Functional MRI of sensory motor cortex: comparison between finger-to-thumb and hand squeeze tasks.

Background: An important imaging technique that has advanced decision-making for noninvasive preoperative evaluation is functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Preoperative fMRI imaging based on blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) fMRI is routinely used to map a variety of eloquent cortex brain functions such as language, visual, and sensory-motor regions.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the regional volumes of sensory and motor cortex (SMC) activation by two widely used fMRI motor tasks: a simple hand squeeze (HS) versus a more complex finger-to-thumb (FTT) opposition.

Correlation among on-call resident study volume, discrepancy rate, and turnaround time.

Rationale And Objectives: With continued increase in imaging utilization and remote access image viewing technology, many academic radiology departments are presented with the suggestion to supplement on-call resident preliminary reports with an outsourced attending interpretation. This idea is often brought to administrative attention because of the subjective impression that outsourced studies will benefit from significantly faster interpretation times and lower discrepancy rates, especially when study volume is high. We attempt to retrospectively analyze on-call resident studies at a busy Trauma I university hospital and establish whether a statistical correlation exists among study volume, discrepancy rate, and turnaround time.