Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Researchers investigating a PET radiotracer for signs of tau uptake in the brain -- a biomarker for Alzheimer's disease -- have made an interesting discovery. Our story on their findings was the most-viewed article on AuntMinnie.com for the past week.
A group from Washington University in St. Louis, MO, found that women had higher levels of off-target radiotracer uptake in their skulls than men. The researchers believe this could be due to lower bone density in women. The problem is that this phenomenon could affect performance of PET tracers for tau in detecting early stages of mild cognitive impairment and Alzheimer's disease.
In another article in our Molecular Imaging Community, Japanese researchers tested the use of a carbon-11 methionine radiotracer with PET/CT to detect patient response to neoadjuvant carbon ion radiotherapy.
Veterans decline CT lung screening
In other news, a disturbing study we covered this week indicated that over one-third of U.S. military veterans who were eligible for CT lung cancer screening declined the exams. And researchers believe that shared decision-making requirements for lung screening could be to blame.
Shared decision-making sessions are required between doctors and individuals before CT lung screening exams to ensure reimbursement. But CT screening is one of the only exams with this requirement, and critics believe it could be contributing to the low uptake of lung screening.
Our CT Community also featured the following news reports:
- Texture analysis could be applied to CT pulmonary angiography exams to determine the risk of pulmonary embolism.
- Many referring physicians actually do consider radiation risk to patients when ordering CT exams.
- A deep learning-based reconstruction technique was able to identify in-stent restenosis on coronary CT angiography.
AI for breast imaging
Finally, visit our Women's Imaging Community for several new articles:
- Radiologists want to see artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms meet several requirements before using them for mammography.
- Combining the capabilities of AI with those of human radiologists could improve diagnostic performance in mammography.
- Race and ethnicity can be tied to a lower likelihood that a woman will experience delayed follow-up imaging for incomplete mammograms.
- Women younger than 50 may not be getting annual mammograms.
And thanks to everyone who provided nominations for the Minnies, our annual awards event in radiology. We'll have the full list of candidates available in the next few weeks.
