Application of short message service to control blood cholesterol: a field trial.

Background: Despite recommendations, many middle-age adults neglect to check their blood cholesterol levels. Short message service (SMS, also known as texting) has been seldom studied for preventive education. We estimated how SMS can be a cost-effective method in encouraging people to check their blood cholesterol levels.

Visibility of Different Intraorbital Foreign Bodies Using Plain Radiography, Computed Tomography, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, and Cone-Beam Computed Tomography: An In Vitro Study.

Purpose: The study sought to compare the usefulness of 4 imaging modalities in visualizing various intraorbital foreign bodies (IOFBs) in different sizes.

Methods: Six different materials including metal, wood, plastic, stone, glass. and graphite were cut in cylindrical shapes in 4 sizes (dimensions: 0.

Novel model of direct and indirect cost-benefit analysis of mechanical embolectomy over IV tPA for large vessel occlusions: a real-world dollar analysis based on improvements in mRS.

Background: Ischemic strokes result in significant healthcare expenditures (direct costs) and loss of quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) (indirect costs). Interventional therapy has demonstrated improved functional outcomes in patients with large vessel occlusions (LVOs), which are likely to reduce the economic burden of strokes.

Objective: To develop a novel real-world dollar model to assess the direct and indirect cost-benefit of mechanical embolectomy compared with medical treatment with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) based on shifts in modified Rankin scores (mRS).

Dose reduction in cardiothoracic CT: review of currently available methods.

Radiation exposure from computed tomography (CT) has received much attention lately in the medical literature and the media, given the relatively high radiation dose that characterizes a CT examination. Although there are a variety of possible strategies for reducing radiation exposure from CT in an individual patient, optimal CT image acquisition requires that the radiologist understand new scanner technology and how to implement the most effective means of dose reduction while maintaining image quality. The authors describe a practical approach to dose reduction in cardiothoracic radiology, discussing CT radiation dose metrics (eg, CT dose index, dose-length product, effective diameter, and size-specific dose estimate) as well as CT scanner parameters that directly or indirectly influence radiation dose (eg, scan length, x-ray tube output, tube current modulation, pitch, image reconstruction techniques [including iterative reconstruction], and noise reduction).

Organ-based tube current modulation: are women's breasts positioned in the reduced-dose zone?

Purpose: To retrospectively determine the potential of organ-based tube current modulation ( OBTCM organ-based tube current modulation ) to reduce the radiation dose delivered to breast tissue by computed tomography (CT) by determining breast angular position in relation to the zones of decreased versus increased radiation.

Materials And Methods: The authors obtained institutional review board approval for this study and patients' written informed consent. In two academic centers (center A: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, Mass; and center B: Hôpital André Vésale, Montignies-le-Tilleul, Belgium), data were collected from clinical thoracic CT examinations performed in 498 women (mean age, 60 years; age range, 18-95 years) in the supine position and 34 women (mean age, 53 years; age range, 18-84 years) in the prone position.

Percutaneous treatment of left main coronary stenosis following bentall surgery.

A 65-year-old male underwent percutaneous coronary stenting of the left main trunk seven months after the Bentall procedure as a probable consequence of surgical glue.

Imaging in Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement (TAVR): role of the radiologist.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a novel technique developed in the last decade to treat severe aortic stenosis in patients who are non-surgical candidates because of multiple comorbidities.

Methods: Since the technique is performed using a transvascular approach, pre-procedural assessment of the aortic valve apparatus, ascending aorta and vascular access is of paramount importance for both appropriate patient selection and correct device selection. This assessment is performed by a multi-disciplinary team with radiology being an integral and important part.

Endovascular Repair of Supra-Celiac and Abdominal Aortic Pseudo Aneurysms Concomitant with a Right Atrial Mass in a Patient with Behçet's Disease: A Case Report.

Behcet's disease is a rare immune mediated systemic vasculitis which besides it's more frequent involvement of eyes and skin, sometimes present with aortic pseudo aneurysm and more rarely cardiac inflammatory masses.A 51-year-old patient with Behçet's Disease presented with two symptomatic aortic pseudoaneurysms concomitant with a right atrial mass. Computed tomography (CT) revealed one supra-celiac and another infrarenal aortic pseudoaneurysms.

Cardiothoracic imaging in the pregnant patient.

Cardiovascular imaging during pregnancy poses a unique challenge to clinicians in differentiating between physiological changes mimicking pathology and true pathologic conditions, as well as for radiologists in terms of image quality. This review article will focus on 3 goals: first, to familiarize radiologists with safety issues related to imaging pregnant women using computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging; second, to review the current, evidence-based recommendations for radiology topics unique and common to pregnant and lactating patients; and third, to provide practical algorithms to minimize risk and increase safety for both the pregnant woman and the fetus.

Echocardiographic determinants of ischemic mitral regurgitation.

Objectives: It is not clear whether the presence and degree of chronic ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) in patients with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction are related to LV dysfunction, local LV remodeling or mitral valve deformation. We sought to establish the strongest determinants of IMR severity in patients with LV dysfunction and IMR.

Methods: We prospectively performed transthoracic echocardiography for 135 patients (mean age = 60.

Clinical characteristics and mid-term outcome of patients with slow coronary flow.

Objective: Due to uncertainty in the clinical implications of slow coronary flow (SCF), we aimed to investigate the clinical features and mid-term outcome of the Iranian patients with the slow coronary flow phenomenon.

Methods: During a four-year period from January 2005 to December 2009, out of 3523 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography in the Tehran Heart Center, 325 patients with no stenosis, ectasia, or aneurysm were enrolled in the study. Among them 81 (2.

Role of fine-needle aspiration in the management of thyroid nodules.

Objective: To show the benefits of fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) in managing thyroid nodules.

Methods: As a retrospective study, reports of 888 FNABs of the thyroid performed during a period of 11 years (1996-2007) at Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Sina Hospital and Endocrine Clinic, Tehran, Iran were reviewed. Histological diagnoses were available for 182 cases, and we compared cytological diagnoses of FNAB with pathologic reports.