The Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) hosted the 99th Assembly and Annual Meeting where professionals from around the country shared their cases using new technologies for a better health service.
E- Health Reporter Latin America shares the most outstanding cases.
Novel Rehabilitation Device Improves Motor Skills after Stroke
«»Each year, nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke in the United States, and 50 percent of those have some degree of upper extremity disability,»» said Vivek Prabhakaran, M.D., Ph.D., director of functional neuroimaging in radiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
«»Rehabilitation sessions with our device allow patients to achieve an additional level of recovery and a higher quality of life.»»
Dr. Prabhakaran, along with co-principal investigator Justin Williams, Ph.D., and a multidisciplinary team, built the new rehabilitation device by pairing a functional electrical stimulation (FES) system -which is currently used to help stroke patients recover limb function- and a brain control interface (BCI) -which provides a direct communication pathway between the brain and this peripheral stimulation device-.
«»Our hope is that this device not only shortens rehabilitation time for stroke patients, but also that it brings a higher level of recovery than is achievable with the current standard of care,»» Dr. Prabhakaran said.
«»We believe brain imaging will be helpful in planning and tracking a stroke patient’s therapy, as well as learning more about neuroplastic changes during recovery.»»
PRP Therapy Improves Degenerative Tendon Disease
Dr. Alice La Marra , M.D., radiology resident at the University of L’Aquila, Italy, and colleagues recently evaluated platelet-rich plasma (PRP) in 50 athletes who had degenerative tendinosis in the Achilles tendon, which connects the calf muscle to the heel bone, and 30 who had tendinosis in the patellar tendon, which connects the kneecap to the shin bone.
The patients underwent ultrasound-guided PRP every 21 days for a total of three treatments. MRI was performed before the procedures and 30 days and one year after the last treatment. The researchers used standard measures of functionality and pain to determine the severity of the tendinosis.
Patients with tendinosis of the Achilles tendon saw an overall improvement of 80 percent in pain and 53 percent in functionality after the PRP treatment. Those patients who had tendinosis in the patellar tendon saw a 75 percent improvement in pain and a 50 percent improvement in functionality.
«»Our study showed that in patients who underwent PRP treatments, there was an improvement of functionality, a decrease in pain and a normalization of the signal intensity seen on MRI,»» Dr. La Marra said.
«»Therefore, our experience proves that PRP infiltration may be a good therapeutic alternative for the treatment of Achilles and patellar tendinopathy in athletes.»»
MR-guided Ultrasound Offers Noninvasive Treatment for Breast Cancer
A technique that uses focused ultrasound under magnetic resonance (MR) guidance to heat and destroy tumors may offer a safe and effective treatment for breast cancer, according to research presented by Alessandro Napoli, M.D., Ph.D., and assistant professor of radiology at Sapienza University in Rome.
Post-surgical evaluation confirmed the absence of residual disease in the treatment area in 83 percent of patients.
«»In the treatment stage, we are able to precisely visualize where the energy is having an effect and to measure exactly the rise in temperature,»» said Napoli. «»Temperature monitoring is particularly important; since too low a temperature is ineffective and too high a temperature may be dangerous.»»
«»This is carried out by a special sequence that is called MR thermometry,»» Dr. Napoli said. «»Only MRI presently has the ability to determine, in real time, fine temperature quantification.»»
While the initial results are promising, Dr. Napoli said more research will be needed before the approach can be adopted as a stand-alone treatment for breast cancer.
RSNA 2014
The 100th edition of Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting by the Radiological Society of North America will take place on the November 30th as every year since 1975 at McCormick Place, Chicago.
