August 2008

COLLEGE OF OB/GYN ENDORSES FIBROID EMBOLIZATION

In the August issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology (2008 112:387-400), the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology (ACOG) came out in favor of the use of Uterine Artery Embolization as an alternative to hysterectomy for Fibroid Ablation. They noted that it has a high safety profile and an excellent track record of treating dysfunctional bleeding in women who do not want to undergo the time, expense, and risks of a hysterectomy.

"This is a significant advance in the discussion of treatment options for patients", states Tim Gronlie, MD an interventional radiologist for WRG. "There has been a tremendous amount of research work done in the US and other countries over the past decade that shows that this procedure is an important alternative for patients, particularly those who want to later have children."

Dr. John Kaufman, President of the Society for Interventional Radiology also noted that this announcement should make a full discussion of treatment alternatives by a woman and her physician easier and more complete. "This finding fully opens the door to women's choice," Kaufman said. "It will prompt gynecologists to discuss all treatment options for symptomatic uterine fibroids, including UFE, if they are not already doing so."

Fibroid embolization may not be appropriate for all individuals and it is important to have a discussion with an interventional radiologist prior to undergoing any such procedure. The interventional group in the Wichita Radiological Group has over a decade's experience in assessing patients, and when appropriate, performing this procedure. If you, a family member, or your physician have any questions about the procedure, please contact an interventional radiologist from the Wichita Radiological Group at 316-962-2900.

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May 2008

CYPRESS WOMEN’S IMAGING ACHIEVES HIGHEST LEVEL OF ACCREDITATION

The Wichita Radiological Group has been notified that their Cypress Women’s Imaging operation has been awarded the Breast Imaging Center of Excellence by the American College of Radiology. This award requires accreditation in the areas of mammography, breast ultrasound, stereotactic breast biopsy, and ultrasound guided breast biopsy as well as an ongoing peer review process to ensure ongoing compliance

“This is a great testament to the commitment to quality of our technologists and physicians”, stated John Knudtson, MD medical director of Cypress Women’s Imaging. “The combination of the Breast Imaging Center of Excellence and our prior certification for our MRI operations should lend confidence to the decision by women and their physicians to come to our offices.”

The Breast Imaging Center of Excellence has been awarded to only 2 facilities in the state of Kansas and out of over 3500 facilities that do mammography in the United States; only 242 have achieved this level of accreditation. Cypress Women’s Imaging is the only facility in Wichita with this award.

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December 2007

WRG TO OFFER PHILIPS ISITE PACS SYSTEMS

After an exhaustive search, the Wichita Radiological Group has selected the Philips iSite Picture Archiving and Communications System (iSite PACS) as their vendor. “With nearly 6 Terabytes of information already online at our Cypress Women’s Imaging group, we needed a PACs vendor who was able to allow us to have available online, immediately, all of the prior studies and that would provide adequate, onsite, and secure backup for our patient’s studies,” stated John Lohnes, MD FACR, President of WRG and Cypress Women’s Imaging. “The Philips iSite platform will also allow us to scale our PACS infrastructure in a manner that is cost effective for our partners, and allow us as physicians to work more efficiently.”

The system integration began in November 2007 and will continue into the middle of the New Year with the system going live in early 2008. Notes Rita Railing, manager of outpatient services, “It takes a long time to transfer that much data correctly and safely into the new system. With backups to 3 separate areas in Wichita, Texas, and California and information integrity testing, we can transfer only about 2500 images a day. With over 7 years of data already stored from prior systems, it was important that a system be chosen that has the ability to move that amount of data quickly and safely. The Philips iSite will allow us to do that.”

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December 2007

WRG AND CYPRESS WOMEN’S IMAGING MOVE TO NEW INFORMATION SYSTEM

In December 2007 the Wichita Radiological Group and its subsidiary, Cypress Women’s Imaging moved to a new radiology information system (RIS). “We selected Medinformatix as our provider as they had the best combination of service, flexibility, and price that we found. Their integration with the Phillips iSite PACS system was also of primary importance, “ noted Twila Puritty, Executive Director of WRG. “This system will allow for faster, more accurate check-in for our patients and combined with our websites, we will have the capability of patients and physician offices to request appointments and provide the background information that will make life for their patients easier.”

The combination of the RIS and the Philips picture archiving system will let the referring physicians get the reports and review their patient’s images more quickly. “It gives us the ability to expand the number of facilities we serve and to do get them into the system more efficiently from an operations standpoint”, stated Puritty.

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November 2007

WRG AND COX ENTER INTO NETWORKING AGREEMENT

The Wichita Radiological Group and Cox Business Services have entered into a long-term business agreement that will establish a high-speed fiber based network for the transmission of images and to move the group’s data securely.

“We are pleased that Cox Business Services took the time to understand the needs of our group and our long term plans and help us by providing a scalable, cost effective backbone for our networking needs, “ stated Akash Joshi, MD. He continued, “The ability to move to higher rates of transmission speeds with software changes only as we need, is ideal for our business due to the complexity of medical images we have ever increasing file sizes and with our expansion of our services, ever more images to transmit.”

“The Wichita Radiological Group is based upon subspecialty expertise in the interpretation of diagnostic images. The capabilities of this network further enhances our ability to provide that level of service to the physicians and patients in south central Kansas,” noted John Lohnes, MD FACR, president of WRG.

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November 2007

WICHITA RADIOLOGICAL GROUP BEGINS COVERAGE OF THE SOUTH CENTRAL KANSAS REGIONAL MEDICAL CENTER

South Central Kansas Regional Medical Center of Arkansas City is pleased to announce its affiliation with the Wichita Radiological Group. “WRG is the leading provider of radiologic interpretation services in the region. Their subspecialty training is a real plus for our community,” stated JW Sweet, the technical director of the department. “We look forward to working with them to expand the services we can make available to the people of our community,” continued Sweet.

WRG will provide physician coverage onsite on a limited basis as well as an Internet based service. “We view this as a win-win situation for both the hospital and its patients and our group,” commented John Lohnes, MD, FACR. “We look forward to providing similar services to other communities in the future”, he notes. “Both SCKRMC and WRG anticipate future growth for the department and the hospital because of this affiliation.”

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JULY 2007

ACR ACCREDITATION AWARDED TO CYPRESS WOMEN'S IMAGING IN STEREOTACTIC BREAST BIOPSY

Cypress Women's Imaging has been awarded a three-year term of accreditation in Stereotactic Breast Biopsy as the result of a recent evaluation of image quality and breast dose data by the American College of Radiology (ACR).

The ACR, headquartered in Reston, VA., awards accreditation to facilities for the achievement of high practice standards after a peer-review evaluation of the practice. Evaluations are conducted by board-certified physicians and medical physicists who are experts in the field. They assess the qualifications of the personnel and the adequacy of facility equipment. The surveyors report their findings to the ACR’s Committee on Accreditation, which subsequently provides the practice with a comprehensive report.

The ACR is a national organization serving more than 32,000 diagnostic-interventional radiologists, radiation oncologists, and nuclear medicine and medical physicists with programs focusing on the practice of medical imaging and radiation oncology and the delivery of comprehensive health care services.

For more information on the history of the ACR and the Stereotactic Breast Biopsy program, click here.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JULY 2007

DR. AMISHA RAMJIANI KHICHA JOINS WRG, CYPRESS WOMEN'S IMAGING

The Wichita Radiological Group is pleased to announce the association of Amisha Ramjiani Khicha, MD as the newest physician in the Diagnostic Radiology Section. Dr. Khicha, a native of Colorado, attended Boston University for Medical School, completing her residency in Diagnostic Radiology at the Ochsner Medical Foundation in Louisiana. She then completed a Fellowship in Body Imaging with a concentration in Women's Imaging at the University of Pennsylvania.

"Dr. Khicha is a fine addition to the group. She has had great success at every level of her professional career. We look forward to having her work in both the general diagnostic group as well as at Cypress Women's Imaging. We believe that her caring, personal approach to her patients will be a great asset to the community," said Dr. John Lohnes, MD FACR, president of WRG.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 2007

WRG HAS THREE DOCTORS CHOSEN AS BEST OF WICHITA

Drs. Charles McGuire, Dr. Daniel Housholder, and Dr. Grant Rine were named in a poll of Wichita area Physicians as the “BEST IN WICHITA” in their respective fields.

Dr. McGuire was the winner for General Radiology, Dr. Housholder was the leading vote getter for Nuclear Medicine and Dr. Rine was the winner for Best in Radiation Therapy. The poll was conducted by “Wichita Magazine”, during the 2nd quarter of 2007 and is published every other year.

“This is a great honor for these men, and one that is well deserved,” stated John Lohnes, MD president of the Wichita Radiological Group. Each of them has a great history of putting patients first and providing top notch service to our referring physicians. All are exceptional individuals as well as being great physicians.”

“It speaks well of WRG in that we had more physicians recognized for this award than any other single group of physicians. I believe that it is a direct reflection of our recruiting fellowship trained physicians and our continued involvement with the University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita and our residency program.”

The Wichita Radiological Group is a group of 21 radiation therapists and radiologists, which comprise the largest radiology group in South Central Kansas. WRG offers services through Wesley Medical Center and through their Cypress Women’s Imaging offices, as well as cooperative arrangements with individual physician’s offices and local imaging centers.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MAY 2007

LOHNES NAMED ACR FELLOW

Dr. John Lohnes was named a Fellow of the American College of Radiology at its national meeting this past May in Washington, DC. He was named for his work on behalf of organized radiology, having served as a board member and presidents of the South Central Kansas Radiological Society and the Kansas Radiological Society. He was also sited for his ongoing work with the Mid Kansas Affiliate of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Fewer than 10% of all radiologists achieve this rank, out of the over 40, 000 radiologists in current practice.

“It is most impressive that within our group of 21 radiologists and radiation oncologists that 5 are now Fellows,” noted Lohnes. It reflects our longstanding involvement in the community as a whole and the communities of radiology and organized medicine. Our group has the largest number of fellows within the state of Kansas. We remain committed to supporting these outside activities for our physicians, as we feel it makes us a more well rounded group, more broadly connected to the communities we serve.”

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2007

DRS. DAVIS AND HOUSHOLDER NAMED AS EXAMINERS

Dan Davis, MD and Daniel Housholder, MD FACR of the Wichita Radiological Group were named as examiners for the upcoming oral examinations given as part of the certification process for the American Board of Radiology. Dr. Davis will be examining candidates in Musculoskeletal Radiology while Dr. Housholder will be administering the exam for the Nuclear Medicine section.

"This is a great opportunity for our residency program in that it will help our current and future residents to more fully understand the nature of the examinations and the types of areas in which they will be questioned. It is recognition that Drs. Housholder and Davis are among two of the best in the country in their areas of expertise," said Dr. Charles McGuire, Residency Director.

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Article date: March 28, 2007
Source: American Cancer Society

AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY ADVISES MRI FOR SOME AT HIGH RISK OF BREAST CANCER

Get Scans Along With Mammograms, Not Instead of Them

Certain women with an especially high risk of developing breast cancer should get magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans along with their yearly mammogram, according to a new American Cancer Society guideline. The two tests together give doctors a better chance of finding breast cancer early in these women, when it is easier to treat and the chance of survival is greatest.

MRI scans are more sensitive than mammograms, but they are also more likely to show spots in the breast that may or may not be cancer. Often there is no way of knowing whether or not these spots are cancerous short of a follow-up biopsy or some other invasive procedure. That is why the test is not recommended for women with an average risk of breast cancer, the guideline says.

"As with other cancer screening tests, MRI is not perfect and in fact leads to many more false-positive results than mammography," explains Christy Russell, MD, chair of the ACS Breast Cancer Advisory Group and co-author of the new guideline. "Those false-positives, which can lead to a high number of avoidable biopsies, can create fear, anxiety, and adverse health effects, making it imperative to carefully select those women who should be screened using this technology.

"For women at average risk, ACS recommends getting annual mammograms and breast exams by a physician, beginning at age 40. Most high-risk women should begin getting MRIs and mammograms at age 30, the new guideline says, unless they and their doctor think it's better to begin at a different age.

Better Evidence for Many Situations

The new guideline is published in the latest issue of the ACS journal CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians. It recommends MRI screening in addition to mammograms for women who meet at least one of the following conditions:

• they have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation
• they have a first-degree relative (parent, sibling, child) with a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, even if they have yet to be tested themselves
• their lifetime risk of breast cancer has been scored at 20%-25% or greater, based on one of several accepted risk assessment tools that look at family history and other factors
• they had radiation to the chest between the ages of 10 and 30
• they have Li-Fraumeni syndrome, Cowden syndrome, or Bannayan-Riley-Ruvalcaba syndrome, or may have one of these syndromes based on a history in a first-degree relative

The recommendations are based on studies that were published after the ACS last revised its breast cancer early detection guidelines in 2002-2003. At that time, the panel concluded there was not enough evidence to recommend for or against MRI in high-risk women, so the guideline advised these women to make the decision after talking with their doctor. Now there is more solid evidence that MRI is useful for certain women.

"These guidelines are a critical step to help define who should be screened using MRI in addition to mammography, a question of significant importance as we discover women at very high risk of breast cancer can be diagnosed much earlier when combining the two technologies rather than using mammography alone," says Russell, co-director of the University of Southern California/Norris Cancer Hospital Lee Breast Center.

More to Be Learned for Other High-Risk Situations

For some women, however, the jury is still out on whether MRI screening is beneficial, even though they have conditions that do give them a higher-than-average risk of breast cancer. The guideline says there still isn't enough evidence to recommend for or against MRI screening in women who:

• have a 15%-20% lifetime risk of breast cancer, based on one of several accepted risk assessment tools that look at family history and other factors
• have lobular carcinoma in situ (LCIS) or atypical lobular hyperplasia (ALH)
• have atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH)
• have very dense breasts or unevenly dense breasts (when viewed on a mammogram)
• have already had breast cancer, including ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS)

Screening MRIs are not recommended for women with a lifetime risk of breast cancer below 15%.

MRI Also Useful in Contralateral Diagnosis

Although the ACS guidelines find screening MRIs of uncertain value for breast cancer survivors, a newly published study shows the scans can be useful for finding tumors in the opposite (contralateral) breast of women newly diagnosed with the disease.

As many as 10% of women with breast cancer develop a new tumor in the opposite breast, even though nothing is found when they are checked with mammograms and physical exams at the time of their original diagnosis. Finding these cancers earlier could help women make treatment decisions (some women with cancer in just one breast opt to have both breasts removed as a precaution), and might spare them from extra rounds of surgery and chemotherapy later.

Researchers from the University of Washington Medical Center in Seattle studied 969 newly diagnosed breast cancer patients to see if MRIs could find contralateral cancers that mammograms and physical exams missed. The scans found 30 early-stage tumors the other tests could not detect, and missed only 3.

"This study gives us a clearer indication that if an MRI of the opposite breast is negative, women diagnosed with cancer in only one breast can more confidently opt against having a double (or bilateral) mastectomy," says John E. Niederhuber, MD, director of the National Cancer Institute, which sponsored the study.

The results appear in the New England Journal of Medicine. The study was released to coincide with the publication of the new ACS guidelines for MRI screening in high-risk women.

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Citations: "American Cancer Society Guidelines for Breast Screening with MRI as an Adjunct to Mammography" Published in the March/April 2007 CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians (Vol. 57, No. 2: 75-89). First author: Debbie Saslow, PhD, American Cancer Society.

MRI Evaluation of the Contralateral Breast in Women with Recently Diagnosed Breast Cancer Published in the March 29, 2007 New England Journal of Medicine (Vol. 356, No. 13: 1295-1303). First author: Constance D. Lehman, MD, PhD, University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb 2007

DR. TIM GRONLIE JOINS WRG

The Wichita Radiological Group is pleased to announce the association of Tim Gronlie, MD as the newest physician in the Diagnostic Radiology section. Dr. Gronlie, a native of North Dakota and a graduate of the School of Medicine at the University of North Dakota is a 2005 graduate of the University of Kansas School of Medicine residency program in Diagnostic Radiology at Wesley Medical Center. He is board certified in Diagnostic Radiology by the American Board of Radiology.

"We are pleased to be able to add Dr. Gronlie to our group," said Dr. John Lohnes, President of WRG. "He already has a great reputation within the medical community because of the quality of his work and the 'can-do' attitude with which he approaches his work."

Dr. Gronlie will be working with the vascular-interventional section and in pain management as his main areas of interest.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2006

LOHNES NAMED LOCAL HERO BY LOCAL KOMEN GROUP

Dr. John Lohnes, president of the Wichita Radiological Group and Cypress Women’s Imaging was named the “Local Hero” for 2006 by the Mid Kansas Chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

“I am humbled by this recognition,” stated Lohnes. “It really belongs to my wife who serves as the registration chair for the local RACE FOR THE CURE and to my partners and our employees for understanding and buying into the Cypress Women’s Imaging concept of a comprehensive approach to breast imaging and health.”

“Each year over 5000 Kansas women get a diagnosis of breast cancer. If each has 4 family members and friends of at least 10 people that means that nearly 10% of the state is touched by this cancer each year. And of course, it isn’t just a single year proposition, so that in a very short time, nearly half the state knows someone affected by this disease.”

“Anything that we can do to make the diagnosis sooner, make the course of treatment quicker and more specific for that woman, we will do.”

Cypress Women’s Imaging is a specialized group of physicians and technologists that are focused upon the diagnosis of breast cancer. They currently operate two offices for mammographic and bone density studies in Wichita. All of the physicians hold joint appointments with the University of Kansas School of Medicine.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 2006

DR. RICHARD BERGER NAMED AS EXAMINER

Dr. Richard Berger has been named as an examiner for the upcoming American Board of Radiology examinations. This is the second time he has been nominated and accepted. He has also previously served as an examiner for the Certification of Added Qualification in Neuroradiology examination.

"This is a fine honor for Dr. Berger and speaks well of our residency program and the quality of individuals that serve as the teachers for this program. It is unusual for a program such as ours, that is based in private practice, to be acknowledged in such a manner," said David Brake, MD FACR and Chairman of the Dept of Radiology for the University of Kansas School of Medicine Wichita. The program is administered by the Wichita Radiological Group and is one of only two radiology residency programs in the state.

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