Advanced lung imaging using PET and CT scans can reveal whether an experimental anti-TB drug can clear the infection in humans and animals, concludes an international study. The researchers believe their findings should help improve pre-clinical testing of TB drugs to select the ones most likely to be effective in human trials. {read more here}

Image quality is vital to the overall quality of medical imaging service delivery. Instead of getting better with time, however, medical imaging quality assurance has declined due to technical, economic, cultural and geographic factors. Radiologists consequently need to be more proactive by assuming leadership roles in quality assurance education, research, clinical oversight and intervention. If attention shifts to image quality and outcome analysis data, the radiology community could differentiate itself from others as well as inner competition, consequently combatting commoditization trends and declines in reimbursement. {read more here}

Yale researchers using a new brain imaging analysis method have confirmed that smoking cigarettes activates a dopamine-driven pleasure and satisfaction response differently in men compared to women.  The study, published in The Journal of Neuroscience, used a new way of analyzing PET (positron emission tomography) scans to create “movies” of the dopamine response during smoking to demonstrate for the first time that smoking-induced dopamine activation occurs in a different brain region and much faster in nicotine-dependent men than women.

Swiss researchers assessing carotid plaque stenoses using FDG-PET found the procedure accurate in detecting high-risk plaques. They also noted a strong correlation between uptake values of FDG and the presence of microembolic signals detected via transcranial Doppler. {read more here}