This single-visit, cross-sectional, non-interventional study in adults was to characterize the sensitization to allergens in severe asthma (independent of phenotype). Out team member Anke Lux participated by providing biometric consultation. Find out more about the study here.

The emergency services are often faced with patients suffering from psychological distress. This survey explored connections between subjective wellbeing and patterns of work-related behavior and experience, in order to identify areas of intervention for health promotion services. Our colleague, Anke Lux, collaborated in the study. You can read more about it here. 

Data are essential for science and research. Data trust structures such as the data trust (THS) at IBMI come into play to protect them. At DataDay on 30 June 2023, our colleagues learned about and discussed opportunities for data trusteeship.

Speakers, such as our former intern Hanna Püschel, among others, provided insights into how legal scholars evaluate the idea of a data trust and how data intermediaries are used in medicine, among other fields.

In der Zeitschrift tm - Technisches Messen wurde oben genannte Publikation am 09. August 2024 unter Mitwirkung der Co-Autoren Prof. Dr. Dr. Johannes Bernarding und Christian Bruns veröffentlicht. Für nähere Informationen siehe diesen Link.

Abstract

The radio-frequency (RF) transmit power deposition in tissue during magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at ultra-high fields, i.e. B 0 ≥ 7 T, is a major challenge for pulse sequences requesting large flip angles. The absorbed RF energy can pose safety risk to patients as it is rising temperature in the tissue. The temperature can be accessed using MRI itself via the proton-resonance frequency (PRF) shift technique, which at low B 0 has been shown a valid MR thermometry method. In this paper, we explore the applicability of the PRF method to the assessment of local temperature in 7 T MRI procedures. To this end, we built a phantom filled with a material presenting electrical conductivity and permittivity close to muscle tissue. Tubes filled with oil were placed nearby the phantom to observe the time dependent B 0 drift. MRI phase images were acquired by gradient-echo (GRE) sequences at time points between spin-echo sequences with large flip angle allowing for a continuous assessment of the temperature during a 114 min RF-heating experiment. All acquired phase images were post-processed with attention to the time dependent instability of B 0, and, in addition, to potential spatial and temporal phase discontinuities, known as wraps. In this paper, we present a strategy to analyze and to unfold these phase wraps for large measurement fields and long acquisition times. It is shown that the PRF shift method is beneficial for the assessment of temperature at 7 T MRI. The temperature maps for axial and coronal planes display a temperature increase of approximately 3.5 °C during the time of the RF-heating experiment. Overall it is shown that B 0-drift correction and, importantly, the spatio-temporal unwrapping are an indispensable part of post-processing.

In der Zeitschrift Official Journal of the American Brachytherapy Society wurde oben genannte Publikation am 23. August 2024 unter Mitwirkung der Co-Autoren Dr. Tim Herrmann und Maximilian Sensse veröffentlicht. Für nähere Informationen siehe diesen Link.

Abstract

PURPOSE: Ablative therapies for primary and secondary liver malignancies are increasingly adopted in current guidelines. Nevertheless, surgical resection remains the gold standard in most curative therapy settings. Extensive studies on mortality and morbidity after ablative treatment of the liver are missing. We investigated complications and mortality after ablative treatment in a large, unselected study cohort.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Standardized patient and treatment data in 4374 percutaneous and angiographic ablative procedures of the liver from the DRG-based hospital reimbursement system (diagnosis-related groups) of an academic hospital in Germany were retrospectively evaluated. We analyzed descriptive patient data, length of stay (LOS), pre-existing medical conditions, previous gastrointestinal surgeries, severe complications, and occurrence of death.

RESULTS: Treatment of secondary liver malignancies constituted over two-thirds of all procedures (71%, n=3053). The mean LOS was 4.1 ± 3.5 days. Severe complications were documented in 1.4% and in-house death in 0.2% of cases, significantly more often after treatment with chemoembolization of primary liver malignancies (p=0.003; p=0.0001). Previous partial liver resection, partial bowel resection, and chronic renal failure were independent risk factors for the occurrence of severe complications.

CONCLUSION: Severe complications and in-hospital death are rare in the treatment of primary and secondary liver malignancies with percutaneous and angiographic procedures. They are a viable alternative or addition to a surgical approach in treating liver lesions. © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of American Brachytherapy Society. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)