管电压对胸部DR影像质量的影响

目的 研究有效剂量相等条件下不同管电压对胸部DR图像质量的影响。方法 48例病人在90kV、125kV、150kV分别摄取后前位胸片，未经任何处理打印片子，五位资深放射专家采用五分法独立打分评估影像质量；采用Monte—Carlo转换因子估算有效剂量ED（mSv）。结果 绝大多数解剖结构在90千伏时得分最高（平均得分3．10），除了在心影轮廓、气管隆突和外围纹理方面以外，其余部位均有明显统计学差异。结论 有效剂量相等条件下采用较低千伏能获得更好胸部DR影像。     

Health Literacy and Patient Preparation in Radiology

Health literacy is the capacity of an individual to obtain, process, and understand basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions. Unfortunately, more than half of Canadians cannot adequately navigate the health care system because they have limited health literacy. Patients with low health literacy may have limited reading abilities and poorer comprehension of written preparation documents. An important consideration in the radiation sciences for these patients is the ability to follow preparation requirements for diagnostic imaging procedures. It has been suggested that patients with limited health literacy are often less prepared for diagnostic examinations, and as a result, tend to have examinations of poorer diagnostic quality. Medical radiation technologists play an important role in educating patients regarding medical imaging examinations and helping them to properly prepare for these procedures. The purpose of this article is to define health literacy, provide some practical strategies to help medical radiation technologists identify patients with limited health literacy, and how to address limited health literacy issues to improve the quality of diagnostic imaging examinations.     

Fusion or gemination? An unusual mandibular second molar

Fusion and gemination is not an uncommon finding and affected most primary dentition and the permanent maxillary incisors. These changes can develop a series of complication. A 11-year-old male presented radiography finding: an unusual mandibular second molar. A well-documented case brings a challenge for radiologists classify between fusion and gemination. In conclusion, this alteration although common in other regions, there are no case in the literature involving “second and third” molar.     

FRAX and mandibular sparse trabeculation as fracture predictors: a longitudinal study from 1980 to 2002

The fracture assessment tool (FRAX) is widely used for predicting fractures, but better methods are needed. The aim of this study was to determine whether visual assessments of mandibular trabecular bone could improve FRAX predictions. Three age‐cohorts of women were examined twice – 499 women in 1980/1981 and 412 women in 1992/1993; 397 participated in both examinations. Information on 10‐yr fracture events was available, and bone trabeculation was assessed in radiographs as ‘dense’, ‘mixed’, or ‘sparse’. Fracture assessment tool values, without bone mineral density (BMD), were calculated twice. Both sparse trabeculation and FRAX >15% were associated with a twofold higher risk for future fracture in the younger group and with a three‐ to fourfold higher risk for future fracture in the older group. For those with both FRAX >15% and sparse trabeculation, the relative risk (RR) for a fracture in the next 10 yr was 5.9 (95% CI: 3.5–9.8) in the younger group and 22.7 (95% CI: 5.6–92) in the older group. If either FRAX >15% or sparse trabeculation was present, the RR was 2.6 (95% CI: 1.7–4.1) in the younger group and 15.7 (95% CI: 3.9–6.4) in the older group. We concluded that FRAX >15%, without BMD measurements, was an effective fracture predictor, and mandibular sparse trabeculation had a substantial additive effect. Together, FRAX plus mandibular sparse trabeculation predicts major osteoporotic fractures to approximately the same extent as does FRAX with BMD measurements.     

Imagerie protonique pour la protonthérapie : état de l’art

Proton therapy allows a highly precise tumour volume irradiation with a low dose delivered to the healthy tissues. The steep dose gradients observed and the high treatment conformity require a precise knowledge of the proton range in matter and the target volume position relative to the beam. Thus, proton imaging allows an improvement of the treatment accuracy, and thereby, in treatment quality. Initially suggested in 1963, radiographic imaging with proton is still not used in clinical routine. The principal difficulty is the lack of spatial resolution, induced by the multiple Coulomb scattering of protons with nuclei. Moreover, its realization for all clinical locations requires relatively high energies that are previously not considered for clinical routine. Abandoned for some time in favor of X-ray technologies, research into new imaging methods using protons is back in the news because of the increase of proton radiation therapy centers in the world. This article exhibits a non-exhaustive state of the art in proton imaging.     

Radiometry versus osteometry in sex assessment: a study of the Cretan radius

Sex estimation is vital for biological profiling, thus qualitative and quantitative methods have been developed for every skeletal part in humans. However, somehow the radius has been neglected. This study aims to develop a sex estimation method on radiographs of the radius applicable in situations when classical osteometry cannot be applied. A total of 103 left radii were used in this study. Three classical measurements (maximum length, head diameter and distal breadth) were taken on the dry bones. Digital radiographs of the same radii were taken using a portable X-ray machine (Technix TCA 4R PLUS). Eight landmarks are selected on the radiograph of the proximal and six on the radiograph of the distal radius, generating in total 43 linear distances. ANOVA detected three osteometric and 24 radiometric variables that differed significantly between males and females (p<0.05). Classical osteometry resulted in up to 91% classification accuracy while the best multivariate formula of the radiometric method gave 88% correct classification. The study proposes a rapid and inexpensive alternative method for sex screening based on digital radiographs of the radius, a method that could be particularly advantageous in cases of mass disasters with numerous mutilated and/or burnt bodies where maceration is not an option.