Clinical Studies & Scientific Presentations
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| RSNA Case of the Day; Photo courtesy of RSNA. |
Computed Tomography
- “Assessment of myocardial perfusion [via SPECT/CTCA] is paramount in determining the need for revascularization in patients with extensive vascular calcifications associated with the presence of a high CCS [coronary calcium score],” according to a prospective study at Rambam Health Care Campus and Faculty of Medicine, Technion, in Haifa, Israel.
- Cardiac CT angiography (CCTA) with 64-MDCT is highly accurate in diagnosing three-vessel disease, one of the potential candidates for coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) is the conclusion of a study at the Research Institute of Radiological Science at the Yonsei University College of Medicine, Severance Hospital in Seoul, Korea.
- Sixty-four slice multidetector CT has the potential to evaluate patency of drug-eluting stents (DES) with a low incidence of restenosis, but when body mass index (BMI) is high, it is difficult to accurately evaluate stent patency, according to researchers from Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine in Chiba, Japan, and Awa Medical Association Hospital in Tateyama, Japan.
- A multidetector CT autopsy has the potential to replace conventional autopsy in determining the cause of certain accidental deaths such as blunt trauma, motor vehicle accidents and gun shots, so said a study from the School of Medicine at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
Breast Imaging
- FDG-PET/CT is useful in identifying inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) earlier and provides information on loco-regional and global disease, according to a retrospective study of 41 women (mean age 50 years) from The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center (UTMDACC) in Houston. PET/CT was 95 percent accurate in detecting metastases and 98 percent accurate in identifying lymph node involvement.
- Stereoscopic digital mammography allows radiologists to detect more cancers with fewer false positives (49 percent) than a full-field, standard digital mammography screening exam, a study from Emory University Breast Clinic concluded.
Computer-Aided Detection
- Computer-aided detection (CAD) is effective for the localization of the often difficult to detect morphologically flat early colonic cancerous lesions via CT colonography, as well as later stage colorectal cancers, according to two clinical trials from the University College Hospital in London.
Imaging & IT
- Transcribed radiology reports show higher error rates than automated speech recognition applications, according to a scientific presentation by John Floyd, MD, of Radiology Consultants of Iowa (RCI) of Cedar Rapids. The traditionally transcribed reports included at least one error in 13 percent of the total, while the speech recognition reports demonstrated one error in only 9 percent of the total studies.
- A recent study conducted at the University of Maryland Medical Center found that the introduction of white noise at certain levels as part of the acoustic background increased accuracy of speech recognition systems’ transcription capabilities.
- About 1 in 10 final radiology reports falls into unread/unused bin, according to a study conducted by Petter Hurlen, MD, and colleagues at Akershus University Hospital in Lørenskog, Norway.
- A group from the University of Maryland School of Medicine, department of diagnostic radiology has created a web-based application using open-source software tools that can alert radiologists to the existence of undictated cases—thus alleviating “hung” reports that get stalled in the system.