MRI

Europeans are advised to follow steps outlined in the U.S. to prevent a life-threatening skin condition linked with gadolinium-enhanced MRI or MR angiography, according to a new editorial in European Radiology. The article stresses the importance of caution in high-risk patients for all gadolinium agents, not just the ones that have been associated with reactions, because the condition’s causes are still unclear.

Technical advances in MRI have paved the way for functional imaging of the abdomen, moving beyond simple morphological evaluation of disease and in some cases proving superior to multislice CT.

Multislice CT has steamed into our radiology departments like a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier. In its wake, an entire support industry has sprung up to help us quench our ever-increasing thirst for more and better slices.

MRI has proven to be a reliable, fast, noninvasive means for assessing deep fat in adults. It can also be effective in high-risk pre-adolescents and adolescents, according to a study in the March issue of Radiology.

So what do you use your 3T system for?Five years ago, that question would have been a good opening for a detailed discussion onthe strengths and weaknesses of high-field MRI.

Advances in coil technology and the development of tailored sequences have made 3T a versatile alternative to 1.5T. But it will be a long time until it displaces 1.5T as the workhorse of MR.

Recently published studies reflect the versatility of cardiac MR, multislice CT, rubidium-82 PET/CT, and stress echocardiography for shedding diagnostic light on various aspects of coronary artery disease and other cardiac conditions.

The American College of Radiology has added cardiac MRI to its growing menu of facility accreditation programs.

The current fiasco over the European Union Directive on electromagnetic fields illustrates exactly why the newly formed European Society of Radiology (ESR) is so urgently needed.

Over the last several years, imagers and patients have witnessed passionate debate, sometimes even legal action, involving breast MR imaging. Dissent has finally given way to consensus over a few key points: Breast MRI is meant to complement, not replace, mammography or sonography, and it's a handy tool to guide biopsies, assess disease before surgery, and evaluate treatment response.

Heart failure is a common disorder with high morbidity and mortality. It is the only major cardiovascular disease whose prevalence and incidence are not only on the increase but predicted to reach epidemic proportions.

European legislation aimed at protecting workers from harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation, such as that emitted by mobile phones and electrical power lines, could unwittingly change the course of MR imaging if efforts to amend the law fail, according to Prof. Gabriel Krestin, who spoke in March at a press conference at the European Congress of Radiology.

A multicenter prospective trial involving 1210 patients in Europe has found that the odds of a favorable clinical outcome were one-third higher for acute stroke patients who received diffusion/perfusion MRI to determine the appropriateness of tPA thrombolysis than for patients assessed with conventional noncontrast CT.

The feasibility of 3T MR as a general-purpose clinical imaging modality is an ongoing controversy. Although whole-body 3T MRI has been available for several years, most systems to date have been sold to university hospitals and research facilities.

Dr. Harald Ostensen, a radiologist from Norway whose reach extends all over the world, has received the European Magnetic Resonance Forum Foundation's inaugural Humanitarian Award.

Female infertility accounts for two-thirds of all infertility problems, and it can be due to tubal, ovarian, and/or uterine factors. Tuboperitoneal disease is thought to be a contributing factor to infertility for up to 40% of infertile couples.

High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) has shown promise as a pain management strategy in patients with bone metastases for whom other treatments are ineffective, according to researchers at the Sheba Medical Center in Israel (Ann Oncol 2007;18:163-167).

Dr. Harald Ostensen, a radiologist from Norway whose reach extends all over the world, has received the European Magnetic Resonance Forum Foundation's inaugural Humanitarian Award. The award will be presented to him next month at a private ceremony in Potsdam, Germany.

For the first time, data accrued over a decade show that the involvement of the pharmaceutical industry in clinical breast cancer research may have significantly influenced study design, focus, and results, according to a study published in the April 1 issue of Cancer.

When I started in radiology, near the end of the Jurassic Period, musculoskeletal radiology did not exist. Skeletal radiology was a popular field, but we had no way to image musculos. Like everything in radiology, this subspecialty has been changed by CT and MRI.

Whole-body MRI should now be regarded as the test of choice for staging skeletal metastatic disease, and not the traditional bone scan. A head-to-toe MRI exam is more sensitive than scintigraphy for detecting bony metastases, and provides additional diagnostic information, according to Dr. Stephen Eustace, a professor of musculoskeletal radiology at Cappagh National Orthopaedic and Mater Misericordiae Hospitals in Dublin.

Women's health and imaging's role in it are of enormous social, economic, and psychological importance. Recognition of this importance prompted the University of Rochester Medical Center's imaging sciences department to hold its first annual Women's Health and Imaging in a Digital Environment conference in San Antonio, TX, in January 2007.

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.

When imaging centers first entered the market, they provided MRI and other imaging services to patients who were referred by local physicians. These physicians selected imaging centers based on quality and convenience for their patients.

MRI will continue to evolve and will remain the dominant imaging technology in medicine, according to a leading world expert on the modality.

PET imaging to diagnose brain tumor and monitor recurrence after treatment is an evolving field of research. Investigators at the Radiological Society of North America meeting presented studies revolving around five tracers, as well as various permutations of imaging combinations such as FDG-PET with MR spectroscopy.

Urinary bladder carcinoma is the second most common malignant tumor in the urogenital tract. This cancer causes 5000 deaths each year in Germany and 10,400 in the U.S., affecting men more often than women.

Patchy insurance reimbursement for breast MRI screening in high-risk women could become a thing of the past now that the American Cancer Society is backing MRI for routine use in select patient groups. In addition, results of an American College of Radiology Imaging Network trial just released support the use of MRI in breast cancer treatment planning.

Two developments this week are expected to give a big boost to breast MRI utilization. Updated American Cancer Society guidelines advise adding annual breast MRI to screening in very high-risk women. And a massive new American College of Radiology Imaging Network trial has documented MRI’s value in assessing women with cancer in a single breast to detect or rule out disease in the opposite breast.

Nobel Laureate Paul Lauterbur, Ph.D, a scientist remembered as an inventor of MRI, died Tuesday at his home in Urbana, IL. Lauterbur, 77, had been in poor health for several years. His death was attributed to kidney failure.