Webinar on

Medical Imaging & Radiology

May 31, 2021

Medicalimaging-Radiology

Theme: Medical Imaging-Radiology: Future Research Aims & Development of Novel Technologies

Webinar on Medical Imaging & Radiology will be hosted on May 31, 2021. This Webinars aims to support all scientists and scholars from all over the world in delivering their ideas by a safe and successful event.  The goal of Medical Imaging & Radiology event is to make international online events as safe as possible from public health risks of the Covid-19 with technical support to host for events. The main objective of this Medical Imaging & Radiology is “Medical Imaging-Radiology: Future Research Aims & Development of Novel Technologies.”

The Medical Imaging & Radiology webinar will accentuation on the on-going examination and revelations in the field of Cancer, Oncology, Medical Imaging & Radiology showing a remarkable open door for the Specialists, Universities personnel, Scientists, and Directors, Company CEOs over the world to meet, organize and recognize new logical advancements in the field.

  • Breast Imaging-Pathology & Chest Radiology

The practice of breast imaging has transitioned through a wide variety of technologic advances from the early days of direct-exposure film mammography to xeromammography to screen-film mammography to the current era of full-field digital mammography and digital breast tomosynthesis. Along with these technologic advances, organized screening, federal regulations based on the Mammography Quality Standards Act, and the development of the American College of Radiology Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System have helped to shape the specialty of breast imaging. With the development of breast ultrasonography and breast magnetic resonance imaging, both complementary to mammography, additional algorithms for diagnostic workup and screening high-risk subgroups of women have emerged. The chest radiograph is anecdotally thought to be the most frequently-performed radiological investigation globally although no published data is known to corroborate this. UK government statistical data from the NHS in England and Wales shows that the chest radiograph remains consistently the most frequently requested imaging test by GPs.

  • Emergency Radiology

The escalation of imaging volumes in the emergency department and intensifying demands for rapid radiology results have increased the demand for emergency radiology. The provision of emergency radiology is essential for nearly all radiology practices, from the smallest to the largest. As our radiology specialty responds to the challenge posed by the triple threat of providing 24-7 coverage, high imaging volumes, and rapid turnaround time, various questions regarding emergency radiology have emerged, including its definition and scope, unique operational demands, quality and safety concerns, impact on physician well-being, and future directions. This article reviews the current challenges confronting the subspecialty of emergency radiology and offers insights into preparing for continued growth.

  • Genitourinary Radiology- Uroradiology

In the current era of pediatric uroradiology, use of nuclear medicine, ultrasonography, CT, and MRI has been valuable in the identification and management of genitourinary diseases. Excellent information about the renal parenchyma and renal function is currently attainable with current cross-sectional imaging techniques that can identify tissue differentiation of lesions, distinguish dilatation of the pelvocalyceal system, and determine margins of the kidney and perirenal space. Invasive angiography is limited in application specifically to vascular diseases, although they are uncommon in childhood. Because of these newer techniques, intravenous urography has lost its position as the "cornerstone" of urinary tract imaging and is used mainly to identify pathologic conditions of the ureters.

  • Image Generation and Clinical Assessment

In oncology and cardiology, lesion and defect detection is critical for the diagnosis and treatment of patients. More information about our efforts to improve the medical imaging of lesions in the lungs and the liver, and the detection of heart defects. It is expected that both noise and activity distribution can have impact on the detectability of a myocardial defect in a cardiac PET study. We performed phantom studies to investigate the detectability of a defect in the myocardium for different noise levels and activity distributions. We evaluated the performance of three reconstruction schemes: Filtered Back-Projection (FBP), Ordinary Poisson Ordered Subset Expectation Maximization (OP–OSEM), and Point Spread Function corrected OSEM (PSF–OSEM). Patient body motion during a cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) scan can severely degrade image quality. We have proposed and evaluated a novel method to detect, estimate, and correct body motion in cardiac PET.

  • Quantitative PET-CT and SPECT-CT and PET-CT -SPECT Instrumentation

Radioiodine therapy with (131)I is used for treatment of suspected recurrence of differentiated thyroid carcinoma. Pretherapeutic (124)I PET/CT with a low activity (~1% of (131)I activity) can be performed to determine whether uptake of (131)I, and thereby the desired therapeutic effect, may be expected. However, false-negative (124)I PET/CT results as compared with posttherapeutic (131)I SPECT/CT have been reported by several groups. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether the reported discrepancies may be ascribed to a difference in lesion detectability between (124)I PET/CT and (131)I SPECT/CT and, hence, whether the administered (124)I activity is sufficient to achieve equal detectability. Methods: Phantom measurements were performed using the National Electrical Manufacturers Association 2007 image-quality phantom. As a measure of detectability, the contrast-to-noise ratio was calculated. The (124)I activity was expressed as the percentage of (131)I activity required to achieve the same contrast-to-noise ratio. This metric was defined as the detectability equivalence percentage (DEP).

  • Multimodal MRI Research

In the last twenty years, advanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques have provided fundamental knowledge about neurodegenerative processes underlying several neurological and psychiatric diseases. The native approach in this field of study was the investigation of a single MRI parameter at a time: (a) blood oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) images, (b) anatomical 3D T1-weighted images, (c) diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)/diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and (d) quantitative relaxometry. (a) The common observation in functional MRI studies is that increasing in the BOLD MRI signal represents increasing of neural activity. Such a neurophysiological “activation” results from elevated oxygen saturation levels (and reduced paramagnetic deoxyhemoglobin contents) of capillary and venous blood. These positive signal changes are considered the basis for the functional organization of the brain. (b) The T1-weighted sequence allows the employment of several neuroanatomical techniques able to describe and quantify macrostructural changes by using probabilistic (voxel-based morphometry analysis) or quantitative research tools (manual/automatic region-of-interest volumetry, cortical thickness measurements). (c) DWI and DTI provide specific quantitative measurement of micro-structural changes within white and gray matter compartments.

  • Machine Learning for Anatomical imaging

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) in nuclear medicine and radiology has been accompanied by AI commentators and experts predicting that AI would make radiologists, in particular, extinct. More realistic perspectives suggest significant changes will occur in medical practice. There is no escaping the disruptive technology associated with AI, neural networks, and deep learning, the most significant perhaps since the early days of Roentgen, Becquerel, and Curie. AI is an omen, but it need not be foreshadowing a negative event; rather, it is heralding great opportunity. The key to sustainability lies not in resisting AI but in having a deep understanding and exploiting the capabilities of AI in nuclear medicine while mastering those capabilities unique to the human resources.

  • Quantitative PET-MR Imaging

MR imaging and PET/CT are integrated in the work-up of head and neck cancer patients. The hybrid imaging technology (18)F-FDG-PET/MR imaging combining morphological and functional information might be attractive in this patient population. The aim of the study was to compare whole-body (18)F-FDG-PET/MR imaging and (18)F-FDG-PET/CT in patients with head and neck cancer, both qualitatively in terms of lymph node and distant metastases detection and quantitatively in terms of standardized uptake values measured in (18)F-FDG-avid lesions. Materials and Methods: Fourteen patients with head and neck cancer underwent both whole-body PET/CT and PET/MR imaging after a single injection of (18)F-FDG. Two groups of readers counted the number of lesions on PET/CT and PET/MR imaging scans. A consensus reading was performed in those cases in which the groups disagreed. Quantitative standardized uptake value measurements were performed by placing spheric ROIs over the lesions in 3 different planes. Weighted and unweighted κ statistics, correlation analysis, and the Wilcoxon signed rank test were used for statistical analysis.

  • Therapy Imaging Program (TIP)

The Therapeutic Intralesional Program (TIP) is a multi-disciplinary team of clinicians and researchers working together to create infrastructure and a community of experts focused on direct-to-tumor therapies across multiple tumor types. A primary initiative is to create a portfolio of clinical trials relating to direct-to-tumor therapies in various settings (neoadjuvant, adjuvant, metastatic disease) including therapeutic approaches such as in situ vaccines, oncolytic viruses, immune adjuvants, and ablative therapies This trial system incorporates a robust correlative research infrastructure and interfaces with a variety of programs including imaging, bioengineering, and computational/systems biology. We incorporate two primary Mass General missions: excellence in clinical care and cutting-edge research.

  • Radiochemistry Discovery and Multifunctional Nanomaterials

Molecular imaging provides considerable insight into biological processes for greater understanding of health and disease. Numerous advances in medical physics, chemistry and biology have driven the growth of this field in the past two decades. With exquisite sensitivity, depth of detection and potential for theranostics, radioactive imaging approaches have played a major role in the emergence of molecular imaging. At the same time, developments in materials science, characterization and synthesis have led to explosive progress in the nanoparticle (NP) sciences. NPs are generally defined as particles with a diameter in the nanometre size range. Unique physical, chemical and biological properties arise at this scale, stimulating interest for applications as diverse as energy production and storage, chemical catalysis and electronics. In biomedicine, NPs have generated perhaps the greatest attention. These materials directly interface with life at the subcellular scale of nucleic acids, membranes and proteins. In this review, we will detail the advances made in combining radioactive imaging and NPs. First, we provide an overview of the NP platforms and their properties. This is followed by a look at methods for radiolabelling NPs with gamma-emitting radionuclides for use in single photon emission CT and planar scintigraphy. Next, utilization of positron-emitting radionuclides for positron emission tomography is considered. Finally, recent advances for multimodal nuclear imaging with NPs and efforts for clinical translation and ongoing trials are discussed.

  • Monitoring Radiotherapy with PET

Proton therapy has the ability to deliver a highly conformal dose to tumors. However, localized proton dose deposition at the end of beam (i.e. Bragg peak) comes at the price of significantly greater impact of uncertainties in the treatment plan compared to photon therapy. Range uncertainties may result in under-dosing of the target and/or excess unintended dose to adjacent critical structures. The goal of this research is to develop novel approaches for adaptive Positron Emission Tomography (PET) monitoring of Proton Beam Therapy using endogenously generated positrons. Verification of the beam delivery within the patient is very important to ensure the proper functioning of treatment planning and delivery systems. A full-ring PET scanner within the treatment room is desirable so that the patient can be imaged on the same bed immediately after irradiation. We are investigating the potential of in-room PET monitoring/verification for proton therapy using a mobile full-ring prototype PET scanner available at MGH, recently upgraded to a mobile NeuroPET/CT.

  • Health Service, Policy and Research-Policy and Practice

For the past two decades, many in the radiology community have expressed urgency for the specialty to increase its efforts in health services research comparable to other medical specialties. Now, with the reality of health care reform, increased participation in this field is no longer a strongly encouraged imperative-it is a legislative mandate. In this new era of health care, all specialties including radiology will have to show evidence of their added value to the well-being of patients. In fact, within the envisioned multidisciplinary, integrated, patient-centered medical home, physician compensation may become tied less to the quantity of studies and procedures completed and more to the quality and value of consultation services provided.

  • Obstetric-Gynecologic Radiology

Fetal and neonatal imaging are topics of interest again this year, including a session on imaging of spinal dysraphisms and the fetal airway. There is also a session with expert discussion of fetal neuro, lung and gastrointestinal cases.  The MRI O-RADS interactive session includes a review of each imaging reporting system and a case review. A crossover with genitourinary radiology is featured in Imaging with Impact in Gynecologic Oncology, which covers O-RADS, endometrial and cervical cancer, and the use of MRI in the female pelvis. Ectopic pregnancy remains a common cause of morbidity and mortality in women of childbearing age, despite advances in both diagnosis and therapy. The diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy must be excluded in every woman of childbearing age who has positive findings on a pregnancy test, despite the clinical presentation, particularly when the human chorionic gonadotropin level lags behind the estimated gestational age. An early intrauterine pregnancy, spontaneous abortion, or ectopic pregnancy can all present with an empty uterus.

  • Neuroradiology

Neuroradiology is a core clinical resource that clearly illustrates and describes MR and CT images of the brain, head and neck, and spine. The text distills the essential aspects of neuroradiology and contains in-depth discussions of imaging findings. Written from a clinical radiology perspective, the content of this book draws on the personal experience of the authors, all of whom are leading experts in neuroradiology.

Key Features:

  • More than 1000 high-quality MR and CT images representing the full range of diseases encountered in everyday practice
  • Online access to a wealth of image sets on Thieme's Media Center
  • Covers common and critical MR and CT diagnosed pathologies in neuroradiology
  • Contains clear, concise explanations of MR physics and imaging findings in clinical neuroradiology
  • Radiation Oncology and Radiobiology

Radiation therapy is an important entity in the treatment of cancer, used alone or in combination with surgery and/or chemotherapy. Research continues to grow in the use of radiation therapy to control cancer, spare surrounding normal tissue, and reduce acute long-term toxicity. Implications for nursing practice: An understanding of radiobiology and physics will assist oncology nurses in providing proper education to the patient and managing radiation-induced side effects. 

The action is very complex, involving physics, chemistry, and biology:

  • Different types of ionizing radiation
  • Energy absorption at the atomic and molecular level leads to biological damage
  • Repair of damage in living organisms
  • Basic principles are used in radiation therapy with the objective to treat cancer with minimal damage to the normal tissues

 

The global medical imaging market size was valued at USD 15.9 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5.2% from 2021 to 2028. Major factors driving the industry are the increasing demand for early-stage diagnosis of chronic disease and rising aging demographics, which is expected to boost the demand for diagnostic imaging across the globe. Technological advancements, coupled with supportive investments and funds by the government, especially in developing countries, such as India and China, are also expected to contribute to market growth. For instance, in January 2020, Allengers launched India’s first locally manufactured 32 slice CT scanner. The system was developed in collaboration with Canon Medical Systems. Similarly, increasing demand for state-of-the-art imaging modalities by teaching hospitals and universities to provide training for advanced technology is expected to have a significant impact on the market growth during the upcoming years. This trend, previously limited to the developed countries, is now showing a shift towards developing countries as well. For instance, Siemens Healthineers’ MAGNETOM Terra, the only approved 7T MRI system, has been installed only in the U.S. Recently, another high strength, integrated 7T MRI/PET system was installed in Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Center's Wohl Institute for Translational Medicine, Jerusalem (Israel). Countries such as Thailand, India, and South Korea have recently shown a surge in installing 3.5T MRI systems. Favorable FDI policies, increasing ease of doing business, and rising awareness of the advanced imaging technologies are some of the factors expected to fuel the overall market growth. The introduction of teleradiology services has enabled global networking of expertise. This is expected to overcome the problems related to the lack of expert radiologists in these countries. The ultrasound segment held the largest share of 30.0% in 2020 and is expected to maintain its lead over the forecast period. The segment growth can be attributed to the rising number of ultrasound applications. Recent developments of advanced ultrasound transducers have opened new avenues for ultrasound devices into biomedical and cardiovascular imaging. Moreover, a high focus on the development of portable ultrasound devices is expected to expand the applications of this modality in ambulatory as well as emergency care. The CT segment is expected to witness the fastest growth during the forecast period. CT systems are one of the primary diagnostic tools for COVID-19 patients. High demand for point of care CT device and the development of a high-precision CT scanner by the integration of artificial intelligence and advanced visualization systems are the principal factors driving the segment. In October 2019, Canon received the U.S. FDA nod for its Advanced Intelligent Clear-IQ Engine (AiCE), an AI technology for integration with its Aquilion Precision scanner. The technology helps in achieving precision diagnostic without the need to increase the dose.

 

  • Breast Imaging-Pathology & Chest Radiology
  • Emergency Radiology
  • Genitourinary Radiology- Uroradiology
  • Image Generation and Clinical Assessment
  • Quantitative PET-CT and SPECT-CT and PET-CT -SPECT Instrumentation
  • Multimodal MRI Research
  • Machine Learning for Anatomical imaging
  • Quantitative PET-MR Imaging
  • Therapy Imaging Program (TIP)
  • Radiochemistry Discovery and Multifunctional Nanomaterials
  • Monitoring Radiotherapy with PET
  • Health Service, Policy and Research-Policy and Practice
  • Obstetric-Gynecologic Radiology
  • Neuroradiology
  • Radiation Oncology and Radiobiology