Dr. James Thrall

PACS/VNA
MGH's Thrall reflects on 30 years in radiology
On February 1, Dr. James Thrall stepped down as chairman of the department of radiology at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), ending a 30-year career as one of the leading figures in radiology. In this exclusive article, Dr. Thrall reflects on the changes he's seen over the past 30 years in medical imaging.
February 25, 2013
2013 02 25 11 30 07 718 Thrall James 70
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Response Evaluation Criteria in Bone Metastases (RECIBM) and metabolic criteria were used to detect a complete response missed at anatomic assessment. A 76-year-old male patient presented with 1 month of hemoptysis and was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer and bone metastases. Baseline (July 2022) F-18 FDG-PET/CT images (A, maximum intensity projection image; B–E, axial images) demonstrate FDG-avid lesions in the left lamina of the first lumbar vertebra (L1) (straight yellow arrows; maximum standardized uptake value, 2.74; peak standardized uptake value normalized to lean body mass, 1.59) and left ilium (curved yellow arrows; maximum standardized uptake value, 3.68; peak standardized uptake value normalized to lean body mass, 2.28). After seven chemotherapy cycles (December 2022), follow-up PET/CT images (F, maximum intensity projection image; G–J, axial images) show complete metabolic resolution of bony lesions (L1: maximum standardized uptake value, 1.32, and peak standardized uptake value normalized to lean body mass, 0.85; left ilium: maximum standardized uptake value, 1.48, and peak standardized uptake value normalized to lean body mass, 0.82), without apparent osteolytic or osteoblastic changes at CT. Assessment was stable disease (SD) according to the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (MDA) criteria but complete response (CR) or complete metabolic response (CMR) according to RECIBM, PET Response Criteria in Solid Tumors (PERCIST), and European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) criteria. The patient was alive as of September 30, 2025.
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