Abdominal imaging
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Small bowel obstruction (SBO) accounts for a considerable proportion of emergency room visits, inpatient admissions, and surgical interventions in the United States. Multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) plays a key role in imaging patients presenting with acute symptoms suggestive of SBO, which helps in establishing the diagnosis, elucidating the cause of obstruction, and detecting complications, such as ischemia or frank bowel necrosis and perforation. Recently, management of patients with SBO has shifted toward a more conservative approach with supportive care and nasogastric tube decompression, as the obstruction in many cases can resolve spontaneously without the need for operative intervention. ⋯ Thus, it is critically important for radiologists to identify imaging features that suggest or indicated high likelihood of bowel vascular compromise in order to help optimize management prior to the development of bowel ischemia and eventually necrosis. By excluding signs of potentially ischemic or necrotic bowel on MDCT, patients may be spared unnecessary surgery, thus decreasing postsurgical complications and averting potential increase for the risk of future SBO and repeated surgery. Conversely, if imaging features indicate potential vascular compromise of the bowel wall that may lead to bowel ischemia, urgent surgical intervention may prevent progression to bowel necrosis and subsequent perforation.
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We examined whether the shortened breath-hold 3-dimensional volumetric interpolated breath-hold examination (3D-VIBE) sequence for high acceleration factor (AF) using the controlled aliasing in parallel imaging results in higher acceleration (CAIPIRINHA) could substitute for the conventional sequence using generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA) in patients undergoing routine gadoxetic acid-enhanced liver MRI. ⋯ The shortened breath-hold 3D-VIBE sequence using the new CAIPIRINHA technique with a high AF of 4 was superior to the conventional GRAPPA sequence. The shortened breath-hold sequence using GRAPPA with a high AF of 4 worsened the image quality and lesion conspicuity.
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Comparative Study
Low-tube voltage 100 kVp MDCT in screening of cocaine body packing: image quality and radiation dose compared to 120 kVp MDCT.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of a reduced tube potential (100 kVp) for non-enhanced abdominal low-dose CT on radiation dose and image quality (IQ) in the detection of body packing. ⋯ Low-tube voltage 100 kVp MDCT with automated tube current modulation in screening of illegal drugs leads to a diagnostic IQ and significant dose reduction compared to 120 kVp low-tube voltage protocols. Despite lower radiation dose, liquid and solid cocaine containers retain high attenuation and are easily detected.
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The purpose of the study is to evaluate the influence of the adaptive iterative dose reduction (AIDR 3D) algorithm on the detectability of low-contrast focal liver lesions (FLLs) and the radiation dose repeatability of automatic tube current modulation (ATCM) in abdominal CT scans using anthropomorphic phantoms. ⋯ By applying AIDR 3D, half-dose CT scans may be achievable in small-sized patients without hampering diagnostic performance, while it may improve diagnostic performance in medium- and large-sized patients without increasing the radiation dose.
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Current imaging procedures for prostate cancer including positron emission tomography (PET) exhibit considerable limitations and are not always able to meet the diagnostic needs. Recently, a (68)Gallium-labeled ligand of the prostate-specific membrane antigen ((68)Ga-PSMA) has been introduced in PET-imaging of prostate cancer with first promising results. ⋯ Together with the novel development of combined PET/MRI, the combination of excellent morphological detail, multiparametric functional information, and molecular PET data might lead to a significant improvement in detection of prostate cancer. We present an exemplarily case of primary staging using multiparametric (68)Ga-PSMA PET/MR by combining molecular and structural information.