A clinical trial pitting MRI against a burgeoning PET/CT technique has found the de facto defending champion better at revealing the presence of any grade of prostate cancer.

One of the largest private health insurers in the U.S. has gone from considering hybrid PET/CT for cardiac indications “experimental/investigational” to displaying willingness to pay for the modality. 

The American Medical Association Board of Delegates approved a policy calling on payers to reimburse for the drug regadenoson and not to employ payment policies that push for cardiologists to change the drug they use for pharmacologic stress for one that is considered less safe.

Hybrid PET/CT enhanced with intravenous CT contrast deserves wider acceptance and adoption, as diagnostically optimized CT can complement PET—and vice versa—for a variety of potential indications. That’s one opinion on the matter.

In pediatric care settings, hybrid PET/MR imaging combines “exquisite soft-tissue information obtained by MR imaging with functional information provided by PET.”

The FDA has approved a lab test for evaluating cognitively impaired adults who may be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

In a statement released on April 14, MITA cautioned that the coverage decision will “severely limit patient access” to amyloid PET diagnostics and anti-amyloid monoclonal antibodies treatment.

The health insurer reversed its coverage denial for imaging of gastric and esophageal oncologic indications, while other restrictions remain in place.