American Roentgen Ray Society's 106th annual meeting
The American Roentgen Ray Society's 106th annual meeting took place April 30-May 5 in Vancouver, Canada, and drew more than 3,000 attendees, including about 2,400 physicians from around the world. Presenters discussed how leading-edge imaging technology is improving the diagnosis of trauma and myocardial infarction and how radiology and radiation oncology are being used in conjunction to treat lung cancer, as well as the efficacy of digital mammography.
One of the most exciting developments is the new 64-slice computed tomography scanner, according to Philip O. Alderson, M.D., the society's new president and chairman of the Department of Radiology at Columbia University in New York. "It's really impacting the way that patients with injury or chest pain can be dealt with," Alderson said. "You can virtually put together a three-dimensional map of the patient's injured area and show surgeons exactly what's going on in, say, a patient with a shattered pelvis or severe facial injuries, which involve many bones and require complicated reconstruction." Similarly, the 64-slice scanner is being used to help emergency department physicians determine if a chest-pain patient is having a myocardial infarction, an aortic problem or a pulmonary embolism. "It can image all three of these problems, virtually at the same sitting," Alderson said.
Feng Kong, M.D., of the University of Michigan, showed how advanced imaging technology can improve radiation treatments for cancer. "She presented outstanding work about her use of targeted adaptive radiation therapy, watching the lung change, stopping its motion, watching the tumor change over time, and adapting the radiation fields to the tumor using lung function as depicted through nuclear scanning of ventilation and profusion to determine where to direct her therapeutic beams at the tumor to irradiate only as much of the normal lung as possible," Alderson said.
In addition, Janet Baum, M.D., of the Harvard University Medical School in Boston, reported on a seven-year trial of digital mammography involving more than 50,000 patients. The study found that digital mammography detected more than 300 cancers that weren't detected by standard film screen mammography. "So the group is now analyzing those 300 cases specifically to look at the histology of the tumors, look at the image findings on both film and digital, and try to determine why they were detected better," Alderson said. "That might lead to an even better detection of breast cancer."
Jonathan Peck of the Institute for Alternative Futures in Alexandria, Va., spoke on the emerging fields of pre-emptive diagnoses and personalized medicine and how they will affect imaging by the year 2029. "He talked about how molecular imaging would be used for the pre-emptive diagnoses of diseases that haven't yet manifested themselves in the typical anatomic or symptomatic ways, how personalized medicine based on molecular issues would be used to treat those diseases, and how what he called 'knowledge technologies' are going to make a big impact on how we can access such tools and use them to change the future of medicine and imaging," Alderson said.
Abstract
Abstract
Dextrose Injections May Help Achilles Tendinosis
THURSDAY, May 4 (HealthDay News) -- Ultrasound-guided injections of a hyperosmolar dextrose solution may help patients with chronic tendinosis of the Achilles tendon or the infrapatellar tendon, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract (#172)
PET-CT Accurately Detects Ovarian Cancer Recurrence
WEDNESDAY, May 3 (HealthDay News) -- Hybrid PET-CT is more accurate than computed tomography (CT) alone or positron emission tomography (PET) alone for detecting recurrent ovarian cancer either above or below the diaphragm, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract (#105)
CT Colonography Found to Have Good Safety Profile
TUESDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- Computed tomography colonography (CTC), including use of automated carbon dioxide delivery, is a safe diagnostic and screening procedure, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract (#097)
CT Technique Reduces Children's Radiation Exposure
TUESDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- In children who undergo abdominal computed tomography (CT), the radiation dose can be reduced 60 percent by lowering the tube current to account for body symmetry and weight, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract (#093)
MRI May Predict tPA-Linked Hemorrhage Risk After Stroke
TUESDAY, May 2 (HealthDay News) -- Ischemic stroke patients who have parenchymal enhancement and hyperintensity MCA sign on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may be at a higher risk of developing hemorrhagic complications following treatment with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract (#054)
New MRI-Guided Technique Speeds Fibroid Treatment
MONDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- A new technique, manual interleaved MR-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS), allows treatment of a fibroid in 60 percent of the time needed to treat a same-size fibroid with conventional MRgFUS, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract (#021)
Cryoablation Technique Can Treat Some Kidney Tumors
MONDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- In selected patients with kidney tumors, percutaneous cryoablation -- a relatively non-invasive technique in which cryoprobes are inserted through the skin to freeze the tumor -- may be an alternative to surgery, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract (#070)
Higher-Strength MRI Detects Shoulder Cartilage Tears
MONDAY, May 1 (HealthDay News) -- Higher-strength magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 3.0 Tesla is comparable to arthroscopy in identifying cartilage tears in the shoulder, according to research presented this week at the annual meeting of the American Roentgen Ray Society in Vancouver, Canada.
Abstract (#052)
