Dear Cardiac Insider,
Whole-body MRI/MR angiography screening of asymptomatic middle-aged individuals: Is it overkill? Researchers from Germany think they've got something worth pursuing in their new study of 138 patients with risk factors for atherosclerosis but no symptoms.
The technique itself has been proved accurate, but how often will the complex multiphase exam reveal clinically serious vascular abnormalities? Pretty often, according to a new study in Insights into Imaging, but finding incidental malignancies is another matter entirely. Get the rest of the story about a promising exam by clicking here.
Another new cardiac MR (CMR) study -- confined to the heart but boasting a fancy 3D protocol -- detected functionally significant coronary disease with accuracy approaching that of invasive coronary angiography, researchers from Kings College London and several other centers concluded. The 3D acquisition method overcomes some limitations of myocardial perfusion CMR, in particular the limited myocardial coverage, and more efficiently conveys signal-to-noise, the researchers report in a story you'll find here.
3D CMR may be new, but cardiac imaging isn't, according to a feature by radiology historian Otha Linton. It turns out Europe played a key role in the development of cardiac imaging back in the 1920s, in particular the use of contrast agents to opacify the blood vessels so they could be examined with radiography and fluoroscopy. Find out more about cardiac imaging in an installment of our blockbuster History of Radiology series.
In routine chest CT, reporting incidental calcium could save a lot of lives, according to a group in Finland. Find out how.
Finally, more than three-fourths of invasive cardiac procedures could be avoided if patients underwent a noninvasive exam first, researchers reported earlier this month at the Integrated Cardiac Imaging (EVINCI) consortium. For the rest of the story, click here. And be sure to scroll through the links below for the rest of the news in your AuntMinnieEurope.com Cardiac Imaging Digital Community.
