Dear Cardiac Imaging Insider,
It's one thing to look at the radiation dose on a scanner readout -- and quite another to measure the actual DNA damage that occurs following a CT scan.
Researchers from Munich, Germany, did just that using a novel technique that allowed them to count DNA double-strand breaks with immunofluorescence microscopy.
They used the highly sensitive technique to compare DNA damage from conventional dual-source coronary CT angiography (CTA) to damage from the high-pitch dual-source CT scans that are gaining notice for their low dose and fast acquisition times. You'll see what they found in this issue's Insider Exclusive story, brought to you before it's published for other AuntMinnie.com members.
Interventional angiography providers are having a few dose issues of their own. A team from Portugal did a comprehensive study of radiation exposure to operators performing percutaneous coronary interventions and the like. Unfortunately, radiation dose to operators skyrocketed depending on access location, the procedure, and, unfortunately, the level of protection they were willing to wear. Learn what to avoid at all costs by clicking here.
In MRI, doctors are using time-resolved color coding to hunt down rogue aortic flow patterns that can put patients at severe, if silent, risk of a cardiac event down the line.
Need a way to diagnose coronary artery stenosis in the palm of your hand? There's an app for that. In a story by senior editor Erik L. Ridley, researchers maintained high diagnostic sensitivity when they read coronary CTA images on their Apple iPhone screens. At this rate, will the recent iPad pandemonium end up sending PACS to the Smithsonian? Just kidding.
Before they run off to buy the latest handheld device, however, radiologists might want to get themselves checked out. A study presented at the recent American College of Cardiology meeting in Atlanta found that runners had an awful lot of plaque in their arteries.
Fortunately, there's no need to run around for the news you depend on -- it's all here in your Cardiac Imaging Digital Community.
