Seltzer Emphasizes Importance of Medical Imaging in Patient Care

Steven Seltzer, MD

This spring, Department of Radiology Chairman Steven Seltzer, MD, joined fellow members of the Coalition for Imaging and Bioengineering Research (CIBR) for the organization’s third annual Medical Technology Showcase in Washington, D.C.

The event brought together representatives of academic radiology departments, patient advocacy groups and the medical device industry – the three groups that comprise CIBR’s membership – to speak to congressional policymakers about the importance of medical imaging in patient care and the ways it can benefit the economy. CIBR hosted the Medical Technology Showcase in the Rayburn House Office Building, the office quarters for members of Congress and their staffs. Total attendance topped 300 people, marking the third straight year that attendance grew.

“The purpose of this event was to inform members of Congress about the numerous applications of imaging across patient care specialties and to advocate for continued support of the type of basic scientific research that leads to the discovery of new or more nuanced applications of imaging and drives improvements to the technology,” said Seltzer.

Christopher Austin, MD, director of the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the NIH, provided the event’s keynote address. He emphasized the overall importance of scientific discovery for the economy and the central role of imaging in reducing the time-to-market for new therapies. NCATS, said Austin, pursues innovation in the process by which scientific discoveries are translated into new diagnostic tools and therapeutic treatments, illustrating his points with examples from NCATS’ program offerings. These include Assay Development and High Throughput Screening, Molecular Libraries Probe Production Center and Bridging Interventional Development Gaps.

The Lung Cancer Alliance is one of the patient advocacy groups that is a CIBR member. Tom Murphy, a lung cancer survivor, provided the perspective of a patient who benefitted from clinical advances that were first discovered and investigated via basic scientific research. Murphy is certain that his recovery from the disease was due to an early diagnosis made possible by imaging.

“Had I not participated in the early detection program through the NIH, my cancer would not have been detected until a more advanced stage, with fewer treatment options available,” he said.

Imaging’s contribution to Murphy’s treatment and recovery was through its traditional role as a tool for diagnosing disease and assessing treatment. However, many of the scientists in attendance believe that imaging can be harnessed in even more powerful ways that would advance clinical care closer to the ideal of “personalized medicine.”

With the emergence of molecular imaging and image-guided therapy, two of the central concepts of personalized medicine, doctors are beginning to use these techniques to design treatments tailored to patients’ unique physiology and anatomy. Research is underway to validate applications of these techniques scientifically. Optimism runs high that molecular imaging and image-guided therapy can lead to less invasive surgical care, targeted design and delivery of drug therapies, shorter hospital stays and reduced re-operative rates.

The emergence of molecular imaging and image-guided therapy, both of which have been marked by major discoveries by BWH scientists, resulted from just the sort of translational research that the event was designed to showcase.

Seltzer said the impact an event like the Medical Technology Showcase can have on policy makers is critical. “CIBR’s position is that government can and should have an active role in supporting basic research, beyond providing funding grants. Fostering collaborations and knowledge sharing and streamlining the regulatory review process for new therapies are two areas where the NIH, the Food and Drug Administration and other government agencies are making significant improvements,” he said. “The diverse groups that make up CIBR will continue to advocate that the federal and state governments are our needed allies in bringing new therapies to patients as quickly and as safely as possible.”