It is always interesting to go back and look at statistics once a new type of imaging has been utilized to help detect breast cancer. Researchers at Mayo Clinic did just that and came up with some very interesting results. 

The doctors at Mayo Clinic started using breast MRIs for patients with breast tumors in 2003. The use of MRI in these type of patients has doubled from about 11% to 22% during ...

A change in the labeling of Definity and Optison is the direct result of concerted efforts by the echocardiology community.

Chalk one up for the good guys! In a rare move, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has agreed to relax its warning about the possible risks of the two commercially available ultrasound contrast agents, Definity and Optison. In October, 2007 the FDA required the ...

At this year's Annual American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine conference, Dr. Brian Garra of the University of Vermont School of Medicine and long-time sonographer advocate made scientific a presentation entitled "Scan Protocols for Use by Nonmedical Personnel in Developing Countries: Organ Visibility and Reproducibility Evaluation."

It described preliminary work that involved the use of volume ...

According to a recent study published in the International Journal of Cancer, beans may offer some protection for pre-menopausal women against developing breast cancer. Researchers from the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston examined data received from 90,000 women regarding their dietary habits. Women who ate beans and lentils at least twice a week had a 24% lower risk of developing breast ...

For the next three weeks I will be at a different clinical site than my beloved Good Samaritan Hospital. Keep in mind that I am going from a CR site to a site that still utilizes film/screen, but is of a comparable size and, I believe, treats a comparable number of patients in the radiology department.

I've spent three days there so far and I return again on Friday. My rotation this ...

There has been a new study published in the online edition of Breast Cancer Research that examines the possible benefits of taking an aspirin a day to help prevent some types of breast cancer.  By taking a daily dose of aspirin, women may decrease their risk of getting the most common form of breast cancer---estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer---by about 16 percent. Estrogen receptor-positive breast ...

According to a May 5 report from Reuters news service, a one-day snapshot of emergency room conditions at 34 U.S. hospitals shows they are all overwhelmed and none is prepared to handle a big event like a disaster or attack. The snapshot, which included seven major cities---New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Chicago, Houston, ...

The facility that I work at does not use cushion pads when performing exams. We tried them many years ago and for many different reasons chose not to use them. Every once in awhile a patient will ask if we use them and occasionally a vendor will stop by to entice us into using them on our patients. 

When I was reading the recent updates for mammography from the FDA, there were some interesting points ...

I just got my airplane reservations to fly down to New Orleans this June 14 for the SNM annual meeting. I am looking forward to the conference which allows me to learn the latest research in nuclear medicine and PET and to connectwith old friends and make new ones.

To tell the truth, I am also curious about how the Big Easy has changed since the last SNM conference, before the hurricane drowned much ...

I am sure that I have shared with all of you just how much I love a good cup of coffee in the morning.  My shift starts at 6am, and without a good, robust cup of coffee, I would definitely be in trouble! 

Many times the media tries to make us feel guilty about enjoying that enticing and invigorating morning favorite. That is, until I read an article published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, ...

Remember the days when the sonographer could go off on portables (toting a bundle of film cassettes) taking their own sweet time to wander around the hospital, do a few cases in the intensive care units, chat with the floor nurses and colleagues they met in the hallway or admire the view from the top floor of the hospital (at least that's what I've heard other people did...).

Then came healthcare reform ...

Have you ever had a patient who you thought spoke English but, come to find out, had an English vocabulary of, oh I don't know, lets say... at least three and likely no more than five (that sounds about right, but let's give the patient the benefit of the doubt and go with five) words?

This is a lesson I learned early in my clinical studies. I had a patient, Hispanic, who came through the Emergency Department's ...

How many times have your older mammography patients asked you this question?

My guess is quite often!

With aging comes a huge onslaught of additional things that need to be done in a timely manner. Bone densities, colonoscopies, pap smears, lots of blood work, dental visits, eye doctor appointments, electrocardiograms... The list could go on and on of all of the methods that keep us healthy as we ...

On Saturday night, I was watching "Myth Busters" with my grandson. This week, they were trying to bust the myth that cockroaches would be the only thing living after a nuclear war. To test this, they put four different bugs, including fruit flies and roaches, into four containers each and had them irradiated with the cobalt source at Pacific Northwest Laboratories. The doses to the cubes were 100 rads, 1000 rads ...

I absolutely love this time of year in the Midwest! It is like someone brought out the crayons and started coloring the world. What was drab and dreary has turned green and full of life. Trees that were bare and dead-looking are literally ready to burst out in a welcoming display of flowers and leaves.  In Michigan, we also get to see a lot more of the sun, which has been sorely missed! 

I am sure ...

I was just trying to get in touch with my sister, who lives in Michigan, to see if the earth had moved under her feet earlier today because of the earthquake in the Midwest. Although the Midwest is not known for earthquakes, one of the biggest faults runs through the middle of the country. This quake was a 5.2 with ...

This is probably only part one of my "Look How Stupid Alex Is" series. The lessons learned during experiences such as these will probably all fall under the subgenre of "natural consequences."

Fell free to mock me.

So, last weekend I was helping a buddy of mine move the world's heaviest 36" television set. This thing must have weighed in at 250 lbs plus. It's one of those Sony Trinitron flat screens, ...

Researchers at Michigan State University presented an interesting look at the media in regards to breast cancer in a paper published in the latest edition of the Journal of Health Communication.

National media coverage was examined over a two year period. Thirty one percent of ...

As sonographers and vascular technologists, it is in our interest for the medical community (as well as the general public) to recognize the benefits of our examinations. This includes the potential and real benefits diagnostic sonography offers as compared to other more costly imaging modalities such as CT or MRI and/or modalities that utilize ionizing radiation like X-ray, nuclear medicine and angiography.

Thus, ...

Next Monday will be my 66^th birthday and while I think my mind is as sharp as it used to be when I was a spring chicken of 55, I sometimes find myself forgetting where I put my keys or why I went over to the refrigerator. These small lapses are not new. I have been searching for my keys and sometimes trying to remember why I went to the refrigerator most of my life, but as I get older, I wonder if it is ...

For those of you who are deciding whether or not to pursue an education in the "imaging arts" I would urge you to keep in mind the following things:

• You probably will not be the person choosing your clinical site.
• The impression that you receive from whatever interview/job shadow process you will go through will most likely not give you an accurate impression of the personalities ...

Earth Day is soon approaching. On April 22, people from all over our great planet will come together celebrating our earth and promoting positive changes that we all can make that will help our environment.

Like most people, I have made a few changes in my personal life that I hope will have a positive impact on the environment. Many of these changes are money savers too, and we all know that the cost of energy ...

When you look at some of the arguments for a national health care, our system is often compared unfavorably with the national health system in Canada. Generally, this is done by people who have never had to deal with that system first hand. Now it is true that many people benefit from their system, but a look at how many Canadians come over to the U.S. for healthcare they cannot get in Canada shows the other side ...

As a result of a recent injury, I have been seeing various physicians and allied healthcare professionals. Being a patient often allows us to see our world from the "other side." It's interesting to compare and contrast how the interactions are handled by different individuals and to recognize how those interactions have the potential to impact not only the quality of care we receive, but also the level of confidence ...