As a student, if you have a chance to choose a final rotation while in school, go out on a limb and try out an area that you are weak in or know little about. This is what prompted me to choose CT. I only had a quick, six-week rotation through CT, and it was cut short by the end-of-the-year holidays. My didactic training in CT was also limited, so it encouraged me to spend time reading about it on my own. Boy, ...

Now that Halloween has passed, I would like to return to our discussion on peripheral vascular disease.

I would like to devote this entry to an exploration of the pathophysiology of lower extremity occlusive disease (LEOD).

LEOD is a progressive disease--specifically, chronic ischemia of the lower limbs due to the atherosclerotic process leading to a deficiency of the local blood supply. The process ...

Big topics at both shows centered on the economy, health care reform, the specialty's future and new technologies that ...

From tissue engineering to words so moving they required tissues, highlights of today's ASTRO meeting centered on a mix of awe-inspiring technical updates and heartfelt reminders of why docs enter the rad onc field to begin with.

In Keynote Address 1, "Advances in Drug Delivery and Tissue Engineering," the highly renowned Robert S. Langer, ScD, a David H. Koch Institute Professor at MIT, discussed treatment ...

The American Society for Radiation Therapists (ASRT) Radiation Therapy Conference began with a big bang in Howard Dean, MD, former practicing internist, ...

The issue of physician extenders (PE) in radiology--including specialized radiologic technologists--took center stage with a key Friday session of the 24^th annual Economics of Diagnostic Imaging conference. The topic was certainly a timely one: 49 percent of the 180-plus attendees of the Arlington, Va., symposium indicated that they already employ some form of PE in their radiology practice.

"I'm ...

Happy Halloween everyone, even though I am not a fan of the celebrations, I hope everyone has a safe and enjoyable time. It is a nice time of the year and I do enjoy fall until it is time to turn the clocks back. Last week I drove to New Hampshire to visit my son for parents' day at his college, and I must say it was a very scenic ride, even though it rained for the trip up. If you ever get the opportunity to visit ...

"Hope we don't scare you too much before Halloween," cracked program director Lawrence R. Muroff, MD, as he kicked off Thursday's opening session of the Economics of Diagnostic Imaging 2009 conference. "But turbulent times [are] ahead."

He wasn't telling the 180-plus attendees anything the symposium's subtitle--"Strategies for Success in an Uncertain Economy"--didn't already portend. Clearly, neither ...

Not only am I enjoying my new career more and more each week but I am so grateful to have all of the benefits that come with a full time position. My benefits recently kicked in and I am saving a good deal of money each month on prescriptions and doctor's visits.

One thing I haven't had since 1997 is paid time off. I took my first weekend off this coming weekend to enjoy Halloween but mainly because it's the ...

Since October is both Medical Ultrasound Awareness Month and Breast Cancer Awareness Month, it seems fitting to extol the virtues of diagnostic medical sonography for breast applications.  In the past, sonographic examinations of the breast were primarily performed to determine if a previously detected mass was a cyst or a solid lesion. Thus, many in the field had low expectations of the modality and didn't consider ...

Times are changing. That is a fact we all know too well. In a lot of hospitals cardiac catheterization labs and interventional radiology are being joined in one department with the name cardiovascular interventional services. It helps hospitals consolidate services that utilize very expensive equipment.

I am not getting into all the politics surrounding this issue. I remember working with the nursing staff ...

Ideally, your employer has already made plans to celebrate MAUM, but if you or they still need ideas a good place to start is with a visit to ...

The Society of  Diagnostic Medical Sonography's Annual Conference kicked into high gear this weekend with sessions and events designed for inspiring, learning, shopping, honoring and entertaining.

 Inspiring

After the official welcoming address from outgoing SDMS President Shannon Boswell, Victoria Labalme took the stage to deliver Friday morning's Keynote ...

The SDMS took some time Friday evening to honor the achievements and contributions of its professional members as well as up-and-coming sonography students. Following is a list of the major awards and honors presented at the SDMS Awards Dinner:

2009 Fellow Designations

Robert DeJong, RDMS, RDCS, RVT, FSDMS

Known for the sounds of country music that have earned it the well-deserved moniker of "Music City, USA," Nashville is playing host to sounds of a different sort this week as it welcomes more than 1,100 sonographers and sonography students to the Society of Diagnostic Medical Sonography's Annual Conference.

The SDMS event, being held at the Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center through ...

This post is in response to a comment on a previous blog. That particular blog was on peripheral angioplasty and stenting. Jo from Gulphport,MS, wrote in concerning the coding for multiple stenting procedures in the superficial femoral artery (SFA).

The question was, could there be multiple charges with several stents placed in the SFA. It has been a little while since I had to deal with coding, so I am a ...

Naturally there has been several research studies carried out to examine the issue. The main consensus is that most of the findings ...