RSNA News - March 2005

Journal Highlights

The following are highlights from the current issues of RSNA's two peer-reviewed journals.

Perfusion Imaging of the Liver: Current Challenges and Future Goals

Improved therapeutic options for hepatocellular carcinoma and metastatic disease are placing greater demands on diagnostic and surveillance tests for liver disease.

Existing diagnostic imaging techniques provide limited evaluation of tissue characteristics beyond morphology; however liver perfusion imaging has the potential to improve this shortcoming.

In a review article in the March issue of Radiology (rsna.org/radiologyjnl), Pari V. Pandharipande, M.D., from New York University Medical Center, and colleagues review the physiologic and structural basis for perfusion imaging of the liver as well as discuss the goals, techniques and future challenges.

The article also includes "Essentials" or highlighted points to help busy readers recognize important information at a glance.

Sample color segmentation demonstrated with representative coronal and transverse images from dynamic three-dimensional gradient-echo whole-liver perfusion MR imaging studies in a 39-year-old man without cirrhosis (transverse and coronal imaging studies were performed independently). Semiautomated segmentation algorithms enable efficient color-based discrimination of aorta (red), portal vein and its branches (green) , liver parenchyma (blue), and hepatic veins and inferior vena cava (dark yellow). Region-of-interest analyses of aortic, portal venous, and liver parenchymal enhancement on the basis of semiautomated segmentation algorithms subsequently can be used for compartmental modeling.

(Radiology 2005;234:661-673)
© 2005 RSNA. All rights reserved. Printed with permission.

Imaging Evaluation of Pulmonary and Abdominal Complications following Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation

Patients who undergo the potentially life-saving therapy of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation are at risk for infectious and immune-mediated complications. Timely, accurate diagnosis is essential because these complications ultimately determine the success or failure of the transplantation, and radiology serves as the cornerstone for diagnostic evaluation.

In a review article in the March-April issue of RadioGraphics (rsna.org/radiographics), David L. Coy, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Washington in Seattle, and colleagues review the imaging characteristics, risk factors and usual time course of common pulmonary and abdominal complications of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Discussion includes:

• Differences between conventional myeloablative and nonmyeloablative hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
• Typical radiologic manifestations of specific pulmonary and abdominal complications of stem cell transplantation.
• Time course and risk factors for specific posttransplantation complications.

 This article meets the criteria for 1.0 CME credit. 

Secondary alveolar proteinosis following stem cell transplantation. CT scans obtained at different levels show geographically distributed ground-glass attenuation and interlobular septal thickening.

(RadioGraphics 2005; 25:305-318)
© 2005 RSNA. All rights reserved. Printed with permission.