| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
|
|
|
|||||||
|
|||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Cleveland Clinic Foundation Cleveland, OH 44195
Drs. Beam, Blackmore, Karlik, and Reinhold are to be congratulated for initiating the "Fundamentals of Clinical Research for Radiologists" series [1]. Their goals are laudable, and this series of articles will no doubt serve to improve the quality of the research published in the radiology sciences.
We wonder, however, if radiologists might also benefit from the inclusion of additional topics to this series. Although specific subjects, such as study design, statistical methods, and outcomes analysis are fundamental to clinical investigation, we must not over-look the most important research opportunity available to us: the noninvasive characterization of specific disease processes in the living human. Information afforded by recent technologic advances in imaging instrumentation can be used to improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of disease processes in the living patient, to quantify the severity and extent of the resulting abnormalities in tissue anatomy and function, to gauge organ response to treatment, and even to visualize cellular metabolism and specific gene expression [2].
Radiologists can shed light on the dark areas of many disease processes by using noninvasive imaging techniques to describe the "state function" of the tissue of interest. Other potentially useful topics for consideration in the clinical research series might include the coregistration of differing types of radiologic images; methods of image analysis and signal-to-noise enhancement; generation of parametric images; and the relationships between imaging findings and the gross and histologic observations made in biopsy, surgical, and autopsy specimens.
By integrating the various information components available to them, radiologists can serve not only as worthy consultants, but also as instructors of our clinical colleagues.
References
University of Washington Seattle, WA 98104
Medical College of Wisconsin Milwaukee, WI 53226
My colleagues and I appreciate the interest of Brunken et al. in "Fundamentals of Clinical Research for Radiologists" [1]. The world of radiology research is broad, and our series title is not intended to be comprehensive. The series focuses on developing tools with which to understand the application of radiology interventions in humans. As Brunken et al. point out, the characterization of disease processes has always been a focal point of radiology research, and the advances in development of imaging technology over the past several decades are spectacular. In fact, we in radiology excel at discovering and defining disease. However, understanding the impact of imaging upon humans has been less well studied and less emphasized in radiology curricula.
The goal of medical care is to improve the health of patients. Yet, in radiology, we often have only a limited understanding of how our tests and procedures are affecting patients [2]. We do not know if our success at quantifying and characterizing disease translates into improved health. The credibility of the radiology community demands that we take a leading role in evaluating our technologies. Such investigation requires skills, or at least collaboration, in clinical research design, biostatistical methods, and outcomes analysis. "Fundamentals of Clinical Research for Radiologists" is designed to open the toolbox of modern epidemiologic and biostatistical methods and make these methods accessible to today's radiologists. We hope and believe that, with appropriate assistance, radiologists can meet the challenge of clinical research.
References
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |
