Academic radiology
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Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) of the pelvis at 3T is prone to artifacts that diminish the image quality. Readout-segmented echo-planar imaging (RS-EPI) is a new DWI technique that can reduce the artifacts associated with standard single-shot echo-planar imaging (SS-EPI) DWI. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and image quality of RS-EPI in pelvic DWI compared to SS-EPI on a 3T imaging system. ⋯ RS-EPI DWI images showed improved image quality compared to SS-EPI technique at 3T. RS-EPI is a feasible technique in the pelvis for producing high-resolution DWI.
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Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a complex and fatal disease that is difficult to diagnose noninvasively. This study evaluated previously published computed tomography-based vessel measurement criteria and investigated the predictive power and diagnostic ability of the main pulmonary artery diameter (MPAD) and the ratio of MPAD to aorta diameter (rPA). ⋯ This study found that the sensitivity of previously published vessel criteria for identifying PH patients is high, but the specificity may not be high enough for routine use in a clinical patient population.
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The objectives of this study were to measure the parallel changes of transverse relaxation times (T₂), spin-lattice relaxation time in the rotating frame (T₁ρ), and the delayed gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of cartilage (dGEMRIC)-T1 mapping of human knee cartilage in detecting cartilage degeneration at 3.0T. ⋯ The research results showed that all the T₂, T₁ρ, and dGEMRIC-T₁ relaxation times varied with the cartilage degeneration. The dGEMRIC-T₁ and T₁ρ relaxation times seem to be more sensitive than T₂ in detecting early cartilage degeneration. The preliminary study demonstrated that the early biochemical changes in knee osteoarthritic patients could be detected noninvasively in in vivo using T₁ρ and dGEMRIC-T₁ mapping.
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Dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) offers various fields of application, especially in angiography using virtual monoenergetic imaging. The aim of this study was to evaluate objective image quality indices of calculated low-kiloelectron volt monoenergetic DECT angiographic cervical and cerebral data sets compared to virtual 120-kV polyenergetic images. ⋯ 60-keV monoenergetic image data significantly improve vessel attenuation and CNR of cervical and cerebral DECT angiographic studies. Future studies have to evaluate whether the technique can lead to an increased diagnostic accuracy or should be used for dose reduction of iodinated contrast material.