NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Nov 11 - In patients with knee osteoarthritis, bone scintigraphic abnormalities are strongly associated with knee malalignment and pain, North Carolina-based researchers report in the November issue of the Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases.  

The superior diagnostic accuracy of MDCT outweighs the modality's increased radiation risks when evaluating patients with traumatic cervical spine injuries, according to a study from Greece that compared the risks and benefits of radiography and CT.  

Brazilian researchers have developed a software application that analyzes digital x-ray images to improve the assessment of scoliosis. The researchers believe the software could provide a more accurate method than manual measurements for calculating angles caused by the curvature of the spine.  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Oct 13 - In staging melanoma patients with palpable lymph nodes, fluorine-18 FDG-PET and CT are equivalent, but FDG-PET detects more metastatic sites, particularly bone and subcutaneous metastases, Dutch researchers report in the October 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology.  

Following the path of King Tut, Nefertiti, and other famed Egyptian figures, a collection of 500- to 1,000-year-old Chachapoyan mummies from northern Peru has now gone under the CT scanner -- a first in the study of this Andean people, according to research in the European Journal of Radiology.  

Despite the use of ergonomically designed ultrasound equipment, researchers at Yale University in New Haven, CT, have found that 96% of their female sonographers experienced some type of musculoskeletal symptom within a 12-month time frame.  

While wine has long been cited for its health benefits, beer hasn't enjoyed nearly the same positive reputation. But a study published in the October issue of Nutrition found that ultrasound bone-density values were higher for women who drink beer, besting both wine drinkers and teetotalers.  

BERLIN (Reuters), Sep 22 - Cancer patients whose tumors are targeted with heat treatment as well as chemotherapy are more likely to stay alive and cancer-free for longer than those who receive only chemotherapy, researchers said on Tuesday.  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Sep 18 - Abnormal bone mineral density is common in children, adolescents, and young adults with epilepsy, according to Italian researchers. In their study, 56 patients (58.3%) had abnormal bone mineral density as measured by dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scan of the lumbar spine.  

SPECT/CT can help orthopedic surgeons and radiologists identify multiple arthritic joints in the feet and ankles and localize degenerative joint disease, according to a study published in the September issue of the British edition of the Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery.  

MRI can detect a significant number of fractures of the proximal femur that are missed by plain radiography, as well as prompt early diagnosis and initiation of treatment, according to a British study.  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Aug 20 - Postmenopausal women treated for breast cancer with aromatase inhibitors have increased bone loss, but there are other important causes of decreased bone mineral density with this malignancy, Australian researchers report.  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Aug 6 - Vertebroplasty does not improve the pain or disability associated with osteoporotic spinal fractures, according to the results of two randomized trials appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine for August 6.  

Orthopedic surgeons are usually the last holdout -- and often a bony obstacle -- to shuttering radiology darkrooms and going digital. But Philadelphia radiologists have found a simple answer to winning their cooperation and getting some impressive results in terms of lower costs and quicker readings.  

A preliminary study has concluded that using a new 3D isotropic fast spin-echo sequence to detect knee joint abnormalities could hasten the assessment of patients with severe pain or claustrophobia who cannot tolerate a 25-minute routine MRI exam, according to results published in the August issue of Radiology.  

NEW YORK (Reuters Health), Jul 24 - Whole-body MRI appears useful in assessing acute inflammatory lesions in the sacroiliac joints in patients with established and active spondylarthritis, European and U.S. researchers report in the July 15 issue of Arthritis and Rheumatism.