Academic radiology
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Retention of academic faculty is a pressing issue for many radiology departments. The departure of junior faculty members to private practice may be driven in part by economics; however, the choice may be influenced by many other elements of faculty satisfaction. The purpose of this study was to evaluate how satisfied junior (assistant professors and instructors) and senior (associate professors and professors) faculty in an academic radiology department are with respect to their work and to determine which factors most affected the decision to stay in academics. ⋯ The main reasons to stay in academics were the opportunity for teaching (68%), working with expert colleagues (58%), to pursue research (55%), and an interesting mix of cases (47%). Disincentives to stay in academics included insufficient financial remuneration (82%), the high clinical workload (45%), academic center "politics," and the lack of academic time (42%).
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To perform a retrospective, quantitative assessment of the anatomic relationship between intra-axial, supratentorial, primary brain tumors, and adjacent white matter fiber tracts based on anatomic and diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We hypothesized that white matter infiltration may be common among different types of tumor. ⋯ The information provided by diffusion tensor imaging combined with anatomic MRI might be useful for neurosurgical planning and intraoperative guidance. Our results confirm previous reports that extensive white matter infiltration by primary brain tumors is a common occurrence. However, prospective, large population studies are required to definitively clarify this issue, and how infiltration relates to histologic tumor type, tumor size, and location.
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Comparative Study
Manually adjusted versus vendor-preset definition of metabolite boundaries impact on proton metabolite ratios.
Metabolite peak boundary definition is an important postprocessing step in proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS). We compare metabolite ratios calculated using three different postprocessing strategies: software-rendered default peak boundaries, manually adjusted peak boundaries and a curve-fitting program. The first two of these methods are commercially available. ⋯ There can be significant differences in metabolite ratios calculated using default and manually adjusted peak limits in proton MR spectroscopy. Furthermore, Cho/Cr and NAA/Cho adjusted metabolite ratios are closer to curve-fit values, which are considered the most accurate of the three.
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Electromagnetic tracking potentially may be used to guide percutaneous needle-based interventional procedures. The accuracy of electromagnetic guided-needle puncture procedures has not been specifically characterized. This article reports the functional accuracy of a needle guidance system featuring real-time tracking of respiratory-related target motion. ⋯ Actual puncture success rate approximates predicted rates for target vessels 5 mm in diameter or greater when depth errors are excluded. Greater accuracy for smaller diameter vessels would be desirable for implementation in a broader range of clinical applications.