AJR. American journal of roentgenology
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Jul 2004
Unpaid radiology claims in New Jersey: incidence and financial implications.
Nonpayment of claims by insurers may lead to major financial losses by physicians. These losses may far exceed the losses from late payment that we studied previously, although it is late payment that has been the primary focus of legislation enacted in 47 states. This article quantifies the loss to radiologists from nonpayment of claims submitted to payers on behalf of patients with insurance. ⋯ The financial consequences of unpaid claims far exceed those associated with late payment, even omitting all unpaid claims that were disputed by payers. Legislation coupled with active enforcement should address this large problem of unpaid claims, which is many times larger than the already legislatively targeted problem of late payment.
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Jun 2004
Comparative Study Clinical TrialConventional open surgery versus percutaneous catheter drainage in the treatment of cervical necrotizing fasciitis and descending necrotizing mediastinitis.
The purpose of our study was to determine the clinical usefulness of percutaneous catheter drainage compared with conventional surgical drainage for cervical necrotizing fasciitis and descending necrotizing mediastinitis. SUBJECTS AND METHODS. Thirty-one patients with cervical necrotizing fasciitis and descending necrotizing mediastinitis were included. Twenty consecutive patients were treated by percutaneous catheter drainage. Catheters were introduced into the infected space from the neck, under the guidance of sonography and X-ray fluoroscopy. The results of the treatment were compared with those of 11 patients treated previously by surgical drainage. ⋯ Percutaneous catheter drainage for cervical necrotizing fasciitis and descending necrotizing mediastinitis was less invasive than conventional surgical drainage but produced a similar outcome.
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Jun 2004
Discrimination of tuberculous spondylitis from pyogenic spondylitis on MRI.
The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of MRI for discrimination between tuberculous spondylitis and pyogenic spondylitis. ⋯ MRI was accurate for differentiation of tuberculous spondylitis from pyogenic spondylitis.
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CT in positron emission tomography (PET)-CT imaging is often performed as a single scan from the base of the skull to the groin, potentially resulting in degradation of the quality of CT scans depending on the position of the patient's arms and mode of breathing and the use and timing of IV contrast injection. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of artifacts on the diagnostic quality of CT scans using a single-detector helical CT scanner in PET-CT imaging. ⋯ The use of a single-detector CT scanner in whole-body PET-CT decreases the image quality of CT scans because of streak artifacts that occur predominantly in scans of the upper abdomen. Scanning with the patient's arms raised eliminates the streak artifacts in scans of the abdominal region. With the new generation of PET-CT devices equipped with MDCT scanners, breathing motion artifacts can be expected to be eliminated if protocols for breath-hold CT are applied. Reversing the direction of CT scanning allows one to avoid imaging the thoracic region at a time when undiluted IV contrast material is still present in the upper thoracic veins.