Dear Cardiac Insider,
Along with figuring out the best ways to use their new hybrid imaging systems, early adopters of PET/MRI have had to deal with criticism that the advantages of combining the two modalities are unproven.
But researchers from University Hospital Essen in Germany are finding that the hybrid modality makes a lot of sense for patients with myocardial infarction. In this setting, 3-tesla MRI delineates the anatomy and reveals the extent of the infarct, while PET may show additional anatomy at risk, according to a presentation last week at the European Congress of Cardiology meeting (ESC 2014) in Barcelona, Spain. Find out about the latest results from one of Europe's strongest cardiac MR teams by clicking here.
Also from ESC 2014 comes word that ultrasound-guided venipuncture is finally worth the bother. Researchers from Barcelona learned that their staff hated performing image-guided venous access because the wired ultrasound unit was too cumbersome and too hard to keep sterile. Practitioners might have kept on stabbing away blindly at patients' femoral veins, too, if wireless ultrasound hadn't come to the center. Learn more here.
Which is better for imaging ischemia: cardiac MRI (CMR) or SPECT? Imaging experts from Switzerland, the U.K., and the ESC went head to head last week to battle it out in Barcelona. This isn't the first year ESC has debated similar questions, pitting upstart CMR against tried and true SPECT. But in some ways, both sides might be right. Find out more by clicking here.
Can radiotherapy be used to treat atrial fibrillation and hypertension? Yes, say researchers from the University of Luebeck in Germany, who have successfully treated both conditions in animals and are embarking on their first human studies. Get the details on the intriguing new treatment modality here.
Finally, we invite you to scroll through the links below for the rest of the news in cardiac imaging -- and to stay tuned to your Cardiac Imaging Digital Community for more news from the just-concluded ESC 2014 meeting.
