New technology developed at the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) may extend the benefits of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to many patients whose access to MRI is currently limited. A redesign of the wire at the core of the leads carrying signals between implanted medical devices and their target structures significantly reduces the generation of heat that occurs when standard wires are exposed to the radiofrequency (RF) energy used in MRI. The novel system is described in a paper published in the online Nature journal Scientific Reports.

NorthStar Medical Radioisotopes LLC has completed its first production-scale test run of the molybdenum-99 (Mo-99) aliquoting system installed at the University of Missouri Research Reactor (MURR) in Columbia, Missouri. The test and subsequent shipment of the resulting Mo-99 to NorthStar’s Madison facility is another milestone in the establishment of domestic production of the vital medical radioisotope.

The Organization for Occupational Safety in Interventional Fluoroscopy (ORSIF) announced the release of a new documentary film on the impact of chronic, low-level exposure to ionizing radiation on physicians that practice interventional medicine in fluoroscopy labs. The documentary features noted heart surgeon Edward Diethrich, M.D., founder of the Arizona Heart Foundation.

A retrospective review of 633 adults and children who underwent bioprosthetic pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) for congenital heart disease between 1996 and 2014 indicated that the risk of re-intervention was five times greater for children than adults. In addition, the likelihood of re-intervention decreased by 10 percent for each increasing year of age at surgery. Valve type was another important determinant of re-intervention, according to Rio S. Nomoto, BA, medical student at Tufts University School of Medicine, who presented the results of this research at the 95th American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) Annual Meeting in Seattle on April 28.