A number of Australians and New Zealanders attended this years ESGAR meeting in Rome. Current Chair Kirsten Gormly and executive member Jessica Yang hosted an ARGANZ at ESGAR dinner and spoke at the meeting. It was wonderful to see so many 'locals' and gather ideas on ways ARGANZ may be able to connect with its members. Congratulations to Dr Edwin Ho from Sydney for his poster winning an ESGAR award. 2018 Mendelson Research Prize winner Dr Danielle Richmond from Melbourne enjoyed her free trip (click on the images to see full-sized images and slideshow)
1. Some Australians and New Zealanders at ESGAR. 2. Dr Danielle Richmond with Kirsten and Jessica. 3. Dr Edwin Ho with his prize winning poster 4. With ARGANZ international speakers Giuseppe Brancatelli (2020) and Koenraad Mortele (2019). 5& 6. Speakers in action 7. ARGANZ at ESGAR dinner at La Carbonara 8. With ESGAR President Regina Beets-Tan
ARGANZ, acting on behalf of RANZCR, has been the lead applicant campaigning for a liver MRI rebate. After an extensive process this has now been approved for two patient populations. The first is patients with colorectal carcinoma and suspected liver metastases for the purpose of characterisation or interventional planning. The second patient population is patients with chronic liver disease (Childs-Pugh A&B) with known or suspected hepatocellular carcinoma and a liver lesion over 10mm. An additional item number has been created to co-claim hepatobiliary contrast agents, recognising that these are considerably more expensive for providers. The item numbers are likely to become active in May 2019.
Unfortunately the application for liver MRI for patients with suspected focal nodular hyperplasia/adenoma was rejected by MSAC as it was viewed to be not economically viable, despite the higher accuracy and absence of radiation.
CT Colonography (CTC) is a very useful test which is currently underutilised in Australia. ARGANZ has provided an update on this topic which is available pdf
here
(104 KB).
Current literature demonstrates that CTC is equivalent to OC for the detection of polyps with advanced histology and that no significant cancers are missed when cathartic and faecal tagging agents are used.
The New Zealand society of Gastroenterology suggests that symptomatic patients who; are >80yrs, have relevant co-morbidities including respiratory risk from sedation, have an abdominal mass or have had a failed or incomplete colonoscopy, are referred to CTC rather than OC.
The key issues include
Lengthy waiting lists for optical colonoscopy when many of those patients could be appropriately assessed by CTC
Lack of radiologist and referrer awareness of Medicare criteria for referral
Limitations of access for patients in rural areas.
ARGANZ is committed to helping our members to promote the availability and appropriateness of CTC to their referrers and to make the test more widely available to those in rural areas.
A new MSAC application will be started to expand Medicare funding to patients who do not have timely access to optical colonoscopy.
Any member wishing to assist with the MSAC application would be greatly welcomed. If you are interested please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
ARGANZ is deligted to see the announcement of the Medicare rebate for Prostate MRI. One aspect of Prostate MRI which has concerned radiologists and urologists working in this area, is the potential for inexperienced radiologists to issue substandard reports if there is sudden increase in demand for this service. If you are new to prostate MRI reporting, we suggest you look for a workshop, mentor or teaching program to assist you in upskilling.
One such program is MRI PRO, an online course with 300 path verified cases reported with PI-RADS v2. ARGANZ has negotiated a 15% discount for our members on this course. Go to MRI Pro for more information and to try some demonstration cases. If you are interested email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to access your ARGANZ member discount.
Not a member yet? Join now on our user login tab or the quick links button and submit your College ID to become an ARGANZ SIG member.
