AJR. American journal of roentgenology
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · May 2014
Multicenter StudyCT angiography (CTA) and diagnostic performance of noninvasive fractional flow reserve: results from the Determination of Fractional Flow Reserve by Anatomic CTA (DeFACTO) study.
Fractional flow reserve (FFR) computed from standard coronary CT scans (FFRCT) is a novel noninvasive method for determining the functional significance of coronary artery lesions. Compared with CT alone, FFRCT significantly improves diagnostic accuracy and discrimination for patients with and without hemodynamically significant coronary artery stenoses. To date, the impact of CT image quality on diagnostic performance of FFRCT is unknown. We evaluated the impact of patient preparation, CT scan protocol, and factors related to image quality on the diagnostic accuracy of FFRCT. ⋯ Use of β-blockade and nitroglycerin administration before CT improve diagnostic performance of FFRCT. Diagnostic accuracy of FFRCT is significantly reduced in the setting of misalignment artifacts.
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Nov 2013
Multicenter StudyJournal Club: Voice recognition dictation: analysis of report volume and use of the send-to-editor function.
The purpose of this study was to evaluate use of the send-to-editor function of a radiology voice recognition dictation system and compare study volumes of radiologists who self-edit with those of radiologists who send reports to the editor. Use of voice recognition shortcuts was also evaluated. ⋯ Radiologists reading large volumes of computed radiography cases and using the send-to-editor function generated significantly more reports than radiologists who did not, suggesting that the send-to-editor function may be useful for improving productivity among radiologists reading large volumes of computed radiography cases.
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Jul 2013
Multicenter StudyEffective dose assessment for participants in the National Lung Screening Trial undergoing posteroanterior chest radiographic examinations.
The National Lung Screening Trial (NLST) is a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing low-dose helical CT with chest radiography in the screening of older current and former heavy smokers for early detection of lung cancer. Recruitment was launched in September 2002 and ended in April 2004, when 53,454 participants had been randomized at 33 screening sites. The objective of this study was to determine the effective radiation dose associated with individual chest radiographic screening examinations. ⋯ The effective dose for participant NLST chest radiographic examinations was determined and is of specific interest in relation to that associated with the previously published NLST low-dose CT examinations conducted during the trial.
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Dec 2012
Multicenter StudyQuality outcomes of reinterpretation of brain CT studies by subspecialty experts in stroke imaging.
The purposes of this study were to determine the clinical importance and relative value of reinterpretation of brain CT studies by subspecialty experts by assessing the accuracy of interpretation by general radiologists at primary stroke centers and to assess interpretive quality outcomes as a function of change in the treatment of patients with stroke diagnoses or acute presentations of suspected stroke. ⋯ Most of the interpreted head CT cases read by board-certified general radiologists for patients presenting with stroke or stroke symptoms did not result in discordant interpretations as verified by subspecialty experts. Discordant interpretations did not result in changes in clinical management in most cases. Double reading of head CT scans for these patients by subspecialty experts appears to be an inefficient method of substantially improving imaging health quality outcomes in stroke.
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AJR Am J Roentgenol · Jul 2012
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyDiagnosis of focal nodular hyperplasia with MRI: multicenter retrospective study comparing gadobenate dimeglumine to gadoxetate disodium.
The purpose of this article is to report the results from a multicenter retrospective MRI study comparing gadobenate dimeglumine and gadoxetate disodium for diagnosis of hepatic focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH). ⋯ These results indicate an advantage for gadobenate dimeglumine for detection of FNH at the dynamic phase and for gadoxetate disodium at the hepatobiliary phase. However, the equivalent or better qualitative lesion conspicuity coupled with the ability to obtain a comprehensive evaluation of the liver within a standard 30-minute imaging window suggests that gadoxetate disodium may be a better choice for diagnosis of FNH.