Dear MRI Insider,
In this issue of the Insider, you receive an exclusive first look at the prowess of 7-tesla MRI to confirm a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis (MS) in patients whose previous tests and radiologic images were inconclusive.
Researchers from Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust in the U.K. achieved 100% positive and negative predictive values using 7-tesla MRI. They believe their findings could lead to a single diagnostic test for MS, helping patients avoid additional, unnecessary procedures and expediting their diagnosis. Read more about this informative study by clicking here.
MRI can also show the growth of white-matter lesions in the brains of older people as early as 10 years before the onset of mild cognitive impairment (MCI). A study from Oregon Health and Science University found that white-matter hyperintensity volume increased an additional 3.3% 10.6 years prior to the onset of MCI.
MRI is also better than clinical assessment in determining breast tumor response to presurgical neoadjuvant chemotherapy, according to researchers from the University of California, San Francisco. Their study found that MRI was better able to measure pathologic response and residual cancer burden prior to, during, and after chemotherapy in women with invasive breast cancer lesions 3 cm or larger.
The modality also trumps dual-energy CT in cases of traumatic bone marrow lesions in ankle joints, say Swiss researchers from University Hospital Zurich. When subtle bone marrow lesions from MR images were included in evaluations, MRI achieved greater sensitivity and negative predictive value than dual-energy CT.
Finally, if you have ever wondered what man's best friend is really thinking, researchers at Emory University used functional MRI (fMRI) for the first time in unrestrained, unsedated dogs to see how and why they react to hand signals associated with reward. The fMRI scans showed significant activity in the caudate, the brain region linked to reward prediction, when two dogs were given a reward hand signal, but there was no such activity with a no-reward signal.
Be sure to stay in touch with the MRI Digital Community on a daily basis, as we continue to report on novel MRI research and the latest news on the modality.
