Dear MRI Insider,
Radiology departments place great emphasis on making MRI scans as stress-free as possible for all patients, but pediatric patients are receiving extra attention -- and rightly so.
A few years ago, Johns Hopkins Hospital initiated a policy mandating that patients 5 to 18 years of age undergo child life consultations prior to an MRI scan. The initiative reduced the need for anesthesia from 23%, when consultations were performed by referral only, to 19%, when the policy became mandatory. Even more prominent was the change in anesthesia use among children 5 to 10 years old, which dropped from 45% to 35%.
Read our Insider Exclusive, available to you first as an Insider subscriber, to see how the results were accomplished without the use of high-tech gadgetry.
In other top features, Taiwanese researchers have found that women have a more difficult time recovering from concussions than men, based on brain activation patterns seen on functional MRI during working memory tasks. The results suggest that more aggressive treatment could be warranted after head injuries in women.
Using a novel motion-tracking MRI technique, researchers from Johns Hopkins have uncovered new evidence that reduced function in the left atrium of the heart may be a sign of increased stroke risk in patients with or without atrial fibrillation. Interestingly, the findings would seem to contradict current clinical thinking that the abnormal beating of the upper chambers of the heart during atrial fibrillation can cause the formation of blood clots that lead to stroke.
We also offer a fascinating profile of Dr. Terrie Taylor, who has dedicated three decades to the care and treatment of children in Malawi who have cerebral malaria. Dr. Taylor led a group of researchers who used MRI to confirm in a landmark study that brain swelling is the primary reason why some patients die within days from the condition. More specifically, increased brain volume adds pressure at the base of the skull and prevents children from breathing.
Finally, have you ever wondered why knuckles make that cracking sound? According to Canadian and Australian researchers, it's the formation of a gas-filled cavity in the synovial fluid of the knuckle joints, rather than the collapse of pre-existing bubbles of air as the joints separate. The researchers visualized joint cracking in real-time using cine MRI -- a technology that has not been used before for this purpose.
Stay in touch with the MRI Community on a daily basis to learn more about novel research from around the world and how it is contributing to clinical practice.
