Week in Review: MRI of dementia | FDA mammography changes | New Board Review sections

Dear AuntMinnie Member,

MRI scans have enabled researchers to discover an area of the brain associated with a rare form of dementia that enables those affected to comprehend written words but prevents them from understanding the same words when they are spoken. Our coverage of the study was the top story on AuntMinnie.com this past week.

The researchers at Northwestern University investigated brain changes in individuals with primary progressive aphasia, a neurodegenerative disease that infiltrates the superior temporal gyrus. Based on the findings, they believe they have identified a new area of the brain where raw sound information is transformed into auditory word images.

Another well-read article in our MRI Community this week was a story on how a group from NYU Langone Health improved patient throughput in its MRI section by focusing on several ways to optimize workflow. The changes may seem small -- cutting scan times by only five minutes per scan -- but the results added up over the course of a day.

FDA mammography changes

Breaking news happened on Wednesday, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it's adding rules on breast density to the Mammography Quality Standards Act, the legislation that governs how the agency regulates mammography facilities.

The FDA said it would require mammography providers to send letters to women about their breast density, finally creating a national standard for density reporting. The FDA's move fulfills the efforts of the late Nancy Cappello, PhD, and other density advocates who have successfully lobbied dozens of states to pass their own density reporting requirements.

Get this story and more in our Women's Imaging Community.

New Board Review sections

Have you tried our Board Review section yet? If not, you might want to give it a visit: You'll find a bank of some 200 questions that were specifically designed to help you prepare for the board exam.

We're constantly adding new content to the Board Review, and we recently opened up new sections on musculoskeletal, urinary, and reproductive/endocrine imaging. Check it out at boardreview.auntminnie.com.