July 12, 2011 – The Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) has published the SCCT Guidelines on Radiation Dose and Dose-Optimization Strategies in Cardiovascular CT document, which will be printed in the July/August special Radiation Focus issue of the Journal of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography. This guideline document reviews available data and provides recommendations regarding interpretation of radiation dose indices and predictors of risk, appropriate use of scanner acquisition modes and settings, development of algorithms for dose optimization and establishment of procedures for dose monitoring.

July 7, 2011 – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)’s Ames Research Center and The Midura Laboratory selected ImageIQ to assist in their study of space flight-induced vascular alterations in the lower leg. ImageIQ will provide customized image acquisition and analysis for a vascular research study aboard NASA's final mission of the shuttle Atlantis. scheduled for July 8. The company provides imaging analytics software engineering and visualization services for research, medical device and pharmaceutical organizations.

July 5, 2011 — ECRI Institute, an independent nonprofit that researches the best approaches to improving patient care, and the Health Care Improvement Foundation, an independent nonprofit corporation with a multi-dimensional focus on healthcare safety, announced the launch of a new Partnership for Patient Care regional collaborative focused on improving computed tomography (CT) radiation safety. Jointly funded by Philadelphia-area hospitals and Independence Blue Cross, this collaborative will engage hospitals and imaging centers in Philadelphia and surrounding counties in a 12-month project aimed at strengthening patient safety specific to CT imaging.

June 30, 2011 — Micell Technologies Inc. announced that it has completed its review of the scheduled four-month follow-up on the first 10 patients from the DESSOLVE I first-in-human trial of the MiStent drug-eluting coronary stent system ("MiStent DES"), an ultra-thin drug-eluting stent (DES) distinguished by a rapid-absorbing drug/polymer coating formulation. Based on results observed in the DESSOLVE I trial, Micell has reduced the sample size in its DESSOLVE II CE Mark study from 270 to 171 planned subjects.

June 30, 2011 — Genzyme, a Sanofi company, and Isis Pharmaceuticals Inc. announced today that two additional analyses from phase 3 studies of mipomersen were presented at the 79th European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) congress.

June 30, 2011 — Results of a clinical research study at Sharp Memorial Hospital indicate that patients 70 years of age or older have good functional recovery, survival and quality of life at two years when undergoing left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy for heart failure. The study was released in the June 21 edition of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

June 29, 2011 – The University of Chicago is allowing Pinnacle Oncology to acquire its technology and intellectual property rights for the development of a compound, amifostine, to prevent genomic instability caused by a variety of sources of ionizing radiation exposure, including common computed tomography (CT) scans.