Daniel Koffler, MD; Sewit Teckie, MD; Louis Potters, MD, FACR, FASTRO, FABS

The acute redeployment of health care resources toward COVID-19 has had an immediate impact across the entire health care continuum and, in particular, to the treatment of cancer. The ability to perform surgery, biopsies, procedures, and to offer other ancillary clinical and supportive services, has been significantly impacted. Much has been done to proactively prepare for COVID-19 and to implement policies. The purpose of this review article is to outline how the department of radiation medicine in an epicenter location has managed the COVID-19 crisis to date.

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

Pamela Samson, MD, MPHS; Geoff Hugo, PhD; Kaitlin Moore, BSN; Nels Knutson, PhD; Philip Cuculich, MD; Clifford Robinson, MD

Noninvasive cardiac radioablation using stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) techniques has emerged as a potential salvage treatment option for patients with ventricular tachycardia who have either failed procedural or medical management, or have contraindications to receive those therapies again. The recently published phase I/II Electrophysiology-Guided (EP) Noninvasive Cardiac Radioablation for Ventricular Tachycardia trial (ENCORE-VT, NCT02919618) demonstrated early safety and efficacy of this novel use of SBRT. This article reviews the lessons learned from ENCORE-VT, current use and workflow for treatment refractory ventricular tachycardia patients, and future directions for this emergent treatment modality

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

Leonid Roshkovan, MD; Sharyn I. Katz, MD, MTR

Diagnostic interpretation of cross-sectional imaging of the mediastinum and pleura presents unique and significant challenges even to the experienced radiologist. The mediastinum is anatomically complex, comprising numerous structures ar-ranged into multiple anatomic compartments that can give rise to a wide range of pathologies. The pleural space is thin and multi-planar, which can confound evaluation and quantification of pleural abnormalities.

In this article, we will review imaging approaches to the mediastinum and pleura and present imaging pearls and pitfalls that can assist radiologic interpretation. This will include common masses that present in routine imaging of the chest and key imaging features that help to distinguish them using CT, MRI and FDG-PET/CT.

The knowledge of common mediastinal and pleural pa-thologies present on cross-sectional imaging will enable the radiologist to make informed diagnostic radiologic interpreta-tions and guide appropriate intervention and surveillance.

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

Matthew Schwenke, MD; Manu Singh, MD; and Bernard Chow, MD

Injuries to the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) are increasing over time, with younger women at elevated risk. Meniscal tears are also a significant source of morbidity in both the younger and older populations. Surgical repair of both conditions may alleviate symptoms and allow resumption of athletic activities. Understanding of the pathogenesis, associated findings, and appearance of these injuries on all imaging modalities is critical to their accurate diagnosis and timely treatment. Radiographs may show indirect signs of ACL and meniscal injuries. Ultrasonography is being utilized more often in the workup of these conditions as an adjunct to physical exam and as an initial screening tool. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) arthrography are both well suited for evaluation of these lesions, though somewhat limited by cost and access for MRI and by invasiveness for CT arthrography. ACL and meniscal tears can also be graded and classified according to their appearance on imaging which helps guide the surgeon during arthroscopy.

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

G. Daniel Grass, MD, PhD; Matthew N. Mills, MD; Jacob G. Scott, MD, DPhil; Steven A. Eschrich, PhD; Javier Torres-Roca, MD

Genomics and radiomics provide an opportunity to increase the precision of radiation delivery in selection of dose and spatial delivery. Further understanding of host and tumor differences with interrogative approaches may provide opportunity to precisely deliver radiotherapy beyond spatial and anatomic features to one guided by intrinsic tumor biology. This article addresses how tumor genomic blueprints can be exploited for radiation therapy; radiomics as a noninvasive means to assessing tumor biology; clinical applications regarding treatment response, treatment planning, and toxicity; and radiogenomics utility.

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

Annual mammography screening can save lives because breast cancer is a progressive disease and early detection enables improved prognosis due to appropriate treatment of small nonpalpable node-negative cancers. Multiple randomized controlled trials and observational studies have shown that mammography can reduce breast cancer mortality by 30% or more.

Digital breast tomosynthesis (DBT) first entered the breast imaging clinical arena when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved DBT in 2011. Multiple studies have shown that DBT is effective in both mammography screening and diagnostic settings. Tomosynthesis has quickly emerged as a practice-changing standard that improves the clinical accuracy of a mammogram by increasing both sensitivity and specificity; thus, reducing the masking effect of overlapping fibroglandular tissue, thereby improving breast cancer detection. The improved accuracy and overall efficiency that DBT provides, will enhance radiologists’ performance and improve the patient experience.

Learning Objectives

• Discuss the importance of breast screening mammography.
• Incorporate the differences between, and benefits of 2D and 3D mammography into routine clinical practice.
• Apply 3D tomosynthesis to improve patient care, particularly in the management of patients with dense breasts.

No special educational preparation is required for this CME/CE Activity!

Supported through an unrestricted educational grant from FUJIFILM Medical Systems U.S.A., Inc.

Naziya Samreen, MD; Candice A. Bookwalter, MD, PhD; Tatnai L. Burnett, MD; Myra Feldman, MD; Shannon P. Sheedy, MD; Christine Menias, MD; and Wendaline M. VanBuren, MD

Endometriosis affects a significant number of reproductive age women and can continue to be present after menopause. The disease is much more complex than ovarian endometriomas, and understanding histology, disease location, and the limitations and benefits of imaging can aid in the diagnosis and management of these patients.

A dedicated MRI protocol and key imaging features are used to optimize disease detection. Comprehensive cases will broaden the capacity for pattern recognition of pelvic morphologic changes, secondary associations, and features of malignant degeneration

Shauna R. Campbell, DO; Ehsan H. Balagamwala, MD; Neil M. Woody, MD, MS; Kevin L. Stephans, MD

Authors examine modern treatment approaches to limited liver metastases from colorectal cancer, discussing the intent and sequencing of treatment, chemotherapy, surgical resection, radiofrequency ablation/cryoablation, chemoembolization, radioembolization, external-beam radiation therapy, stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT), and proton therapy and the indication for each modality. The review also describes circumstances in which SBRT is preferred over other liver-directed therapies.

Applied Radiology and William Faulkner & Associates are pleased to introduce “The Online Course for MR Safety Officers (MRSO) and MR Medical Directors (MRMD)”. This comprehensive program, focusing on MR Safety, covers many aspects relating to the safety practices of the Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) environment. It is designed for those individuals who are either currently serving as their facility’s MRSO and/or MRMD, or those who are preparing to assume these responsibilities. The content of this course will be helpful for those preparing for the American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety MRSO and MRMD examinations.

The content of The Online Course for MR Safety Officers and MR Medical Directors is based upon current FDA and ACR guidelines, including the ACR Guidance Document for MR Safe Practices, as well as those promulgated by industry regulatory bodies such as the International Electrotechnical Commission.

The complete online program has been approved for up to 10 AMA PRA Category 1 credits™ (CME) and 10 Category A ARRT continuing educational credits (CE).

The Online Course for MR Safety Officers (MRSO) and MR Medical Directors (MRMD) is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by the American Board of Magnetic Resonance Safety (ABMRS)
Terms and Conditions of Use: Click To View
This is a Pay-To-View program. Purchase is required for full program access.

Nadia Saeed, BA

Compared to many other fields, quality and safety is a relatively new discipline within medicine. Many efforts to improve quality and safety in healthcare are aimed at training practicing physicians and residents through efforts such as safety courses, quality improvement project participation, and continuing medical education sessions. However, there has been increasing interest in beginning quality and safety education earlier in physicians’ training. Upstream interventions during medical education can introduce future physicians to this crucial aspect of medical practice early in their careers and have the potential to significantly improve patient safety and quality of healthcare delivery. This article discusses the considerations and dimensions of quality and safety training in medical education.

Sarah D. Fenerty, MD; Sudhir Kunchala, MD; and Matthew A. Morgan, MD

Acute biliary conditions are a common occurrence in the emergency department, but may be underappreciated on diagnostic imaging, particularly since these injuries may occur in complex patients or be a secondary injury in a patient presenting with a more obvious primary injury. The potential for delayed diagnosis could result in significant morbidity.

Since findings may be subtle, radiologists need to be comfortable with common presentations of acute biliary disease to maintain an adequate level of suspicion and detect early signs of injury. The radiologist should also be familiar with other imaging modalities that may be useful in confirming biliary injury and tailor effective follow up imaging to a patient’s clinical situation.

Recent technological advances challenge traditional PET acquisition procedures in order to leverage the benefits of digital technology to improve diagnostic capabilities, patient experience, quantification and new indications. Precision medicine is a call to action to radically advance capabilities in the era of molecular targeted medicine.

In this Expert Forum Webcast, Michael V. Knopp, MD, PhD will provide an overview of current digital PET technologies and how leveraging these digital advances improves PET imaging using clinical cases. He will demonstrate how new concepts result in acceleration of acquisition time, dose reduction and dynamic imaging to help improve quality and the patient and staff experience. These new applications apply to the clinical practice for oncology, neurology and orthopedics / sports medicine.

Learning Objectives

• Describe current PET technologies.
• Describe the benefits of digital photon counting.
• Understand the benefit of improved time of flight timing.
• Understand the benefit of reduced voxel size and higher matrix reconstruction.
• Describe ultra-fast whole-body imaging.
• Describe the benefits of imaging at lower tracer doses.
• Describe the benefits of dynamic PET imaging.
• Describe the use of Y-90 for post-therapy assessment.

Supported through an unrestricted educational grant from Philips Healthcare.

Jennifer Shaffer Ngo, MD, and Gary R. Schooler, MD,

Pediatric musculoskeletal injuries often manifest differently from adult injuries and similar mechanisms may present differently depending on the degree of skeletal maturity. This article outlines many of the common pediatric injuries that the general radiologist may encounter in practice. Select topics include physeal injuries, elbow fractures, developmental dysplasia of the hip, slipped capital femoral epiphysis, and Blount disease. Knowledge of these unique pathologies and anatomic variants will help the radiologist recognize these entities sooner, ultimately helping facilitate the most expeditious and appropriate care.

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

RSNA 2018 Archived Program

As technological advances in MR, CT, USD, and Combined Angiography/CT systems continue to impact how healthcare is practiced, this Expert Forum Symposium Series, featuring three (3) individual presentations from experts in their respective fields; will highlight through their clinical experiences, how they are maximizing the latest advances in imaging, and assess the growing impact that artificial intelligence is having on improved patient outcomes, satisfaction and throughput.

Following the presentation questions from the audience were addressed in a moderated Q&A session.

Advanced and Emerging Ultrasound Technologies for Assessment of Liver Disease
by Andrew Trout, MD
Ultrasound Fusion Technology with Auto-Registration
by Nami Azar, MD, MBA
Advancements in Interventional Radiology Using A Combined CT & Angiography System
by Bela Kis, MD. PhD

Educational Objectives

At the completion of this program, participants will be able to:

• Identify clinical scenarios where ultrasound fusion imaging can be implemented.
• Review the role of shearwave elastography in the assessment of diffuse liver disease.
• Describe the value of the hybrid CT/angiography system in liver tumor embolization cases.

This program was originally presented live at RSNA 2018 and sponsored by the Institute for Advanced Medical Education (IAME) and supported through an unrestricted educational grant from Canon Medical Systems.

Bindu V. Manyam, MD; Naichang Yu, PhD; Tim Meier, RTT; John H. Suh, MD; Samuel T. Chao, MD

With increases in complexity of radiation delivery and patient volume, vulnerable sources for errors may exist within radiation oncology workflow. Patterns of care recommendations are outlined by the American College of Radiology and the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines; however, departmental and institutional policies and standards for quality and patient safety may vary. This article examines initiatives to mitigate errors and enhance safety, and describes efforts to incorporate quality improvement and patient safety into resident education.

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

Advances in technology have led computed tomography (CT) to become one of the main diagnostic tools utilized today in modern healthcare, as it provides a safe and low risk anatomical visualization of the human body. However, these advances have also introduced new challenges related to the administration of contrast, which is a fundamental component of many CT imaging exams, particularly in cardiac CT.

This Expert Forum aims to help a wider audience of radiology professionals understand how to use iodine contrast safely, by using a weight-based contrast strategy, which allows technologists and radiologists to image safely while obtaining optimal results. In addition, we will discuss the value of including saline in your protocols, which can result in contrast savings, but also provides the ability to optimize the contrast injection process to improve image quality and patient safety.

Learning Objectives

• Gain insight into weight-based imaging strategies and how to implement them in clinical practice.
• Identify when saline may be a helpful addition to an injection strategy.

Supported through an unrestricted educational grant from Bracco Diagnostics Inc.

Lisa M. Ho, MD

Imaging plays a critical role in the work-up and clinical management of adrenal disease. Because masses in the adrenal glands are one of the most commonly encountered incidentalomas, the American College of Radiology (ACR) has developed specific recommendations on how to manage incidentally discovered adrenal masses in the adult population. The purpose of this article is to review the imaging appearance of common adrenal diseases and provide a diagnostic imaging algorithm for work-up of the “adrenal incidentalomas.”

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

Deborah R. Shatzkes, MD

“Nomenclature has been the major obstacle to our understanding and management of vascular anomalies.” These words were written by John Mulliken over 30 years after publishing his seminal paper on the biologic basis of vascular anomalies in 1982. The intervening decades have brought tremendous progress in classification, diagnosis and therapy of this diverse group of lesions. Still, much confusion exists in the medical community, in no small part because of inaccurate and inconsistent use of nomenclature both in the liter-ature and in clinical practice.

The multidisciplinary International Society for the Study of Vascular Anomalies (ISSVA) was formed in 1992 to promote research in the field of vascular anomalies and to create a uniform nomenclature that would facilitate research and clinical practice. ISSVA created a comprehensive classi-fication scheme based on Mulliken’s work on the biologic basis of disease, updated most recently in 2014 and available at issva.org/classification. The ISSVA classification and its associated nomenclature are widely accepted as the gold standard by the numerous medical specialties involved in clinical care and research related to vascular anomalies.

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.

Stephanie R. Rice, MD; Adeel Kaiser, MD; Elizabeth Nichols, MD

This review examines the role of trimodality therapy in the management of esophageal cancer, focusing on controversies surrounding the optimal total neoadjuvant RT dose employed. Current and past technologies for radiation treatment delivery and their impact on overall survival and toxicity are discussed. The authors also detail the data driving the management of resectable esophageal carcinoma, reviewing studies comparing neoadjuvant CRT followed by surgery to definitive CRT, neoadjuvant CRT followed by surgery to surgery alone, and controversies in radiation dose and planning considerations for preoperative resectable esophageal cancer.

Available for SA-CME Credit. To receive SA–CME credit, you must complete the post exam and review the discussion and references provided with the exam results.