Wednesday, January 27, 2010

New Blood Pool Contrast Agent - Ablavar

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There have been quite a number of discussions recently on "Ablavar" - the newly FDA-approved blood pool contrast agent for use in magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) to evaluate aortoilac occlusive disease (AIOD) in adults with known or suspected peripheral vascular disease (PVD). Is anyone out there who has experience in the clinical use of Ablavar willing to share with us the safety and efficacy of this blood pool contrast agent? MRA images using Ablavar, if available, will be awesome and most welcome. The images can be sent to me through email and I'll post them up here for sharing.


Illustrated below is one of the clinical examples of the applicaton of blood pool contrast agent from www.bloodpoolagents.com:

DISCLOSURE

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Funding Source
This blog is hosted by Blogger, a free publishing tool from Google, for sharing thoughts & ideas on Magnetic Resonance Imaging with the MRI community. I’ve to pay out of my own pocket at a later date when the volume of data of this site exceeds the free storage provided by Google. I take my own time to post here and read other sites; and am not paid by anybody to do this.

Advertising Policy
This site is developed basically for knowledge and information sharing and will not accept advertisement or sponsorship of any sort at this stage.

Confidentiality Policy
Reader’s privacy is highly respected. Information on internet browser used by readers, time of visit & pages read, internet service provider and IP address collected from the visitors will not be disclosed to other parties. These data will ONLY be used for statistics and site improvement purpose. Email address provided by individual readers will also ONLY be used by the author of this site.

This blog is open to the public and is therefore freely accessible by all internet users. Readers are encouraged to express their comments to any entries posted in this blog. Modification or removal of the comments posted is possible by notifying the author of this site through "CONTACT ME" near the right upper corner of this blog.

Link Exchange Disclaimer
Links to other sites are for information only and this site accepts no responsibility or liability for access to, or the material on, any site which is linked from or to this site.

I will update any changes to the above here in this post, which can be found in the entry labelled with "DISCLOSURE".


Wednesday, January 20, 2010

T1 Values in Infarcted & Noninfarcted Myocardium for Magnevist & MultiHance




Tags: Relaxation time, T1, Inversion time, TI, null point, Gadopentetate, Gadobenate, Magnevist, MultiHance, infarcted myocardium, noninfarcted myocardium

Source:
Schlosser et al. Myocardial infarct: depiction with contrast-enhanced MR imaging--comparison of gadopentetate and gadobenate. Radiology (2005) vol. 236 (3) pp. 1041-6.


Null Point for Late Gd Enhancement



Tags: Inversion Time, TI, Gadolinium, Late Gadolinium Enhancement, LGE

Source:
Yamrozik JA, Meister J, Geetha R, et al. Combined effects of Gadolinum dosage and delay on myocardial nulling. Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (2007) 9, 477–491.


Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Meniscal Tears


(Click on image to enlarge)

Tags: Meniscus, knee, full-thickness tear

Source:


Monday, January 18, 2010

Partial Tears of Achilles Tendon


(Click on image to enlarge)

Tags: Achilles tendon, ankle, partial tears

Source:


Sunday, January 17, 2010

New Standard for the Design of MRI Suite


Conceptual Layout of an MRI Suite in line with the 4-Zone Principle Affirmed by the American College of Radiology


(Click on image to enlarge)


(Click on image to enlarge)

An indispensable guide to the design of a contemporary MRI suite (with all the MRI safety requirements properly addressed) can be obtained from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Tags: MRI safety, layout plan, 4-zone principle, MRI suite, ferromagnetic screening

Sources:


Monday, January 11, 2010

Musculoskeletal MRI 101 (II/II)









Tags: Meniscal tears, FSE, echo train length, ETL, echo spacing, T2 decay, signal jump, image blur, magnetization transfer, k-space, artefact


Tuesday, January 5, 2010

FDA Warns of Sandbags in MRI Suites



Sandbags that contain metal shavings could pose a hazard in MRI suites, according to an alert issued by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

The FDA issued its warning after a report of a case in which healthcare staff placed a sandbag on a patient's groin to help facilitate hemostasis after a femoral artery puncture procedure. As the study began, the sandbag was pulled into the MRI scanner, damaging the system. The patient was not injured in the incident.

Staff had assumed that the sandbag contained only sand, but upon further investigation it was found to contain ferromagnetic shavings and iron pellets. The sandbag was originally purchased for the hospital's physical therapy department and shouldn't have been brought into the MRI suite, according to the FDA.

The FDA suggests that sites purchase only sandbags that are labeled with the MR Safe or MR Conditional icon. Ferromagnetic sandbags should be appropriately labeled as MR Unsafe to ensure that they aren't brought into the MRI suite, and unlabeled sandbags should not be brought into MRI rooms.

In addition, MRI staff should be educated to screen patients for ferromagnetic objects and should remove patients' blankets and sheets to search for objects. Patient records should be checked before MRI scans for recent procedures that may have required the use of a sandbag, and signs should be placed in visible areas outside the MRI room reminding staff to check for ferromagnetic objects.


Tags: MR safe, MR conditional, sandbag, ferromagnetic

Sources:


Sunday, January 3, 2010

Encompass Group Voluntarily Recalls Thermoflect Product Line



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – December 26, 2009 – McDonough, GA – Jea R. Gackowski, Encompass Group Corporate Compliance Officer announced today the company is voluntarily recalling the Thermoflect product line for relabeling regarding its use in the MR (Magnetic Resonance) environment.

"We are voluntarily recalling the product line from use in the Magnetic Resonance (MR) environment," Gackowski said. "We are requesting that the Thermoflect blankets and other products not be used in MR conditional or MR compatible environments. We are in the process of sending labels to our customers to be attached per instructions to remind the hospitals that the product line should not be used in the MR environment.

"In the past, we have stated that the Thermoflect product may be used in the MR environment. However, after being informed by the FDA, at this time we will not promote the products for use in the Magnetic Resonance Environment. However, the product is still safe and effective for use in treating hypothermia."

We have been advised by the FDA that a report has been filed of an injury to an (MRI) patient. Several items are under consideration, including all of the blankets used in the MRI environment, of which Thermoflect is one. There is no evidence that the Thermoflect blanket caused the injury but as a precautionary measure we are voluntarily recalling the product line for relabeling.

Read more...

Tags: Safety, Thermoflect blanket, hypothermia


Saturday, January 2, 2010

Musculoskeletal MRI 101 (I/II)















Tags: MSK, musculoskeletal MRI, protocol, magnetization transfer, magnetization transfer suppression, magic angle effect, tissue contrast, pulse sequences