ABSTRACT
Although France is a modern, developed country, which spends nearly 10% of the gross national product on healthcare and has a highly praised level of medicine, the number of modern imaging scanners, such as CT (595), MRI (182), and PET (5), is quite low when compared to other European countries. Politics and a long-standing tradition of centralization are prominent among reasons for such an underdevelopment. This situation has resulted in another French paradox not linked to wine consumption. The French life expectancy is very high, but the number of imaging equipment is very low.
Subject(s)
Delivery of Health Care/organization & administration , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , France , Humans , Insurance Coverage , Insurance, Health , PoliticsABSTRACT
The authors are recalling the main tendancies of the medical imaging world market before studying MRI diffusion in the 3 great sectors, USA, Europe and Japan. MRI diffusion is highly regulated in Europe but in the 2 other areas the growth of MRI was slower than the CT growth for the same period of time for medical, technological and financial reasons. The market evolution with the uprising of the mid-field niche and industrial offers will be presented.
Subject(s)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Marketing of Health Services , Europe , Humans , Japan , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/instrumentation , Marketing of Health Services/trends , United StatesABSTRACT
A prospective MRI study of the spine comparing short inversion-recovery sequences (STIR)-one the features of which is to potentiate the contrast of both long T1 and T2 sequences-with other spin echo and/or gradient echo MRI sequences, was conducted in 20 patients with suspected vertebral metastases. The features of the signal on STIR sequences were initially defined in 14 healthy volunteers. In the patients, the various MRI sequences were also compared to each other and to standard x-rays and bone scans. The sensitivity of detection of vertebral metastases did not appear to be significantly different between T1 sequences and the STIR sequence. However, these two sequences appeared to be significantly more sensitive than T2-weighted sequences. The STIR sequences therefore appears to be a logical complement to T1-weighted sequences in the detection of vertebral secondaries. This sequence even appears to be superior in the following situations: investigation of the cervical vertebrae, follow-up of irradiated bone, early detection of periduritis and lesions of the posterior arch.
Subject(s)
Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Spinal Neoplasms/secondary , Adult , Aged , Humans , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Radionuclide Imaging , Spinal Neoplasms/diagnosis , Spinal Neoplasms/diagnostic imagingABSTRACT
In an attempt to determine factors of predictive value in HIV (human immuno-deficiency virus) seropositive patients, particular attention was payed to symptoms indicating early involvement of the central nervous system (CNS). A cohort of healthy carriers was thus constituted. Follow-up will be carried out every six month including clinical, biological as well as CNS imaging by NMR. Among the first 15 of them, abnormalities could be observed in 4 individuals. Lesions consisted in nodules of high signal in T2 which were localized either in the white matter or thalamic nuclei. No relationship could be demonstrated between the existence of these lesions and various criteria such as age, sex, risk factors and T4 cells count. Such lesions appeared similar to the localizations observed in multiple sclerosis or to the scars of limited vascular accidents. The nature of these lesions is not clear. They certainly indicate early involvement of CNS after primary infection by the HIV virus. They may either represent sequellae of this primary infection or early alterations announcing developing encephalopathy.
