MRI

CMS stirs up hornet’s nest with threat to disallowan option for local Medicare coverage decisions and prohibit cardiac CT angiography for all but trial patients

Cutting CT usage and radiation without over-reliance on MRI proves to be a tricky business

SSFP serves as good start to abdominal MR exams

Sensors glean information from radiofrequency ID chips embedded in labels of contrast bottles

Functional MRI can identify brain activity patterns unique to people with autism spectrum disorders, according to a study published in February. Findings suggest that fMRI-based measurements could improve the diagnosis and treatment of these conditions.

Results of a much-anticipated study gauging tissue plasminogen activator’s impact on acute stroke patients with MRI-diagnosed penumbra mismatch suggest it is effective up to six hours after the onset of stroke and its administration could lead to improved clinical outcomes in some patients.

Several new resources offer radiologists, nephrologists, and other clinicians answers to many questions associated with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis and gadolinium-based MRI contrast.

Women with Paget’s disease of the nipple can be more assured that MRI will detect otherwise hidden malignancies, leading to opportunities for breast conserving therapy, following research from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City.

A cardiac MRI study measuring the risk of death and myocardial infarction from surgically induced myocardial damage bolsters a growing argument encouraging clinicians to use caution when deciding to revascularize asymptomatic heart patients.

Conventional static MR angiography techniques create high-spatial-resolution structural studies but fail to image physiological information inherent in the delivery of blood or contrast. MR scanner gradient enhancements now enable repetitive data capture over time in the attempt to depict vascular dynamics and physiology in a method similar to that routinely used with conventional catheter x-ray angiography.

Oxford University researchers have established that aortic regurgitation fraction, measured with cardiac MR, accurately singles out patients who need aortic valve replacement surgery.

With help from navigational MRI, researchers at the University of California, San Francisco have assembled the largest composite map of the brain’s language sites ever to appear in the medical literature. They found far greater variability in the location of these sites than other models of language organization suggest.

MR imaging is helping radiologists and surgeons plan and monitor a novel surgical procedure developed to treat stress urinary incontinence.

U.S. soldiers returning from Iraq with mild traumatic brain injuries may benefit from preliminary research suggesting that diffusion tensor imaging can identify patients most likely to face long-term cognitive and behavior problems.

Techniques destined to improve the surgical response to aortic valve surgery, 3T whole-heart coronary MR angiography assessments approaching the accuracy of multislice CTA, definitive diagnoses for previously unexplained heart failure, and improved risk assessments are among the clinically relevant themes that will be addressed Feb. 1 to 3 at the 2008 Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance in Los Angeles.

An exam that combines 3T MR imaging with clinical assessment could speed up the management of patients with suspected degenerative arthritis of the knee. Disease biomarkers could be identified in half the time than is currently possible or less, according to researchers.

Delayed treatment outcomes compare with early CT thrombolysis if diffusion-perfusion mismatch is present

Evidence of brain injury is most prevalent in patients with physical symptoms and long duration of symptoms

Severe stroke patients could see greatest benefit from additional imaging information

Screening tool may be ahead of its time, as results of recent trials fail to keep up with imaging advances

Prospective single-site study sets stroke community buzzing about performance of MR imaging versus unenhanced CT for triage of stroke type and severity

Fluoroscopy-guided cement injections ease pain, disabling effects of tumors, arthritis on femoral head

Cardiac CT boosts self-referred utilization, other nonradiology specialists see modest growth

Despite ACRIN 6666 trial results, sonography could still play a role in supplemental screening of high-risk women

Study comparing residents' to attending physicians' reports identifies areas of weakness

Partnership of public and private sectors and academia, resembling coalition built around breast imaging, may bring about 'manogram'

Accuracy of the modality relies on high-quality imaging protocols, a grasp of imaging processing and display, and interpreter experience

Good communication between radiologists, surgeons helps minimize mastectomy rates