RSNA has been awarded a $4.7 million grant from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) to design and launch an Internet-based network for patient-controlled sharing of medical images. The network will facilitate access to imaging exams for patients and physicians, potentially reducing redundant examinations, minimizing patient radiation exposure and enabling better informed medical decisions.

In the first year of the two-year pilot, participating medical research centers around the country will be:

• Mayo Clinic – Rochester, Minn.

• Mount Sinai Medical Center – New York

• University of California – San Francisco

• University of Chicago

• University of Maryland – Baltimore

The initial goal is to establish image sharing in the clinical domain, according to principal investigator David S. Mendelson, M.D., an associate professor of radiology at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine and co-chair of Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE®). Eight more research centers will be added in the second year, along with a number of smaller community satellite sites. At that time, the sites with patient consent will be able to share medical images and reports for clinical and research purposes.

The network will be based on Cross-enterprise Document Sharing for Imaging (XDS-I), an integration profile developed under the IHE initiative launched about a decade ago by RSNA and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society. XDS-I is part of a family of profiles developed by IHE to enable sharing of a variety of medical documents and data across a group of affiliated enterprises. These profiles have been embraced by national electronic health record (EHR) programs worldwide including the U.S. Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology and Canada Health Infoway. The pilot will highlight the role medical imaging should play in any comprehensive EHR program.

Participating sites will also educate patients on personal health records (PHR) including establishing PHR accounts with selected providers that will enable patients to retrieve, view, archive and share medical images, reports and other medical documents, creating a detailed medical history accessible through any secure Internet connection.

The goal of the project is to provide patients with the interoperability necessary for easy, secure access to medical data and control of medical information. The network will also help improve longitudinal health records, reduce the number of redundant examinations by providing an exam history and reduce radiation exposure to the individual and the population at large.

Image Gently Launches Practice Quality Improvement Module

The Image Gently campaign Web site, imagegently.org, now features a performance quality improvement (PQI) module that captures how institutions perform CT scans in children and allows for comparison with safe practice guidelines established in the literature and by the American College of Radiology.

A survey tool enables institutions to compare their practices to those of others who have completed the module. Practice interventions and tools suggested in the module are intended to be tailored to an individual institution's needs.

The Image Gently campaign is an initiative of the Alliance for Radiation Safety in Pediatric Imaging created to change practice by increasing awareness of the opportunities to lower radiation dose in the imaging of children. The new program is approved by the American Board of Radiology for PQI Maintenance of Certification Part IV.

House Hears Proposal to Promote Mo-99 Production in U.S.

Proposed legislation promoting the U.S. production of the molybdenum-99 radioisotope (Mo-99) for medical use was heard by the U.S. House Subcommittee on Energy and Environment in September. Three witnesses testified in support of the legislation that addresses the ongoing, worldwide shortage of medical isotopes.

The American Medical Isotopes Production Act of 2009 (H.R. 3276) dedicates $163 million for the support of domestic production of Mo-99 without the use of highly-enriched uranium, a concern in light of terrorism. The decay of Mo-99 is used to produce technetium-99m, the most widely used isotope in nuclear medicine. The measure would also amend the Atomic Energy Act to prohibit the issuance of export licenses for highly enriched uranium for medical isotope production seven to 10 years after the date of enactment.

Those who testified included Steven M. Larson, M.D., chief of Nuclear Medicine Service in the Department of Radiology at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and vice-chair of the Committee on Medical Isotope Production Without Highly Enriched Uranium at the National Academy of Sciences.

More information on the act and testimony from the hearing is available at energycommerce.house.gov/index.php.

RSNA Announces International Visiting Professor Teams

The RSNA Board of Directors has announced the teams of International Visiting Professors (IVP) for 2010. The professors and their destinations are:

Brazil
Donna G. Blankenbaker, M.D.
University of Wisconsin Medical School, Madison
Robert W. Hurst, M.D.
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
Erik K. Paulson, M.D.
Duke University Medical Center, Durham, N.C.

Mexico
(In cooperation with the Sociedad Mexicana de Radiologia E Imagen A.C.)
U. Joseph Schoepf, M.D.
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston
Murali Sundaram, M.D.
Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Ohio

Philippines
Alexander M. Norbash, M.D.
Boston Medical Center
Thomas (Tommy) L. Pope Jr., M.D.
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston
Marilyn J. Siegel, M.D.
Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, St. Louis

Thailand
Teresita L. Angtuaco, M.D.
University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock
J. Bayne Selby Jr., M.D.
Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston

For more information about the IVP Program, go to RSNA.org/International/CIRE/ivpp.cfm. An article about the IVP team that traveled to Estonia in 2009 will appear in the February 2010 issue of RSNA News.

RSNA 2008 Named among Trade Show Executive's Gold 100

Last year's RSNA annual meeting ranked 35th among "the 100 shows in 2008 that set the gold standard for the trade show industry," according to the "September Gold 100" issue of Trade Show Executive magazine. The publication noted RSNA's record-breaking annual meeting attendance in recent years and cited increasing international abstract submissions and a large number of first-time exhibitors. Also noted was RSNA's radiofrequency identification system that tracked the average number of hours attendees spent in exhibit halls, total number of exhibit visitors, average technical exhibit length and total number of visitors per square foot in each exhibit hall.

RSNA Photographer Takes First Place in "Art of the Show" Competition

RSNA's official annual meeting photographer and video contractor, Oscar Einzig Photography, has captured first place in the International Association of Exhibitions and Events "Art of the Show" competition. The winning photograph, depicting RSNA 2008 exhibit attendees from a "technology's-eye" view, was praised by the association for capturing the essence of the annual meeting.