The rare disease Takayasu's arteritis (TA) belongs to the vasculitis group of diseases and is also known as inflammatory aortic arch syndrome or as pulseless disease because of its typical clinical picture. The pathological-anatomical manifestations include inflammatory transformation of the media and adventitia with the appearance of giant cells, hence the term giant cell arteritis is also used.…
The Amphia Hospital in the Netherlands is an amalgamation of three hospitals: the Molengracht and the Langenberg in Breda and the Pasteurlaan in Oosterhout, with a total capacity of 1100 beds. At present, these hospitals are not specifically specialised and consequently there is considerable staff movement from one facility to another. However, in the near future a high-tech facility will be…
Since the beginning of the 90s, sonography has been a solid diagnostic pillar in ophthalmology centers, but it is also used by related medical disciplines, such as pediatrics, whose patients require ophthalmological treatment. For all age groups, the fundus of the eye, and especially the optic disk, is well-suited for high-frequency sonography with linear transducers. This type of examination…
The Aquilion 64 builds on previous CT technology with its unique 64-slice detector, isotropic scanning and VolumeView volume reconstruction technology to offer greater diagnostic capabilities enabling patients to avoid invasive medical procedures. The Aquilion 64 demonstrates Toshiba's in-depth industry knowledge and desire to deliver leading-edge CT technology and applications to the medical…
Sonography is an increasingly used examination procedure for the diagnosis of illnesses of the hand, especially of the soft tissues. Sonoanatomic assessment of the functional structures (Tab. 1) sometimes allows the exclusion of various differential diagnoses. However, this requires quite a bit of experience on the part of the examiner. The assessment of the peripheral nerves can be difficult -…
Due to echogenicity differences in comparison with the surrounding liver tissue conventional B-mode-imaging sonography permits the unambiguous classification of the frequently occurring typical liver cysts (criteria: round, echo-free, smoothly demarcated, with edge shadows and sound through transmission) and calcifications (highly reflective, acoustic shadows). The detection and characterization…
Imaging of blood flow with colour Doppler sonography is an established method in prenatal medicine. Today, there are several techniques which offer colour visualisation whose quality is on a par with that of the B-mode. One example of such a technique is Advanced Dynamic Flow (ADF). Looking at two cases, we will describe the clinical use of ADF to visualise fetal vascular tumours. The quality of…
Located in the southeastern part of Brussels, the “Cliniques de l'Europe” is a group of three clinics: Saint Elisabeth, Deux Alices and St. Michel. Over a period of several years, our organization has been restructured and adapted to the needs of this facility which serves a local population of approximately 250,000. Cliniques de l'Europe has at its disposal a complete range of dedicated…
In 1998, the radiology department of the Kopernik hospital had to be modernized. The owner of the hospital, the province of Lodz, couldn't afford such an investment and as a public institution the hospital itself couldn't take up a loan. Dr. Tazbir came up with the idea to found a limited liability company in order to be able to raise the money.
Modern oncology with its improved options holds out prospects for many novel curative and palliative procedures. By adopting a multidisciplinary approach to diagnosis, treatment and follow-up care these prospects can become reality, with radiology playing a pivotal role. This role encompasses imaging diagnostics for all tumour entities as well as diagnostic and therapeutic interventions.…
Modern imaging modalities are increasingly playing a role in planning therapy for aortic diseases and in follow-up exams after surgery or endovascular intervention. The methods employed for minimally invasive endovascular therapy have been continually improved in recent years and are now being used by vascular surgeons or radiologists to treat thoracic, thoracoabdominal and abdominal aortic…
In the Caucasian population, subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to a ruptured intracranial aneurysm is seen with an incidence of 6 to 8 per 100,000. In some specific countries such as Finland and Japan these numbers rise to 20 per 100,000. 60% of patients presenting with an aneurysmal SAH are female. The presenting symptoms are: thunderclap headache in combination with (temporary) loss of…
Echo-enhanced ultrasound is a newly available imaging modality for use in the differential diagnosis of pancreatic tumours. Ductal carcinomas are often hypovascularised compared with the surrounding tissue. On the other hand, neuroendocrine tumours ar hypervascularised lesions. Tumours associated with pancreatitis have a different vascularisation pattern depending upon their inflammation and…
Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring malignant tumour worldwide. Of the more than one million newly diagnosed cases each year, the incidence among women in Germany alone is more than 50,000. That means that every tenth woman is stricken by breast cancer at some point in her life. It numbers among the most frequent causes of death by cancer 1,2,3 , with the average age of onset being…
For decades, non-invasive cardiac assessment has been at the center of interest. Non-invasive imaging modalities, such as MSCT, MRI, SPECT, PET, and echocardiography, provide valuable cardiac information, and all have been used to measure cardiac morphology, function, perfusion, viability of myocardium, and coronary anatomy for clinical management and research. The last decade brought major…
In the last 25 years, fetal echocardiography has become established as an integral component of prenatal medicine. Structural heart defects are found in approx. 0.8% of all foetuses. They are consequently comparatively frequent and head the list of isolated fetal organ malformations. Routine screening of the four-chamber view and the outflow tract allows the experienced investigator to detect…
BMI Healthcare is installing Toshiba's Aquilion 64-slice CT scanners in five of its 49 acute care private patient hospitals (The Alexandra Hospital, Cheadle; Bath Clinic, Bath; Blackheath Hospital, London; Meriden Hospital, Coventry; Priory Hospital, Birmingham) as part of a £7.5 million spend on diagnostic imaging technology.
Patients of the Slotervaat Hospital in Amsterdam, Netherlands, now benefit from state-of-the-art Toshiba MRI technology: In May, the hospital commissioned a brand new MRI Vantage System and thus now disposes of premium technology the MRI market currently offers. For Toshiba this new installation is an excellent opportunity to present the companys most recent MRI development on the European market.…
Dyssynchrony Imaging (DI), Toshiba's novel Doppler technology, is used as a quantitative clinical tool for rapid assessment of dyssynchrony in patients with suspected myomechanical dysfunction. From the parasternal short axis view, DI is applied by Toshiba's exclusive “angle-correction” technology and in apical views by standard Doppler imaging. Thus, DI permits evaluation of virtually all…
In the past, native computed tomography of the neurocranium (CCT) was often the only procedure to diagnose a stroke. Technical limitations of previous generations of scanners made their use impractical for complementary methods of visualising blood vessels or for perfusion imaging. With the introduction of multi-slice spiral CT these technical limitations disappeared and both perfusion CT (PCT)…
Excluding pulmonary coin lesions potentially caused by metastasis of extrathoracic malignant tumours or as the principal indication of early lung carcinomas is one of the most frequent tasks in plain film imaging and computed tomography examination of the thorax.
Diagnostic imaging is of particular value in investigating ischaemic cerebrovascular accidents since, due to the rapid progression of cell destruction in the region of the cerebral infarction, the radiologist is faced with urgent questions regarding a possible procedure. These questions may be answered particularly well using computed tomography (CT). The following article provides an overview…
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as a non-invasive diagnostic method has been evolving into an attractive alternative to methods associated with radiation exposure.
The department of Radiology at the LMU Munich optimizes the care of patients with LightSpeed VCT, a 64-multislice CT from GE Healthcare. The high-tech CT is perfectly suited for patients suffering from multiple trauma, who highly benefit from fast and significant CT-diagnostic.
In molecular medicine - and particularly in oncology - Siemens Medical Solutions is concentrating on further development of the FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) biomarker to improve identification of certain tumours.