The future of imaging screening: proceedings of the Fourth Annual ACR FORUM.

The FORUM is an ACR planning activity focused on a specific topic deemed to be of long-range importance to the college. A select panel of multidisciplinary experts met in 2004 to consider the ramifications of imaging screening from diverse perspectives. Considerations included the nature of screening for disease, its technological issues, and biases associated with the perceived success of screening; potential technologies and target diseases; business and economics; insurance coverage; ethics and the law; how imaging screening could be paired with nonimaging screening; and how the lay public perceives screening.

The appropriateness of employing imaging screening technologies: report of the methods committee of the ACR task force on screening technologies.

Screening for disease using imaging technologies is a growing phenomenon. For some applications (e.g.

Enhancing research in academic radiology departments: recommendations of the 2003 Consensus Conference.

Opportunities for funded radiologic research are greater than ever, and the amount of federal funding coming to academic radiology departments is increasing. Even so, many medical school-based radiology departments have little or no research funding. Accordingly, a consensus panel was convened to discuss ways to enhance research productivity and broaden the base of research strength in as many academic radiology departments as possible.

The ACR imaging network: a retrospective on 5 years of conducting multicenter trials in radiology and plans for the future.

The ACR Imaging Network (ACRIN) provides a complete infrastructure to conduct multicenter clinical trials of medical imaging technologies as they relate to cancer. During its first 5 years of National Cancer Institute funding, ACRIN initiated work on 18 trials, a number of which are closed, in analysis, with results approaching publication. During its next funding cycle, ACRIN intends to pursue a more strategic approach to its selection of trials, focusing on key clinical questions in which imaging can improve the care of cancer patients.

The need for clinical trials in radiology.

The dependence of radiologic practice on habit and anecdotal evidence puts in doubt the appropriateness of care. Influences in the United States health-care system require that the specialty of radiology emphasize a transition to more appropriate care to reduce waste, thus improving patient outcomes and reducing cost. Understanding what constitutes the most appropriate care depends on improving the evidence basis for imaging practice.

Quality and variability in diagnostic radiology.

Achieving and delivering optimal quality of care in radiology requires continual self-examination by the profession, particularly with regard to technical, interpretive, and communication skills. The importance of empirical data pertaining to quality and variability in radiology, the underlying causes of error, and the sources of variability are discussed. Key measures (e.

The future quality and safety of medical imaging: proceedings of the third annual ACR FORUM.

The ACR annually engages in a long-range planning activity called the FORUM on a specific issue deemed important to the specialty of radiology over a horizon of 5 to 10 years. The FORUM brings together experts from multiple disciplines to discuss the topic, develop scenarios, and make recommendations to the ACR and the specialty on what courses to take to improve the development of radiology. The Third Annual FORUM, held May 21 to 23, 2003, was on the subject of improving quality and safety.

Baculovirus expression of the 11 mycoreovirus-1 genome segments and identification of the guanylyltransferase-encoding segment.

The type member Mycoreovirus 1 (MyRV-1) of a newly described genus, Mycoreovirus, isolated from a hypovirulent strain 9B21 of the chestnut blight fungus, has a genome composed of 11 dsRNA segments (S1-S11). All of the segments have single ORFs on their capped, positive-sense strands. Infection of insect cells by baculovirus recombinants carrying full-length cDNAs of S1-S11 resulted in overexpression of protein products of the expected sizes, based on their deduced amino acid sequences.

Do we need randomized controlled clinical trials to evaluate the clinical impact of breast MR imaging?

MR imaging of the breast has been shown to identify breast cancers that have gone undetected by mammography. There are a number of potential designs that can be used to further evaluate breast MR imaging, particularly with respect its impact on clinical care. Determination of whether using breast MR imaging to screen healthy individuals for breast cancer actually reduces breast cancer-specific mortality--and whether this can be accomplished at an acceptable cost--probably requires randomized, controlled clinical.