The Greater Tucson Firefighters Foundation in Arizona and WellAmerica teamed up to study two methods to detect coronary artery disease in firefighters. Their project, described in Fire Chief, compared a Carotid Intima-Media Thickness test using high-resolution ultrasound with an electron beam CT scan of the chest.

Providing hospitals with resources to expand or create education and patient care initiatives, AHRA: The Association for Medical Imaging Management announces the sixth year of its Putting Patients First Program. Putting Patients First grants enable healthcare facilities to fund programs, training or seminars aimed at improving patient care and safety in CT, MR, Ultrasound, X-ray and Vascular imaging. The grants are funded by an unrestricted educational grant from Toshiba America Medical Systems, Inc.

The Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence (ACE) announced this week that updated standards for cardiac intervention procedures have been published and are now available for download on the ACE website. ACE updated its Cath/PCI standards to align with the recently published clinical competency document for PCI which includes information on physician training, clinical competency criteria and the updated expert consensus document published in 2012.

Partho P. Sengupta, MBBS, MD, DM, director of cardiac ultrasound research at the Mount Sinai Medical Center, took high-tech to a new level by using holograms July 1 at the American Society of Echocardiography's 2013 annual scientific sessions in Minneapolis. Dazzle aside, the presentation demonstrated the possibilities of cutting-edge echocardiography.

The Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) has honored Valentin Fuster, MD, PhD, Director of Mount Sinai Heart at The Mount Sinai Medical Center, with the 2013 SCCT Arthur S. Agatston Cardiovascular Disease Prevention Award at its SCCT Annual Scientific Meeting in Montréal, Canada, on July 12. 

Royal Philips today announced that it has received 510(k) clearance from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to market its innovative AlluraClarity live image guidance system in the US. 

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) affects up to a third of the general population, and in most cases causes no signs, symptoms, or complications. Now liver specialists and cardiologists at Saint Luke’s are adding to a growing body of research indicating a direct link between NAFLD and a high risk for cardiovascular disease. The research is compelling enough that cardiologists at Saint Luke’s are considering changing their practices to include liver and spleen images in CT scans as a screening indicator of coronary artery disease risk.

Join Dr. Dinesh Thavendiranathan of the University of Toronto for a discussion on 3D volume echocardiography in the left heart.