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Breast MRI video Aurora

Video Presentation

Spiral®: Breakthrough Technology for Breast Imaging

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Breast MRI Video from WakeRadiology.com

Here’s an outstanding video from Dr. Glenn Coates, MS, MD of Wake Radiology Diagnostic Imaging (www.WakeRadiology.com) who speaks about diagnosing breast cancer with breast MRI.

67 min – Sep 14, 2006

Wake Radiology Diagnostic Imaging – www.wakeradiology.com/breastmri

Posted in Radiology Videos. 2 Comments »

Cardiac MRI and Myocarditis…..Mayo clinic

Myocarditis is an important, and often unrecognized cause of dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Several new diagnostic methods, such as cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are useful for diagnosing myocarditis, according to a study published in the November 2009 issue of Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

“The use of MRI is particularly significant in the diagnosis of patients with myocarditis because it is a standard, noninvasive method,” says Leslie Cooper Jr., M.D., Mayo Clinic Division of Cardiovascular Diseases.

Endomyocardial biopsy may be used for patients with acute dilated cardiomyopathy associated with hemodynamic compromise, those with life-threatening arrhythmia, and those whose condition does not respond to conventional supportive therapy. “Recent improvements in staining methods of biopsy samples have made it easier to read the slides because the stain is more sensitive than previous methods,” says Dr. Cooper.

Viral infection also is an important cause of myocarditis, and the spectrum of viruses known to cause myocarditis has changed in the past two decades. Important prognostic variables include the degree of left and right ventricular dysfunction, heart block, and specific histopathological forms of myocarditis.

A peer-reviewed journal, Mayo Clinic Proceedings publishes original articles and reviews dealing with clinical and laboratory medicine, clinical research, basic science research and clinical epidemiology. Mayo Clinic Proceedings is published monthly by Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research as part of its commitment to the medical education of physicians. The journal has been published for more than 80 years and has a circulation of 130,000 nationally and internationally. Articles are available online at www.mayoclinicproceedings.com.

SOURCE Mayo

source

Brain Surgery With MR Guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound

From the University of Zurich:

The HIFU system ExAblate® 4000, developed by the cooperation partner InSightec, Tirat Carmel Israel, has been combined with a 3 Tesla high field GE MR-scanner. The two systems together provide a platform for image-guided, non-invasive interventions. Since September 2008 ten patients were treated at the Children’s Hospital Zurich with this new neurosurgical procedure in the context of a clinical study. All interventions were completed successfully and without complications. This novel technology now opens up new horizons allowing to develop non-invasive intervention procedures for a variety of brain diseases including brain tumors.

The whole surgical procedure is planned and monitored in real time by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The HIFU beams produced by 1024 transducers are transferred through the intact skull of the patient into the brain and concentrated onto a focus of 3 to 4 millimeters in diameter. Thus, sharply defined targets deep inside the brain are coagulated by heating them up to a focal temperature of 60 degrees Celsius. The temperature increase during the sequential “sonications”, each lasting 10 to 20 seconds, is continuously displayed and controlled on precise MR-temperature distribution maps. The whole surgical procedure lasts several hours and is performed without anaesthesia. Patients are awake and fully conscious during the intervention.

The following video of ExAblate Brain device treatment has been released by the company:

Press release: Successful neurosurgery with transcranial MR-guided high-intensity focused ultrasound

Cancer: shock breakthrough

The results were so startling that researchers decided to release details of the two cases before the drug trial – in which the patients took part – was complete. Doctors said their progress had exceeded all expectations. The men were treated at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota in the US, one of the top medical centres in the world.

Dr Eugene Kwon, the urologist who was in charge of their treatment, compared the results to the first pilot breaking the sound barrier.

“This is one of the Holy Grails of prostate cancer research. We have been looking for this for years,” he said.

Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men – 34,000 new cases and more than 10,000 deaths are reported each year in Britain, where rates of its occurrence have tripled in the past 30 years, mainly due to improved detection. The US has the highest incidence of the disease.

Rodger Nelson and Fructuoso Solano-Revuelta were diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and sought treatment at the Mayo Clinic.

They were told the disease had spread beyond the prostate. Mr Nelson’s cancer was encroaching on the abdomen and Mr Solano-Revuelta’s tumour was the size of a golf ball. Patients in such condition are told they may have only months to live, and are normally only offered palliative care. But after one infusion of the drug ipilimumab, a monoclonal antibody that stimulates the immune system, given with conventional hormone therapy, their tumours shrank enough to be surgically removed. Both men have since made a full recovery and returned to their businesses.

The pair were part of a trial involving 108 patients, half of whom received the experimental drug. The trial is ongoing but the improvement of the two patients was so dramatic and unexpected that they were removed from the study so they could undergo curative surgery.

Dr Kwon said yesterday: “Halfway through the trial we began seeing remarkable responses. Some patients had dramatic shrinkage of their tumours so practically all traces had disappeared. We had thought we might get some incremental delay in the progression of the cancer. It had not dawned on us that we might go from an inoperable tumour to an operable one. That just doesn’t happen.”

The surgery would not have gone ahead if Carol Nelson, Mr Nelson’s wife and a former nurse, had not challenged the surgeons to attempt it.

“The idea of surgery on an ‘inoperable’ tumour had not dawned on us. It is often disappointing and not advisable. But she is a tough lady – and having been a nurse she knew how to control the doctors. We said we didn’t think surgery would work, but we would try,” Dr Kwon said.

The outcome was better than any of them could have anticipated. From having an enlarged prostate gland riddled with cancer which had spread, Mr Nelson was found to have a shrunk prostate gland with tiny pockets of cancer that were “very hard to find”.

Michael Blute, the surgeon who operated on Mr Nelson, said at one point doctors feared they might have the wrong patient: “I was cutting away scar tissue trying to find cancer cells. The pathologist was checking samples as we proceeded and sent word back asking if we had the right patient. He had a hard time finding any cancer. I have never seen anything like this before. The pathologists were floored.”

The procedure was repeated, with the same result, on Mr Solano-Revuelta. A third “inoperable” patient underwent surgery last week.

Dr Kwon said: “These were patients for whom there was no hope. The course of their disease has been altered in a dramatic fashion. We have a major finding which we never expected to stumble across but we have to complete our studies.”

He said the findings had to be confirmed in further studies and the results published in a peer-reviewed journal. A larger trial is due to begin in the autumn. The cases are described in the Mayo Clinic’s research publication, Discovery’s Edge.

Professor Malcolm Mason, a Cancer Research UK prostate cancer specialist, said: “These case reports are extremely interesting and encouraging. Ipilimumab might potentially be a strong stimulator of the immune system, and it seems logical that it might also be effective in prostate cancer.

“But caution is needed, as earlier trials with this drug in other types of cancer were less successful than reported here, and its true value can only become clear through large-scale, randomised clinical trials, two of which are already under way. The other cautionary note is that both men received hormone therapy, which in some instances causes dramatic reductions in tumour size by itself.”

Ipilimumab: How it works

*Ipilimumab is one of a class of drugs called monoclonal antibodies, which stimulate the body’s own immune system to fight disease. The experimental treatment is being developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Medarex, a US biotech company. The drug is being trialled on malignant melanoma, the most serious form of skin cancer, Hodgkin’s disease, lung cancer and prostate cancer. Studies are most advanced in melanoma, where it has been shown to prolong survival in patients with advanced forms of the disease. In the Mayo Clinic study of prostate cancer, researchers say that standard hormone treatment ignited the immune response, and adding ipilimumab was like “pouring gasoline on the pilot light”.

UCF researcher’s nanoparticles could someday lead to end of chemotherapy

Nanoparticles specially engineered by University of Central Florida Assistant Professor J. Manuel Perez and his colleagues could someday target and destroy tumors, sparing patients from toxic, whole-body chemotherapies.

Perez and his team used a drug called Taxol for their cell culture studies, recently published in the journal Small, because it is one of the most widely used chemotherapeutic drugs. Taxol normally causes many negative side effects because it travels throughout the body and damages healthy tissue as well as cancer cells.

The Taxol-carrying nanoparticles engineered in Perez’s laboratory are modified so they carry the drug only to the cancer cells, allowing targeted cancer treatment without harming healthy cells. This is achieved by attaching a vitamin (folic acid) derivative that cancer cells like to consume in high amounts.

Because the nanoparticles also carry a fluorescent dye and an iron oxide magnetic core, their locations within the cells and the body can be seen by optical imaging and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). That allows a physician to see how the tumor is responding to the treatment.

The nanoparticles also can be engineered without the drug and used as imaging (contrast) agents for cancer. If there is no cancer, the biodegradable nanoparticles will not bind to the tissue and will be eliminated by the liver. The iron oxide core will be utilized as regular iron in the body.

“What’s unique about our work is that the nanoparticle has a dual role, as a diagnostic and therapeutic agent in a biodegradable and biocompatible vehicle,” Perez said.

Perez has spent the past five years looking at ways nanotechnology can be used to help diagnose, image and treat cancer and infectious diseases. It’s part of the quickly evolving world of nanomedicine.

The process works like this. Cancer cells in the tumor connect with the engineered nanoparticles via cell receptors that can be regarded as “doors” or “docking stations.” The nanoparticles enter the cell and release their cargo of iron oxide, fluorescent dye and drugs, allowing dual imaging and treatment.

“Although the results from the cell cultures are preliminary, they are very encouraging,” Perez said.

A new chemistry called “click chemistry” was utilized to attach the targeting molecule (folic acid) to the nanoparticles. This chemistry allows for the easy and specific attachment of molecules to nanoparticles without unwanted side products. It also allows for the easy attachment of other molecules to nanoparticles to specifically seek out particular tumors and other malignancies.

Perez’s study builds on his prior research published in the prestigious journal Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. His work has been partially funded by a National Institutes of Health grant and a Nanoscience Technology Center start-up fund.

“Our work is an important beginning, because it demonstrates an avenue for using nanotechnology not only to diagnose but also to treat cancer, potentially at an early stage,” Perez said.

Perez, a Puerto Rico native, joined UCF in 2005. He works at UCF’s NanoScience Technology Center and Chemistry Department and in the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences in the College of Medicine. He has a Ph.D. from Boston University in Biochemistry and completed postdoctoral training at Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School’s teaching and research hospital.

Perez has broad experience in the academic, research and corporate worlds, having worked at Harvard Medical School, conducted research at Boston University and worked for the Millipore Corporation in Bedford, Mass. Since he joined UCF, he has written numerous articles in prestigious journals such as Nature Materials, Nanoletters, Small, PLOS One and Angewandte Chemie Int Ed.

UCF Stands For Opportunity –The University of Central Florida is a metropolitan research university that ranks as the 5th largest in the nation with more than 50,000 students. UCF’s first classes were offered in 1968. The university offers impressive academic and research environments that power the region’s economic development. UCF’s culture of opportunity is driven by our diversity, Orlando environment, history of entrepreneurship and our youth, relevance and energy. For more information visit http://news.ucf.edu

Prototype breast cancer imaging system may improve patient care

A prototype breast imaging system combining positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technologies could greatly improve breast cancer imaging capabilities, according to researchers at SNM’s 56th Annual Meeting.

Although the system has not yet been tested on humans, initial results from the prototype indicate the system produces a fusion of detailed PET and MRI images that should allow a more accurate classification of lesions in the breast.

“PET and MRI systems are both powerful, noninvasive tools for detecting breast cancer and evaluating treatment, but each of them also has weaknesses,” said Bosky Ravindranath, research assistant working with Dr. David Schlyer at Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., and lead author of a study on preliminary testing of the prototype. “We believe that combining PET and MRI in a single system will eventually yield highly sensitive and specific breast cancer examinations while at the same time compensating for the shortcomings that exist when using only PET or only MRI.”

When completed, the dedicated breast PET-MRI system will consist of a modular 3D tomographic PET scanner that is inserted inside a dedicated breast MRI coil produced by Aurora Technologies, Inc allowing both PET and MRI images to be taken simultaneously. The modularity of the PET system would allow for the scanner diameter to be adjusted according to patient breast size. Researchers expect the combined modality scanner will provide anatomical information from the MRI to enhance the resolution provided by PET. At the same time, the predictive power of PET in identifying the type of tumor should be able to overcome MRI technology’s traditionally high false-positive rates.

Based on the positive preliminary results, researchers expect to begin testing the system shortly with breast cancer patients.

Scientific Paper 249: B. Ravindranath, S. Junnarker, S.H. Maramraju; S. Southekal, M. Purschke, S. Stoll, D. Tomasi, P. Vaska, C. Woody, D. Schyler, Department of Biomedical Engineering, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.; and Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y. “Initial results from the BNL dedicated simultaneous PET-MRI breast imaging system prototype,” SNM’s 56th Annual Meeting, June 13-17, 2009.

SOURCE

Best Hospitals On Forbes top 100 list

http://www.mayoclinic.org/

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IBM Working on Web-based “Radiology Theater”

During an event called “Smarter Web Open House,” IBM said that it is working with Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston to create a web-based, collaborative environment for medical professionals to interact with each other and review radiology images, ECGs, etc. The system is based on a project at IBM dubbed Blue Spruce, a fully browser based development platform. The technology would allow clinicians to interact through video as well as a white-board environment.

From Information Week…

The secure Web site that IBM created allows CT scans, MRIs, EKGs, and other medical data to be posted and analyzed using live videoconferencing and whiteboard capabilities. It requires no special software beyond a Web browser and can thus be accessed from a laptop or mobile device, as well as a desktop computer.

“The magic here is the integration of all these things in one place,” said David Boloker, CTO of IBM’s emergent Internet technology software group, who demonstrated the system.

And the difficulty is how the application, referred to as Blue Spruce, handles the policy issues surrounding the sharing of regulated health data. Those details are still being worked out, as is the Web technology upon which the Blue Spruce mashup platform relies.

 

More from Information Week

Blurb from the IBM Press Room…

 

Sourc Medgadget (http://www.medgadget.com/archives/2009/03/ibm_working_on_webbased_radiology_theater.html)

International Brain Mapping Foundation

Crossing Disciplines to Prepare for the Future
color color The Board of Directors of the International Brain Mapping Foundation invites you to present your latest research at this CME credited multidisciplinary clinical and basic science research forum.

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE
Submit abstracts by April 30, 2009

Abstracts currently invited on: Nuclear Medicine | Functional MRI, MR Spectroscopy, CT | Nanomedicine/nanotechnology | Prosthetics | Brain Implants | Epilepsy | Neurodegenerative Diseases | NeuroOncology | Psychiatry | Spinal Disorders | Stem Cells | Biophotonics | Bioethics | Biomedical Engineering | Neuroimmunology | Neurophysiology | Ultrasound | Health IT | Healthcare Policy
View more topics…

Scope and topics
Location
Accommodation
Registration Information
Dates & Deadlines
Congress News
CME Accreditation

THE ORGANIZERS

The 6th Annual World Congress for Brain Mapping and Image Guided Therapy is organized by the International Brain Mapping and Intraoperative Surgical Planning Society color. Congress administration is provided by Elsevier color, publisher of NeuroImage – the official journal of the Society.

SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE
Babak Kateb Chairman of the Board of Directors; Brain Mapping Foundation, Scientific Director of IBMISPS and Brain Mapping Foundation; Founding Chairman of the Board and Executive Director of IBMISPS; Managing Editor IBMISPS-NeuroImage, USA

Ferenc A. Jolesz B.Leonard Holman Professor of Radiology; Director, Division of MRI and National Center for Image Guided Therapy Department of Radiology Brigham and Women’s Hospital Harvard Medical School, USA

Shouleh Nikzad Lead, Advanced Detector Array and Nanoscience Group; Principal Member of Staff Lead, Strategic Initiative, Gigapixel FPAs NASA/JPL, California Institute of Technology; Visiting Research Associate Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, USA

Warren S. Grundfest Professor of Bioengineering & Electrical Engineering; The Henry Samueli School of Engineering & Applied Science; Professor of Surgery; David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA, USA

CONFERENCE SECRETARIAT

Richard Hart
IBMISPS Annual Congress 2009
Tel: +44 (0) 1460 259776
Fax: +44 (0) 1460 258783
Email Congress Secretariat

EXHIBITION AND SPONSORSHIP

A range of exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities are available to organizations wishing to support the congress. For further information and to book please contact:

Daniela Georgescu
Tel: +31 20 485 2611
Email: d.georgescu@elsevier.com

LOCATION AND DATES

August 26-29, 2009
Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

NEW!
IBMISPS 2009 BEACON OF COURAGE AND DEDICATION AWRD

The 2009 IBMISPS Beacon of Courage and Dedication will be awarded to Bob Woodruff, ABC News Anchorman and Founder of the Remind Foundation. Bob will also give a Keynote Lecture at the Congress.

More awards…

KEYNOTE SPEAKERS

Admiral Mike Mullen
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Principal military advisor to the President, the Secretary of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Homeland Security Council

Michael S. Jaffee MD, FS, USAF
National Director, Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Center, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, USA

E. Melissa Kaime, MD
Captain, US Navy Medical Corps; Director, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, USA

Keith L. Black MD
Chairman, Dept. of Neurosurgery, Director, Maxine Dunitz Neurosurgery Institute, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, USA
- Outsmarting Brain Tumors – from Nanodrugs to Optical Imaging
Peter M. Black MD PhD
Franc D. Ingraham Professor of Neurosurgery, Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA
- New Developments in Image-Guided Brain Tumor Therapy

Jim Cloar
Vice President & General Manager, Medtronic Navigation, USA

Sam Nazarian
Founding CEO and President of SBE Entertainment Group, USA

View invited session speakers…
CALL FOR PAPERS

The congress program will consist of invited lectures and presentations selected from submitted abstracts arranged within the following Scientific Sessions. Coverage will range from basic translational research and multidisciplinary clinical practice and surgery to healthcare policy and neuroeconomics.

Researchers are invited to submit 300-word abstracts for oral and poster presentations by April 30, 2009.color Scientific Sessions

Image guided therapy in brain
Operating room of the future
Convection-enhanced delivery
New horizons: Emerging technologies
Traumatic brain injury and PTSD
Neuro-physiology and brain mapping
Cellular imaging and biophotonics
Brain implants & the human brain-machine interface
Nanoscience, genomics, computational informatics genetics in brain mapping
Rehabilitation medicine: Stem cells
Vascular blood flow and stroke
Spine
Brain mapping in social sciences: NeuroEconomics and NeuroMarketing
Government research agencies
Brain mapping in stereotactic radiosurgery
Multi-modality imaging Submit abstracts here… color | View more topics here… CME ACCREDITATION

Kern Medical Center is accredited by the Institute for Medical Quality/California Medical Association (IMQ/CMA) to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Kern Medical Center takes responsibility for the content, quality and scientific integrity of this CME activity. Kern Medical Center designates this educational activity for a maximum of 20 hour(s) AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s) 1tm. Physicians should only claim credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity. This credit may also be applied to the Certification in Continuing Medical Education.

CONGRESS VIDEOS

View Dustin Hoffman at the 2008 IBMISPS Congress

View the 2005 Welcome Address from the Honorable Senator Barbara Boxer

For full information visit www.ibmisps-worldcongress.org color

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