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Imaging Assessment (imaging + assessment)

Distribution by Scientific Domains
Medical Sciences100%

Selected Abstracts

Intensive Imaging Assessment for Successful Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery

ARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 5 2002
Masaya Kitamura
Abstract: To clarify special imaging assessment that is useful for minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS), we examined 141 cases of MICS operations with ministernotomy or minithoracotomy. In the 141 patients, 62 valve, 42 coronary, 37 congenital heart, and 2 other procedures were successfully completed without conversion to full sternotomy. Preoperative chest x-ray, computed tomography, and/or magnetic resonance imaging were necessary for determining the level of ministernotomy, especially in aortic valve operations. Transthoracic echocardiography was useful for selecting procedures of mitral valve or intracardiac repair through the MICS approach. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography was essential for continuous monitoring of cardiac function, intracardiac flow, air bubbles, and so forth. The above results suggest that intensive imaging assessment might be very important for successful MICS operations with ministernotomy or minithoracotomy and that extensive indications for this technique exist for various cardiovascular diseases. [source]

Presence of significant synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis patients with disease-modifying antirheumatic drug,induced clinical remission: Evidence from an imaging study may explain structural progression

ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 12 2006
A. K. Brown
Objective More timely and effective therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has contributed to increasing rates of clinical remission. However, progression of structural damage may still occur in patients who have satisfied remission criteria, which suggests that there is ongoing disease activity. This questions the validity of current methods of assessing remission in RA. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that modern joint imaging improves the accuracy of remission measurement in RA. Methods We studied 107 RA patients receiving disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy who were judged by their consultant rheumatologist to be in remission and 17 normal control subjects. Patients underwent clinical, laboratory, functional, and quality of life assessments. The Disease Activity Score 28-joint assessment and the American College of Rheumatology remission criteria, together with strict clinical definitions of remission, were applied. Imaging of the hands and wrists using standardized acquisition and scoring techniques with conventional 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography (US) were performed. Results Irrespective of which clinical criteria were applied to determine remission, the majority of patients continued to have evidence of active inflammation, as shown by findings on the imaging assessments. Even in asymptomatic patients with clinically normal joints, MRI showed that 96% had synovitis and 46% had bone marrow edema, and US showed that 73% had gray-scale synovial hypertrophy and 43% had increased power Doppler signal. Only mild synovial thickening was seen in 3 of the control subjects (18%), but no bone marrow edema. Conclusion Most RA patients who satisfied the remission criteria with normal findings on clinical and laboratory studies had imaging-detected synovitis. This subclinical inflammation may explain the observed discrepancy between disease activity and outcome in RA. Imaging assessment may be necessary for the accurate evaluation of disease status and, in particular, for the definition of true remission. [source]

Effect of b value on contrast during diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging assessment of acute ischemic stroke

JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING, Issue 5 2002
Raoul S. Pereira PhD
Abstract Purpose To examine the effect of varying the diffusion encoding strength (b value) on the contrast (signal difference, ,S) between damaged and normal tissue during diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI) assessment of acute ischemic stroke. Materials and Methods Phantoms with diffusion values approximating those expected in acutely infarcted and normal tissue were constructed from a mixture of agar and formaldehyde and imaged at varying b values (0,3000 mm,2 second). Ten patients were imaged with multiple b values (500,2500 mm,2 second) within 12 hours of stroke onset. Results Theoretical calculations showed that for any combination of diffusion coefficients there existed an optimal b value that was higher than the standard setting of 1000 mm,2 second, and this was confirmed by the phantom studies. In the patients, increasing b from 1000 to 1500 mm,2 second increased ,S (average, 22.4%; P = 0.001), but no consistent benefit was seen at b = 2000 mm,2 second (P = 0.408). This compared favorably with the average optimal b value of 1662 mm, 2 second calculated from the patients. Conclusion These results suggest that increasing the b value from 1000 to 1500 mm,2 second would increase contrast between infarcted and normal tissue in the setting of acute ischemic stroke. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2002;15:591,596. © 2002 Wiley-Liss, Inc. [source]

Intensive Imaging Assessment for Successful Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery

ARTIFICIAL ORGANS, Issue 5 2002
Masaya Kitamura
Abstract: To clarify special imaging assessment that is useful for minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS), we examined 141 cases of MICS operations with ministernotomy or minithoracotomy. In the 141 patients, 62 valve, 42 coronary, 37 congenital heart, and 2 other procedures were successfully completed without conversion to full sternotomy. Preoperative chest x-ray, computed tomography, and/or magnetic resonance imaging were necessary for determining the level of ministernotomy, especially in aortic valve operations. Transthoracic echocardiography was useful for selecting procedures of mitral valve or intracardiac repair through the MICS approach. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography was essential for continuous monitoring of cardiac function, intracardiac flow, air bubbles, and so forth. The above results suggest that intensive imaging assessment might be very important for successful MICS operations with ministernotomy or minithoracotomy and that extensive indications for this technique exist for various cardiovascular diseases. [source]

Presence of significant synovitis in rheumatoid arthritis patients with disease-modifying antirheumatic drug,induced clinical remission: Evidence from an imaging study may explain structural progression

ARTHRITIS & RHEUMATISM, Issue 12 2006
A. K. Brown
Objective More timely and effective therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has contributed to increasing rates of clinical remission. However, progression of structural damage may still occur in patients who have satisfied remission criteria, which suggests that there is ongoing disease activity. This questions the validity of current methods of assessing remission in RA. The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that modern joint imaging improves the accuracy of remission measurement in RA. Methods We studied 107 RA patients receiving disease-modifying antirheumatic drug therapy who were judged by their consultant rheumatologist to be in remission and 17 normal control subjects. Patients underwent clinical, laboratory, functional, and quality of life assessments. The Disease Activity Score 28-joint assessment and the American College of Rheumatology remission criteria, together with strict clinical definitions of remission, were applied. Imaging of the hands and wrists using standardized acquisition and scoring techniques with conventional 1.5T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasonography (US) were performed. Results Irrespective of which clinical criteria were applied to determine remission, the majority of patients continued to have evidence of active inflammation, as shown by findings on the imaging assessments. Even in asymptomatic patients with clinically normal joints, MRI showed that 96% had synovitis and 46% had bone marrow edema, and US showed that 73% had gray-scale synovial hypertrophy and 43% had increased power Doppler signal. Only mild synovial thickening was seen in 3 of the control subjects (18%), but no bone marrow edema. Conclusion Most RA patients who satisfied the remission criteria with normal findings on clinical and laboratory studies had imaging-detected synovitis. This subclinical inflammation may explain the observed discrepancy between disease activity and outcome in RA. Imaging assessment may be necessary for the accurate evaluation of disease status and, in particular, for the definition of true remission. [source]