Laurie Lafleur

[email protected]

How IT innovation can improve healthcare in Canada

While Canadians fiercely defend their country's healthcare system and its universal access to care, the Canadian model suffers from woes such as long wait times and a shortage of physicians. Laurie Lafleur of Paragon Consulting Partners suggests that innovation in healthcare IT can help address some of these shortcomings.

May 27, 2018

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Are you ready for a radiologist shortage?

Could the U.S. be heading toward a shortage of radiologists? The idea might not be as crazy as it sounds if current demographic trends in radiology continue. Laurie Lafleur of Paragon Consulting Partners ponders this question and proposes that technologies such as artificial intelligence and blockchain could come to the rescue.

April 2, 2018

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ED patients prefer empathetic communication for incidental findings

Incorporating patient preferences into communication may improve understanding and follow-up in addressing incidental findings.

Representative axial fused F-18 FDG-PET/MRI images and corresponding anatomic MRI images from a patient imaged at baseline and after initiation of androgen deprivation therapy are shown. Each row displays a distinct vascular territory. White arrows indicate focal areas of increased tracer uptake within the arterial wall, where spherical volumes of interest (VOIs) were placed for maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) measurement. Additional VOIs were placed in the superior vena cava and inferior vena cava for blood-pool activity sampling. SUVmax values from the arterial VOIs were extracted on the corresponding PET images and normalized to the blood-pool mean standardized uptake value to derive the maximum target-to-background ratio.

PET/MRI detects arterial inflammation in prostate cancer patients

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Women's Imaging MinnieCast, Episode 14: GLP-1s and breast cancer risk

Pacs Man Pontification

Podcast: The PACSMan Pontificates, Episode 4: The perfect PACS

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Nongated CT scans can predict heart disease risk

ED patients prefer empathetic communication for incidental findings

By Amerigo Allegretto

Incorporating patient preferences into communication may improve understanding and follow-up in addressing incidental findings.

July 31, 2026

PET/MRI detects arterial inflammation in prostate cancer patients

Androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) is widely used in advanced prostate cancer, yet is associated with increased cardiovascular events such as stroke and heart attacks.

July 31, 2026

Representative axial fused F-18 FDG-PET/MRI images and corresponding anatomic MRI images from a patient imaged at baseline and after initiation of androgen deprivation therapy are shown. Each row displays a distinct vascular territory. White arrows indicate focal areas of increased tracer uptake within the arterial wall, where spherical volumes of interest (VOIs) were placed for maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) measurement. Additional VOIs were placed in the superior vena cava and inferior vena cava for blood-pool activity sampling. SUVmax values from the arterial VOIs were extracted on the corresponding PET images and normalized to the blood-pool mean standardized uptake value to derive the maximum target-to-background ratio.

Women's Imaging MinnieCast, Episode 14: GLP-1s and breast cancer risk

By Amerigo Allegretto

Elizabeth McDonald, MD, shares results from her team's study on how GLP-1s may have beneficial effects on breast cancer risk.

July 31, 2026

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Podcast: The PACSMan Pontificates, Episode 4: The perfect PACS

By Michael J. Cannavo

In episode 4 of his The PACSMan Pontificates podcast series, Michael J. Cannavo shares his thoughts on the quest for the perfect PACS.

July 30, 2026

Pacs Man Pontification

Nongated CT scans can predict heart disease risk

Subjects with moderate and severe CAC scores on nongated CT had significantly higher risk of coronary heart disease risk.

July 30, 2026

TACE plus thermal ablation improves survival in liver cancer

Median progression-free survival was 17.7 months with TACE-ablation versus 7.3 months with TACE alone.

July 30, 2026

MRI may help predict heart disease risk in patients with diabetes

By Amerigo Allegretto

The SCAN-MRI risk score outperformed established risk models.

July 29, 2026

Representative cardiac MRI strain images and analysis. Images in the two-, four-, and three-chamber views for strain analysis (left) and left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS) and global early diastolic longitudinal strain rate (eGLSR) curves (right) are shown. (A) Example images and GLS and eGLSR curves in a 37-year-old male participant with diabetes mellitus (DM) without events during follow-up after cardiac MRI. (B) Example images and GLS and eGLSR curves in a 45-year-old male participant with DM who had heart failure hospitalization during follow-up after cardiac MRI. In the left images, blue represents higher myocardial strain (higher absolute values of negative strain), whereas red represents reduced strain. In the curves, blue represents GLS, whereas orange represents eGLSR. The left y-axis denotes GLS (%), the right y-axis represents eGLSR (per second), and the x-axis denotes time (milliseconds). For these strain parameters, a lower absolute value indicates more severe myocardial functional impairment; accordingly, GLS and eGLSR were more impaired in participants with events compared with those without events.

SNMMI issues analysis of 2027 HOPPS proposed rule

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

The proposed rule includes several positive code-level changes for nuclear medicine providers.

July 29, 2026

Ablative RT shows promise in treating pancreatic cancer

By Amerigo Allegretto

Ablative radiotherapy led to promising survival outcomes in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

July 29, 2026

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CT radiation doses have fallen sharply over past decade

The largest reductions appeared in chest examinations with contrast material, where diagnostic reference levels fell 31%.

July 28, 2026

Bar graphs show comparison of volume CT dose index (CTDIvol) (A) achievable doses (50th percentile) and (B) diagnostic reference levels (75th percentile) between 2014 (see reference 4 by Kanal et al) and 2025 (present study) for 10 common CT examination types performed without contrast (w/o) and with contrast (w/). Across all 10 adult CT examination categories, CTDIvol achievable doses and diagnostic reference levels generally decreased from 2014 to 2025, with the largest reductions for torso examinations (chest; abdomen-pelvis; and combined chest, abdomen, and pelvis), intermediate reductions for neck and cervical spine, and minimal change for head examinations.

CEM finds breast cancer at baseline, incidence screening

By Amerigo Allegretto

Incidence screening with CEM maintains high performance and may offer more benefits over baseline CEM screening.

July 28, 2026

Images in a 70-year-old asymptomatic woman with a prior excisional biopsy in the left breast yielding lobular carcinoma in situ 3 years earlier. Screening contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) was performed, which was considered a prevalence screen as the woman had no prior breast MRI in the past 3 years and no prior CEM. (A) Low-energy (26–30 kVp) mediolateral oblique (MLO) and (B) craniocaudal (CC) views show surgical clips but no abnormality. (C) Recombined MLO and (D) CC images show an enhancing mass in the medial left breast (arrows). Biopsy revealed invasive lobular carcinoma. Size was 0.2 cm; tumor grade II/III; negative lymph nodes; and estrogen receptor–positive, progesterone receptor–positive, and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2–negative.

Podcast: Testing the effectiveness of today's MR safety standard of care

If today's MRI safety standard of care were followed, would MRI accidents be impossible, or nearly impossible?

July 28, 2026

The Invisible Force Podcast Album Cover Auntminnie Jan 2026 Thumbnails

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