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Have you found yourself wondering lately about what’s new in IR? In this month’s e-News Exclusive, we have a couple of items that will satisfy your curiosity. The first explains a new method for targeting diseased cells. The second details a new wrinkle on a tried-and-true procedure. And, in case you missed it, you can catch up on our September issue.
— Dave Yeager, editor |
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Interventional News
Gene Therapy via Ultrasound Could Offer New Tool in Fight Against Heart Disease and Cancer
Combining ultrasound energy and microbubbles to poke holes in cells may prove to be a new tool in the fight against cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to researchers from the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC). A study on this gene therapy approach, called sonoporation, appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
“We can use ultrasound energy in combination with small, gas-filled bubbles to selectively open up cells to allow the delivery of therapeutic agents,” says Brandon Helfield, PhD, lead author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow at the Center for Ultrasound Molecular Imaging and Therapeutics at UPMC. “With a focused ultrasound beam, this approach lets us tune this delivery to the precise location of disease while sparing healthy tissue. Our study looks at some of the biophysics at play and helps us get closer to refining this technique as a clinical tool.”
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A Closer Look at Concussions
Although the long-term effects of concussions are still contested, researchers continue to look into how to more accurately diagnose the brain injuries, even when the patient does not display symptoms. Read more »
Emerging Trends in Prostate Cancer Imaging
While PET/CT remains the standard for diagnosing prostate cancer, new modalities are starting to gain traction in both diagnosis and treatment. Read more »
Radiological Reads
Best-selling medical author Carolyn Jourdan, JD, speaks with Radiology Today about her career path and her time shadowing radiologists to gather research for her books. Read more »
Where Are We With XR-29?
Imaging departments are adapting to the mandate, but questions persist. Read more »
2016 Annual Buyers’ Guide
Don't miss our annual directory of the latest imaging products and services. Read more » |
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Study Finds Memories Can Be Intentionally Forgotten
Researchers at Dartmouth College used functional MRI to demonstrate how subjects were able to successfully forget memories and speculated on how this information may be used for educational purposes in the future.
New MRI Coils Aim to Improve Patient Comfort and Decrease Scan Time
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health used screen-printed, flexible MRI coils to speed up the procedure in an effort to make patients more comfortable.
Radiologists Do Not Face Elevated Risk of Radiation-related Mortality
A study of the mortality rate of radiologists found that radiologists who graduated from medical school after 1940 do not face an increased risk of dying from radiation-related causes, according to a report by RSNA.
Study Finds Hospitals Drastically Overcharge in CT,
Anesthesiology Departments
Based on a study of 2013 statistics, hospitals, on average, charged more than 20 times their own costs in their CT and anesthesiology departments, according to a report from Johns Hopkins University. |
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“Radiologists can have ‘hunches’ after a first look at a mammogram. We found that these hunches are based on something real in the images. It’s really striking that in the blink of an eye, an expert can pick up on something about that mammogram that indicates abnormality.”
— Jeremy Wolfe, PhD, director of the Visual Attention Laboratory at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, on study results that found that radiologists could identify abnormalities in mammograms at better-than-chance averages after seeing images for one-half second
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