|
Back to From The Podium
ARRS Meeting 2001 -> May 4th
101st American Roentgen Ray Society Meeting: May 4th
reported by Joseph Gagliardi, M.D.
Today I attended both Scientific Sessions 27 and 32, Musculoskeletal 6: Spine and Musculoskeletal 7. Highlights from these many presentations included: Paper 217. Normal and Abnormal Lumbar Intervertebral Disk: Cadaveric Study Correlating Conventional MR Imaging and MR Diskography. D. Theodorou and colleagues concluded that MR diskography can be used to supplement conventional MR in the evaluation of annular tears. Questions arose regarding comparisons with CT discography. Would cross sectional imaging add much to the radiographic results and impact patient symptoms during the exam? I suspect more studies will follow.
Paper 218. Giant Cell Tumor of the Spine
G. Nomikos and colleagues described the imaging features of this somewhat rare spinal bone lesion. These authors found certain diagnostic features of giant cell tumors throughout the spine. This entity should be suspected in a patient somewhat young for metastatic disease having a solitary lytic lesion centered in the vertebral body with no matrix mineralization that has intermediate signal on all MR pulse sequences.
Paper 221. MRI of Epidural Hematoma in the Lumbar and Thoracic Spine
T. Dorsay and colleagues reported imaging features that, in their experience, helped to differentiate herniated disk (HNP) from epidural hematoma (EH). Helpful findings for an EH included retro-vertebral location of the finding, teardrop shape, plasticity or shape conforming to the vertebral body, little or no disk space narrowing, and increased signal of the lesion on T-1 MR sequences. This would be an extremely important diagnosis not to miss as an EH will resolve and thus surgical intervention could be avoided.
Paper 256. Accuracy of MR Imaging of the Knee in Adolescents
L. Beard and colleagues reported that, in their review of 59 patients, the accuracy of MRI for imaging the knee is as good as MRI imaging for adult knees. This refutes a study in the AJSM, 1998. Lively discussion ensued following this report and I eagerly await it's publication.
CLOSING THOUGHTS
This meeting's categorical course was excellent. I found all lectures informative, well-illustrated, and thoughtfully presented by the speakers. The meeting rooms were large and, unlike last year in Washington DC, I always had a place to sit. As with any meeting however, improvements can always be made. I have two recommendations for next year’s meeting. First, in computer-based presentations, the speakers should have an area where the talks can be downloaded into a central server thus allowing faster recovery when presenting the data. Many times personal computer problems occurred during the presentations causing needless delays. Secondly, the e-mail access is terribly limited as there are too few computers available. To make matters worse, the computers are located in the center of the technical exhibits where the hours of access run from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm.. A reasonable solution would be to move the computers out of the technical section and locate them at the periphery of the poster section. The hours of availabilty would therefore be expanded to 7:00am to 11:00pm. Residents and staff radiologists thinking about moving or locating a new job take heart! The market is booming and the job listings were plentiful here at the meeting.
See you next year in Atlanta…
|
