MRI

Noninvasive cardiac imaging is gaining widespread acceptance. Both CT and MRI can determine the absence or presence of coronary artery disease accurately and reliably. This is done by either assessing the coronary artery morphology or by offering detailed insight into functional aspects and myocardial perfusion.

Profound improvements in perfusion and diffusion tensor imaging over the past few decades are changing the ways in which radiologists understand disease processes, especially those involving small blood vessels in the brain.

Breast carcinomas are the leading cause of cancer death for women worldwide. World Health Organization figures show that more than 1.2 million women are diagnosed with breast cancer each year. About 385,000 of these cases occur in Asia.

Not all those who suffer heart attacks have typical symptoms. Many people, including the elderly, those with renal disease, and women, are at risk of having a silent myocardial infarction. People with diabetes, in particular, are among those at highest risk of experiencing a silent MI. Now there is a clinical MRI technique that can identify abnormal myocardium, which signifies a high-risk profile, in diabetic patients.

righam and Women's Hospital researchers have shown that MR-guided focused ultrasound surgery reduces the painful symptoms of uterine leiomyomas for at least a year after treatment. Better technique and growing experience with the minimally invasive procedure have improved its effectiveness and safety while helping physicians with patient selection.

New research suggests ultrasound won’t cut it as a substitute adjunct study for screening women at high risk for breast cancer.

Breast MRI suffered from a serious image problem during the second half of the 1990s. Because of its limited specificity and high cost, the technique was written off by many specialists, but clinical acceptance of it has increased over the past few years. It is now widely recognized as a valuable adjunct to mammography and ultrasound.

A bioluminescent tumor probe promises to give surgeons a glistening intraoperative view of the dividing line between cancerous and normal tissue.

Legislation proposing accreditation for most medical imaging modalities has been caught up in a fight between Capitol Hill and the White House over the renewal of federal healthcare insurance subsidies for poor children.

The most highly anticipated stroke imaging trial of the year has left radiologists scratching their heads about the disappointing results. No more than 47% of acute stroke patients administered the clot-dissolving protein desmoteplase three to nine hours after the onset of symptoms showed improvement. The positive outcome rate was about the same among patients given a placebo.

A study of more than 4800 hospital patients has established that claustrophobia remains an impediment for MRI practice and a difficult experience for about 2% of patients undergoing MR procedures.

A Duke University study has found that diffusion-tensor MRI paints a more complete picture of ischemic hyperintense lesions in the brain than does conventional MR. Findings suggest that brain abnormalities have a much greater neurological impact for older patients than was previously thought.

Radiologists could be shortchanged if Medicare goes through with plans announced Monday to end its long-standing policy of paying separately for imaging contrast media, radiopharmaceuticals, interventional radiology supervision, and interpretation.

A study comparing six MR and PET brain imaging strategies has found cell proliferation and microcirculation to be best suited for marking the hot spot to optimally grade malignant gliomas.

The European Pharmacovigilance Working Party has recommended that Magnevist (from Bayer Schering) be contraindicated in patients with severe or end-stage renal impairment to help prevent a life-threatening skin disease linked to gadolinium-enhanced MRI, according to industry and U.K. regulatory sources.

Advances in PET and MR have led Alzheimer’s disease experts to propose new criteria for diagnosing the condition, at least when conducting research studies.

Myriad Genetics is the only place to go for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutation testing. The Salt Lake City biopharmaceutical company has a monopoly on the test. Its scientists discovered the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes in 1996 and patented their use for assessing the risk of genetically related cancer.

Like other medical journalists, I can usually be found in the front rows of the radiology meeting lecture halls, dutifully taking copious notes. The American Roentgen Ray Society meeting in May was no exception. But this time I was also under a vow of silence for three weeks, after a vocal cord nodule diagnosis.

Back pain and weakness of both legs had bothered this 60-year-old woman for one week. Left breast cancer, stage 2, had been diagnosed two years before, and she subsequently underwent a lumpectomy followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy.

In a flash, after the American Cancer Society guidelines came out in favor of breast MRI for high-risk screening in late March, prominent radiology preauthorization company CareCore proclaimed it had been ahead of the times. The ACS release was a major coup for the technique.

An influential trial has left neuroradiologists in a quandary about the best imaging approach for the initial evaluation of acute stroke. The single-center prospective trial concluded that MRI accurately diagnoses acute stroke while noncontrast CT, the old gold standard, is about as accurate as a coin flip.

Monty Python, the British comedy troupe, got it at least partially wrong. Contrary to the claim of their legendary skit involving Catholic cardinals, a matronly lady, and torture in a comfy chair, one can expect the Spanish Inquisition. An Albequerque oncologist has found evidence of Spain's infamous campaign to rid itself and its territories of heretics by testing Hispanic women in northern New Mexico for BRCA1/BRCA2 mutations.

A new web-based automated mail and phone system that helps medical secretaries remind women to schedule a mammogram could boost breast cancer screening rates, according to Mayo Clinic researchers.

Some women who carry a strong genetic susceptibility to cancer have consented to the surgical removal of their breasts to avoid likely cancer. The combination of reliable genetic testing, however, and close surveillance using breast MRI, mammography, and ultrasound now offers an alternative to such excision or the acceptance of a strong possibility of cancer.

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis, a rare but deadly disease linked to gadolinium-based MR contrast media, emerged as a hot topic this spring.

Dr. Susan Bookheimer and colleagues at the University of California, Los Angeles have confirmed through functional MRI that levels of brain function are low or nonexistent in autistic patients viewing stimuli designed to provoke emotional activity, according to studies presented at the 2007 International Meeting for Autism Research.

With the incidence of arthritis and other musculoskeletal diseases set to double in the next two decades, clinicians will welcome new quantitative 3T MRI strategies for assessing cartilage and chondral lesions.

Many problems associated with the gastrointestinal tract occur in young patients. The use of repeated CT scans to evaluate these patients over the course of years is questionable, however, given the repeated exposure to ionizing radiation. MRI is proving to be a reliable tool to image the small bowel as well as the colon, according to Dr. Thomas C. Lauenstein, an assistant professor of radiology at Emory University.

How much would you pay to avoid spending the rest of your life in prison: $2 million? How about 30 years in prison: $1 million? Even if we lowball it and say a radiologist makes about $250,000 a year, 30 years of your life would be worth more like $7.5 million. What if I told you it would cost you only $10,000. A steal, right?

Groin pain, whether acute or chronic, is a common clinical presentation that can be caused by a diverse array of disorders involving different anatomic structures. This makes definitive diagnosis difficult for even the most experienced clinician. Imaging can be invaluable in both localizing and characterizing otherwise uncertain groin pathology.