On a roll-call vote of 400-17, the U.S. House of Representatives last night approved the American Medical Isotopes Production Act (HR 3276) to help fund production of molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) in the U.S. and gradually eliminate the export of highly enriched uranium.

Breast MRI and film-screen mammography (FSM) are complementary tests for early breast cancer detection, according to a new study published in Academic Radiology. Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital studied the correlation between FSM and breast MRI to determine how effective breast MRI can be when used as an adjunct to mammography.

AuntMinnie.com continues its tradition of extensive coverage of the world's largest medical imaging conference, RSNA 2009. To help you best utilize your time at the meeting we’re highlighting key scientific and educational presentations to be held during the meeting, November 29-December 4 in Chicago.

A new method of segmenting the fetal heart with echocardiography could improve the evaluation of congenital heart defects compared to the time-consuming manual segmentation in use today, according to researchers from the U.K.

CHICAGO (Reuters), Nov 6 - Americans are more likely than people in 10 other countries to have trouble getting medical treatment because of insurance restrictions or cost, an international survey of primary care doctors released on Wednesday found.

Cardiac imaging is scheduled for reimbursement cuts -- including a 36% hack at SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) -- under the final Medicare Physician Fee Schedule for 2010. On the plus side, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) also published base rates for coronary CT angiography (CCTA) and increased cardiac PET reimbursement by about 17%.

Restricting the number of off-hours venous duplex ultrasound studies for evaluating deep vein thrombosis (DVT) can improve resource utilization without hurting patient care, according to research published in the Annals of Vascular Surgery.

CHICAGO (Reuters Health), Nov 5 - Cutting the duration of radiation treatment in half may be just as effective as delivering it over the conventional five to seven weeks in appropriately selected women with early breast cancer, researchers reported at the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting.

CHICAGO (Reuters Health), Nov 5 - Adding four months of hormone therapy to radiation treatment prolongs survival in men with intermediate-risk prostate cancer but not in men with low-risk disease, according to a presentation at the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting.

CHICAGO (Reuters Health), Nov 5 - Using gamma knife radiosurgery to eliminate Parkinson's disease tremors and essential tremor is just as effective and far less invasive than more common treatments, yet the technique continues to be severely underutilized, researchers said at the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting.

Readers of varying skill levels perform significantly better when they use computer-aided detection (CAD) to find lung nodules on CT scans, according to a new study. But while CAD tends to equalize performance among readers of varying skills, readers perform differently based on experience levels, presentation order of candidate nodules, and total time spent reading a case.

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Nov 4 - Survivors of childhood CNS tumors have consistently been shown to be at risk for residual neurocognitive impairment, and a new study indicates that in many cases, deficits persist into adulthood.

CHICAGO (Reuters Health), Nov 4 - Stereotactic body radiation therapy can effectively treat very early stage 1 non-small cell lung cancer in patients who are too frail to undergo surgery, according to phase II trial results presented at the American Society for Radiation Oncology annual meeting.