Technological advances to CT and MRI allow radiologists to perform whole-body examinations in mere seconds. This has changed the way radiologists use whole-body imaging in diagnostics, according to Dr. Maximilian Reiser, director of the Institute for Clinical Radiology at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich and incoming 2008 president of the European Congress of Radiology.

Technical advances in MRI have paved the way for functional imaging of the abdomen, moving beyond simple morphological evaluation of disease and in some cases proving superior to multislice CT. With quantitative imaging tools at their disposal, radiologists are rethinking what they need to visualize with MR to answer new clinical questions.

ECR attendees tested their skills at diagnosing breast disease and learned how to create clear, concise breast imaging reports at Tuesday morning’s BI-RADS training in breast imaging session.

The combined functional and morphological approach to imaging afforded by PET/CT and SPECT/CT has far-reaching technical, diagnostic, and economic advantages, according to Dr. Gerald Antoch of the department of diagnostic and interventional radiology and neuroradiology at the University Hospital Essen in Germany. He moderated Monday’s state-of-the art symposium on the use of PET/CT and SPECT/CT for cardiac and oncologic purposes.

At last year’s European Congress of Radiology, research regarding 64-slice CT angiography was focused on its feasibility. This year, feasibility is no longer an issue. Rather, a wealth of evidence is being presented attesting to the fact that coronary CTA is a powerful and useful tool to evaluate patients suspected of coronary artery disease who are at intermediate risk. It is within this niche patient group -- those who would otherwise undergo invasive catheter angiography -- that coronary CTA is finding an affordalbe home.

Does software that flags malignancies on medical images help, hinder, or make no difference to patient management? That question has dogged radiology for years. Automated detection systems are undoubtedly becoming smarter, strengthening arguments for their use. But no system is perfect, and doubts remain, leading to a widespread policy of wait and see.

Around 10% to 15% of patients in the developed world die following acute stroke, 30% to 60% survive with long-term disabilities, and 20% to 25% require a hospital stay. These frightening statistics could be improved if radically different strategies were adopted for managing stroke patients, according to speakers at an overflowing state-of-the-art symposium.

MR imaging has great value in guiding treatment of breast cancer patients and is well worth the extra expense when used appropriately, according to radiologists speaking at an ECR session on Sunday.

Radiology must learn from the automotive and aviation industries to eliminate errors and improve patient safety. That is the view of Dr. William R. Brody, president of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who delivered Saturday’s W.C. Roentgen Honorary Lecture.

Patients with compressive or entrapment neuropathies of the elbow, forearm, wrist, or hand may go straight to sonographic examination. In skilled hands, ultrasound can produce images that reveal pathology as well as MR images can. But while the diagnosis of a tendon rupture is a relatively simple matter with ultrasound, to assess specific neurological injuries, such as nerve entrapment and compression, the technique requires considerable experience, expertise, and patience, said Dr. Javier Beltran of the Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, NY.

“I predict that lung radiofrequency ablation is going to be very big indeed,” said Dr. Alice Gillams at the beginning of her two presentations on Saturday examining factors influencing tumor recurrence and incidence of pneumothoraces.

State-of-the-art 64-slice CT is proving its worth as a potent noninvasive tool for imaging coronary arteries, but it has some noteworthy limitations, according to research presented at the ECR on Tuesday.

A whole-body PET/CT scan can be used to stage and further pinpoint cancers spotted on optical colonoscopy, a research team for Essen University reported Monday. The team also reported that PET/CT scans may be useful in restaging recurrent breast cancer.

Philips Medical Systems chose opening day of the ECR to release the world’s first commercial time-of-flight PET/CT system. The system, scheduled to begin shipping to sites in Europe and the U.S. in June, will more than double image sensitivity, according to the company, allowing users to either markedly improve image quality or cut scan time by a third or more.

Agfa HealthCare plans to distinguish itself in a crowded IT market by providing meaningful integration of different sources of clinical data and bringing the results into clinical workflow, company officials said at the ECR.

CT and MR angiography both provided more clinically useful information than duplex ultrasound in screening peripheral vascular disease. But when costs are factored in, CT emerged as the clear leader, according to a four-hospital study conducted in the Netherlands and described Saturday.

MR offers decided advantages as a tool for image guidance in radiofrequency ablation of liver tumors, but it also presents significant problems that must be overcome before its use becomes widespread, according to a pair of presentations March 5 at the European Congress of Radiology.

New computer-aided detection programs help less experienced readers find clinically significant polyps with CT colonography, but they prove less useful for experts, according to three studies presented at the ECR on Saturday.

MR colonography has yet to capture radiologists’ imagination to the same extent as CT. But the radiation-free exam has a bright future, especially if stool tagging techniques can avoid the need for bowel cleansing, according to speakers from the U.S. and Greece at ECR on Friday.

Low-dose CT can effectively replace plain film in cases of acute abdominal pain, with benefits for clinical diagnosis, according to a study by Swedish researchers presented at the ECR Friday afternoon.