AJR. American journal of roentgenology
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Sep 2010
Comparative StudyAbdominal CT: comparison of low-dose CT with adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction and routine-dose CT with filtered back projection in 53 patients.
The purpose of this article is to retrospectively compare radiation dose, noise, and image quality of abdominal low-dose CT reconstructed with adaptive statistical iterative reconstruction (ASIR) and routine-dose CT reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP). ⋯ Compared with routine-dose CT with FBP, abdominal low-dose CT with ASIR significantly reduces noise, thereby permitting diagnostic abdominal examinations with lower (by 23-66%) radiation doses. Despite reduced image sharpness in average and small patients, low-dose CT with ASIR had diagnostic acceptability comparable to that of routine-dose CT with FBP.
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Sep 2010
Radiologist report turnaround time: impact of pay-for-performance measures.
Expedited finalized radiologist report turnaround times (RTAT) are considered an important quality care metric in medicine. This study was performed to evaluate the impact of a radiologist pay-for-performance (PFP) program on reducing RTAT. ⋯ A radiologist PFP program appears to have a marked effect on expediting final report turnaround times, which continues after its termination.
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Sep 2010
Preoperative MRI evaluation of pituitary macroadenoma: imaging features predictive of successful transsphenoidal surgery.
The purpose of this study was to determine whether the preoperative MRI findings of enhanced diffusivity, macrocyst content, and internal hemorrhage in pituitary macroadenomas are predictive of successful transsphenoidal hypophysectomy. ⋯ Macrocystic and macrohemorrhagic adenomas and solid tumors with enhanced diffusivity are more likely to be successfully managed with transsphenoidal hypophysectomy. Transsphenoidal hypophysectomy of solid, enhancing tumors with restricted diffusion is more likely to fail, possibly because of the greater reticulin content of the tumor; initial transcranial surgery may be appropriate in these cases.
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The purpose of our study was to examine the utility of whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) in the detection of skeletal and soft-tissue injuries in suspected infant abuse. ⋯ WB-MRI is insensitive in the detection of classic metaphyseal lesions and rib fractures, high specificity indicators of infant abuse. WB-MRI cannot replace the skeletal survey but may complement it by identifying soft-tissue abnormalities.