Weekly Imaging News Roundup

01.21.12 Dave Fisher

This week’s imaging must read:

U.S. Aims for Effective Alzheimer’s Treatment Strategy by 2020, Nature, By Meredith Wadman, January 19, 2012. Federal committee leaning towards 2020 target for treating and delaying the disease. In December 2010, the US Congress passed the National Alzheimer’s Project Act. The law instructs the US government to develop its first-ever strategic plan for battling Alzheimer’s disease, the dementia-inducing brain disorder that is expected to afflict at least 11 million US citizens by 2050. Read more

Head Trauma Victims on Blood Thinners Need Repeat CT, Medpage, By Crystal Phend, January 19, 2012. Even minor head injury in patients taking warfarin may require more than a single, initial CT scan to check for brain bleeds, Italian researchers urged. Repeat CT scans after 24 hours pointed to delayed hemorrhage in 6% of such patients whose first CT scan came up clean, Vincenzo G. Menditto, MD, of Ospedali Riuniti di Ancona, Italy, and colleagues reported online in the Annals of Emergency Medicine. Even after two negative CT scans in the 97-patient prospective case series, two discharged patients (2%) returned to the hospital days later with symptomatic brain bleeds. Read more

Proton therapy effective against prostate cancer, OncologyNurseAdvisor, By Delicia Honen Yard, January 19, 2012. Two studies published in International Journal of Radiation Oncology*Biology*Physics indicate that proton therapy is a useful treatment for prostate cancer. This specialized form of external-beam radiation therapy (EBRT) employs protons rather than x-rays. One set of researchers followed 211 men with low-, intermediate-, or high-risk prostate cancer who were participating in three prospective trials of image-guided proton therapy. The patients were followed for a minimum of 2 years. Read more

An MRI-Powered Robot Can Swim Through Your Guts, Gizmodo, By Jamie Condliffe, January 16, 2012. If you’ve ever had the pleasure of experiencing endoscopy, you’ll think there must be a better way to check out your insides than having a camera shoved up your ass. Now there is, and it’s robotic! Let’s get the best news over to you first: it’s also small. Phew. In fact, the little robot, referred to as a “microswimmer”, is the size of a large pill. Developed by researchers from Tel Aviv University in Israel and Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, the little guy is made of copper and flexible polymer. Read more