MRI for pelvic floor dysfunction: can the strain phase be eliminated?

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to determine if the strain phase of an MR defecography (MRD) protocol is redundant and can be eliminated without a loss of diagnostic information.

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained and the requirement for informed consent was waived. A retrospective single-center review of 80 MRD examinations (68 female, 12 male, mean age 55 years old) was conducted.

Active surveillance, radiofrequency ablation, or cryoablation for the nonsurgical management of a small renal mass: a cost-utility analysis.

Background: Patients with a cortical small (≤4 cm) renal mass often are not candidates for or choose not to undergo surgery. The optimal management strategy for such patients is unclear.

Methods: A decision-analytic Markov model was developed from the perspective of a third party payer to compare the quality-adjusted life expectancy and lifetime costs for 67-year-old patients with a small renal mass undergoing premanagement decision biopsy, immediate percutaneous radiofrequency ablation or percutaneous cryoablation (without premanagement biopsy), or active surveillance with serial imaging and subsequent ablation if needed.

Effect of voice recognition on radiologist reporting time.

Objective: To study the effect that voice recognition (VR) has on radiologist reporting efficiency in a clinical setting and to identify variables associated with faster reporting time.

Methods: Five radiologists were observed during the routine reporting of 402 plain radiograph studies using either VR (n = 217)or conventional dictation (CD) (n = 185). Two radiologists were observed reporting 66 computed tomography (CT) studies using either VR (n = 39) or CD (n = 27).