Joel G. Fletcher, M.D.

The purpose of this study is to examine the capability of contrast-enhanced pelvic PCD-CT for local staging of rectal cancer, with dedicated rectal cancer staging MR serving as the reference standard and to determine the optimal high-resolution images (image type [T3D, low keV, iodine map, IR or denoising method] that should be reconstructed after PCD-CT image acquisition for rectal cancer detection and staging.

The purpose of this study is to to examine the ability of photon counting computed tomography (PCCT) to reduce calcium blooming and beam-hardening artifacts adjacent to bone, to use decreased dose levels without altering contrast-to-noise, and to improve discrimination of very small structures using the system’s increased spatial resolution.

The purpose of this study is to develop a mucosal biomarker signature for stricturing small bowel Crohn’s disease (CD) (Aim 1). Also, to validate the mucosal biomarker from objective 1 and validation of novel in vivo and ex vivo imaging techniques for intestinal CD fibrosis.

The objectives of this study are to perform measured testing of the stricture PRO tool, including validation and assessment of responsiveness, and to assess responsiveness of the magnetic resonance image-based stricture radiology index (SRI) items.

The primary purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of automatic adaptive iterative metal artifcate reduction (AiMAR) in improving image quality in CT scans of different body parts in patients with different metal implants in terms of artifact reduction and visualization of key anatomic structures.

The purpose of this study is to understand and document the concepts relevant and important to the measurement of signs, symptoms, and related experiences of patients living with stricturing CD for development of a new PRO instrument.

The purposes for this study are to determine the ability of volumetric dynamic 4D CTA compared to replace current single-phase CTA and eliminate venous contamination that can decrease scan accuracy. Additionally, we seek to estimate the ability of this new imaging technique (volumetric dynamic 4D CTA) to reduce the dose of intravenous iodine and radiation dose. 

The study will estimate observer performance for Low-dose CT enterography ( LD-CTE) for detection of ileal inflammation due to Crohn’s disease. It will also determine if an LD-CTE technique using multi-step kV selection and automatic exposure control can routinely acquire volumetric datasets at radiation doses similar to or less than annual background radiation levels. Furthermore, the study will determine if LD-CTE  with or without ileocolonoscopy is better than validated patient symptom scores (using the Short Pediatric Crohn’s Disease Activity Index, short PDAI) in identifying patients with moderate to severe ileocolic Crohn’s disease who may benefit from treatment with biologic agents.

The purpose of this study is to test the use of ultra-low dose CT scans to find lung nodules compared to the standard routine low dose CT scans.

The purpose of this study is to assess the combined impact of post-processing methods that quantify potential biomarkers of chronic liver disease (AEF, fECS) and that improve iodine signal (vMono+) on detecting liver fibrosis and hepatic masses or esophageal varices, in comparison to routine contrast-enhanced liver CT.

The Photon Counting Detector Computed Tomography (PCD-CT) Spectral Topogram can be resolved into multispectral components given the ability of photon counting detectors. This modality, therefore, has the ability to quantify bone mineral density and may be an alternative to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan in the routine clinical screening of high-risk individuals for osteoporosis.  PCD-CT Spectral Topogram may, therefore, be an opportunistic way to increase osteoporosis screening for individuals undergoing CT, particularly at-risk populations.

The purpose of this study is to:

1. To determine if readers with similar levels of training have interchangeable performance for detection of hepatic metastases.
2. “Pseudoreaders” can be created from evaluations of different radiologists to rank different dose/reconstruction alternatives without alteration of results obtained using fully-crossed multi-reader, multi-case study designs