Mindmasterclass dot Com: Health and Medical Blog

According to recent research from Seoul, South Korea, “The aim of this study was to examine whether the patterns of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) abnormalities and quantitative regional apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values can predict the clinical outcome of comatose patients following cardiac arrest. Thirty-nine patients resuscitated from out-of-hospital cardiac arrest were prospectively investigated.”

“Within five days of resuscitation, axial DWIs were obtained and ADC maps were generated using two 1.5-T magnetic resonance scanners. The neurological outcomes of the patients were assessed using the Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score at three months after the cardiac arrest. The brain injuries were categorised into four patterns: normal, isolated cortical injury, isolated deep grey nuclei injury, and mixed injuries (cortex and deep grey nuclei). Twenty-three subjects with normal DWIs served as controls. The ADC and percent ADC values (the ADC percentage as compared to the control data from the corresponding region) were obtained in various regions of the brains. We analysed the differences between the favourable (GOS score 4 to 5) and unfavourable (GOS score 1 to 3) groups with regard to clinical data, the DWI abnormalities, and the ADC and percent ADC values. The restricted diffusion abnormalities in the cerebral cortex, caudate nucleus, putamen and thalamus were significantly different between the favourable (n = 13) and unfavourable (n = 26) outcome groups. The cortical pattern of injury was seen in one patient (3%), the deep grey nuclei pattern in three patients (8%), the cortex and deep grey nuclei pattern in 21 patients (54%), and normal DWI findings in 14 patients (36%). The cortex and deep grey nuclei pattern was significantly associated with the unfavourable outcome (20 patients with unfavourable vs. 1 patient with favourable outcomes, P< 0.001). In the 22 patients with quantitative ADC analyses, severely reduced ADCs were noted in the unfavourable outcome group. The optimal cutoffs for the mean ADC and the percent ADC values determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis in the cortex, caudate nucleus, putamen, and thalamus predicted the unfavourable outcome with sensitivities of 67 to 93% and a specificity of 100%,” wrote S.P. Choi and colleagues, Catholic University (see also Unconsciousness).

The researchers concluded: “The patterns of brain injury in early diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) (less than or equal to five days after resuscitation) and the quantitative measurement of regional ADC may be useful for predicting the clinical outcome of comatose patients after cardiac arrest.”

Choi and colleagues published their study in Critical Care (Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for predicting the clinical outcome of comatose survivors after cardiac arrest: a cohort study. Critical Care, 2010;14(1):R17).

For additional information, contact K.N. Park, Catholic University of Korea, Dept. of Emergency Medical, College Medical, 505 Banpo Dong, Seoul 137701, South Korea.

Applying for medical school is often the most difficult process for any future medical student. You need to start almost a year and a half early in order to ask for recommendations, take the MCAT exams and prepare your personal statements. It is a struggle to get accepted no matter where you apply because the field is so competitive. For the rest of us, this selective process is great because we only want the best people and most intelligent people to become our doctors and health care givers.

However, this process does the future medical community no good unless these potential doctors have the right instructors, materials, and tools from which and with which to learn. Medical equipment is an incredibly important teaching tool and it helps the doctors of tomorrow better prepare for the real world of medicine.

Medical school is where students learn about the most recent medical techniques and theories. New technology is developed almost everyday and it is difficult to stay abreast of all this new information. The great progress made by technology has made medicine much safer. Doctors can now use imagining machines, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasounds, to find tumors and other abnormalities. These machines eliminate the need for many invasive exploratory surgeries. The problem is much easier to spot and diagnose while looking at an image then by hoping to find something by making an incision.

Many medical schools rely on the charity of other hospitals and clinics to stock up on medical school equipment. Some hospitals that are closing or getting in a shipment of new machines will donate their used and refurbished equipment to medical schools so that medical students can get the maximum amount of practice using the equipment they will need every day in their jobs. It is one thing to learn the theories on how to use a machine and another thing to learn hands-on with the machine itself. The more familiar future doctors are with these machines, the better they will do when they start their residencies.

If you are someone who would like to sell a few pieces of used medical equipment, consider donating them to the nearest medical school. Helping the future physicians learn how to be the best doctors they can be is very important!