By: 3 February 2014

shutterstock_6386470They say a picture is worth a 1,000 words, so a movie must be worth far more, especially when it comes to diagnosing wrist problems.

As reported by Spire Healthcare, radiologists, medical physicists and orthopaedic surgeons from the University of California have found a way to create ‘movies’ of the wrist in motion using a series of brief magnetic resonance imaging scans, a technique called an “active MRI”.

This new technique could be useful in diagnosing the subtle changes in physiology that indicate the onset of conditions such as instability of the wrist.

Robert Boutin, lead author of the study, said: “Now patients can reproduce the motion that’s bothering them while they’re inside the scanner, and physicians can assess how
the wrist is actually working. After all, some patients only have pain or other symptoms with movement.”

The imaging technique could also be used to determine what the best treatment option is and whether or not the patient requires orthopaedic surgery.

formed
Junior editor at Fintech Intel