Dear MRI Insider,
This edition of the Insider has a European flavor, offering an exclusive first look at research presented at this week's European Congress of Radiology (ECR). A study from Germany has found that breast MRI and computer-aided detection (CAD) can provide quantitative data to better predict the occurrence of distant metastasis in patients with primary breast cancer.
Researchers from Friedrich Schiller University concluded that the data could also be used for further risk stratification and in future therapeutic planning. Click here to learn more -- as an Insider subscriber, you get access to the article before the rest of the AuntMinnie membership.
Also from ECR are results from a 54-month prospective study in France: the International Research and Working Committee on Imaging Contrast Media (CIRTACI) trial. Researchers found that 40% of immediate hypersensitivity reactions to the administration of iodine- and gadolinium-based contrast agents are true allergies. In addition, a true allergic hypersensitivity reaction would prevent a patient from taking that contrast agent for life.
And results from an Italian study, also presented at ECR, suggest that using conventional T1-weighted dynamic MRI to evaluate edema in breast cancer patients allows an accurate assessment of pathology response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Researchers found good correlation between edema reduction on MRI during neoadjuvant chemotherapy and a pathological response to the treatment.
Finally, German researchers have reported promising results in the use of PET/MRI to detect malignant tumors in the head and upper neck area. Testing a prototype hybrid PET/MR scanner, the study from Eberhard-Karls University concluded that the MR images showed "excellent image quality," with no recognizable artifacts caused by the specially designed PET detector array that fits inside the MRI magnet bore.
Stay in touch with the MRI Digital Community for more news from ECR and the latest developments from across the modality.
