Neuroradiology: Page 205

Advanced MR clarifies nexus between white matter and cerebrovascular disease

By Shalmali Pal

SAN FRANCISCO - MRI has been a great boon to stroke researchers who are probing the depths of white matter and the reasons for its dysfunction. Unfortunately, standard MR has its limits in this beautiful and complex structure. But recent advances in MR technology should unlock some of the mystery surrounding white matter, according to a presentation at the 2007 International Stroke Conference.

February 8, 2007

BrainLab wins patent victory

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

Image-guided therapy firm BrainLab of Munich, Germany, reported that the U.S. District Court in Denver dismissed a patent infringement lawsuit earlier this month that was brought by interventional technology firm Medtronic of Minneapolis and that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has upheld the decision.

February 7, 2007

Bio-Imaging completes Theralys acquisition

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

Bio-Imaging Technologies of Newtown, PA, has acquired Theralys of Lyon, France, a provider of customized imaging services in the field of central nervous system disorders (CNS) and neurovascular diseases.

February 6, 2007

MRI should be preferred test for suspected acute stroke

By Shalmali Pal

MRI should replace CT as the first-line test for accurate diagnosis of suspected acute stroke, according to a study published today in the Lancet. The authors found that MRI was superior to CT for diagnosing ischemic stroke, as well as acute and chronic hemorrhage. While cost is an issue with MRI, its greater diagnostic accuracy would justify the extra expense, they said.

January 25, 2007

Give a little bit! Give a little bit of your temporal cortex to me

By Shalmali Pal

When it comes to being charitable, Bill and Melinda Gates, Oprah, and Brangelina may have more in common than just open wallets. A recent fMRI study indicates that a specific region of the brain is linked to altruism and empathy. Interestingly enough, this particular region is not associated with the neurological areas that are responsible for higher functioning.

January 25, 2007

Bayer Schering to develop PET brain imaging agents

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

Berlin-based Bayer Schering Pharma (formerly Schering) has signed a license and option agreement with two Japanese companies and the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS) in Japan to develop imaging compounds for detecting neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases.

January 18, 2007

SPECT/CT enhances octreotide imaging

By Jonathan S. Batchelor

Indium-111-labeled octreotide imaging has shown greater accuracy than CT or MRI scans in detecting somatostatin receptor-positive neuroendocrine tumors. But anatomic localization of these tumors solely based on octreotide scans is problematic, so these procedures are usually performed with CT or MRI. A recent study suggests that SPECT/CT in octreotide imaging can provide important diagnostic information to clinicians that is unavailable with planar whole-body scans.

January 11, 2007

MRI pegs cognitive dysfunction as noteworthy clinical feature in multisystem APS

By Shalmali Pal

Cerebral microvasculopathy could be an underlying mechanism for cognitive dysfunction, based on MR studies performed in patients with antiphospholipid syndrome (APS), according to Greek investigators.

January 2, 2007

Siemens, UCLA to test Alzheimer's PET agent

By AuntMinnie.com staff writers

Siemens Medical Solutions of Malvern, PA, announced today that it plans to begin clinical trials in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles, on a new biomarker based on PET technology that could potentially identify Alzheimer's disease before the onset of symptoms.

December 20, 2006

PET reveals limbic dysfunction in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

Patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) who have an abnormal odor perception may have widespread limbic dysfunction, according to a presentation by Swedish investigators at the North American Regional Epilepsy Congress in San Diego earlier this month.

December 18, 2006

High-field MRI of the brain safely acquired in pacemaker patients

With the increasing number of implanted pacemakers, too many patients who need an MRI can't be scanned with the modality. Or can they? Researchers from the University of Bonn in Germany put scores of pacemakers to the test on a 3-tesla scanner, and found no significant heating or degradation of function.

December 14, 2006

Calcium contrast boosts T2-weighted signal in molecular MRI

By Shalmali Pal

A calcium-sensitive contrast agent, married with superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (SPIO), could make MR studies of the brain on a molecular level feasible, according to researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge.

December 5, 2006

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