MRI

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.

For the third year running, editors from Diagnostic Imaging have landed in Vienna to provide Webcast coverage of the European Congress of Radiology. Although the RSNA is becoming more international every year, it can’t capture the unique European perspective presented at this annual event. Our daily news stories will highlight research from the studies presented at the ECR, but much more is available at the Webcast.

Aviation headphones adapted for use in the MR suite can cut the decibel level in half, according to a poster presented at the 2004 RSNA meeting.

The wider use of 3T MR scanners, combined with the increasing number of patients with implants, is prompting concern among regulators in the U.K. They question the compatibility of new-generation scanners and medical implants.

Free-breathing 3D MR sequences using the prospective acquisition correction with navigator echoes (PACE) technique can successfully image patients with biliary and/or pancreatic diseases, according to researchers at St. Louis University Hospital.

Enter Ripley’s Odditorium on the Web, and you are greeted by the man who smokes through his eye, the human plank, Fire Eater, and Rubber Man. These are not the sort of folks most people meet in their daily lives. They establish Ripley’s Believe It Or Not as the world’s authority on unbelievable, odd, weird, and unusual things.

Whole-body screening centers fail to provide balanced advertisements, often touting unsupported benefits while downplaying known risks. Although not calling for federal legislation, researchers say the industry needs better oversight to protect consumers.

CT is moving beyond detection and quantification of coronary artery calcium to grading of coronary stenoses, identifying not only vulnerable plaques but, more important, vulnerable patients. Yet its ultimate role in predicting risk of cardiac events remains unclear.

A head-to-head clinical comparison of 3T and 1.5T MR imaging indicates that higher field strength produces no better than equivalent results for the diagnosis of coronary artery disease.

The FDA announced on Jan. 14 that it would approve the MR blood pool imaging agent MS-325, but only if Epix Medical completed additional clinical studies that demonstrate efficacy.

The prognostic value of cardiac MR was a prominent theme last week at the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance meeting in San Francisco. Dr. Rishi Kaushal, a CMR researcher at the University of California, Los Angeles, presented results demonstrating that myocardial infarction size measured with cine and delayed-enhancement MR can predict the risk of mortality posed by the injury.

The permeability of gadolinium and the morphology of breast cancer can reliably predict whether those tumors will benefit from neoadjuvant chemotherapy, according to research presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium in December.

Advanced computer modeling and artificial intelligence algorithms allow physicians treating prostate cancer to zero in on active tumor cells by mapping MR spectroscopy data onto ultrasound therapeutic images.

You're offered tickets to the Super Bowl, but you have an anniversary getaway planned for that week. Whatever your choice, two separate brain areas will battle it out.