Dear Molecular Imaging Insider,
Now that the holidays are behind us, it's time to focus our attention on what 2016 has to offer for advancements in radiology. More research undoubtedly will be released on the expanding number of clinical applications that could benefit from PET/MRI.
One such area could be myocardial perfusion imaging: A pilot study from Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis recently found that the hybrid modality could provide a comprehensive cardiac evaluation with shorter scan times than SPECT, with a lower radiation dose to boot.
Researchers used simultaneous nitrogen-13 ammonia PET imaging and gadolinium-based MRI to achieve impressive sensitivity and negative predictive values among patients with positive gated SPECT results.
Read more in this Molecular Imaging Insider Exclusive.
Radiation doses for myocardial perfusion imaging exams should be a concern, given a study in JAMA Internal Medicine that found significantly higher levels in the U.S. compared to the rest of the world. Most disheartening is the finding that few U.S. sites adhere to best practices for dose reduction.
To significantly reduce PET/CT radiation dose without compromising diagnostic image quality, researchers from Lebanon are using patient-specific, weight-based imaging protocols. Click here to find out how they did it.
PET/MRI also outperformed PET/CT for detecting cardiac sarcoidosis, with the added benefits of diagnostic-quality images and less radiation dose, according to a study from the University of Toronto. Preliminary findings show that PET/MRI correctly diagnosed the inflammatory heart condition in all eight patients, compared with only four positive results with PET/CT.
Breast density and its influence on a woman's breast cancer risk is a hot topic for research and practice, especially because more than 40% of screening-eligible women have dense tissue. A recent study indicates that molecular breast imaging is a viable and effective option.
Be sure to stay in touch with the Molecular Imaging Community on a daily basis for the latest news and research.
