Brain MRI may provide more clinical information on some patients with acute stroke, particularly in the detection of acute ischemia and the identification of some stroke-mimicking pathologies. However, every second counts in stroke care—and brain CT has such faster door-to-needle times and better feasibility that it likely will remain the first-line stroke-imaging exam for the foreseeable future.  

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s investigation into MRI contrast agents containing gadolinium, launched almost two years ago, has turned up zero evidence implicating these heavy-metal substances in any harms to the human brain. 

Researchers are closing in on a way to deploy photoacoustic imaging such that breast-cancer surgeons can skip the wait on histology tests and, instead, tell cancerous tissue from neighboring noncancerous tissue while the patient is still on the table. 

Patients with abdominal aortic aneurysms are better served by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) than by color Doppler for follow-up care after receiving endovascular aortic repair (EVAR), according to a study published online May 18 in Clinical Hemorheology and Microcirculation.

A study running in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease bears out a correlation between higher concentrations of omega-3 fatty acids in the bloodstream with both better neurocognitive function and increased perfusion in regions of the brain that handle learning, memory, depression and dementia.

Diagnostic prostate MRI can be a good tool for triaging biopsy candidates, as the one-two punch of that exam followed by MRI-guided biopsy of suspicious lesions has again proven not only clinically efficacious but also cost-effective when compared with transrectal ultrasound-guided biopsy. 

On the heels of GE and Partners Healthcare announcing their collaboration on artificial intelligence beginning with radiology comes a longish look at the decades-long relationship between GE and the University of Wisconsin.

Point-of-care ultrasound, aka “POCUS,” may not be great for finding what x-rays miss in children’s injured ankles, but it proved specific enough in a recent pilot study to recommend itself for ruling out significant ligament tears and radiographically occult bone damage.