Dear AuntMinnie Member,
The votes have finally been counted, and we're pleased to present to you the winners of the 2021 Minnies awards recognizing excellence in radiology.
This year's awards demonstrate that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to cast a long shadow over radiology. The Minnies expert panel judged the pandemic to be the Most Significant News Event in Radiology, while a research study on axillary adenopathy after COVID vaccination won the award for Scientific Paper of the Year.
Meanwhile, CT continued to show that it's still relevant in an era that's dominated by MRI and hybrid imaging. A spectral CT scanner was named Best New Radiology Device, while photon-counting CT won the award for Hottest Clinical Procedure.
Learn more about the Minnies winners in our comprehensive overview of the awards. And be sure to visit our page that lists all the winners of the awards over their 22-year history.
Thanks to the Minnies expert panel for its work, and most of all, thanks to all the members of AuntMinnie.com who submitted nominations!
News from ASTRO
The American Society for Radiation Oncology (ASTRO) wrapped up its annual meeting this past week, returning to Chicago after a one-year absence as last year's meeting was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our coverage of ASTRO 2021 included stories on how new protocols and treatments are making radiation therapy more precise while minimizing side effects. ASTRO attendees also learned about virtual hardware and software tools that are being used to improve care. And addressing disparities in healthcare was the subject of a series of talks at the meeting.
Visit our Radiation Oncology Community for more news from ASTRO 2021.
MRI predicts cognitive status
Another top article on AuntMinnie.com last week came from our MRI Community. Researchers from Barcelona found that a baseline MRI exam in people with early-onset Alzheimer's disease can predict their cognitive status up to two years later.
And did you see the images from our article on a novel MRI protocol designed to help fidgety kids get through cardiac MRI exams without sedation? Researchers positioned parents of the children in the magnet bore to accompany them during the scans.
All the news from radiology's most powerful modality can be found in our MRI Community.
![Coronal and axial slice of the average cortical F-18 MK-6240 SUVR [standard uptake value ratio] image for each study population. SUVR images were corrected for partial volume effects and masked with the gray matter mask used for volume of interest delineation. Overall tau accumulation is comparable between the late-life depression (LLD, middle column) and non-depressed cognitively unimpaired comparison (HC, left column) groups, while abnormal tau accumulation, which is most pronounced in the mesial temporal lobe, can be seen in the mild cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer's disease group (right column). Image and caption courtesy of the American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry.](https://img.auntminnie.com/files/base/smg/all/image/2024/07/Tau_depressed.66a16540ee0a1.png?auto=format%2Ccompress&dpr=2&fit=crop&h=167&q=70&w=250)
