AuntMinnie.com MRI Insider

Dear MRI Insider,

A few well-chosen words of encouragement can go a long way in relaxing a nervous patient who's about to undergo an MRI scan -- thus reducing the number of cancelled and rescheduled exams, according to an article featured in this issue of the MRI Insider.

The new study, from Harvard University in Boston, found that teaching advanced communication skills and self-hypnotic relaxation techniques to MRI staff members can help them deal more effectively with patients and significantly increase the number of successful scans, even among patients with claustrophobia. Click here to learn more about this issue's Insider Exclusive.

Also in this edition, senior editor Erik L. Ridley reports on how the combination of breast MRI and ultrasound can help evaluate unexpected lesions. Researchers from Elizabeth Wende Breast Care in Rochester, NY, found that second-look ultrasound was able to visualize 70% of unexpected lesions found on presurgical breast MRI, allowing for easier biopsy of these cases.

Similarly, breast MRI can help doctors put equivocal mammographic findings to rest, but it should be used carefully because of the potential for false positives. Associate editor Kate Madden Yee details that conclusion from researchers at New York University School of Medicine, who determined that breast MRI was particularly helpful, but not always necessary, when the ambiguous mammographic finding was breast asymmetry or architectural distortion.

At the American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery Foundation annual meeting in San Diego, researchers from Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit discussed how magnetoencephalography (MEG) can help doctors locate and possibly treat the part of the brain responsible for tinnitus or ringing in the ears. Although other imaging modalities such as PET and functional MRI indicate general areas in the brain activated by tinnitus, MEG pinpoints these areas much better, according to Dr. Michael Seidman, director of the division of otologic-neurotologic surgery.

Those items are just a small sample of the relevant research that can be found daily in the MRI Digital Community. Bookmark the site, along with AuntMinnie.com, to remain up-to-date and well informed.