Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Among the many concerns over the safety of MRI scans, should we be adding another issue -- that of genetic damage?
Fortunately, the answer, most likely, is no. Still, it's good that a U.S. research team investigated the issue, if only to answer nagging questions that had begun to pop up in some more obscure academic journals.
Several papers over the past 10 years had claimed to find evidence of genetic damage related to MRI scans, and a 2015 paper even called for a comprehensive international study on the issue. So the researchers performed a literature review to see if there was anything to the questions.
They found that most of the studies on the topic had major shortcomings, such as a small sample size or lack of a control population. In any event, the research data they reviewed do not support the conclusion that there's a relationship between genetic damage and MRI.
Read more about the study by clicking here, or visit our MRI Community at mri.auntminnie.com.
Surgery or surveillance for thyroid tumors?
When should low-risk papillary thyroid tumors be surgically removed, and when is active surveillance a better option? Researchers from Duke University provide some guidance in a new article in our Ultrasound Community.
Tumor size on ultrasound scans has been a key factor in determining which route to take, but as with everything the devil is in the details. Previously, a threshold of 1 cm was suggested, but this could result in many individuals undergoing surgery who might have indolent cancers that could be better managed with active surveillance.
Instead, the Duke researchers suggest using a higher threshold of 1.5 cm, which they believe would lead to fewer invasive surgeries but similar patient outcomes. Find out how their hypothesis panned out by clicking here, or go to our Ultrasound Community at ultrasound.auntminnie.com.
CT vs. echo
Finally, visit our CT Community for a new article on a study that compared CT with echocardiography for providing measurements for aortic valve replacement in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) surgery. That article is available by clicking here or visiting our CT Community at ct.auntminnie.com.
