Nearly a century after Alzheimer’s disease was first identified, there has been no foolproof way to diagnose the illness in a living patient. But a new method used by doctors at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas is almost 100 percent accurate when combined with clinical assessment.
Testing blood flow in a specific region of the brain may boost the degree of diagnostic certainty in difficult cases from 90 percent to almost 100 percent, said Dr. Frederick Bonte, director of the Nuc
Multidetector CT (MDCT) is superior to plain film x-rays for detecting problems that occur in patients who have undergone hip replacements, a new study shows.
Hip prostheses generally last 10-15 years, said Joshua Farber, MD, vice chair of clinical affairs at Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis. Then a series of complications can occur. Dr. Farber studied 45 patients who had pain in their replaced hip, using both plain film x-rays and MDCT to diagnose the problem. MDCT was 100
Benign breast masses can be safely and effectively removed without surgery—using a vacuum assisted breast biopsy system, preliminary results of a study show
The study found that breast masses as large as 3 cm could be completely removed with just a small incision. The study included 24 patients, with 27 lesions, said Priscilla Slanetz, MD, director of breast imaging at Caritas St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center in Boston, MA, a teaching affiliate Tufts University School of Medicine.
Cells derived from the inside of a tooth might someday prove an effective way to treat the brains of people suffering from Parkinson’s disease
A study in the May 1 issue of the European Journal of Neuroscience shows dental pulp cells provide great support for nerve cells lost in Parkinson’s disease and could be transplanted directly into the affected parts of the brain. The study’s lead author is Christopher Nosrat, an assistant professor of biological and materials sci
Elastic titanium nails help children recover faster from a broken leg than the traditional treatment with weeks of traction and a body cast, according to a new study from The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. Children with the implanted nails got out of bed within days after surgery, were less dependent on their parents for help in moving, and had fewer complications than children in body casts.
“We’ve shown that although both treatments usually have good outcomes, treatment wi
Clue to how virus avoids immune system activity may lead to new treatment strategy
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers may have provided another clue to the mystery of how HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, evades the defenses of the immune system. In the May issue of the Journal of Virology, a team from the Partners AIDS Research Center at MGH describes finding how a key protein that helps the virus enter its target T helper cells may also keep away the T killer cells that
PACS can increase radiologists’ productivity by nearly 40% in a community teaching hospital, allowing for more patient examinations without increasing physician staffing, a new study shows.
Productivity data before PACS implementation at Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital in Santa Barbara, CA, was compared to data after the facility had converted 100% to a fully digital PACS system. Patient volume increased from 102% for CT, 66% for MRI, 36% for ultrasound, 32% for special procedures and 23% for
Researchers at the University of Chicago have developed a computer technique that “learns” how benign and malignant breast calcifications appear on digital mammograms so not only can it detect them, but it can also predict the likelihood that the calcifications are associated with cancer.
“In this study, we analyzed 49 full-field digital mammograms, 19 of which showed cancer,” said Rich Rana, a medical student at the University of Chicago. Four mammography specialists read the images and ele
People who have lost or damaged teeth could soon be growing their own, thanks to a major scientific breakthrough by a start-up, Odontis Ltd, formed by King’s College, London. An investment of £400,000 from NESTA (the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) – the organisation that nurtures UK creativity and innovation and the Wellcome Trust biomedial research charity, will enable the company to move onto the next stage of development.
Damaged or missing teeth are a large and
An independent researcher reporting at the annual meeting of the American Society of Cataract and Refractive Surgery (ASCRS) finds that “Custom” or…
Dartmouth physicians and engineers are collaborating to test three new imaging techniques to find breast abnormalities, including cancer. Results from the first stage of their research, information about the electro-magnetic characteristics of healthy breast tissue, appears in the May 2004 issue of Radiology, the journal of the Radiological Society of North America.
The interdisciplinary team, which includes researchers from Dartmouth’s Thayer School of Engineering and Dartmouth Medical
An enzyme that protects the body from reactive chemicals called free radicals is crucial in preventing the inflammation that causes chronic lung disease in premature infants, according to three new studies.
The findings could lead to improved treatments to alleviate such inflammation, preserving the lungs of premature infants, said Richard Auten, M.D., a neonatalogist and associate professor of pediatrics at Duke University Medical Center. Auten and colleagues from the Medical College of W
By using a 16-slice scanner as opposed to a 4-slice scanner, considerable reductions in effective radiation dose can be achieved on body CT without sacrificing established clinical image quality levels, a new study by researchers from Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, The Netherlands, says.
Specifically, the authors state that by using carefully optimized volumetric imaging protocols with 16-MDCT (multidetector computed tomography), a dose reduction of 20–30% can be achieved in sta
Using simultaneous acquisition of spatial harmonics (SMASH) T2-weighted imaging for knee MRI results in a significant decrease in imaging time, as compared to conventional fat-saturated T2-weighted imaging, without any negative effects on MRI interpretation or patient clinical outcome, says a new study by researchers from the Neuroskeletal Imaging Institute in Melbourne, FL.
According to the study, SMASH imaging, which acquires many pictures at the same time as opposed to traditional imaging
MR spectroscopy may be a useful adjunct to conventional imaging to distinguish recurrent tumor from treatment-related change in the brain such as inflammation or dead cells, says a new study by researchers from the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, MI.
In the study, MR spectroscopy was performed on 27 patients who were previously treated with surgery, chemotherapy and radiation therapy for brain tumor. Results of the study revealed that Choline, Creatine and N-acetylasparta
Computed tomography (CT)-guided injections offer a safe delivery method for gene therapy in patients with metastatic kidney cancer, according to a study in the May issue of the journal Radiology.
Gene therapy involves introducing genetic material directly into cells to fight disease. “The new gene therapies offer promise for controlling certain types of cancer, but delivering the agents directly into tumors poses its own set of challenges,” said the study’s lead author, Robert D. Suh,
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