My 2 cents on what was hot in SCMR 2010:
1. F19/C13 imaging: still in basic science development yet. However, going into fast-track to clinical use. Very likely to change the way CMR is done today if its holds its promise.
2. Fast perfusion: new methods to increase the speed/resolution of first pass perfusion were shown by using high parallel factors and/or partial reconstruction methods. Some sequences allowing for the coverage of > 8 slices with high resolution.
3. CMR and prognosis: new data on systemic disease (SSc for example), more on ischemic heart disease. LGE has definite reached its maturity but it is not all.
4. Quantitative tissue mapping: new data on diffuse myocardial disease and quantitative mapping of these changes might add to the existing LGE data.
5. EURO-CMR: cited in many presentations, the results showing that CMR changes the way we clinically manage our patients was a definite recognition of the importance of the method.
6. Cost-effectiveness research: CMR is currently lacking these types of papers and this lag must be confronted if we are to gain more momentum. The EuroCMR registry was a plus in this direction but more specific data showing that CMR is actually cheaper in the long run than other methods are still not there.
7. Multi-center trials: the number of multicenter trials in CMR is slowing growing and we will see many more of these important studies in the future. This is in accordance with the need for cost-effectiveness studies in topic 6.
8. CMR in heart failure: although we see applications of CMR in different settings and etiologies of heart failure, this use has not been translated into clinical reality. One presentation illustrated that in the recent Heart Failure Guidelines from the ACC/AHA, CMR is almost not mentioned and does not merge into any significant clinical decision trees.
9. Coronary artery imaging: nothing too new: whole heart sequences, a little gain in resolution/speed and comparative use with 3T systems. However, the clinical use of this technique should not be changed with what was presented.
10. New hardware/software: 3T systems are up in the comparison to 2009 but not significantly. 32 channel coils much more widespread. CMR analysis software companies seem to have caught up with the new hardware features and clinical uses of CMR – a lot of competition going in this field.
(This expresses the personal opinion of its author and not of SCMR or SCMR-LAC).
The top 10 from Juliano are perfect.
ReplyDeleteI would only add the use of molecular imaging in humans for coronaries (phase2) AND for the 3T technology the new coming multi-transmit RF equipments that improve image quality and homogeneity and pratically eliminates the dark band artifact!!