Western culture dominates the health care system in Canada. Patients from non-Western cultures may have needs that are different from Western culture patients. To provide optimal care to all patients, health care professionals need to be sensitive to the needs of different cultures, whilst avoiding the tendency to stereotype patients. This literature review explores the research that has already been undertaken on this subject, and examines what implications there could be for cancer patients. It offers strategies that health care professionals could utilize to enable them to become trans-cultural practitioners.
transmit-receive extremity RF coil; previous medical history and investigation indicated compartment syndrome was suspected in the anterior tibialis region. High resolution T1-weighted SPGR images were acquired prior to functional imaging. Mid-calf axial BOLD images were acquired using a Gradient Echo sequence with an EPI readout (∝=70o, TE/TR=35/250ms, FOV 24cm, 64x64 matrix). 3072 contiguous images were acquired over 12.8 minutes at a rate of 4 per second (4Hz). Data acquisition was performed prior to and immediately following 30 minutes of intense exercise. BOLD data obtained from muscle regions of interest (ROIs; soleus, gastrocnemius, anterior tibialis) were spatially aligned with anatomical slices and Fourier transformed into frequency spectra using in-house programs written in Matlab (The Mathworks, Natick MA).
Working alone in MRI is an uneasy reality for an MRI technologist. Regardless of geographical location, facility type or size, most technologists will find themselves working alone at some point. As experts in the field, MRI technologists are acutely aware of the inherent MRI safety risks, and recognize the escalation of hazards when working alone. Conscientious technologists seek guidance and search for regulations to circumvent working alone. A review of published MRI safety documents and guidelines offers insights to the risks within the MRI environment that, in combination with careful analysis of the federal and provincial occupational health and safety legislations, can provide corroborative support based on Canadian law that justify the creation of specific strategies and policies to mitigate risk and eliminate working alone.
Dynamic, contrast-enhanced breast MRI (DCE-MRI) has been shown to be more accurate than mammography, ultrasound and clinical breast exam for the identification of tumour extent in the breast. However, DCE breast MRI is not currently utilized for the guidance of breast conservation surgery, primarily due to the differences in breast positioning during the MR imaging compared to the positioning in the surgical theatre. Therefore a supine positioning of the patient during MR imaging is preferred, which should result in a better matching of the images of the preoperative MRI and the later positioning in the operating room.
Successful human resource innovation in the cancer care sector must be compatible with the key objectives of decreasing wait times, increasing access and improving the health of our citizens. Implementing these kinds of innovations, including new models of care, is difficult in this complex environment. In the last two decades, advanced practice has seen tremendous interest and much has been written about it in recent years. Many of the themes documented in this literature occur consistently across jurisdictions and are relevant to the recent investigation of advanced practice roles for radiation therapists in Ontario.
48 activation) while 2 enhanced strongly negatively (-Ve) (23.39±14.88% significant). This was hypothesized to be related to alteration in blood flow with hyperoxia (Table 1). Repeat scans on different days gave consistent responses (i.e. either –Ve or +Ve). No matter if the response was –Ve or +Ve, both liver types showed diminished significant enhancement in the postprandial state (see Figure 1). This decrease was most significant (P<0.036, paired t-test) in +Ve livers (diminished to 13.41±12.61%).
Breast cancer is the most common life-threatening malignancy in women. Predicting a patient’s response to neoadjuvant, or preoperative, chemotherapy is difficult. Because standard mammographic procedures do not accurately measure changes in tumour volume, monitoring response is usually repeated on a 3-6 month interval. For patients with an aggressive disease, this time frame may lead to months of ineffective therapy, permanent and irreversible losses in quality of life and early mortality. Thus an early, noninvasive and reproducible method to determine a tumour’s responsiveness to a particular therapy would greatly benefit these patients. Diffusion weighted MRI (DW-MRI) is a noninvasive imaging technique that is used to detect changes in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). The ADC value is an indicator of the movement of water within a tissue giving an average value of the flow and the distance the water molecule has moved. The decreased ADC in breast cancer reflects the underlying pattern of densely packed tumour cells, which inhibit effective motion of water molecules and restricted their diffusion
This article presents a substantive literature review regarding the effectiveness of online instruction. Standards for comparisons to determine online instructional effectiveness are discussed, as well as contributing factors to its success. Technical support, instructor involvement, a sense of “community,” and pedagogy all have important roles in the success of online instruction. The article concludes with design and delivery considerations, advantages and disadvantages, and current status.
