MRI

At last year’s European Congress of Radiology, research regarding 64-slice CT angiography was focused on its feasibility. This year, feasibility is no longer an issue. Rather, a wealth of evidence is being presented attesting to the fact that coronary CTA is a powerful and useful tool to evaluate patients suspected of coronary artery disease who are at intermediate risk. It is within this niche patient group -- those who would otherwise undergo invasive catheter angiography -- that coronary CTA is finding an affordalbe home.

Around 10% to 15% of patients in the developed world die following acute stroke, 30% to 60% survive with long-term disabilities, and 20% to 25% require a hospital stay. These frightening statistics could be improved if radically different strategies were adopted for managing stroke patients, according to speakers at an overflowing state-of-the-art symposium.

MR imaging has great value in guiding treatment of breast cancer patients and is well worth the extra expense when used appropriately, according to radiologists speaking at an ECR session on Sunday.

Patients with compressive or entrapment neuropathies of the elbow, forearm, wrist, or hand may go straight to sonographic examination. In skilled hands, ultrasound can produce images that reveal pathology as well as MR images can. But while the diagnosis of a tendon rupture is a relatively simple matter with ultrasound, to assess specific neurological injuries, such as nerve entrapment and compression, the technique requires considerable experience, expertise, and patience, said Dr. Javier Beltran of the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.

In treating an underlying problem in the head and neck, potential complications must be identified and graded in the radiologist’s report for correct follow-up. Radiologists may be able to solve a clinical problem directly with a single approach such as ultrasound. But other modalities must be used when ultrasound fails due to the depth of a lesion or air within the lumen, making evaluation of the head and neck complex, according to researchers from Italy, Austria, and Switzerland.

If patients suffering from malignant disease are to get the right treatment and an accurate prognosis, accurate assessment of metastases is crucial. Whole-body MR is a good tool that can play a supporting role for detection of metastases, but it is not as reliable as gold standard PET/CT, according to research presented on Saturday.

Functional MRI is increasingly being used preoperatively to improve the safety of surgery that will remove brain tumors or locate epileptogenic foci by mapping motor, somatosensory, and language functions, at least in larger teaching and university hospitals.

Dementia affects between 1% and 6% of people over the age of 65, and 10% to 20% of those over 80. So as more and more individuals survive into old age, the absolute number of dementia sufferers is likely to soar in the years ahead.

Dementia affects between 1% and 6% of people over the age of 65, and 10% to 20% of those over 80. So as more and more individuals survive into old age, the absolute number of dementia sufferers is likely to soar in the years ahead.

A new six-year retrospective study has charted incidence of a rare and debilitating skin condition after gadolinium-enhanced MR in patients on kidney dialysis. Researchers found that nephrogenic systemic fibrosis may not surface for a very long time after gadolinium exposure and other unknown factors may play a role in disease development.

European legislation aimed at protecting workers from harmful effects of electromagnetic radiation, such as those 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 Dr. Gabriel P. Krestin, who spoke today at a press conference at the European Congress of Radiology.

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, according to Dr. Jonathan Gillard of Cambridge University Hospital in the U.K.

Tapping into the consumer subconscious with surveys and focus groups is more art than science, but Dr. Christine Born, a fellow of radiology at the Ludwig Maximilians Universitat Munchen, wants to switch that equation around using functional MRI to understand the processes that accompany positive and negative associations with products.

Youth will rise to the fore at today's European Congress of Radiology. At just 51 years of age, Prof. Christian Herold is one of the youngest ECR presidents and the first from Austria. He admits that he represents the new generation of leaders.

MRI has proven to be a reliable, fast, noninvasive means for assessing deep fat in adults. Now new research from the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, in St. Louis supports MRI’s effectiveness in measuring intra-abdominal fat in pre-adolescents and adolescents.

Patients with any stage of renal disease should not receive the MR gadolinium contrast agent Omniscan, to help prevent a rare and life-threatening skin disease, according to new, comprehensive MR Safe Practice Guidelines from the American College of Radiology.

The American College of Radiology has seen regional victories related to its campaign to have insurers enact methods to guarantee quality and appropriateness. In January, the UnitedHealth Group, which serves 70 million individuals nationwide, announced it wants outpatient imaging facilities in all 50 states to be accredited by next March.

Orthopedic surgeons who must operate in a 3D world have been wrestling long enough with 2D data. By midsummer, Orthocrat expects to take them beyond the x and y planes with a new development, TraumaCad 3D.

Much of our reporting in Diagnostic Imaging focuses on existing clinical practice or on new developments that advance practice. Now and then, however, we'll write articles covering research that is far from clinical practice but does point to new directions that could lead to significant advancements.

Researchers may agree that cardiac MR is the modality of choice for predicting left ventricular remodeling, but they remain split on which contrast-enhanced CMR technique produces the most accurate prediction.

At a recent symposium on multislice CT, a physicist kicked off her lecture by presenting a big-screen image of a fetus inside a pregnant woman. Then she asked her audience a provocative question, "Is this a bad thing?"

Physician Rudolf Virchow introduced microscopic examination to classic pathology about midway through the 19th century. This helped to establish modern pathology. Although autopsies are now recognized as valuable medical procedures, the core methodology has not changed for many years.

The presence of common structural abnormalities identified by MRI in chronic nonspecific low back pain patients has no bearing on their responses to conservative treatment, according to a signficant study published in the journal Spine.

In October 2006 the Society of Radiologists in Ultrasound brought diagnostic ultrasound's leadership together in San Francisco. Two days of lectures and debate led to a strategy statement defining a plan to maintain radiology's leadership over the modality.

Scottish researchers have opened a way to an accurate predictive test that might help prevent the onset of schizophrenia.