Clinical Applications of Medical Imaging

The primary purpose of this book is to bridge the gap be- tween the practice of clinical medicine and diagnostic radi- ology. It is intended primarily for utilization by medical students in training and by nonradiologist physicians. In this world of rapidly expanding knowledge in the many specialties of medicine, it is becoming increasingly difficult for many physicians to stay abreast of the newer and constantly changing modalities of diagnosis as well as the therapeutic regimens of the common as well as the less common disease processes within their realm of practice. This book will enable the busy clinician to utilize the consultative services offered by his or her colleagues in diagnostic radiology with maximum effectiveness. The most common clinical applications of the more recent imag- ing modalities (i. e. , nuclear medicine, ultrasound, comput- erized tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging) have been categorized and condensed into a format that will be both comprehensible and useful on a daily basis for those physicians routinely requesting these diagnostic examina- tions for their patients. For simplicity, the book is divided, whenever feasible, into organ systems and subdivided into the multiple classifications of pathologic states (i. e. , con- genital, trauma or iatrogenic, inflammatory, and neo- plasm). In addition, there are brief comments related to the vii specific advantages and disadvantages as well as the cost effectiveness of each modality.