Almost one-third of stress echocardiograms are ordered for inappropriate indications and this proportion persisted over time despite interventions directed toward referring physicians, according to a recent analysis. It also found only a fair correlation between radiology benefits managers and appropriate use criteria (AUC) for stress echocardiography.

Cardiovascular imagers need to be proactive and involved if they want to maintain relevance in tomorrow’s healthcare systems. So advise imaging thought leaders Pamela S. Douglas, MD, and Michael H. Picard, MD.

Perfusion CT adds clinically relevant information for evaluating patients with suspected acute ischemic stroke, according to a study published online Feb. 12 in Stroke.

PET with 11C-PIB provides a noninvasive method for visualizing amyloid deposits in the heart, according to a study published in the February issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The researchers suggest that 11C-PIB eventually may be used in the clinical setting as both a diagnostic tool and a treatment follow-up method.

Endovascular therapy was not superior to medical care in patients treated within eight hours of experiencing an ischemic stroke, according the MR RESCUE trial results. Nor did the use of pretreatment CT or MRI identify patients who might be better served with endovascular therapy.

Stress echocardiography incorporated into a chest pain unit has excellent feasibility, provides rapid assessment and discharge with accurate risk stratification of patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) but nondiagnostic ECG and negative 12-hour troponin, based on a retrospective study published January in Circulation: Cardiovascular Imaging.

A single resting high-sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) measurement may predict abnormal myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI), independent of cardiovascular risk factors and time of presentation in patients with acute chest pain, according to a study published in this month's Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging. The authors trumpeted hsTnT as a potentially “powerful triage tool” for emergency departments (EDs) but editorialists argued otherwise.

Properly screened children who are younger than 5 can remain awake while undergoing thoracic CT angiography (CTA) without compromising image quality, according to a retrospective study. The results support the use of thoracic CTA without general anesthesia in a select group of pediatric patients, the authors suggested.