To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Title: 3T MRI Leads to Better Diagnosis for Focal Epilepsy
URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/22AF8E.htm
Doctor's Guide
September 5, 2008

LEESBURG, Va -- September 5, 2008 -- 3T MRI is better at detecting and characterising structural brain abnormalities in patients with focal epilepsy compared with 1.5T MRI, leading to a better diagnosis and safer treatment of patients, according to a study in the September issue of the American Journal of Roentgenology.

"Patients with focal epilepsy have recurrent seizures that result from a specific area of their brain, usually due to a structural brain abnormality," said senior author Bronwyn E. Hamilton, MD, Oregon Health and Science University, Portland, Oregon.

In the study, 3T MRI detected 65 of 74 cases, compared with 55 of 74 cases detected by 1.5T MRI. Lesions were accurately characterized in 63 of 74 cases using 3T MRI, compared with 51 of 74 cases using 1.5T MRI.

"Detection refers to lesions that were found and characterisation refers to how accurately we were able to determine what type of abnormality the lesion was, such as tumour versus vascular malformation versus congenital deformity," said Dr. Hamilton.

"Surgery can only be performed in patients who have a specific structural abnormality in the brain that is detected on an imaging study [and] since insurance companies may not pay for a second scan, it is preferable to obtain a 3T MRI the first go round,"

"I, and most of my radiology colleagues, in conjunction with the neurologists who specialize in epilepsy at our institution, feel that a patient with focal epilepsy is incompletely assessed without a 3T MRI, and will re-image patients with prior negative 1.5T MRI in order to feel more certain an abnormality has not been missed," he said.

"We have had a number of patients who had gone undiagnosed with prior negative MRI scans who later underwent 3T MRI at our institution that either disclosed a structural brain abnormality or better characterized it for the surgeon."

SOURCE: American Roentgen Ray Society

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 1999 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This news story was printed from *Doctor's Guide to the Internet*
located at http://www.docguide.com
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Return to News Story Page

This site is maintained by webmaster@pslgroup.com
Please contact us with any comments, problems or bugs.
All contents Copyright (c) 1998 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc.
All rights reserved.