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Purpose: Interdisciplinary tumor boards are periodical conferences, where optimal individual therapy plans are developed among medical experts with different specializations. The presence of a board-certified radiologist is medically indispensable in almost all relevant boards. In order to systematically evaluate the current workload for radiologists caused by these boards, we evaluated the current situation within German radiology to obtain numbers for future personnel planning., Materials and Methods: We performed an online survey. We invited all 33 German university chairmen and 50 randomly selected head physicians of radiology at level 3 hospitals to participate., Results: We had a participation rate of 79% (26/33) at university hospitals and 56% (28/50) at of level 3 non-university hospitals. The average total number of tumor boards was 3.3/day or 16.7/week at university hospitals and 2.6/day or 13/week at level 3 non-university hospitals. We calculated an average time considering preparation and execution as well as the average number of boards of 33.1 h/week for university hospitals and 18.2 h/week for level 3 hospitals. This results in a 78.8% workload for a board-certified radiologist at a university hospital (regular weekly work time 42 h) and 45.5% work load for level 3 hospitals (regular weekly work time 40 h)., Conclusion: "Speaking radiology" as in interdisciplinary tumor boards represents a fundamental matter of course in radiology. The active participation in boards accomplished by radiologists improves evidence-based patient care. However, given the prevailing scarcity of resources in medicine, the data collected here regarding personnel costs for clinical radiology for participation in tumor boards must be taken into account in future discussions on personnel compensation.

Clinical Issue: The intravenous administration of contrast agents increases the contrast between diverse tissues and vessels against their surroundings in both computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and has been generously used for years. There are only a few scientific publications that have systematically evaluated the impact of this contrast-enhancing technique over noncontrast enhancing techniques., Radiological Standard: According to these publications and our clinical experiences, there are far more indications to use non-contrast-enhancing techniques as they are used in clinical practice. The most important requirement to renounce the use of a contrast agent is sufficient clinical information and differentiated justified indication. The present review shows useful non-contrast-enhanced examination techniques for neuroradiology, musculoskeletal system, lymphatic system, and thorax, including the hearth, abdomen and breasts., Clinical Recommendations: Good indications for non-contrast imaging are generally follow-ups. In cerebral related questions, like in traumatic or atraumatic emergencies, transient ischemic attacks, minor stroke diagnostic, dementia and in follow-ups of multiple sclerosis, there is usually no need for contrast agent. Examinations of the musculoskeletal systems and follow-up examinations of the lymphatic system can generally be done without a contrast agent. There is no major loss of value in CT and MRI scans of the thorax by examining without contrast. The value of using a contrast agent in the abdomen is far less than expected. Up to now use of a contrast agent is essential in evaluating questions related to vessels or angiomatous tissue and in breast MRI.

Screening is a special issue in medical questions concerning disease prevention. Preconditions for screening are clearly defined by the World Health Organization. High prevalence, effectiveness of therapy, availability of accepted test procedure and consensus concerning the economic concerns are necessary for successful implementation of a screening program. Preventive diagnostic studies can only be understood if one is familiar with the statistical terms sensitivity, specificity, prevalence, incidence and bias (especially overdiagnosis and lead time bias). Aspects of radiation protection are especially important in asymptomatic volunteers. The new radiation protection law in Germany also gives the opportunity to define new screening procedures even with use of radiation exposure in individual prevention programs. Potential diseases for radiological secondary prevention with high mortality are malignant tumors (especially breast cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer) and cardiovascular diseases (coronary heart disease, stroke or aortic aneurysm).

The transformation of a European guideline (2013/59/Euratom) from 2013 into national law requires adaptation of the national statutory regulations. This year, all areas of protection from ionizing radiation will be subject to the new radiation protection law (StrlSchG). Through this, the German X‑ray and Radiation Protection Acts will be combined to form a higher level of authority. The main parts of the StrlSchG will receive a new classification and will be organized according to the exposure scenario: radiation protection in planned exposure scenarios, radiation protection in emergency exposure scenarios, radiation protection in existing exposure scenarios, and the regulation of overall exposure scenarios. The most important or modified regulated points for radiology are concerned with early recognition, where the application of X‑ray or nuclear radiation is permitted in principle under certain conditions; the consultation of medical physics experts in all diagnostic investigative procedures involving radiation and applications for radiological intervention that are linked to high doses in the person under investigation; teleradiology, another special case of the application of X‑rays in humans that requires approval, now with the "required" technical qualification in radiation protection, formerly with the "full" technical qualification, in addition to research, the simplified approval procedure being substituted with a notification procedure.Furthermore, in contrast to previous regulations, those tasked with radiation protection can contact the regulators directly in the case of conflict, which indicates considerable reinforcement of their authority.The only dose limit that will be considerably reduced is the organ-specific equivalent dose of the eye lens, where the highest value will be reduced from 150 to 20 mSv per year in those who are exposed to radiation professionally.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is responsible for 27,000 deaths and 65,000 new cancers in Germany each year, although this should be unnecessary as CRC is preventable because it is possible to remove the precursors, harmless polyps and adenomas. However, only 2.5 % of people in health insurance make use of screening colonoscopy annually so that it becomes necessary to check out other screening tests. The most commonly used test is the Guaiak-based test for fecal occult blood (gFOBT) which is highly specific but not very sensitive (only approximately 10 %). New immunological stool tests are more sensitive but the specificity is reduced from 90 % to approximately 80 %. Virtual colonoscopy based on computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is comparable to endoscopy for diagnostics with overall accuracy rates of approximately 80-90 % for polyps larger than 5 mm but for radiation protection reasons CT is not usable in Germany and MRI is internationally not adequately established by large study trials. For the future there is much hope in molecular blood tests. It is of great importance that every physician is aware of the different tests, their strengths and weaknesses and advises all patients to use the different screening possibilities.

In Germany approximately 29,000 people died of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) in 2002; the risk of getting CRC is 4-6% in Germany, rising with age from the 50th year of life. About one third of all people over 50 years of age have polyps with the potential for malignant transformation in the colorectum, which is a sufficiently high prevalence rate to justify screening. In contrast to most other cancer diseases, in the case of CRC it is possible to prevent the cancer and not only to detect it at an early stage. Application of the test for occult blood in persons between their 45th and 80th years can reduce the mortality of CRC by 14%. We can assume that already regular sigmoidoscopies with consistent performance of polypectomy when needed could reduce the incidence of CRC by 50-70%. There is no doubt that coloscopy is the technique of choice for secondary prevention, as it unites the possibility of complete diagnosis and treatment with a justifiably low level of risk. The economic advantages of an avoidance strategy compared with the treatment of CRC, which is certainly expensive, have been documented. On the basis of all the data reported, in the case of CRC preventive strategies can be emphatically recommended.

Focal hepatic lesions occur in 5% of the population. The clarification of such common occurrences is of major significance because oncological diseases play an important role with respect to morbidity and mortality of the population. The first part of this review article dealt with the most important aspects of classification, epidemiology and pathology of hepatic tumors for radiologists and the current technical situation with regards to the diagnostic procedure. This second part of the review deals with the significance of radiological procedures for identification and differential diagnosis of hepatic tumors.

Besides malignant disease, focal liver lesions can also represent benign changes. Among the malignant lesions, in addition to hepatocellular carcinoma, liver metastases should be mentioned. In contrast, benign lesions such as focal nodular hyperplasia and hepatocellular adenoma are rarely encountered. Various radiological procedures are employed for the (differential) diagnosis. The transabdominal ultrasound examination is supplemented by color Doppler procedures, contrast-enhanced or intraoperative ultrasound. Computed tomography (CT) should be performed with native images as well as after using modern nonionic, iodine-containing water-soluble contrast agents; multidetector spiral CT is today's standard. If comparable optimal technology is available on-site, (contrast-enhanced) MRI is preferable. Intra-arterial selective angiography has become less important for detecting and characterizing focal liver changes with the advent of tomographic procedures. The question of whether sonography- or CT-guided biopsy of the liver is needed for further diagnostic work-up, whether a wait-and-see approach is justified, or whether surgery is required to clarify the diagnosis should always be answered on a case-by-case basis.

Aim: To study the effect of G-CSF therapy directly by MRI and 1H MRS in the lumbar and femoral bone marrow and differentiate between malignant bone marrow infiltration (MBMI) and reconversion of red marrow., Methods: Thirteen patients could be examined twice, before and during G-CSF medication and another six only during treatment. T1 weighted spin-echo and opposed-phase gradient-echo images as well as the spectroscopic data (T2 values, water content) were analysed., Results: After G-CSF a pathologic bone marrow signal intensity was seen in 8/13 (lumbar) and 11/13 (femoral) patients respectively. The majority of the signal alterations were diffuse (6 and 8), the minority focal (2 and 3). If a patient was successfully stimulated, a significant increase in water content occurred (21% lumbar, 34% femoral). T2 values did not change significantly, nor did they correlate with the stimulation success., Conclusions: MR tomography and -spectroscopy are suitable to detect lumbar and femoral bone marrow stimulation by G-CSF quantitatively and qualitatively. The changes may simulate MBMI. The adequate judgement of G-CSF treated bone marrow without pretherapeutic images is not possible.

Despite remarkable progress of diagnostic imaging and operative procedures radiological interventions play a major role in diagnostic and therapeutic liver tumor interventions. Percutaneous biopsies should be taken by 16-20 g needles. CT control is indicated in cases when sonographically guidance is impossible or of risk. MR guidance is still seldom. Accuracy rates of percutaneous biopsies are high (>90%), and safe with complications (e.g. bleeding) of less than 1%. Palliative percutaneous therapeutic interventions of primary or secondary liver malignancies are thermoablative procedures of laser (LITT), cryoablation or radio-frequency, percutaneous ethanol injection (PEI) and intraarterial chemotherapy via port system or repetitive catheterisation with perfusion or embolization (TACE). For metastatic disease with less than five tumors of less than 4 cm LITT and PEI are recommended, more advanced cases should be treated by intra-arterial port system chemotherapy. For HCC best results are shown for PEI, in cases of UICC stage IIIB and IV only TACE is adequate.

The most important causes of focal epilepsy are hippocampal sclerosis, circumscribed tumors, vascular malformations, trauma and perinatal damage. At the moment MRI is the best radiological imaging modality for localizing and characterizing a focus. In many cases, however, even MRI is negative. Especially in hippocampal sclerosis the diagnostic role of MRI is still not well established. Diagnostic criteria are side differences with hippocampal atrophy and circumscribed signal increase on T2-weighted images of the affected temporal lobe. Circumscribed lesions caused by tumors or vascular malformations are demonstrated very reliably by paracoronal T2-weighted sequences. Routine administration of the paramagnetic contrast material Gd-DTPA is not necessary.

The technique of magnetic resonance spectroscopy fuses spectroscopic methods with the two-dimensional illustration of the metabolite concentrations by parallel acquisition of multiple single voxels from small tissue compartments. Therefore it is not necessary to define a voxel of interest before data acquisition. The interpretation of metabolite images is much easier than the analysis of single spectra, and metabolite concentrations on the right and left sides can be compared. The method has already proved reliable for brain tumors. The application of the procedure to patients suffering from epilepsy is described here in for the first time. Even in the temporal region, where most epileptogenic foci have their origin, one can obtain metabolite images of diagnostic quality without susceptibility artifacts. The epileptogenic focus is lateralized correctly, in accordance with electrophysiological and surgical evaluation, even in those cases where standard magnetic resonance imaging is normal. According to our preliminary findings the epileptogenic focus is characterized by a signal loss of N-acetyl-aspartate and creatine.

Subdural strip electrodes or intracerebral electrodes are required in order to precisely localize epileptic foci, which is mandatory for epilepsy surgery. The subdural electrodes are inserted via a borehole and thus precise positioning cannot be directly monitored. Therefore, the location of the electrodes in relation to the gyri and sulci has to be determined by imaging techniques. In this study, a three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging (3D MRI) technique was used for visualization of intracranial EEG electrodes. A 3D gradient echo sequence with thin slices of 1 mm is required for the assessment of the gyral anatomy of the brain surface. Using a short repetition time of 30 ms good image quality within an acceptable acquisition time of about 15 min was possible. Post-processing with 3D surface reconstruction was performed using a Sun workstation. Three-dimensional reconstruction allows a more precise delineation of the localization of the EEG electrodes and the simultaneous display of the adjacent brain structures. Misplacement of intracranial electrodes is readily detected. 3D MRI with 3D surface reconstruction proved superior to 2D imaging and CT for the assessment of EEG electrode localization.

The bone marrow is a common site of metastases in patients with solid tumors. Metastatic bone marrow involvement is found much more frequently at autopsy than in routine staging procedures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of bone marrow MRI in such patients, and especially in those with small cell lung cancer and female breast carcinoma. MRI is a fast and reliable method for the early detection of bone marrow metastases in patients with carcinoma. In many studies and according to our own experience, it is much more sensitive than radionuclide bone scan, iliac crest biopsy and plain film radiography. However, a clear clinical benefit of its use in the initial staging has so far been proven only for patients with small cell lung cancer. As a consequence, MRI should be applied for the staging of solid tumors only when clinical examination does not yield unambiguous results. Owing to its superiority to biopsy and bone scan, bone marrow MRI should become an integral part of the initial staging procedure in small cell lung cancer and wherever it is sufficiently available it can replace the conventional diagnostic procedures.

We report a case of metastatic alveolar echinococcosis of the liver. There were calcifications of the liver parenchyma, and a large tumour adjacent to the porta hepatis infiltrated neighbouring structures. In addition, haematogenous metastases to the spine and foot were found. This extensive haematogenous "metastasis" is rare and may complicate diagnosis, but the typical findings in the liver should permit the correct conclusion.

A case of supratentorial hemangioblastoma combined with two hemangiomas of the liver without manifestation of von Hippel-Lindau disease is presented. The cerebral cystic hemangioblastoma was localized in the right parietal lobe and contained a calcified area but no visible mural solid nodules. The CT and MRT differential diagnosis (arachnoidal cyst, glioma, Echinococcosis, hamartoma and metastasis) is discussed, and the literature on the subject is reviewed.

The TNM Classification was rewritten by UICC in 1987. For non-small-cell bronchogenic carcinoma, stages T4 and N3 were redefined. Controversy exists in the literature regarding the clinical merits of CT and MRI examinations for staging. For the evaluation of very small tumors and lung parenchyma CT is superior to MRI. MRI, however, permits direct imaging of sagittal and coronal projections. This is favorable in the diagnosis of "superior sulcus tumors" and tumors with chest wall invasion. For the evaluation of T4 tumors and mediastinal lymph-node involvement, no additional contrast medium is necessary if MRI is used. Up to now, the main limitations for the application of MRI in thoracic imaging have been and still are the availability of the equipment, the costs, the necessary technical support, and the extensive study time.