April 18th, 2010 by DrWes in Better Health Network, News, Research
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Thanks to the wonders of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), amazing images of “heart strings” — the muscle fiber orientation of the left ventricle of the heart — have been obtained. According to the University of Oxford:
The image was produced using a branch of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) called diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). The technique tracks the diffusion of water throughout the myocardium (the heart’s muscular wall comprising interconnected sheets of muscle cells called myocytes). Due to the way the myocytes are organized, the movement of water is restricted, so tracking the location of water molecules can reveal valuable information about the structure of the heart in a non-invasive way.
Nice.
-WesMusings of a cardiologist and cardiac electrophysiologist.
*This blog post was originally published at Dr. Wes*
April 4th, 2010 by GruntDoc in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, True Stories
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There’s a nice WSJ article on how forward treatment of combat casualties has become possible. Kudos to these deployed doctors, and to the military that invests the time, money and effort to make things like this happen:
Dr. York, an interventional radiologist who usually performs surgery at the U.S. Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Va., is especially skilled at treating internal injuries. His type of surgery—using X-rays and imaging equipment to guide catheters through veins to perform micro-operations—is comparatively rare in emergency rooms. But in the cramped Kandahar hospital, it is critical to saving lives.
via Wounded Soldiers Have Increased Odds of Survival – WSJ.com.
Probably the world’s only front-line (literally) interventional radiologist.
HT: He who shall not be named.
*This blog post was originally published at GruntDoc*
March 27th, 2010 by Peggy Polaneczky, M.D. in Better Health Network, News, Opinion, Research
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A well-done analysis in the BMJ this week calls into question previous research that has been used to tout mammography as an effective tool for lowering breast cancer mortality in Denmark. That previous study compared breast cancer death rates in Copenhagen, where women were offered screening mammography in 1991, to areas in Denmark where mammograms were not offered until 17 years later, and concluded that the introduction of mammogram screening resulted in a 25 % reduction in breast cancer mortality in screened areas.
The new study adds an additional county where screening was offered (with a little implication that perhaps the previous researchers should have included this other area, but I’ll stay out of the academic finger pointing) and then reanalyzes the data. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at The Blog that Ate Manhattan*
March 8th, 2010 by Medgadget in Better Health Network, News
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GE Health donated time on their latest CT and MR systems for researchers from the Field Museum in Chicago to image the insides of an ancient baby mammoth. Lyuba, apparently one of the finest preserved mammoth specimens, was found by a Siberian reindeer herder three years ago. Now, thanks to modern technology, the researchers believe they know the cause of death of the mammoth. Lyuba is currently on view at the “Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age” exhibit at the Field Museum. Of course, there’s also something to be said for today’s tomography scanners with bore sizes that can accommodate a mammoth. Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at Medgadget*
February 27th, 2010 by scanman in Better Health Network, Medical Art, True Stories
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A young adult (mid thirties), a known case of non-specific aortoarteritis (Takayasu’s arteritis) was referred for a CT scan of the Abdomen including a CT Aortogram to rule out mesenteric ischemia.
The inital plain (no IV or oral contrast) CT scan did not show any evidence of abdominal pathology. So a CT Aortogram was done.
The following is the best CT image of thoracic and abdominal wall arterial collaterals that I have seen in a decade of being a radiologist: Read more »
*This blog post was originally published at scan man's notes*
