Feinberg
Northwestern Medicine | Northwestern University | Faculty Profiles

News Center

  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Menu
  • Categories
    • Campus News
    • Disease Discoveries
    • Clinical Breakthroughs
    • Education News
    • Scientific Advances
  • Press Releases
  • Media Coverage
  • Podcasts
  • Editor’s Picks
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Cancer
    • Neurology and Neuroscience
    • Aging and Longevity
    • Artificial Intelligence in Medicine
  • News Archives
  • About Us
    • Media Contact
    • Share Your News
    • News Feeds
    • Social Media
    • Contact Us
Home » Northwestern Postdoctoral Fellow’s Work Becomes Cover Story
Uncategorized

Northwestern Postdoctoral Fellow’s Work Becomes Cover Story

By medwebDec 27, 2007
Share
Facebook Twitter Email

Northwestern Postdoctoral Fellow’s Work Becomes Cover Story

Drs. James Carr, Xin Liu, and Debaio Li.
Dr. Xin Liu (center) works closely with his fellowship advisers, Drs. James Carr (left) and Debiao Li, investigating clinical applications of cardiovascular MR imaging techniques.

When graduate student Xin Liu, MD, PhD, submitted a manuscript detailing the benefits of the targeted use of magnetic resonance (MR) angiography in the diagnosis of heart disease to the American Journal of Roentgenology (AJR), he was fairly confident of his research findings. Little did he know that his first scientific paper written in English would not only be accepted by this highly respected peer-reviewed journal but also appear on its December 2007 front cover.

“I was not surprised at the results of the study, but I was surprised and thrilled that the journal selected it for the cover page,” says Dr. Liu, a research associate in the Department of Radiology. “I give many thanks to every author listed on the article, especially my advisers James Carr and Debiao Li!”

Chance encounters at major meetings with radiology faculty members Drs. Carr and Li, director of cardiovascular MR imaging research at Northwestern, prompted Dr. Liu to come to Northwestern about a year and a half ago. The two recruited the veteran radiologist, a native of China, to work with the Feinberg School’s well-regarded multidisciplinary cardiovascular imaging program. Advancing the development and clinical application of novel cardiovascular MR imaging techniques, Dr. Liu has continued research at the medical school that he started at Beijing’s Chinese PLA Postgraduate Medical School where he received a PhD degree in August 2006.

Dr. Liu’s research focuses on noninvasive coronary artery angiography using MR imaging for the more refined detection of coronary artery stenosis, or narrowing of the arteries in the heart, as compared with computed tomography (CT) angiography. Offering higher spatial resolution and faster imaging times than current MR techniques, CT angiography is routinely used for coronary artery imaging to identify significant coronary artery disease. However, unlike MR imaging, CT angiography exposes patients to high doses of radiation and requires the injection of nephrotoxic contrast agents, making it an invasive procedure with some risk of complications. In addition, severe coronary artery calcification can limit and make difficult the accurate interpretation of CT angiography.

In the article that appeared in the December issue of AJR, Dr. Liu and his colleagues found that coronary MR angiography provides better visualization of coronary artery lumen and improved diagnostic performance over CT angiography for patients with moderate and severe coronary calcifications. Oftentimes “blind spots” on coronary CT angiography due to blooming artifacts—imaging distortions—from the high-density calcifications challenge clinicians in making their diagnoses. In the near future, MR angiography could prove valuable as a noninvasive alternative for the detection of coronary stenosis in patients with high calcium scores—an indicator of heart disease risk.

“Initially coronary MR angiography did not reliably provide good diagnostic data, but the technique has gotten better and better,” explains Dr. Liu. “Now with MR imaging, we can get beyond the covering of calcified coronary atherosclerotic lesions to see inside the coronary lumen.”

Dr. Liu presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America held in Chicago in November.

Posted December 27, 2007.

Education
Share. Facebook Twitter Email

Related Posts

Mar 7, 2023

A Day in the Life: Evan Edwards

Mar 7, 2023

Changes in Medical School Leadership

Jan 26, 2023

2022 Year in Review

Dec 29, 2022

Comments are closed.

Latest News

Sex-Specific Mechanisms for Major Depressive Disorder Identified in Response to Dysregulated Stress Hormones

Mar 23, 2023

Pre-Surgery Immunotherapy May Increase Survival in Advanced Melanoma

Mar 23, 2023

Hormone Therapy Plus Current Treatments Improves Survival in Prostate Cancer

Mar 22, 2023

How ChatGPT Has, and Will Continue to, Transform Scientific Research

Mar 21, 2023

New Directions for HIV Treatment

Mar 21, 2023
  • News Center Home
  • Categories
  • Press Release
  • Media Coverage
  • Editor’s Picks
  • News Archives
  • About Us
Flickr Photos
20230317_NM651
20230317_NM610
20230317_NM569
20230317_NM537
20230317_NM331
20230317_NM323
20230317_NM316
20230317_NM336
20230317_NM626
20230317_NM662
20230317_NM655
20230317_NM642

Northwestern University logo

Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

RSS Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Flickr YouTube Instagram
Copyright © 2023 Northwestern University
  • Contact Northwestern University
  • Disclaimer
  • Campus Emergency Information
  • Policy Statements

Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.