If subjects are excluded from further screening because they are in the Framingham low-risk category, almost two-thirds of women and a quarter of men with substantial atherosclerosis will be missed, wrote the authors of a study that appears in the May issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. 

Slightly more than one-third of patients without known disease, who underwent elective cardiac catheterization, had obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) out of nearly 400,000 patients at 663 sites, based on study findings published March 11 in the New England Journal of Medicine. However, in an interview, Timothy D. Henry, MD, from Minneapolis Heart Institute, said that when reviewing the study’s data in its entirety, it appears that most practices are performing these procedures properly.

In a retrospective analysis of nearly 700,000 non-elderly Americans who underwent at least one medical imaging procedure over a three-year period, approximately 20 percent received a moderate to very high dose of radiation, according to data in the Aug. 27 New England Journal of Medicine. Michael S. Lauer, MD, who wrote the accompanying perspective, stated that most imaging tests haven’t yet proven their benefit compared with the potential risks and costs.

Ziosoft, a developer of advanced visualization and analysis software for medical imaging, has received 510(k) clearance from the FDA to market its MR cardiac function analysis application for use with the Ziostation thin-client system.

The segment proximal to a myocardial bridge, which is frequently involved in atherosclerotic plaque formation, could serve as an independent and significant factor with a higher odds ratio than other major risk factors for arteriosclerosis, according to a study presented last week at the 94th annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).