Radiology Plus-Radiology Briefs
Radiology Plus-Radiology Briefs
A number of new developments in radiology were unveiled at the 85th Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting of the Radiology Society of North America in Chicago, Nov. 28-Dec. 3, 1999. Here are some of the highlights.
Pitt Researchers Unveil Less Costly PACS Alternative
A new and inexpensive method of speeding diagnosis and treatment of patients was unveiled by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine's radiology department.
Called Dynamic Transfer Syntax (DTS), it involves a medical image transmission and display method that researchers there say can be implemented at any hospital using regular PCs and an inexpensive NT server with existing ethernet networks. The researchers say DTS can be implemented at a fraction of the cost of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS).
Physicians using DTS to access images can choose the level of image quality they want, including full fidelity, without spending $80,000-$100,000 for workstations and networks, says Paul Chang, MD, director of the division of radiology information at the university, and developer of the new technology. "This is important for examining complicated and massively large image data sets such as CT or MRI studies," he adds. "It is especially true for digital mammograms, where doctors must compare eight extremely large images . . . side-by-side at very high resolution in order to detect changes in breast tissue that could indicate early signs of cancer."
Stentor Inc., a private company, is developing the technology for the healthcare market. It is the first company funded by Caducceus, a biomedical venture capital fund of which the University of Pittsburgh Health System is the principal sponsor.
Transplanted Liver Cells Boost Survival Rates
Transplanting frozen liver cells can keep patients with liver failure alive while they wait for an organ donor, according to preliminary studies released at the RSNA conference.
The new technique is still considered experimental but holds great promise for extending the lives of liver transplant patients, says Jaime Tisnado, MD, author of one of the studies. He is professor of cardiovascular and interventional radiology and surgery at the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.
The new technique also offers hope for helping avoid the need for a transplant. One patient in the study recovered from the cell infusion alone and no longer needed a transplant, the researchers reported.
The liver cells used are taken from one of several sources, usually from excess liver tissue of healthy donors that had not been used for transplant because it was too damaged to be cultured. In other cases, a living person donated part of his or her liver to someone in need of a transplant, but there is more liver than required. The harvested cells are frozen, then stored in liquid nitrogen until ready to use. From 200 million to one billion liver cells are stored in each infusion. When needed, the cells are thawed, and from 80%-90% survive. They are then injected into the liver or spleen. To infuse the cells into the liver, an interventional radiologist uses ultrasound guidance to insert a catheter through the abdomen into the portal vein to the liver. The radiologist uses X-ray guidance to insert the catheter into an artery in the groin. From there, the catheter is advanced to the splenic artery, and the liver cells are deposited in the spleen.
Early CT Scans Reduce Lung Cancer Deaths
Early use of ct scans to screen people 60 years and older who are at risk of lung cancer can save lives and also convince smokers to give up the habit, according to research presented at the RSNA meeting.
A continuing study by researchers at the Weill Medical College Cornell University, New York, and New York University Medical Center shows that by early use of CT, cancers can be found when they are about the size of a grain of rice. Cancers caught at an early stage have an 80% five-year survival rate, compared to 10%-14% for later stage cancers, says Claudia I. Henschke, MD, professor of radiology and division chief of chest imaging at Weill Medical College.
Data supporting the conclusions come from the second year of the Early Lung Cancer Action Program developed by researchers at the two universities. They found that nine of nearly 1400 subjects tested with repeat annual CT screening had small tumors either first appearing on the annual screening or missed on the prior screening.
New Imaging Technique Backs Acupuncture
A new form of brain imaging is providing proof that one of the oldest medical techniques—acupuncture—really works.
Researchers using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) discovered that areas of brain activity "light up" during fMRI based on increased blood flow in the portion of the brain being stimulated.
In the study, pain threshold before acupuncture was measured by inducing light pain in 12 subjects by repeatedly using a filament to touch the outside or inside of the upper lip. In all 12 subjects, fMRI showed considerable brain activity, particularly in the parietal area, the sensory center of the brain, and the brain stem. Seven subjects received acupuncture with manual stimulation, and five received electro-acupucture. During the 30-minute sessions, subjects rated their pain on a 1-10 scale every five minutes. FMRI tests were followed and showed markedly decreased brain activity in four of seven subjects receiving manual acupuncture, and all five subjects receiving electro-acupuncture. Those numbers corresponded with the decreased levels of pain the subjects said they were experiencing.
"We found activity subsided in 60-70% of the entire brain," says Wen-Ching Liu, PhD, a co-author of the study and assistant professor of radiology at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark.
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