Tag: Primary Care

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Engaging Primary Care in Research: Not Always an Easy Task

Stella Song ROP Summer 2016

I am Stella Bing Xin Song, currently a second year student studying pharmacology and psychology at University of Toronto. I was fortunate to be a part of the 2016 Research Opportunity Program (ROP) supervised by Dr. Pascal Tyrrell in the Department of Medical Imaging at University of Toronto. 


My ROP project focused on evaluating the feasibility of using MRI as the primary imaging modality for carotid artery stenosis diagnosis and assessment (not sure what we are talking about? See previous posts here and here). Along with Ginni Ting, a student volunteer in Dr. Tyrrell’s lab, we surveyed physicians in the Niagara region of Ontario to learn about their perspectives on this proposal. Our community partner in this research was Heart Niagara – a fantastic local organization that has been guiding advances in cardiac health education and services since 1977.

Most of the responding physicians saw approximately 2000 or more patients per year. Physicians expressed a variety of care-related decisions for carotid artery stenosis patients, especially for those where diagnosis was less obvious with less than 70% stenosis. Most responding physicians would consider MRI over Ultrasound as the first-line diagnostic imaging modality, because of its ability to detect IPH yielding more pertinent information. IPH is bleeding within the plaques, which causes them to become more vulnerable (see vulnerable plaque). There is a 6 times greater risk of stroke in people with IPH! For those who were reluctant to consider it, they expressed that it was mostly due to their concerns for the relative cost and current wait time for MRI. 



Unfortunately, the response rate for this online survey was very low. Reasons given for the reluctance to participate were that physicians were on a tight schedule and were busy with their patients. Feedback from participants was that the online survey seemed long. Nevertheless, from the responses received, we were able to learn more about physicians’ perspectives of using MRI for carotid artery stenosis diagnosis and assessment.


In the end, it was an exciting and valuable experience to plan out and execute this research project. Most importantly, I had the pleasure to join Dr. Tyrrell’s lab and meet his team. I am grateful for all the help and support which I have received throughout my time at the lab. I look forward to continuing to work as a member of Dr. Tyrrell’s lab.

Stella Bing

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MiWord of the Day Is… UBO?!!!

I must mean UFO or Unidentified Flying Object? You remember the movie Close Encounters of the Thrid Kind? Spielberg’s massive hit in 1977 following his release of the original Jaws. Back in those days UFO sightings were often in the news (or tabloids anyway) and this movie hit the sweet spot. It even helped launch the toy “Simon” which as it turns out was very similar to the multicolored, note-playing alien saucers featured in the movie – coincidence?


So, what the heck is UBO? Well, as it turns out the human body exhibits a variety of anatomical details in the ever so important Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scan that we have all learned to love (see our series on MRI and Carotid Stenosis). The majority of patients have similar anatomical features on imaging but some fall outside these normative patterns. When radiologists come across findings that are difficult  to interpret they will often refer to them as “Unidentified Bright Objects”. The challenge, of course, is that the radiologist needs to decide whether to label the anatomy in the image an “UBO” – essentially an image artifact – or “disease”.


This is where the rubber meets the road. Interpretation of MRI scans is work done by people, and, as with all jobs, the quality of performance varies. Therefore, the accuracy of the MRI exam is heavily dependent on the quality of the radiologists who interpret them. It is for this reason that the training a radiologist receives is crucial to his/her success. In addition, there is an important relationship that exists between the radiologist and the primary care physician as they have to balance indications of abnormality in MRI scans with the information provided by other techniques such as the clinical exam. A successful diagnosis relies on a good team effort. 


Go Team!




Now for the fun part (see the rules here), using UBO in a sentence by the end of the day:

Serious: Went for my MRI today. Told me that the UBO on imaging was just an artifact. Nothing to worry about. Phew!

Less serious: Hey Bob, did you hear on the news the report of another UBO hovering over farmer John’s field last night?  Or was that UFO? I always get those two mixed up…




Listen to UB [4] 0’s Red Red Wine to decompress and…




…I’ll see you in the blogosphere.




Pascal Tyrrell