Acta radiologica
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Comparative Study Controlled Clinical Trial
Evaluation of the gallbladder and cystic duct patency with gadoxetate disodium enhanced MR cholangiography: prospective comparison of patients with normal gallbladder function and acute cholecystitis.
Using hepatocyte-specific magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents such as gadoxetate disodium, MRI can provide functional information regarding the patency of the cystic duct similar to hepatobiliary scintigraphy in addition to anatomic images. ⋯ GDE-MRC can assess the patency of the cystic duct. Delayed (>60 min) or lack of filling of the gallbladder during GDE-MRC supports the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis. However, filling of the gallbladder with contrast in <60 min does not exclude the diagnosis of acute calculous cholecystitis.
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For the evaluation of severely injured trauma patients a variety of total body computed tomography (CT) scanning protocols exist. Frequently multiple pass protocols are used. A split bolus contrast protocol can reduce the number of passes through the body, and thereby radiation exposure, in this relatively young and vitally threatened population. ⋯ In single pass total body CT scanning a split bolus technique reached the highest overall image quality compared to conventional total body CT and one-volume contrast CT.
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
18F-FDG-PET/CT better localizes active spinal infection than MRI for successful minimally invasive surgery.
Surgical debridement is often required to treat spinal infections. Successful surgery requires accurate localization of the active infections, however, current imaging technique still requires surgeons' experience to narrow the surgical fields to achieve less invasive procedures. ⋯ FDG-PET/CT demonstrated limited areas of abnormality allowing accurate delineation, and is thus useful to narrow the surgical fields. Since overall diagnostic accuracy of FDG-PET/CT was superior to that of MRI, FDG-PET/CT is a useful technique to narrow the surgical field for successful less invasive surgery.
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The Stenting and Aggressive Medical Management for Preventing Recurrent Stroke in Intracranial Stenosis (SAMMPRIS) trial indicated that most patients with symptomatic intracranial atherosclerosis are not good candidates for percutaneous transluminal angioplasty and stenting (PTAS) because of a higher complication risk than with conservative treatment. However, enrollment of SAMMPRIS patients was based on lesion severity only, without functional imaging. ⋯ PCT appears to be a valuable noninvasive technique to evaluate hemodynamic compromise in unilateral chronic MCA stenosis and the improvements after PTAS.
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Low-dose, time-resolved, contrast-enhanced, magnetic resonance angiography (TR-CEMRA) has been described previously; however, a comparative study between low dose TR-CEMRA and time-of-flight MRA (TOF-MRA) in the diagnosis of supra-aortic arterial stenosis has not yet been published. ⋯ Low-dose TR-CEMRA is feasible and effective in the diagnosis of supra-aortic arterial stenosis, and could be more useful option than TOF-MRA.