MRI

The venerable DICOM CT and MR image objects are now more than 10 years old, outdated by comparison with the rapidly advancing capabilities of CT and MR technologies.

A U.K. multicenter study has shown that a combination of MRI and mammography offers the best way of detecting breast cancer in women with a high genetic risk of the disease. The results add more weight to arguments for routine breast MRI for women carrying BRCA mutations and possibly for omitting mammography altogether

Increasing use of clinical 3T MR imaging has prompted the American College of Radiology to tweak its accreditation process to include the higher field strength magnets.

Stealthy magnetophages and bacterial contrast agents were among the brain candies enjoyed last week by a community starved for something new. These treats were rich in potential, creamy smooth in creativity, and a welcome change from the meat and potatoes diet that has been fed to the MR community for the past 20 years.

Brain injuries associated with premature birth could be offset somewhat by neonatal therapies designed to help preemies survive and thrive, according to an Australian study using volumetric MR.

Diffusion-weighted MR imaging can conclusively describe abnormalities of the lacrimal glands in patients with Sjögren’s syndrome, according to a study from Japan in the April issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology. Although the disease is uncommon and often benign, it can lead to pulmonary and kidney infections, and even lymphoma.

Despite shortcomings, contrast-enhanced MR angiography prevailed over digital subtraction angiography often enough in a head-to-head trial to become the modality of choice for investigations of suspected infrapopliteal occlusive disease at New York-Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Two functional MRI studies presented this week at the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine meeting offered innovative views about human mental development.

Single-voxel proton MR spectroscopy could save many women from the pain and expense of unnecessary breast biopsy.

What goes around has come around in The Wall Street Journal’s coverage of diagnostic imaging self-referral practices. Its article Monday (May 2) on how some companies and doctors cash in on outpatient CT and MRI sounded the same chord as its November 1991 investigative report on physician joint venturing of outpatient imaging services.

MR safety information reports bare-wire and drug-eluting coronary stents are safe at 3T or less.

The notion that stroke is a male disease may be putting women at risk. A recent study found women are less likely than men to receive certain diagnostic tests for stroke.

Researchers in Belgium have found that cooperation and consensus between radiologists and pathologists bolsters the diagnosis of musculoskeletal soft-tissue tumors when MR and histology results are contradictory.

The amygdala, a brain structure critical in making judgments, is markedly smaller in cocaine addicts, according to a study conducted at Harvard Medical School. While the results are preliminary, they may indicate that reduced amygdala volumes predispose people to cocaine addiction.

Diagnosis, imaging, and management of brain tumors have all improved in the century since the first successful brain tumor resection. Technological advances are largely responsible, and not the least of these is digital imaging.

Parallel imaging in breast MR improves lesion characterization and significantly reduces scan time, allowing for shorter bilateral examinations, according to researchers at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, NJ.

Fueled by refinements in practice, advances in research, and explorations of new techniques such as 3T MR spectroscopy, the utility of breast MR is on the rise. Diagnostic Imaging spoke with Dr. Elizabeth Morris, director of breast MRI at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City to obtain an overview of the status and potential of this modality.

You’re doing 50 mph in a 35 mph zone. Suddenly, out of the corner of your eye, you notice what look like the black-and-white markings of a police car. Your heart rate speeds up, and you automatically take your foot off the gas pedal. The anterior cingulate cortex region in the brain may have prompted that speedy reaction, according to researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.

MR imaging diagnoses endometriosis so reliably that it outperformed the surgical gold standard for confirming its presence, according to an Oxford University study.

A study of whole-body MR and CT as possible alternatives to planar nuclear medicine bone scanning has found that whole-body MRI depicts spinal bone metastases that escape detection with 16-slice CT.

Under the best of circumstances, 3T imaging of the prostate with a body coil can approximate the level of detail and sensitivity available at 1.5T with an endorectal coil. Researchers hope that with a 3T-oriented endorectal coil they will finally be able to take advantage of 3T's higher resolution in a challenging portion of the anatomy.

Studies so time-intensive that they have thus far been impractical may soon enter the mainstream as a result of enhancements to GE Healthcare’s Excite data pipeline.

Cardiac CT is moving closer to competing with MR in imaging damage to the myocardium caused by infarction.

Primovist improves MR detection of liver lesions and can change the surgical management of patients in a substantial number of cases, according to the results of two studies presented at the ECR Friday. The data were part of a symposium sponsored by Schering, the developer of the liver-specific agent.

Despite advances in the diagnosis and treatment of rectal cancer, five-year survival rates continue to hover around the 50% mark. For cancers limited to the bowel wall, however, the survival rate climbs to 83%, highlighting the importance of early detection and treatment. Almost all rectal cancers are primary adenocarcinomas, and 90% of them occur after the age of 50.

RADPAC, the American College of Radiology's political fundraising arm, rated among the top five health industry political action committees in terms of financial contributions last year, having bestowed nearly $1 million in the last election cycle. If this is any indication of the ACR's pull on Capitol Hill, the landscape for diagnostic imaging could look vastly different as Congress debates controversial proposals aimed at curbing the rising cost of imaging.

Being a specialist in cardiovascular imaging, I have followed the development of cardiac topics at the ECR since 1991. Tremendous changes have occurred over this period.

Provided cost-effectiveness issues can be resolved, whole-body imaging appears destined to enter everyday clinical practice as a comprehensive initial scanning method in oncology and other areas, according to an ECR presentation Friday.

The introduction of high-field MR systems for intraoperative guidance brings neurointervention to new levels. Although it is pricey and complex compared with previous technology, high-field MR may eventually prove cost-effective by helping neurosurgeons achieve better results, reduce patient complications, and cultivate partnerships with other specialists through better scanner utilization.

MR mammography benefits from the reputation of its cornerstone modality's ability to detect soft-tissue abnormalities, particularly cancer. And it presents the opportunity for patients to avoid the discomfort of breast compression.