In a report presented at this week's American Roentgen Ray Society meeting, U.S. researchers found that MRI can be useful for imaging cases of acute abdominal pain in pregnant women.
Dear AuntMinnie Member,
Ultrasound may be the modality of choice for imaging pregnant women, but there are times when its clinical utility is limited. In a report presented at this week's American Roentgen Ray Society meeting, U.S. researchers found that MRI can be useful for imaging cases of acute abdominal pain in pregnant women.
A gravid uterus can confound ultrasound imaging of internal organs, according to the presentation covered by staff writer Shalmali Pal for our MRI Digital Community. That can make it difficult to determine whether the abdominal pain is pregnancy-related or has some other cause.
In their study, the researchers used MRI with and without contrast to see if they could come to a diagnosis with the least invasive procedure. Five women were sent on for contrast exams with gadolinium.
The researchers found that MRI was accurate in pinpointing a variety of pathologies, and served up the correct diagnosis in 94% of patients in which it was the primary imaging modality. MRI's safety profile was cited as a major benefit in using the modality for pregnant women.
In a similar vein, a new MRI-compatible incubator is making it easier to image newborns with MRI. A recent study found that the device, with built-in radiofrequency coils, produces better images than older incubators that weren't specifically designed for use in an MRI scanner.
You'll find both articles in our MRI Digital Community, at mri.auntminnie.com.
