardiography and cardiac computed tomography (CT) and explains how Telehealth can be used to pre-screen patients and get patient sign off on procedures prior to coming in for an exam, helping speed the process in the hospital and limit personal contact.

Concerns about the rpaid spread of COVID-19 also has driven many radiology departments to convert to wider use of teleradiology to allow more radiologists to work from home and reduce person-to-person contact within the hospitals. 

Watch the related VIDEO: Use of Teleradiology During the COVID-19 Pandemic — an interview with John Kim, M.D., chairman, Department of Radiology, THR Presbyterian Plano, Texas, and chief technology officer at Texas Radiology Associates.

Related COVID-19 Content:

VIDEO: Imaging COVID-19 With Point-of-Care Ultrasound (POCUS) — Interview with emergency physician Mike Stone, M.D.,

VIDEO: How China Leveraged Health IT to Combat COVID-19 — Interview with Jilan Liu, M.D., CEO for the HIMSS Greater China

Study Looks at CT Findings of COVID-19 Through Recovery

Experts Stress Radiology Preparedness for COVID-19

ACR Recommendations for the Use of Chest Radiography and CT for Suspected COVID-19 Cases

VIDEO: What Cardiologists Need to Know about COVID-19 — Interview with Thomas Maddox, M.D.

The Cardiac Implications of Novel Coronavirus

This is a walk around of the new Spectrum Dynamics Veriton SPECT-CT nuclear imaging system introduced at the 2018 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting. 

This is a walk around of an innovative new SPECT-CT nuclear imaging system shown at the Radiological Society Of North America (RSNA) 2018 meeting this week. It's CT system with comes in 16, 64 or 128 slice configurations. It has 12 SPECT detector robotic arms that automatically move toward the patient and use a sensor to stop a few millimeters from the skin to optimize photon counts and SPECT image quality. It also uses more sensitive CZT digital detectors, which allows either faster scan times, or use of only half the radiotracer dose of analog detector scans.

Read the article “Nuclear Imaging Moves Toward Digital Detector Technology.” 

Read the article "Spectrum Dynamics Sues GE for Theft, Misappropriation of Trade Secrets and Unfair Competition."

Prem Soman, M.D., director of nuclear cardiology at the Heart and Vascular Institute, University of Pittsburgh, and president-elect of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC), explained advances in PET and SPECT imaging and the learning curve involved in reading scans from the new CZT SPECT cameras. Watch the VIDEO: Trends in Nuclear Cardiology Imaging, an iknterview with David Wolinsky, M.D., director of nuclear cardiology at Cleveland Clinic Florida. Read the related article "Advances in Cardiac Nuclear Imaging."

Rami Doukky, M.D., system chair, Division of Cardiology, professor of medicine, Cook County Health and Hospitals System, Chicago, discusses the new CMS requirements for clinical decision support (CDS) appropriate use criteria (AUC) documentation in cardiac imaging starting on Jan. 1, 2018. He spoke at the 2017 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) Today meeting. Read the article "CMS to Require Appropriate Use Criteria Documentation for Medical Imaging Orders."

David Wolinsky, M.D., director of nuclear cardiology at Cleveland Clinic Florida and past-president of the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC), discusses advancements in nuclear imaging and some of the issues facing the subspecialty.

Introducing HYPERSCAN , Pencil Beam Scanning Delivery HYPERSCAN enables tumor volumes to be scanned in a matter of seconds, benefiting from the MEVION S250's direct and efficient beam generation. The result is a fast Pencil Beam Scanning enabling robust Intensity Modulated Proton Therapy treatment delivery that is much less sensitive to patient and tumor motions, ultimately increasing the efficacy of the treatment procedure. The MEVION S250 proton therapy platform with HYPERSCAN allows you to treat with precision, accuracy and reproducibility at unparalleled speed with uncompromised beam quality. Designed for greater access by any size cancer care facility, the MEVION S250 significantly reduces the complexity, size, and cost associated with conventional proton therapy systems. The MEVION S250 is specifically engineered as upgrade-ready to continue providing the most advanced proton therapy treatment available today as well as tomorrow. Key Features : Field-Upgradeable; Streamlined Clinical Workflow with Full OIS Integration; High-Accuracy Beam Pointing with Submillimeter Position Tracking; Fast Volumetric and Layer Rescanning Capabilities; Supports Standard Gating Interface for Beam On/Off Hold

Satoshi Minoshima, M.D., Ph.D., chairman of the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Scientific Committee, discusses the new technologies and trends at SNMMI 2014.

Greg Freiherr speaks from the show floor on day three of the 2013 annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

Peter Herscovitch, M.D., SNMMI president-elect, explains the advances in molecular imaging for Alzheimer's disease and Parkinsonian syndromes during the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging (SNMMI) 2013 meeting in Vancouver, Canada. While new agents allow imaging of these disease states, reimbursement and treatment decisions sometimes limit their use.

ITN Editor Dave Fornell highlights his choices for the most innovative radiology technologies and trends at Radiological Society of North America (RSNA), 2012. Choices include the first wireless ultrasound transducer, noiseless MRI, a 640-slice CT scanner and a printer than creates sculptures from 3-D datasets.

Find more current news and video from RSNA

Incoming president Frederic H. Fahey, DSc, describes the primary initiatives the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging will be undertaking during the coming year, during an interview with ITN Editorial Director Helen Kuhl at the society's annual meeting in June. These include growing global initiatives, including more involvement in developing countries, plus continued education and efforts with regard to radiation dose and dose optimization.

Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM) President George Segall, M.D., chief of the nuclear medicine service at the VA Palo Alto Health Care System, and is a professor of radiology and professor of cardiology (by courtesy) at Stanford University School of Medicine, offers insights into the trends he saw at the society's 2011 annual meeting.

Trends in nuclear imaging include the creation of PET/MRI systems, use of time of flight (TOF) imaging, new technqiues to image amyloid plaque in Alzheimer's Disease, and the movement toward multimodlaity imaging rather than radiologists specializing in justy one modality.

More nuclear medicine news and video 

An interview with Peter Herscovitch, M.D., chief of the positron emission tomography (PET) department, senior attending physician, National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center, who explains why it is important to develop comparative effectiveness trials of PET.  He was the chair of the 2010 committee on scientific program at Society of Nuclear Medicine (SNM - SNMMI) annual meeting.