Iowa Radiology Blog

What is MRI?

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a technology that uses a powerful magnet to produce a strong magnetic field around the body. This magnetic field causes protons in the body to align with it. Then, radio waves are used to disrupt this effect; when the radio waves are turned off, the MRI sensors detect changes in the protons as they come back into alignment. This information can then be translated into images that depict various structures in the body. Doctors can examine these images in detail on a computer monitor.

When you visit a new health care provider, your new patient paperwork often includes questions about not just your medical history but also that of your close family members. Maybe you have sped past this section, filling in whatever happens to come to mind in the moment and perhaps inadvertently leaving out a few details. When your family medical history is incomplete, however, your providers could be missing important information that would empower them to better care for your health.

Benefits of Physical Activity

Regular physical activity is one of the greatest gifts you can give yourself. Staying active can bring a host of physical and psychological benefits, including

• Stress reduction
• Improved energy, mood, and sleep
• Enhanced cognition
• Better weight control
• Stronger bones and muscles
• Reduced risk of falls
• Reduced risk of many cancers and chronic illnesses

Navigating provider appointments with your family care physician and specialist can be challenging enough; then you receive an insurance explanation of benefits. After deciphering what you are responsible for, do you wonder, “Could I have made a choice that would have lowered my responsibility? or, “What is a deductible, and why was it applied to the services instead of a co-pay?” With the many insurance options that are offered directly to individuals and through employers, it is important to understand the benefits your plan provides. Before pulling out your insurance policy paperwork to review your benefits, let’s talk about deductibles and how they could affect your costs.

If you’re a long-term smoker, you probably don’t need to be reminded that it’s bad for your health. You understand that smoking makes it more likely that you’ll develop lung cancer. If it were easy to just quit, you would have done it by now.

Reasons to Celebrate

Each year during the week of November 8, we celebrate National Radiologic Technology week to highlight the vital role radiologic technologists (RTs) play in patient care and safety. The American Society of Radiologic Technologists chose November 8 to coincide with the anniversary of the discovery of X-rays by Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen in 1895. Notably, the week also includes the birthday of Marie Curie. Among other important accomplishments, Curie developed portable X-ray machines to be used in the battlefield during World War I. She not only trained 150 women—the world’s first battlefield radiologic technologists—to operate the machines, but also joined them on the battlefield to help treat wounded soldiers.

What is a spinal compression fracture?

Most often seen in patients with osteoporosis, spinal compression fractures occur when the vertebrae lack sufficient strength to support the spine. This can also happen as a result of trauma (such as a severe fall or car crash) or cancer that has spread to the bones. Actions such as lifting, slipping, falling, and even sneezing or coughing can put brittle vertebrae at risk of fracture.

Breast Cancer Risk

Breast cancer affects hundreds of thousands of women in the U.S. each year. On average, a woman has approximately a 1 in 8 chance of developing breast cancer during her lifetime and a 1 in 38 chance of dying from it. The American Cancer Society estimates that among women in the U.S., 268,600 new cases of invasive breast cancer and 62,930 cases of carcinoma in situ will be diagnosed, and 41,760 women will die of breast cancer in 2019 alone.[1] Facts like these highlights the importance of taking steps to prevent breast cancer as well as identifying and treating breast cancers that do develop as early as possible.

Abbreviated breast MRI is a new enhanced breast cancer screening option for women with dense breast tissue and less than a 20% lifetime risk of breast cancer.

It is estimated that in the U.S., one in 285 children will be diagnosed with cancer before their twentieth birthday. While survival of childhood cancer has increased dramatically in recent decades, the incidence of cancer in children has also been on the rise. Cancer remains the number one cause of death by disease among children in the U.S., resulting more childhood fatalities than any cause other than accidents. In order to change this, more research is necessary to find the causes of and more effective treatments for childhood cancer.