Dear MRI Insider,
Researchers continue to make sustained progress in imaging patients with neurodegenerative diseases. That was particularly evident at last week's RSNA congress, where a succession of presentations shed new light on this fast-emerging area.
Today we've posted an article about how a Spanish team is optimizing the use of MRI in the clinical evaluation of dementia. The authors highlighted a series of recent developments that represent good news for the global medical imaging community, and the RSNA judges gave them a certificate of merit for their work.
Three other research groups from Spain received one of the coveted 28 magna cum laude awards in Chicago. Among the recipients was a team from Jaén, who focused on advanced MRI for assessing soft-tissue lesions and the added value of functional imaging. Disappointingly, no other European investigators won a magna cum laude in the RSNA 2019 poster hall.
As many of you will know, a serious MRI accident occurred in Swedish Lapland on 23 October. The investigation is still ongoing, and as of 9 December, the police had neither interviewed the specialist nurse who was injured in the incident nor received the full forensic report. The details of the inquiry being conducted by Aleris (which owns the equipment and the MR trailer and employs the nurse) are being kept confidential.
Meanwhile, the local media have provided information about a second MRI accident in Sweden. It occurred in the coastal town of Varberg in April 2019. These events gave Titti Owman from Lund, Sweden, much to discuss in her opinion column about MRI safety.
Lego MRI has been making the headlines too. A scheme developed by a U.K.-based radiographer to reduce anxiety among children has won the support of more than 5,000 followers, and a commercial launch by Lego of an open MRI scanner now appears to be a real possibility.
This letter features only a few of the many articles posted over the past few weeks in the MRI Community. Please scroll through the full list of our coverage below, and feel free to contact me if you have any ideas for coverage in 2020.
