Percutaneous Biopsy in Older Patients

Image-guided percutaneous biopsy is a safe and accurate procedure for patients 80 years and older, but the results don’t always lead to treatment, according to a new Mayo Clinic study. The findings appear in the January issue of the Journal of Vascular and Interventional Radiology.

Looking at data from nearly 14,000 cases, researchers compared image-guided biopsy results of 722 elderly patients with those of the remaining 13,012 patients under 80 years old. The use of biopsy results for treatment were also evaluated against a randomly-selected group of younger patients who were … read more »

Multidetector CT has resulted in improved image quality and ability to obtain thinner images and high-quality reformatted images. Yet despite the advances, every radiology department must grapple with which thickness images should be interpreted, and weigh factors such as sensitivity and specificity, interpretation time, and storage costs. … read more »

Some elderly women with dementia may be getting regular mammograms even though the screenings may never do them any good, according to a new study published in the American Journal of Public Health.

Depending on a woman’s overall health, the risks of mammograms and subsequent procedures can sometimes outweigh the tests’ benefits. Because of this, the American Cancer Society and other groups say any woman with a life expectancy of less than four to five years should not be given mammogram screening. The guidelines do not address dementia.

Scientists in the study … read more »

“For ruling out coronary artery disease, CT is more accurate than MRI,” say German researchers in a report published online in the Annals of Internal Medicine. Both CT and MRI have been considered reliable ways to rule out coronary disease  in low- to moderate-risk patients, thus making invasive and potentially risky tests unneeded.

Searching through data on Medline and other sources, researchers in Berlin, Germany reviewed studies that compared CT scans  and MRIs with conventional coronary angiography, most all of which were done in European university hospitals.  Significant coronary disease was … read more »

In response to concerns over radiation overexposure, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will require all makers of CT scanners used at NIH clinics to use software that tracks and logs a patient’s radiation dose.

The number of CT scans in the U.S. has skyrocketed over the last couple of decades—up from 3 million in 1980 to 70 million in 2007—and researchers and reporters have been questioning their safety.

“The cancer risk from low-dose medical radiation tests is largely unknown,” said David A. Bluemke, MD, director of Radiology and Imaging Sciences at … read more »

A joint summit on optimizing image quality and managing CT radiation will be held in April, following several reports on the dangers of radiation therapy. The summit is organized by the American Association of Physicists in Medicine and funded by the American College of Radiology (ACR) and other groups.

Late last year, the FDA issued a safety investigation of CT brain perfusion scans after a radiation overexposure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles. And in January, a series of New York Times articles reported on radiation therapy accidents.

“Ideally, each CT … read more »

The frequency of upper gastrointestinal (UGI) bleeding has decreased with the decreasing prevalence of peptic ulcer disease.

In the elderly, the incidence of upper gastrointestinal bleeding remains high, however, probably because of widespread use of NSAIDs and aspirin.

Overall, 70% to 80% of UGI bleeding stops voluntarily, and the remainder is treated endoscopically.

If the patient rebleeds, which occurs 10% to 30% of the time, or if endoscopic therapy fails, then rebleeds are treated by surgery or transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE). … read more »

The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) responded earlier this week to a New York Times article reporting on errors made during radiation therapy. Focusing on radiation accidents in the state of New York, the Jan. 24 Times story warned readers that radiation therapy, when administered incorrectly, can kill and maim patients. The story went on to say that it’s impossible to track the number of such accidents in the U.S. because no one government agency oversees radiation therapy, some states don’t require accidents to be reported, and no central … read more »

A recent study was conducted to assess the accuracy of 3.0-T contrast-enhanced MR angiography (MRA) in evaluating patients with arterial hypertension and suspected renal artery stenosis.

This prospective analysis was comprised of 29 patients. The results indicate that contrast-enhanced 3.0-T MR angiography is reliable in excluding renal artery stenosis. … read more »

The growing use of CT scans before appendectomies seems to help lower the number of unneeded surgeries in women of childbearing age, according to a study in the February issue of Radiology.

“We found that rising utiization of preoperative CT over the past decade, along with advances in CT technology, coincided with a significant decrease in negative appendectomies among women 45 years and younger,” said Courtney A. Coursey, MD, a radiologist at Emory University in Atlanta and co-author of the study.

Diagnosis of acute appendicities isn’t always clear, and gynecological issues can … read more »

A new computer program can measure a vital part of the knee in images faster than radiologists can interpret the same images, according to researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus. Scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of Osteoarthritis and Cartilage, the study focuses on the meniscus, two C-shaped disks between the thigh and the shinbone that provide cushioning, distribute weight, and reduce friction.

Usually interpretation of such images, which requires radiologists to measure certain parts of an image  with rulers, takes up to 20 minutes. The computer program does … read more »

Personal digital assistants (PDAs), iPods, and other common handheld devices may help emergency radiologists detect orthopedic injuries and brain hemorrhages, according to a study published in the February issue of The American Journal of Roentgenology. The finding suggest radiologists may soon use handheld devices for teleconsultations and emergency procedures.

“Although the benefits of handheld devices in the daily routine of clinicians is not under debate, the accurate display of medical images is disputed and has not been extensively researched,” said Rachel J. Toomey, lead study author and researcher at the University … read more »

The objective of a recent study was to perform a retrospective review of lesions categorized as “probably benign” initially and then diagnosed as malignancy on follow-up mammograms.

Methodology
The study included 129 mammographic lesions categorized as “probably benign” initially, but were subsequently diagnosed as malignant, and 129 control mammographic lesions that were categorized as “probably benign” and deemed to be stable and benign after 3-year follow-up.

A retrospective review of features of lesions and characteristics of patients was performed by a breast imaging specialist in community practice.

Results
258 lesions that were categorized as “probably … read more »

Many patients say they’re dissatisfied with the way they receive radiology test results and want more access, along with clear, detailed explanations, according to researchers at Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The study was published last fall in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

In the study, researchers worked with two focus groups made up of outpatients who had recently had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); one group had normal results and the other had abnormal ones. Working separately with the two groups, a facilitator asked open-ended questions about … read more »