Scientists at the California Institute of Technology are taking steps toward erasable MRIs by using contrast agents natural to the human body—gas vesicles.

Physicians regularly turn to CT to evaluate patients who arrive at a hospital emergency department (ED) due to acute appendicitis. According to a new study published in Radiology, the diagnostic accuracy of MR imaging compares favorably to that of CT when diagnosing acute appendicitis, meaning patients can receive the same level of care without the ionizing radiation exposure.

Recent research found strain parameters taken from a cine MRI-based deformable registration algorithm (DRA) can determine the severity of amyloid buildup in the heart and may provide prognostic information on patients with light-chain (AL) amyloidosis.

A streamlined database detailing protocol for scanning patients with a variety of implanted devices could be changing radiologists’ efficiency and confidence for the better, according to research out of Montefiore Medical Center in the Bronx, New York.

Machine learning might be the next step in predicting patient wait times and appointment delays—factors crucial to healthcare’s quadruple aim and its emphasis on quality of care—in radiology practices, researchers have reported in the Journal of the American College of Radiology.

The same week British Columbia Health Minister Adrian Dix pledged $11 million to expand MRI usage across the Canadian province, the Canadian Agency for Drugs and Technologies in Health (CADTH) released its medical imaging inventory report for 2017, noting a 65 percent increase in MRI units in the past decade.

When primary care physicians refer adult patients for MR imaging for traumatic knee symptoms, it provides no additional value and leads to higher healthcare costs, according to a new study by Dutch researchers published in Radiology.

MRI might be best used as a critical diagnostic tool for radiologists, but outside of the specialty, researchers have used the powerful machines to image patients’ brains while they do things from play video games to sing opera.