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Alzheimer’s disease researchers may be able to reduce the time and expense associated with clinical trials, according to early results from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), a public-private research partnership organized by the National Institutes of Health.

Researchers from Germany and the U.S. released findings from the first study showing images of the human brain acquired simultaneously by the two modalities of a hybrid PET/MR scanner. They released the data at the 2007 Society of Nuclear Medicine meeting being held in Washington, DC.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, patients with life-threatening adverse reactions to contrast media may be truly allergic to certain agents, the same way people are allergic to dust or pollen. The evidence so far is preliminary, but if it is borne out by further research, the finding would have significant implications for the administration of contrast agents.

If ever a generation has been obsessed with aging, it's the baby-boom generation. Thirty years' worth of fads in exercise, diets, fashion, and personal grooming have all been directed at slowing the aging process or hiding its effects. Well, boomers can run (or jog, or bike, or yoga), but they won't be able to hide from what radiologists may soon be able to tell about the age of their insides.

Peripheral MR angiography is improved on first-pass imaging due to the high relaxivity of the MR blood pool agent Vasovist. The extended imaging window provided by the agent supports steady-state imaging not possible with other MR contrast media, producing ultrahigh spatial resolution MRA (second pass) demonstrating both arteries and veins in detail.

Diffusion-weighted MR of the bone may indicate within days whether and how well patients with metastatic cancer of the bone are responding to treatment. The software to support such conclusions is now being developed for commercial release later this year by Cedara Software.

The two most prestigious poster awards were bestowed on research teams from the radiology department of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, at the ISMRM-ESMRMB congress on Thursday. Another top prize went to a team from Stanford University in California.

The first brain images produced simultaneously with a prototype MR/PET scanner were shown at the Siemens Medical Solutions booth and in a scientific session in Berlin. The device, currently in development at a Siemens lab, integrates a PET detector into the bore of a 3T scanner.

MR-guided biopsies at 3T are showing great promise in prostate cancer because of their speed and high tumor detection rate in patients with rising PSA levels and previous negative biopsies, according to a leading research team from the Netherlands. They also do well in patients who have had previous radiotherapy sessions.