Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Okay, so whole-body CT screening doesn't seem to have panned out yet like many folks thought it would. Could whole-body MRI screening have a better chance?
It's an intriguing thought, and might not be far from the realm of possibility, according to an article we're featuring this week in our MRI Digital Community by contributing editor N. Shivapriya. The story describes the work of a German group that tested a whole-body MRI screening technique on a group of asymptomatic patients in a setting that mimicked what an MRI screening program might look like.
The researchers employed a conventional 1.5-tesla magnet with a stepping patient table that enables the use of a high-resolution surface coil to image patients at multiple stations as they are moved through the magnet. The group scanned several organs, including the brain, vascular system, heart, lungs, and colon.
The authors said they achieved good image quality and found a number of abnormalities in their screening population, although they were quick to point out that their technique isn't ready for use outside a research setting.
They aren't kidding -- although MRI has a better safety profile than CT due to its lack of ionizing radiation, the modality's higher expense sets the cost-benefit bar even higher. That's a threshold even whole-body CT was having trouble clearing, by some estimates. Learn more about whole-body MRI by clicking here.
