MRI

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.

Diffusion-weighted imaging can help radiologists significantly improve the accuracy of conventional MR imaging of peritoneal metastases.

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.

Real-time 3D echocardiography can measure mitral annular size and function as accurately as MRI, according to Egyptian researchers. They studied patients with both hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and dilated cardiomyopathy.

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.