Dear AuntMinnieEurope Member,
Field strength has divided the MRI community for well over two decades. The issue continues to arouse great emotion and controversy, and the debate looks set to rage on for some time yet.
Often at the heart of the discussion is whether 7-tesla machines are ready and suitable for clinical use. A respected group from Berlin has offered a new perspective on this subject, focusing on 7-tesla MRI's cardiac potential. Go to the MRI Community, or click here.
Meanwhile, Italian researchers have published important findings about the ability of diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI-MRI) to uncover changes in the visual systems of patients newly diagnosed with Parkinson's disease. Get the details here.
Phone interruptions during reporting sessions are a constant challenge for radiologists. Electronic ordering systems should help reduce the number of calls, but the benefits of these applications are not being realized, according to a survey presented at the recent U.K. Radiology Conference in Manchester. Visit our Imaging Informatics Community, or click here.
Also in the U.K., a team from Oxford has developed a CT technique that can measure blood vessel inflammation, allowing doctors to identify and treat patients at risk for cardiovascular disease. If further studies confirm the prognostic value of the method, called the fat attenuation index, the metric could transform risk stratification and clinical management for heart disease. Click here for the full story.
In other CT news, Dutch investigators have outlined how a CT-based prognostic radiomic signature for non-small cell lung cancer can be ported for use with cone-beam CT images. Learn more here.
Finally, don't miss our Case of the Week prepared exclusively for us by Dr. Giovanni Masoero and colleagues at King's College Hospital in London. Click here to test yourself.
