Scholars@Duke
Robert Optican

Robert Optican

Associate Professor of Radiology
Radiology, Cardiothoracic Imaging
robert.optican@duke.edu
2301 Erwin Rd.Radiology, Box 3808 Office Rm 1418, Durham, NC 27710
2301 Erwin Rd.Radiology, Box 3808 Office Rm 1418, Durham, NC 27710

Selected Publications

Peer review protection: Pish-Posh or pivotal policy?

Journal Article Curr Probl Diagn Radiol · October 3, 2024 The Healthcare Quality Improvement Act (HCQIA) of 1986 is a pivotal federal mandate designed to enhance medical care quality through effective professional peer review. Importantly, it offers legal immunity to reviewers under specified conditions and manda ... Full text Link to item Cite

Radiology residency oversight: A Qui Tam wake-up call.

Journal Article Curr Probl Diagn Radiol · 2024 Like every physician practice, academic radiology practices must pay heed to all governmental regulations. The federal False Claims Act serves to protect US taxpayers and requires strict adherence. Violations, often brought forth by whistleblowers, can car ... Full text Link to item Cite

Scanners, schedules, and statutes: A tale of trauma, policy, and profit.

Journal Article Curr Probl Diagn Radiol · 2024 EMTALA (Emergency Medicine Treatment and Labor Act) is an important federal mandate intended to improve access to emergency medical services for patients regardless of financial means. The act imposes strict guidelines on emergency departments, associated ... Full text Link to item Cite

Radiology quick cash? Kickbacks, compliance, and consequences.

Journal Article Curr Probl Diagn Radiol · 2024 The Anti-Kickback Statute was passed by Congress in the 1970s to reduce the overuse of government-reimbursed medical services. It attempts to eliminate fraud, abuse, and waste of medical services by outlawing the incentive of personal gain when referring p ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Relative Survival Impact of Guideline-Concordant Clinical Staging and Stage-Appropriate Treatment of Potentially Curable Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Conference Chest · July 2022 BACKGROUND: Lung cancer management guidelines strive to improve outcomes. Theoretically, thorough staging promotes optimal treatment selection. We examined the association between guideline-concordant invasive mediastinal nodal staging, guideline-concordan ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lung Cancer Diagnosed Through Screening, Lung Nodule, and Neither Program: A Prospective Observational Study of the Detecting Early Lung Cancer (DELUGE) in the Mississippi Delta Cohort.

Journal Article J Clin Oncol · July 1, 2022 PURPOSE: Lung cancer screening saves lives, but implementation is challenging. We evaluated two approaches to early lung cancer detection-low-dose computed tomography screening (LDCT) and program-based management of incidentally detected lung nodules. METH ... Full text Link to item Cite

Survival Impact of an Enhanced Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Conference in a Regional Community Health Care System

Conference JTO Clinical and Research Reports · August 1, 2021 Introduction: We compared NSCLC treatment and survival within and outside a multidisciplinary model of care from a large community health care system. Methods: We implemented a rigorously benchmarked “enhanced” Multidisciplinary Thoracic Oncology Conferenc ... Full text Cite

Implementing lung cancer screening in the real world: Opportunity, challenges and solutions

Journal Article Translational Lung Cancer Research · January 1, 2015 The World Health Organization estimates that, in 2012, there were 1,589,925 deaths from lung cancer worldwide. Screening for lung cancer with low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) has the potential to significantly alter this statistic, by identifying lung c ... Full text Cite

Cardiac CT and coronary CTA: Early medicare claims analysis of national and regional utilization and coverage

Journal Article Journal of the American College of Radiology · January 1, 2011 Purpose: The aim of this study was to assess trends in utilization and Medicare coverage of cardiac CT and coronary CT angiography (CCTA). Methods: Medicare claims for cardiac CT and CCTA were identified for the first 3 complete years for which Current Pro ... Full text Cite

NIH state-of-the-science conference statement: Enhancing use and quality of colorectal cancer screening.

Other NIH Consens State Sci Statements · February 4, 2010 OBJECTIVE: To provide health care providers, patients, and the general public with a responsible assessment of currently available data on enhancing use and quality of colorectal cancer screening. PARTICIPANTS: A non-DHHS, nonadvocate 13-member panel repre ... Link to item Cite

Uncoupling protein-1 and related messenger ribonucleic acids in human epicardial and other adipose tissues: Epicardial fat functioning as brown fat

Journal Article Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism · January 1, 2009 Context: Uncoupling protein-1 (UCP-1) is the inner mitochondrial membrane protein that is a specific marker for and mediator of nonshivering thermogenesis in brown adipocytes. Objective: This study was performed to better understand the putative thermogeni ... Full text Cite

Right ventricular arrhythmia in the absence of arrhythmogenic dysplasia: MR imaging of myocardial abnormalities.

Journal Article Radiology · June 1998 PURPOSE: To evaluate right ventricular abnormalities with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in patients with arrhythmia but without arrhythmogenic dysplasia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In 53 patients being evaluated for right ventricular arrhythmia and 15 contro ... Full text Link to item Cite