https://medicalxpress.com/diagnostic-radiology-news/ en-us Latest medical news and research in Diagnostic radiology Researchers have developed a technology for building more compact point-of-care medical imaging devices by creating a material that acts as two devices in one. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-devices-metasurface-medical-imaging-smaller.html Sat, 15 Aug 2026 08:00:03 EDT news705910346 Some of medicine's smallest patients can present its biggest imaging challenges. An infant's heart can be as small as a walnut, beating rapidly inside a body that will change dramatically as the child grows. Yet much of the equipment used in MRI comes in standard sizes better suited to adult bodies, and customized versions can cost thousands of dollars and take months or even years to manufacture. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-tiniest-patients-tech-clearer-mri.html Wed, 12 Aug 2026 10:20:02 EDT news705746641 Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common chronic autoimmune disease of the central nervous system. An early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for improving the effectiveness of treatment and reducing nerve damage. To standardize and speed up diagnosis, the so-called McDonald criteria were introduced in 2001 and have since been revised several times. They combine clinical findings—such as visual disturbances, sensory disturbances or unsteadiness of gait—with results from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), which reveals changes in the brain and spinal cord, as well as inflammatory markers in the cerebrospinal fluid. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-optic-nerve-inflammation-enables-earlier.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 13:00:07 EDT news705667261 Researchers have shown that an imaging model can detect microstructural abnormalities in the brain associated with Huntington's disease, potentially offering a new method for monitoring disease progression and evaluating new treatments. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mri-reveals-microstructural-brain-linked.html Tue, 11 Aug 2026 12:00:04 EDT news705666661 When it comes to medical imaging, a chatbot doesn't know its backside from its elbow. Or, at least, it can't tell a spine from a knee. But if a Boston University research team is successful, a smarter AI system for evaluating brain scan images might someday help clinicians spot diseases sooner, saving lives while cutting costs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-pretrained-ai-clinics-brain-mris.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 10:00:03 EDT news705141601 Alzheimer's disease has traditionally been studied as a condition that primarily affects the brain's gray matter, where neuronal cell bodies are located and some of the disease's most characteristic lesions accumulate. However, growing evidence indicates that white matter is also affected during the early stages of the neurodegenerative process. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-mri-metric-early-multifactorial-white.html Wed, 05 Aug 2026 09:40:03 EDT news705141181 Radiopharmaceutical therapy (RPT) has made significant strides over the past 50 years, although it only recently received FDA approval to treat prostate cancer. But despite the progress—and billions of dollars in industry investments—one area that has lagged behind is dosing, which is still one-size-fits-all. Now, researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed an AI model that can inform individualized treatment by generating a patient's radiation dose map with gold-standard accuracy in under 23 seconds. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ai-tool-dose-personalize-prostate.html Tue, 04 Aug 2026 17:00:05 EDT news705075901 USC researchers have developed an approach that uses artificial intelligence to generate detailed maps that highlight differences in how distinct parts of the brain age. The new model also sheds light on how patterns of brain changes correlate with changes in cognitive function across the lifespan, according to a new USC study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-08-ai-enabled-local-brain-aging.html Mon, 03 Aug 2026 17:00:06 EDT news704994061 In a promising sign for the potential of focused sound waves to improve care for brain tumors, UVA Health researchers have determined that tumors called gliomas may be even more receptive to targeted drug delivery than normal brain tissue. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-deadly-brain-tumors-vulnerability-approach.html Sun, 02 Aug 2026 08:00:01 EDT news704645465 A research team from The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) has developed a novel AI framework, the Generalist–Specialist Collaboration (GSCo), which enables a generalist foundation model and specialist models to collaborate on disease diagnosis. GSCo outperforms both standalone models in tasks such as medical imaging, visual question answering and radiology report generation, while significantly reducing the cost of adapting medical models to new clinical tasks. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ai-framework-enables-efficient-collaboration.html Thu, 30 Jul 2026 12:20:10 EDT news704630341 Dementia, a progressive loss of memory and decline in mental function that can be caused by various neurological conditions, is estimated to affect more than 57 million people worldwide. Identifying specific biological and neural markers of this condition could help estimate the risk that individuals will develop it and potentially enable early interventions aimed at delaying its emergence or slowing its progression. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-fluid-flag-future-dementia.html Tue, 28 Jul 2026 07:40:06 EDT news704367580 Researchers in Korea have developed a new near-infrared (NIR) fluorescent dye with significantly improved photostability, overcoming the rapid signal fading that has long limited fluorescence imaging during surgery for cancer, lymph node mapping and other medical procedures. The work is published in the journal Small. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-scientists-photostable-infrared-fluorescent-dye.html Fri, 24 Jul 2026 13:40:02 EDT news704112841 PET/CT can add valuable information to aid the diagnosis of fever of unknown origin (FUO), according to a new multicenter, retrospective study published in the June issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. In a cohort of more than 900 FUO patients, molecular imaging directly influenced clinical management in nearly 75%, contributing to improved patient outcomes, increased patient safety and reduced health care costs. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-molecular-imaging-diagnosis-fever-unknown.html Thu, 23 Jul 2026 19:20:04 EDT news704045701 One of the biggest challenges in cancer research has been linking the "big picture" seen in medical scans with the microscopic biology that drives tumor growth and dictates how patients respond to treatment. Now, by combining multiple imaging techniques (PET scans, bioluminescence and fluorescence), scientists can detect tumors across the whole body simultaneously, pinpoint key targets and then examine those tumors in detail, including the surrounding cells and tissue. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-imaging-method-tracks-cancer-body.html Fri, 17 Jul 2026 15:40:04 EDT news703498329 A study using positron emission tomography (PET) imaging has found that patients with schizophrenia had significantly lower muscarinic acetylcholine M1 receptor availability (about 13%–19%) across multiple brain regions than healthy individuals. Reduced M1 receptor availability affects several brain regions involved in cognition, learning, memory and executive function. The findings in Biological Psychiatry provide the first in vivo evidence supporting widespread M1 receptor deficits in schizophrenia. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-imaging-reveals-receptor-dysfunction.html Thu, 16 Jul 2026 17:00:06 EDT news703427743 Research involving a Rutgers professor sheds new light on the biological basis of schizophrenia by directly measuring synaptic connections in the human brain using specialized positron emission tomography (PET) imaging. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-imaging-reveals-widespread-brain-loss.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 15:20:05 EDT news703257918 Prostate cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting men worldwide. However, planning personalized radiotherapy in the advanced stages of the disease still requires more precise tools. Researchers at the Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) have now tested a novel approach. A combination of two diagnostic imaging techniques could pave the way for personalized radiotherapy. The results of the study have been published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-isotope-imaging-alpha-therapy-metastatic.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 14:40:06 EDT news703255307 A team of crew members aboard a commercial spaceflight acquired the first diagnostic X-rays during an orbital flight. Results of the mission were published today in Radiology. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-diagnostic-rays-space-era-astronaut.html Tue, 14 Jul 2026 10:00:05 EDT news703143584 A second prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET scan changed treatment plans for nearly half of patients whose first scan was negative, according to new research published in the July issue of The Journal of Nuclear Medicine. Findings from the repeat PSMA scans, which included both local and distant disease, resulted in a change in management for nearly 50% of these patients. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-prostate-specific-membrane-antigen-pet.html Sat, 11 Jul 2026 10:00:04 EDT news702823706 Working with concurrent electroencephalogram and functional magnetic resonance imaging technology at the Beckman Institute's Biomedical Imaging Center, postdoctoral researcher Suhnyoung Jun and her colleagues have investigated how the brain connectome's dynamics unfold across different timescales, captured by these two technologies at the same time. The team's paper is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-brain-imaging-reveals-neural-networks.html Thu, 09 Jul 2026 16:50:01 EDT news702831222 One of the uncomfortable truths about multiple sclerosis is that the part of the brain likely to reveal the most about the disease and how a patient will be affected has been mostly invisible to clinicians. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2026-07-ai-previously-invisible-cortical-lesions.html Tue, 07 Jul 2026 05:00:16 EDT news702543202