Medicine is still a long way from the “Star Trek”-style technology whereby a physician can just wave a wand over a patient to glean a full diagnosis, but research keeps moving in that direction.
Much of the new and nifty in high-tech medical gadgetry was on display this week at Chicago’s McCormick Place, where the Radiological Society of North America held its annual meeting.
Radiologists keep pushing their technology toward gathering information about patients with less need to cut, probe or prod them as doctors traditionally do.
Indeed, some are working toward the day when a patient’s final exam–the autopsy–won’t require much handling of actual tissue.
The virtual autopsy combines images from magnetic resonance and computer tomographic X-rays to supply much information traditionally obtained by slicing into a body to look around.
Called Virtopsy, the technology is being developed in Switzerland at the University of Berne. Dr. Michael Thali, Virtopsy’s project manager, described the work to colleagues at the radiological society’s meeting.
“The virtual autopsy doesn’t destroy key forensic evidence, which may be damaged during a classic autopsy,” Thali said.
“It can also be used in cultures and situations where autopsy isn’t tolerated by religion, such as in the traditional Jewish faith, or is rejected by family members.”
Swiss researchers have performed about 100 virtual autopsies over the last three years and have presented some findings as evidence in Swiss courts, Thali said.
Even so, the technology’s expense and technical limitations mean that it isn’t ready to displace traditional autopsies, the researcher conceded.
“It may be another 10 to 15 years before this method is accepted,” he said.
Another project–the virtual colonoscopy–appears to be as effective as the traditional procedure, which requires inserting equipment through a patient’s rectum to look for growths, called polyps, that can become cancerous.
Using computer technology and X-rays, virtual colonoscopy does the same thing without inserting anything inside the body.
A study of 1,233 adults who had both traditional and virtual colonoscopies found the virtual exam was slightly better at spotting polyps than traditional technology. It also took less time and was less expensive.
The one drawback is that when polyps are seen with virtual technology, the patient still must undergo an invasive procedure to remove them. When polyps are discovered using traditional technology, they can be excised at once.
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But for most patients who are polyp-free, the virtual procedure is easier to take, which should improve patient willingness to be examined, said Dr. J. Richard Choi, a radiologist with the Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was a leader of the study.
“Colorectal cancer is the second-leading cause of cancer death and is almost always preventable,” said Choi, “but less than half of eligible patients undergo any form of screening.”
Early back problems: As imaging technology becomes more widespread, physicians use it to look in new places and find things they’d never expect.
A Scottish researcher at this year’s radiological society meeting presented the disturbing news that magnetic resonance images of the spines of 154 children around the age of 10 showed that 9 percent of them had abnormalities associated with back pain in adults.
“We found degenerative changes in the spine much earlier than we ever would have suspected,” said Dr. Francis Smith of Woodend Hospital in Aberdeen. “This study revises our thoughts on when we should begin preventive back care.”
The images were taken as part of a broader study, and researchers are puzzled as to their meaning.
“There is no history of poor nutrition, obesity or other known disease in these children,” Smith said. “We suspect there may be genetic causes, although unrecognized trauma in sports or at play could also be a cause.”