August 2005 News Headlines

These are radiology news updates from other sites

Date this page was last updated: 01/07/2007 03:03:03 PM

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August 31, 2005   A Comparison of Visceral and Somatic Pain Processing in the Human Brainstem Using Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging - Journal of Neuroscience Evidence from both human and animal studies has demonstrated a key role for brainstem centers in the control of ascending nociceptive input. Nuclei such as the rostral ventromedial medulla and periaqueductal gray (PAG) are able to both inhibit and facilitate the nociceptive response. It has been proposed that altered descending modulation may underlie many of the chronic pain syndromes...   Focally Increased Activity in the Lateral Aspect of the Mid Cervical Spine on Bone Scintigraphy Is Almost Always Benign in Nature - Clinical Nuclear Medicine Abnormal bone scan findings in the spine are often nonspecific. The confidence level for the differential diagnosis between metastases and benign or degenerative changes may vary depending on their appearance, location or intensity...Conclusion: The typical "mid-cervical-lateral-focus" pattern is extremely unlikely to represent metastases (virtually 0% in patients without other obvious metastases). This knowledge helps exclude metastases on bone scans...   Odontoid lateral mass asymmetry: do we over-investigate? - Emergency Medicine Journal This study aimed to evaluate the necessity for further radiological investigation in patients with suspected traumatic rotatory subluxation of the atlanto-axial complex on plain radiography following acute cervical trauma and outline guidelines for assessment of patients with atlanto-axial asymmetry on plain radiography...   Pediatric surface osteosarcoma: Clinical, pathologic, and radiologic features - Pediatric Blood & Cancer Conclusion: The histologic grade predicts the clinical behavior of pediatric surface OS. Complete resection is the treatment of choice regardless of tumor subtype. Whereas chemotherapy is not indicated for parosteal OS, its role in periosteal OS remains controversial...   Indirect reduction using a simple quadrilateral frame in the application of distal tibial LCP-technical tips - Injury Minimally invasive percutaneous plate osteosynthesis (MIPPO) has become widely practiced in the operative management of articular, metaphyseal and transitional zone fractures. Early indirect reduction of such fractures of the distal tibia can be achieved easily using a simple quadrilateral frame. This enables CT scanning where required and allows the soft tissues to be assessed with ease...     August 30, 2005   MRI of Anterior Cruciate Ligament Injuries and Associated Findings in the Pediatric Knee: Changes with Skeletal Maturation - American Journal of Roentgenology Conclusion: ACL injuries in skeletally immature patients are seen more often in boys. Tibial avulsion fractures and partial tears are more common in younger, less rigid skeletons that may absorb the forces of trauma. As children mature, complete ACL tears and associated injuries occur in frequencies approaching those patterns seen in adults. Similarly, skeletally mature girls are affected more often than mature boys... August 29, 2005   Osteosarcoma near joints: Assessment and implications - Journal of Surgical Oncology Conclusions: Joint involvement by osteosarcoma is uncommon, with articular cartilage being a relative barrier to tumor invasion. If pre-operative MRI does not show definite evidence of intra-articular tumor involvement, it is likely to be safe to proceed with intra-articular resection...   Vertebral Bone Mineral Density, Marrow Perfusion, and Fat Content in Healthy Men and Men with Osteoporosis: Dynamic Contrast-enhanced MR Imaging and MR Spectroscopy - Radiology Conclusion: Subjects with osteoporosis have decreased vertebral marrow perfusion and increased marrow fat compared with these parameters in subjects with osteopenia. Similarly, subjects with osteopenia have decreased vertebral marrow perfusion and increased marrow fat compared with these parameters in subjects with normal bone density...   Posterior Cruciate Ligament Recess and Normal Posterior Capsular Insertional Anatomy: MR Imaging of Cadaveric Knees - Radiology To analyze the normal pattern of fluid accumulation adjacent to the posterior cruciate ligament and anatomic variations of joint capsule insertion sites in the posterosuperior corner of the human knee by using magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in cadaveric specimens...Conclusion: The posterior cruciate ligament recess has specific characteristics that allow its identification: communication with the medial compartment of the knee and absence of the adjacent joint capsule...   Optimization of MDCT of the Wrist to Achieve Diagnostic Image Quality with Minimum Radiation Exposure - American Journal of Roentgenology Conclusion: MDCT at the described optimal settings allows significant dosage reduction without sacrificing image quality. An acquisition and reconstruction thickness of 0.5 mm results in the best depiction of anatomic detail. A reconstruction thickness of 1.0 mm with a reconstruction interval of 0.5 mm represents a good trade-off between noise and resolution when using low-dose protocols...     August 26, 2005   Diffuse FDG Shoulder Uptake on PET Is Associated with Clinical Findings of Osteoarthritis - American Journal of Roentgenology Conclusion: The pattern of FDG uptake within the shoulder may point to specific clinical entities. While focal uptake is less reliably related to clinical findings, diffuse uptake is associated with signs and symptoms of osteoarthritis or bursitis... August 25, 2005   Increased Subcortical Patellar Signal Intensity at T2-weighted MR Imaging: A Subacute Finding after Knee Injury - Radiology To investigate the temporal prevalence of a rim of increased signal intensity in the subcortical part of the patella at T2-weighted magnetic resonance (MR) imaging after arthroscopic knee surgery or knee injury...Conclusion: Increased T2-weighted signal intensity in the subcortical part of the patella appears to be a subacute transient MR finding seen after knee surgery or injury... August 24, 2005   16 detector multislice CT versus skeletal scintigraphy in the diagnosis of wrist fractures: value of quantification of 99Tcm-MDP uptake - British Journal of Radiology To compare the measured uptake of 99Tcm-methylene diphosphonate (99Tcm-MDP) in those scaphoid fractures seen on both 16 detector multislice CT and scintigraphy, with those seen only on scintigraphy...It is speculated whether these discordant fractures with less 99Tcm-MDP uptake may represent a less severe injury such as bone bruise...     August 23, 2005   Proteus Syndrome: A Rare Cause of Hemihypertrophy and Macrodactyly on Bone Scanning - Clinical Nuclear Medicine Proteus syndrome is a rare, sporadic genetic disorder characterized by overgrowth of multiple different tissues in a mosaic pattern. It is associated with connective tissue nevi, epidermal nevi, disproportionate overgrowth of multiple tissues, vascular malformations, characteristic tumors, and specific facial anomalies. Joseph Merrick, popularly known as the Elephant Man, is now believed to have suffered from Proteus syndrome...   Detection of Bone Marrow Metastases by FDG-PET and Missed by Bone Scintigraphy in Widespread Melanoma - Clinical Nuclear Medicine The optimal management of patients with melanoma requires accurate imaging techniques that can screen the entire body for metastases. One of the most used tests for this purpose is bone scintigraphy. PET has been reported to be more sensitive than bone scintigraphy in some malignancies. In our case, FDG-PET was also superior to bone scintigraphy in detecting the extent of skeletal disease in a patient with melanoma... August 22, 2005   Osteoblastic Osteosarcoma of the Mandible: Findings on Tc-99m HMDP Bone and Ga-67 Citrate Scintigraphy - Clinical Nuclear Medicine A 25-year-old woman presented with a disturbance in the opening of her mouth 5 months before admission. On admission, painful swelling of the right preauricular region was revealed. Computed tomography (CT) demonstrated a soft tissue density mass around the right condylar process of the mandible... August 19, 2005   A Systematic Approach to Magnetic Resonance Imaging Interpretation of Sports Medicine Injuries of the Shoulder - American Journal of Sports Medicine This article will provide a systematic approach to the interpretation of a magnetic resonance examination of the shoulder. The normal imaging appearance of each anatomical structure will be described, and the most useful pulse sequences and imaging planes for the evaluation of each structure will be discussed. Finally, the signs of injury will be described and illustrated...   Radiographic hip osteoarthritis and acetabular dysplasia in Turkish men and women - Rheumatology International The prevalence of hip osteoarthritis (OA) varies with different regions, and the reasons for this remain unclear. Mild acetabular dysplasia has been considered a risk factor for hip OA, but recent studies have not confirmed this. In Turkey, the prevalence of significant radiographic hip OA, i.e. Kellgren-Lawrence (K-L) grades 3 and 4, is lower than in Western populations. We aimed to investigate the potential effects of radiographic measures of acetabular dysplasia on this discrepancy...     August 18, 2005   Thermal imaging - a hotspot for the future?: A case report - Injury Extra Thermal Imaging has been considered for use in a wide range of medical circumstances. It has been shown to be useful in aiding diagnosis and guiding management of foot injuries in military recruits when combined with clinical examination, radiographs and bone scanning...   Combined T1-T2 mapping of human femoro-tibial cartilage with turbo-mixed imaging at 1.5T - Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (Wiley) To evaluate the influence of Gd-DTPA on cartilage T2 mapping using turbo-mixed (tMIX) imaging, and to show the possible usefulness of the tMIX technique for simultaneously acquiring T1 and T2 information in cartilage...Conclusion: The absolute difference of pre- and postcontrast T2 is very small and is ruled out using the back-calculation algorithm. Combined T1-T2 tMIX cartilage mapping is a valuable alternative for separate T1 and T2 cartilage mapping... August 17, 2005   The use of radiological guidelines to achieve a sustained reduction in the number of radiographic examinations of the cervical spine, lumbar spine and knees performed for GPs - Clinical Radiology Conclusion: The use of referral guidelines, reinforced by request checking and clinical management algorithms, can produce a dramatic and sustained reduction in the number of radiographs of the cervical spine, lumbar spine and knees performed for GPs...   Tuberculosis of the spine and spinal cord - European Journal of Radiology Tuberculosis remains an important problem in underdeveloped countries, especially in individuals under the age of 20 years. In developed countries, there was an increase of the disease due to several factors, especially the appearance of A.I.D.S. The arterial haematogenous seeding is the most important way to the propagation of the disease to the rachis... August 16, 2005   Evaluating Benign and Malignant Musculoskeletal Lesions With Radionuclide Angiography and SPECT Using Tc-99m MIBI - Clinical Nuclear Medicine The purpose of this study was to evaluate the use of radionuclide angiography and single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using Tc--99m hexakis-2-methoxyisobutylisonitrile (Tc-99m MIBI) for analyzing musculoskeletal lesions...Conclusions: The MIBI-uptake ratio and MIBI-perfusion index using Tc-99m MIBI can yield important additional information with which to differentiate musculoskeletal lesions...     August 15, 2005   Degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine: a prospective comparison of fast T1-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery and T1-weighted turbo spin echo MR imaging - European Journal of Radiology Conclusion: Results in our study have shown that fast T1-weighted FLAIR imaging may be a valuable imaging modality in the armamentarium of lumbar spinal T1-weighted MR imaging, because the former technique has definite superior advantages such as CSF nulling, conspicuousness of the normal anatomic structures and changes in the lumbar spinal discogenic disease and image contrast and also almost equally acquisition times...   Defining the Role of Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Unifocal Bone Lesions of Langerhans Cell Histiocytosis - Journal of Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Summary: Localized Langerhans cell histiocytosis (LCH) of bone often presents as a diagnostic challenge. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently used to better delineate most solitary bony lesions. The authors present two cases that illustrate and better define the role of MRI in the evaluation of solitary bone lesions of LCH... August 12, 2005   Impact of high field (3.0 T) magnetic resonance imaging on diagnosis of osteochondral defects in the ankle joint - European Journal of Radiology To evaluate high field magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for imaging of osteochondral defects...Conclusion: High field MRI enables the acquisition of images with sufficient resolution and higher SNR and has therefore the potential to improve the staging of osteochondral defects... August 11, 2005   Fat-Suppressed 3D Spoiled Gradient-Echo MRI and MDCT Arthrography of Articular Cartilage in Patients with Hip Dysplasia - American Journal of Roentgenology Our objective was to assess the diagnostic ability of MDCT arthrography for acetabular and femoral cartilage lesions in patients with hip dysplasia...Conclusion: MDCT arthrography is a sensitive and reproducible method for assessing articular cartilage lesions with substance loss in patients with hip dysplasia... August 10, 2005   Ultrasound Diagnosis of Peroneal Tendon Tears - Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery Musculoskeletal ultrasound is an established diagnostic technique for the assessment of tendon injuries. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether ultrasound is effective for evaluating peroneal tendon injuries, with surgical findings used as the standard of reference... August 09, 2005   T1-Weighted MRI Characteristics of Pedal Osteomyelitis - American Journal of Roentgenology Decreased T1 marrow signal in a geographic medullary distribution with a confluent pattern and concordance with fat-suppressed T2- and T1-weighted postcontrast signal abnormality was present in 100% of the surgically proven cases of pedal osteomyelitis...     August 08, 2005   Camptodactyly-Arthropathy-Coxa Vara-Pericarditis Syndrome Versus Juvenile Idiopathic Arthropathy - American Journal of Roentgenology CACP syndrome should be considered in all patients who present with a noninflammatory arthropathy or with "atypical juvenile idiopathic arthritis," particularly if radiographs reveal an absence of erosions. In the correct clinical setting, large acetabular cysts on pelvic radiographs may be considered pathognomonic of CACP syndrome... August 05, 2005   Imaging of Malignant Bone Involvement by Morphologic, Scintigraphic, and Hybrid Modalities - The Journal of Nuclear Medicine The current review discusses the basis for the detection of malignant bone involvement by various morphologic and scintigraphic imaging modalities and the advantages and the limitations of each. Special emphasize is placed on the newer integrated technique of PET/CT. The role of imaging in identifying bone involvement in different malignant diseases is also discussed... August 04, 2005   Controversies in Cervical Spine Imaging in Trauma Patients - Seminars in Musculoskeletal Radiology The subject of cervical spine imaging for trauma patients has generated significant controversy over the past decade and a half. This review considers three aspects of this controversy. The first examines the indications for cervical imaging, focusing on the factors that determine whether trauma patients are at high or low risk for cervical injury...   Application of three-dimensional magnetic resonance image registration for monitoring hip joint diseases - Magnetic Resonance Imaging In conclusion, the present method based on an NCC algorithm can be used to accurately register serial MR images of the femoral heads with an error on the order of a voxel. We believe that this method is sufficiently accurate for monitoring hip joint diseases...     August 03, 2005   Temporomandibular Joint Disk Position Assessed at Coronal MR Imaging in Asymptomatic Volunteers - Radiology To assess the normal position of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) disk relative to the condyle by using coronal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in asymptomatic volunteers...Conclusion: At both closed- and opened-mouth MR imaging, a medially located TMJ disk seems to be within the normal range of variation. The disk seems to shift even more medially when the mouth is opened...   The Role of Ultrasound in the Diagnosis and Management of Psoriatic Arthritis - Current Rheumatology Reports Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) presents many diagnostic, management and research challenges for rheumatologists who wish to obtain early diagnosis, differentiate synovitis and enthesitis, monitor disease activity accurately and objectively, prevent the development of structural damage, deliver local therapy accurately, and obtain PsA tissue for research purposes... August 02, 2005   MR Imaging and MR Arthrography for Diagnosis of Recurrent Tears in the Postoperative Meniscus - Seminars in Musculoskeletal Radiology The accuracy, pitfalls, and limitations of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for diagnosing a tear in the nonoperated knee are well known. However, the diagnosis of a recurrent tear can be more difficult in the postoperative meniscus. Resection or meniscal repair results in postoperative changes that can mimic a recurrent tear... August 01, 2005   Chance-Type Flexion-Distraction Injuries in the Thoracolumbar Spine: MR Imaging Characteristics - Radiology To evaluate retrospectively the magnetic resonance (MR) imaging features of Chance-type flexion-distraction injuries. The authors' institutional review board does not require its approval or patient informed consent for retrospective studies...Conclusion: A spectrum of features is discernible with MR imaging in Chance-type injuries...   Three-dimensional Computed Cementless Custom Femoral Stems in Young Patients: Midterm Followup - Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research Our results are comparable with published results from clinical and radiologic points of view. Two problems remain unsolved: the price of a custom stem is twice as expensive as a standard stem; and we need longer term results before definitely recommending this technology as a reasonable alternative to current arthroplasties in younger patients. The data support the continued exploration of this technology with controlled clinical followup...   Comparison of CT, MRI, and Radiographs in Assessing Pelvic Osteolysis: A Cadaveric Study - Clinical Orthopedics and Related Research This study verifies the problems associated with radiographic detection of osteolysis while showing the effectiveness of computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging in determining the presence of lesions and assessing their three-dimensional volume...   Indirect MR Arthrography: Concepts and Controversies - Seminars in Musculoskeletal Radiology Indirect MR arthrography involves intravenous injection of a standard dose of Gadolinium contrast followed, in delayed fashion, by MR imaging. Contrast in taken up by the joint at a rate dependent on a variety of factors including synovial area, vascularity, permeability, and pre-existing joint effusion...