Clinical Application of Ultrahigh-Field-Strength Wrist MRI: A Multireader 3-T and 7-T Comparison Study.

Background Ultrahigh-field-strength MRI at 7 T may permit superior visualization of noninflammatory wrist pathologic conditions, particularly due to its high signal-to-noise ratio compared with the clinical standard of 3 T, but direct comparison studies are lacking. Purpose To compare the subjective image quality of 3-T and 7-T ultrahigh-field-strength wrist MRI through semiquantitative scoring of multiple joint tissues in a multireader study. Materials and Methods In this prospective study, healthy controls and participants with chronic wrist pain underwent 3-T and 7-T MRI (coronal T1-weighted turbo spin-echo [TSE], coronal fat-suppressed proton-density [PD]-weighted TSE, transversal T2-weighted TSE) on the same day, from July 2018 to June 2019.

Structural alteration of lung parenchyma in patients with NF1: a phenotyping study using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT).

Background: Diffuse interstitial lung disease have been described in Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1), but its diversity and prevalence remain unknown. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence and characteristics of (NF1)-associated lung manifestations in a large single-center study using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and to evaluate the smoking history, patients' age, genetics, and the presence of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumors (MPNST) as potential influencing factors for lung pathologies.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 71 patients with NF1 were evaluated for the presence of distinctive lung manifestations like reticulations, consolidations, type of emphysema, pulmonary nodules and cysts.

Highly reduced-dose CT of the lumbar spine in a human cadaver model.

Purpose: Feasibility of a highly reduced-dose lumbar spine CT protocol using iterative reconstruction (IR) in a human cadaver model.

Materials And Methods: The lumbar spine of 20 human cadavers was repeatedly examined using three different reduced-dose protocols (RDCT) with decreasing reference tube current-exposure time products (RDCT-1: 50 mAs; RDCT-2: 30 mAs; RDCT-3: 10 mAs) at a constant tube voltage of 140 kV. A clinical standard-dose protocol (SDCT) served as the reference (reference tube current-exposure time product: 70 mAs; tube voltage: 140 kV).

Relations between vital capacity, CO diffusion capacity and computed tomographic findings of former asbestos-exposed patients: a cross-sectional study.

Background: Asbestos-related lung diseases are one of the leading diagnoses of the recognized occupational diseases in Germany, both in terms of their number and their socio-economic costs. The aim of this study was to determine whether pulmonary function testing (spirometry and CO diffusion measurement (D)) and computed tomography of the thorax (TCT) are relevant for the early detection of asbestos-related pleural and pulmonary fibrosis and the assessment of the functional deficiency.

Methods: The records of 111 formerly asbestos-exposed workers who had been examined at the Institute for Occupational and Maritime Medicine, Hamburg, Germany, with data on spirometry, D and TCT were reviewed.

Feasibility of extremely reduced-dose CT of the thoracic spine in human cadavers.

Background: According to the as low as reasonably achievable (ALARA) principle, radiation exposure in computed tomography (CT) should be minimized while maintaining adequate image quality. Dedicated CT protocols combined with iterative reconstruction (IR) can reduce radiation dose and/or improve image quality.

Purpose: To investigate the feasibility of extremely reduced-dose (RD) CT of the thoracic spine in human cadavers using a standard-dose (SD) and three different RDCT protocols reconstructed with filtered back projection (FBP) and IR.