Dear CT Insider,
Studies show that annual low-dose CT lung cancer screening saves lives. And in fact, the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force just this year released updated guidelines that expand the pool of eligible people for the exam.
But uptake of lung screening has been spotty -- especially among rural individuals, who may not have easy access to centers that offer screening. In this edition's Insider Exclusive, we're highlighting results from a study that explored the question of how to improve access to CT lung screening in rural areas.
On the artificial intelligence (AI) side, make sure you check out our coverage of a variety of studies that investigated questions such as how the combination of AI and CT could accurately identify kidney stones and whether radiology AI needs more clinical validation when it comes to cervical spine CT, as well as how AI helps quantify atherosclerosis on coronary CT angiography.
CT doesn't immediately spring to mind when it comes to breast imaging. But a team of German researchers is suggesting that chest CT has a role in breast health -- specifically in identifying incidental lesions on exams conducted for other reasons.
Plus, take a look at what a group from Russia found about the prevalence of acute kidney injury among COVID-19 patients, and read what a team from the University of Wisconsin-Madison discovered about the promise of PET/CT with gallium-68 for identifying and monitoring pulmonary fibrosis.
Finally, if a bit of controversy is your jam, get the latest in the debate surrounding the efficacy of cardiovascular CT angiography for assessing heart health through our coverage of dueling letters published this month in JAMA Internal Medicine.
It's clear that CT has much to offer when it comes to diagnosis and treatment management. We invite you to visit our CT Community often to keep current on the modality's many benefits.
![Axial images from unenhanced calcium score cardiac CT (left) and curved planar reformation images from CT angiography (right) show that higher long-term exposure to air pollution is associated with greater coronary artery calcium and more obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD). Top row: Images in a 68-year-old male patient with higher 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (7.9 μg/m3 for particulate matter measuring ≤2.5 μm in diameter [PM2.5] and 17.4 parts per billion [ppb] for NO2) with extensive CAD (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] >1,000 and obstructive CAD [≥70% diameter stenosis]). Bottom row: Images in a 57-year-old female patient with lower 10-year mean ambient air pollution exposure (6.3 μg/m3 for PM2.5 and 4.6 ppb for NO2) with no CAD (CACS = 0 and no obstructive stenosis).](https://img.auntminnie.com/mindful/smg/workspaces/default/uploads/2026/06/hanneman.r6SMLzkezo.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
