Dear AuntMinnieEurope Member,
This week's top story is about an alarming case report involving an adverse reaction to contrast CT. Thankfully, such events are very rare and CT contrast agents have an enviable safety record, but it's important to remain alert to potential problems.
Interestingly, this case report appeared in an Australian surgical journal that we don't generally track, so we're very grateful to contrast safety expert Dr. Aart van der Molen, a radiologist from Leiden, the Netherlands, for drawing our attention to it.
Prof. Paul Parizel and his colleagues in Perth have also been keeping a watchful eye on the contrast CT sector. We checked in with him to get his latest thoughts on the major shortage of contrast agents that had such an impact on medical imaging last year. Find out more in the CT Community.
Radiologists are lucky that they can often work from home, but it's not all plain sailing. A host of technical issues must be addressed, and not everyone has a suitable space for a workstation. Also, it's vital to maintain a strong physical link with clinical colleagues and other team members. A new guide from the Royal College of Radiologists aims to simplify the process.
In other news, Irish researchers have identified a sharp rise in the number of women under 35 who were referred to a symptomatic breast clinic at a large tertiary hospital in Dublin. They haven't speculated about the causes of this increase, but they believe their analysis reflects a wider trend and is having a major impact on the demand for imaging. Go to the Women's Imaging Community to read more.
Imaging of patients with dense breasts remains a topical issue across Europe and beyond. Novel research findings unveiled by a team from Lund, Sweden, are worth a close look in another article posted over the past week.
Looking ahead, the annual meeting of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (ISMRM) begins in Toronto tomorrow. Look out for our news coverage and be sure to check out the live news coverage of AuntMinnie.com, which is producing a RADcast from the meeting starting on 3 June.
