July 31 Application Deadline - RSNA Advanced Course in Grant Writing
Applications will be accepted through this Saturday, July 31, for the RSNA Advanced Course in Grant Writing.
The course is designed to help participants prepare and submit a National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Sciences Foundation (NSF) or equivalent grant application by the October 2011 deadline.
The course, to be held at RSNA Headquarters in Oak Brook, Ill., will consist of four multiday sessions: October 15-16; January 28-29, 2011; March 25-26, 2011; and May 20-21, 2011.
More information and an application are available online or by contacting Fiona Miller by e-mail or at 1-630-590-7741.
Headlines
Leading the News
Research
Technology
Industry News
Leading the News
CMS Unveils Imaging Decision-Support Initiative
The U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has announced a $10 million project to evaluate decision-support systems for ordering diagnostic imaging studies. The Medicare Imaging Demonstration initiative is intended to allow the CMS to determine if the use of decision-support systems can promote the ordering of diagnostic imaging procedures only when they are clinically appropriate, reducing unnecessary radiation exposure to patients, reducing imaging expenditures, and improving patient care quality. CMS is providing up to $10 million for the two-year project, which is expected to start January 1, 2011. The project will focus on the appropriate use of CT, MRI, and nuclear medicine, including PET exams, as well as other advanced diagnostic imaging services potentially to be defined by CMS. Based on high expenditures and utilization in the Medicare fee-for-service population, 11 diagnostic imaging procedures have been selected for the initial project, including CT exams of the abdomen, brain, lumbar spine, pelvis, sinus, and thorax; MRI exams of the lumbar spine, brain, knee, and shoulder; and SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging exams. Radiography, fluoroscopy, and ultrasound studies will not be included in the initial project. The project will assess the efficacy of decision-support systems used by physician practices on the appropriate use of medical imaging services ordered for Medicare fee-for-service patients. The decision-support systems used will provide immediate automatic feedback to the ordering physician based on current medical specialty guidelines on the appropriateness of the diagnostic imaging procedures to resolve clinical questions about patients. CMS is looking for participation from 2,500 to 3,500 physicians from 500 to 600 physician practices of various sizes, specialties, and geographic locations.
From "CMS Unveils Imaging Decision-Support Initiative"
AuntMinnie.com (07/23/10) Keen, Cynthia E.
Read more in RSNA News: A story in the September issue of RSNA News will detail recent research indicating that clinical decision-support tools such as computerized order entry systems can significantly reduce the number of inappropriate scans ordered by referring physicians.
Research
fMRI Can Be Used to Differentiate Necrotic From Viable Tumor Cells in an Animal Pancreatic Cancer Model
Researchers have found that functional MRI (fMRI) can be used to differentiate necrotic from viable tumor cells in an animal pancreatic cancer model using apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) diffusion weighted (DW) MRI and perfusion transcatheter intraarterial perfusion (TRIP) MRI values. The researchers implanted VX2 tumors in pancreata of 6 rabbits. MRI and digital subtraction angiography (DSA) were performed three weeks following implantation. With a 2-French catheter secured in the rabbit’s gastroduodenal artery, each rabbit was transferred to an adjacent 1.5T MRI scanner. DW- and TRIP-MRI were performed. On DW-MRI, mean ADC value was higher in necrotic tumor core than in viable tumor periphery. On TRIP-MRI, mean perfusion values was higher in tumor periphery than in tumor core.
From "Functional MRI in an Animal Model of Pancreatic Cancer"
World Journal of Gastroenterology (07/10) Vol. 16, No. 26, P. 3292; Lewandowski, Robert J.; Eifler, Aaron C.; Bentrem, David J.; et al.
FDG-PET/CT Detects Disease Progression in Patients With Nonsmall Cell Lung Cancer
In a recent study, rapid tumor progression was detected in patients with untreated, predominantly stage III, nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) on serial FDG-PET/CT imaging, highlighting the need for prompt diagnosis, staging, and initiation of therapy in patients who are candidates for potentially curative therapy. Patients enrolled in the study were eligible if they underwent two pretreatment whole body FDG-PET/CT scans more than seven days apart. The first scan was performed for diagnosis/disease staging, and the second was used for radiotherapy (RT) planning. Interscan comparisons included disease stage, metabolic characteristics, tumor doubling times, and change in treatment intent. Eighty-two patients underwent planning PET/CT scans between October 2004 and February 2007. Of these, 28 patients had undergone prior staging PET/CT scans. The median interscan period was 24 days. Interscan disease progression (TNM stage) was detected in 11 patients. The probability of upstaging within 24 days was calculated to be 32 percent. Treatment intent changed from curative to palliative in eight cases, in seven because of PET. For 17 patients who underwent serial PET/CT scans under standardized conditions, there was a mean relative interscan increase of 19 percent in tumor maximum standardized uptake value (SUV).
From "High Rates of Tumor Growth and Disease Progression Detected on Serial Pretreatment Fluorodeoxyglucose-Positron Emission Tomography …"
Cancer (07/10) Everitt, Sarah; Herschtal, Alan; Callahan, Jason; et al.
PHP Can Be Used to Predict Volume Fraction of Posttreatment High-grade Glioma Recurrence
Peak height position (PHP) can be used to predict the volume fraction of posttreatment high-grade glioma recurrence in patients undergoing semiquantitative MR perfusion histogram analysis. This conclusion is based on a study of 39 patients with pathologically proved predominant tumor, recurrence mixed tumor and posttreatment change, or predominant posttreatment change. Histogram parameters of normalized cerebral blood volume (CBV)-including histogram width, peak height position (PHP), and maximum value (MV)-were measured in entire contrast-enhanced lesions and used as discriminative indexes. PHP was found to be an independent predictive factor for differentiating contrast-enhanced lesions in patients with posttreatment gliomas. According to receiver operating characteristic curve analyses, PHP provided sensitivity of 90.2 percent and specificity of 91.1 percent for differentiating tumor recurrence from mixed and treatment change groups at an optimum threshold of 1.7 by using leave-one-out cross-validation. Additionally, MV helped distinguish treatment change groups from tumor recurrence and mixed groups at an optimum threshold of 2.6. The study was published online on July 15 in Radiology.
From "Posttreatment High-Grade Glioma: Usefulness of Peak Height Position With Semiquantitative MR Perfusion Histogram Analysis in an Entire…"
Radiology (07/10) Kim, Ho Sung; Kim, Jang-Hee; Kim, Se-Hyuk; et al.
Regional Gray Matter Density Changes in Brains of Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome
To study changes in brain structure associated with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a group of researchers employed magnetic resonance imaging-based methods, voxel-based morphometry, and cortical thickness analysis to examine brain anatomical differences in 55 IBS patients, and then compared that data to a control group of 48 healthy patients. IBS was affiliated with reduced gray matter density (GMD) in widespread areas of the brain, including medial prefrontal and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, posterior parietal cortex, ventral striatum, and thalamus. The researchers recorded increased GMD in IBS patients in the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex and the orbitofrontal cortex, along with trends in the posterior insula/secondary somatosensory cortex, (para)hippocampus, and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. With anxiety and depression accounted for, the researchers observed that several of the regions involved in affective processing no longer differed between patients with IBS and controls, whereas the distinctions in prefrontal and posterior parietal cortices persisted. The segments of decreased GMD associated with IBS were primarily consistent across clinical subgroups, according to predominant bowel habit and pain predominance of symptoms. The researchers did not see any overall or regional differences in cortical thickness between patients with IBS and controls. The conclusions of the study were that changes in GMD among regions involved in cognitive/evaluative functions are specifically seen in IBS patients, while changes in other areas of the brain can be explained by anxiety and depression levels.
From "Regional Gray Matter Density Changes in Brains of Patients With Irritable Bowel Syndrome"
Gastroenterology (07/10) Vol. 139, No. 1, P. 48; Seminowicz, David A.; Labus, Jennifer S.; Bueller, Joshua A.; et al.
Technology
A New CT Reconstruction Algorithm Can Help Lower Radiation Dose
Researchers have developed a new CT reconstruction algorithm using graphic processing unit (GPU) platforms to reduce radiation dose during cone beam CT. Using the new algorithm, researchers only had 20 to 40 total X-ray projections, with a reconstruction time ranging from 77 to 130 seconds. The new method resulted in 36 to 72 times less radiation exposure for patients. The findings of the study were presented at the American Association of Physicists in Medicine meeting in Philadelphia, Pa.
From "A New CT Reconstruction Algorithm Can Help Lower Radiation Dose"
Dotmed (07/19/10) Deshchenko, Olga
Accurate Fetal Brain Volumetry Obtained Using MRI Reconstruction and Segmentation
The principal sequences acquired in fetal MRI clinical practice are multiple orthogonal single-shot fast spin echo scans. The authors of a recent study used state-of-the-art image processing techniques for inter-slice motion correction and super-resolution reconstruction of high-resolution volumetric images from 25 clinically acquired fetal MRI scans in order to obtain accurate fetal brain volumetry. The reconstructed volume images were processed with intensity non-uniformity correction and the fetal brain extracted by using supervised automated segmentation. Performance metrics for volume reconstruction, segmentation and volumetry were determined by comparing to manual tracings in five randomly chosen cases. Finally, analysis of the fetal brain and parenchymal volumes was performed based on the gestational age of the fetuses. The image processing pipeline developed in this study enabled volume rendering and accurate fetal brain volumetry by addressing the limitations of current volumetry techniques, which include dependency on motion-free scans, manual segmentation, and inaccurate thick-slice interpolation.
From "Fetal Brain Volumetry Through MRI Volumetric Reconstruction and Segmentation"
International Journal of Computer Assisted Radiology and Surgery (07/13/2010) Gholipour, Ali; Estroff, Judy A.; Barnewolt, Carol E.; et al.
Voice Recognition Effective On Rad Turn-Around Time
The implementation of voice recognition software has been found to decrease report turn-around time for the department of radiology at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, according to recent research. Study authors collected data for nine months before and after the implementation of the technology after a six-month training period to analyze the effect of work habits and caseload on such variations. According to the research team, the average report turn-around time for the department before implementation of voice recognition was 28 hours. After implementation of voice recognition, the average turn-around time was 12.7 hours, the study noted. The average number of verified reports per month during the study period before implementation was 16,561. During the study period after implementation of voice recognition, the department averaged 17,427 reports per month, a 5 percent increase in volume. The improvement in report turn-around time for individual faculty members ranged from -33 percent to +93 percent, and the rank order did not change significantly, the authors wrote. Faculty members' ranks in report turn-around time did not correlate significantly with volume rank before and after implementation of voice recognition. Thirteen radiology faculty members who had type 1 work habits--that is, reviewed, revised and finalized reports at the time of image review--benefited the most from use of voice recognition, posting an average of 66 percent improvement in report turnaround time, the study found. The eight attending radiologists who had type 2 work habits--they reviewed images with the trainee and verified reports in several batches daily after the trainee had made appropriate corrections after each session--posted an average of 60 percent reduction in report turn-around time after implementation. The nine attending radiologists who had type 3 work habits posted an average 24 percent reduction in turn-around report time.
From "Voice Recognition Software: Effect on Radiology Report Turnaround Time at an Academic Medical Center"
American Journal of Roentgenology (07/10) Krishnaraj, Arun; Lee, Joseph K.T.; Laws, Sandra A.; et al.
Industry News
Brain-Imaging Program Suspended After Violations
A brain imaging program at Columbia University's Kreitchman positron emission tomography (PET) Center has been suspended after a probe turned up evidence that researchers had injected impure psychiatric drugs into clinical trial volunteers. The researchers employed radioactive isotopes to label trace amounts of drugs and other compounds, inject them into volunteers, and track their radioactive decay with PET to see how the compounds adhere to neural receptors. The chemicals used by Kreitchman researchers repeatedly flunked purity tests and were not properly authorized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Radioactive drugs used in research pilot studies do not need an Investigational New Drug (IND) application to the FDA, and can rely instead on approval from the research institution's Radioactive Drug Research Committee. Researchers are usually expected to file for IND status after 30 trial injections have permitted them to refine their procedure—and even when such status has been approved, the FDA only audits research labs in response to complaints. Such a complaint led to an FDA audit of the Kreitchman Center, which uncovered a wealth of violations. For instance, radiolabelled compounds that had failed quality-control tests were not correctly investigated by researchers, and were still injected into patients. A nine-month shutdown of the center's production of radioglands did not prevent such violations from recurring, as indicated in a second FDA audit. In January 2010, FDA investigators discovered that technicians had given researchers 10 batches of drugs that surpassed purity limits, while the lab was additionally using an erroneous equation to calculate impurity levels.
From "Brain-Imaging Programme Suspended After Violations"
Nature (07/22/10) Borrell, Brendan
Brain Scans Could Help Guide Career Choices
Researchers performed a study to explore how eight tests used in vocational guidance correlate to regional gray matter. The researchers employed magnetic resonance imaging and voxel-based morphometry to correlate gray matter with independent ability variables—general intelligence, speed of reasoning, numerical, spatial, and memory—and individual test scores from a series of cognitive tests completed by 40 persons seeking vocational guidance. They observed differences in gray matter correlation patterns between group ability factors and individual tests, while tests within the same factor exhibited qualitatively different brain correlates on some level. The researchers concluded that the psychometric factor architecture of cognitive tests can help identify brain networks related to cognitive abilities outside of a general intelligence factor. However, correlates of individual ability tests with gray matter seem to have some disparities from the correlates for group factors.
From "Gray Matter Correlates of Cognitive Ability Tests Used for Vocational Guidance"
BMC Research Notes (07/22/10) Haier, Richard J.; Schroeder, David H.; Tang, Cheuk; et al.
RSNA Weekly is a briefing of the latest radiology-related news selected from hundreds of sources by the editors of Information, Inc. While care is taken to use good sources, inaccuracies in source material are not the responsibility of RSNA or Information, Inc.
Abstract News © Copyright 2010 INFORMATION, INC.
Radiological Society of North America, Inc.,
820 Jorie Blvd, Oak Brook, IL 60523-2251
|
