Abdominal Imaging and Interventions Research

About Our Abdominal Radiology Research Program

The Division of Abdominal Radiology at BIDMC pursues a comprehensive range of innovative research in the field of radiology, including quality and safety. Recent research foci in this area include innovations in peer learning, strategies for structured reporting implementation, the impact of and strategies to manage incidental findings, and management of follow-up recommendations in radiology reports.

In our division, Leo Tsai, MD, PhD, Assistant Professor of Radiology and Clinical Director of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, (MRI), leads MRI research in the emerging field of lymphedema imaging, in addition to performing basic science research using hyperpolarized 13C MRI to explore tumor heterogeneity, and the relationship between tumor perfusion and metabolism.

Research initiatives also include radiomics, CT split bolus contrast injection, radiation exposure optimization, pancreatic imaging, gynecological imaging, assessment of tumor treatment response for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and quality and safety in cross-sectional interventions.

Recent Selected Publications

Appel E, Dommaraju S, Camacho A, Nakhaei M, Siewert B, Ahmed M, Brook A, Brook OR. Dependent Lesion Positioning at CT-guided Lung Biopsy to Reduce Risk of Pneumothorax. Eur Radiol 2020. In Press.
Beker K, Lee KS, Tsai LL, Hegazi T, Garces-Descovich A, Brook A, Mortele KJ. Differentiation of Pancreatic Head Ductal Adenocarcinoma from Inflammatory Pancreatic Pseudomass by MR Cholangio-pancreatography: Utility of the Duct-interrupted, Corona, and Attraction signs. Abdom Radiol (NY). 2019 Jul 27.
Brown RS, Sun MRM, Stillman IE, Russell TL, Rosas SE, Wei JL. The Utility of Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Noninvasive Evaluation of Diabetic Nephropathy. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation. 2019 April 23.
Canon CL, Enzmann DR, Grist TM, Meltzer CC, Norbash A, Omary RA, Rawson JV, Recht MP. Society of Chairs of Academic Radiology Departments Statement of Support for Paid Parental Leave. J Am Coll of Radiol 2019.
Cruz C, Guo A, Yajnik V, Gee MS. Novel Associations Between Genome-wide Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms and Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features in Crohn’s Disease Patients. World Journal of Gastroenterology. Accepted April 2020.
Dewey M, Levine D, Bouyssurt P, Kressel HY. Impact and Perceived Value of Journal Reporting Guidelines among Radiology Authors and Reviewers. Eur Radiol. 2019 Jan 29.
Dommaraju S, Siewert B, OʼBryan B, Swedeen S, Appel E, Nakhaei M, Camacho A, Brook OR. Impact of Preprocedure Time-Out Checklist for Computed Tomography-Guided Procedures on Workflow and Patient Safety. J Comput Assist Tomogr. 2019 Nov/Dec.
Franconeri A*, Boos J, Fang J, Shenoy-Bhangle A, Perillo M, Wei CJ, Garrett L, Esselen K, Fong L, Brook OR. Adnexal Mass Staging CT with a Disease-specific Structured Report Compared to a Simple Structured Report. Eur Radiol. 2019 Feb 28.
Frank R, Dehmoobad Sharifabadi A, Salameh JP, McGrath TA, Kraaijpoel N, Dang W, Li N, Gauthier ID, Wu MA, Bossuyt PM, Levine D, McInnes MDF. Citation Bias in Imaging Research: Are Studies with Higher Diagnostic Accuracy Estimates Cited More Often? Eur Radiol. 2019 Apr.
Hegazi TM, Al-Sharydah AM, Lee KS, Mortele K. Retroperitoneal Cystic Masses: Magnetic Resonance Imaging Features. Abdom Radiol (NY). 2020.
Huang CWC, Ali A, Chang YM, Bezuidenhout AF, Edolw J, Hackney D, Bhadelia RA. Major Radiological and Clinical Outcomes of Total Spine MRI Performed from the Emergency Department at a Major Academic Medical Center. Accepted for publication at AJNR Am J Neuroradiol.
Jaramillo-Cardoso A*, Shenoy-Bhangle A, Garces-Descovich A, Glickman J, King L, Mortele KJ. Pelvic MRI in the Diagnosis and Staging of Pelvic Endometriosis: Added Value of Structured Reporting and Expertise. Abdom Radiol (NY). 2019 Aug 29.
Johnson AR, Bravo MG., Granoff MD, Kang CO, Critchlow JF, Tsai LL, Lee BT, Singhal, D. Flow-through Omental Flap for Vascularized Lymph Node Transfer: A Novel Surgical Approach for Delayed Lymphatic Reconstruction. Plastic and Recon Surg Global Open. 2019 Sept 30.
Johnson AR, Fleishman A, Tran BNN, Shillue K, Carroll B, Tsai L, Donohoe K, James TA, LeeBT, Singhal D. Developing a Lymphatic Surgery Program: A First-Year Review. Plast Recon Surg. 2019 Dec.
Johnson AR, Tsai LL, Tran BNN, Lin SJ, Singhal D. Reply to the Letter: "Technological Advances in Lymphatic Surgery: The Emerging Role of Ultrasound". Plast Reconstr Surg. 2019 Aug 07.
Kim G, Smith MP, Donohoe KJ, Johnson AR, Singhal, DH, Tsai LL. MRI Staging of Upper-Extremity Secondary Lymphedema: Correlation with Clinical Measurements. Eur Radiol 2020.
Kruskal JB, Meltzer CC, Shanafelt T, Gupta S, Rawson J, Deitte L, Gibbs I, Raybon C, West D, Canon C. Fortifying Our Teams to Best Serve Our Patients: A Report of the 2019 Summer Intersociety Meeting. J Am Coll Radiol. 2020 Apr 11.
Lee KS, Talati K, Mortele KJ. In: Lee EY, Hunsaker A, and Siewert B, eds. Computed Tomography with MRI Correlation. Spleen. 2020.
Levine D, Patel MD, Suh-Burgmann, J, Andreotti RF, Benacerraf BR, Benson CB, Brewster WR, Coleman BG, Doubilet PM, Goldstein SR, Hamper UM, Hecht JL, Horrow MM, Hur H, Marnach ML, Pavlik E, Platt LD, Puscheck E, Smith-Bindman R, Brown DL. Simple Adnexal Cysts: SRU Consensus Conference Update on Follow-up and Reporting. Radiology, 2019.
Ludwin A, Martins WP, Ludwin I Nastri CO, Coelho Neto MA, Costa W, Acién M, Alcazar JL, Benacerraf B, Condous G, DeCherney A, De Wilde RL, Diamond MP, Emanuel MH, Guerriero S, Hurd W, Levine D, Lindheim S, Pellicer A, Petraglia F, Saridogan E. Congenital Uterine Malformation by Experts (CUME): T-shaped uterus. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2019.
Niu BT, Forster B, Sanelli P, Abujudeh H, Siddiqui J, Levine D, Khosa F. Trends in Gender and Racial Profiles of U.S. Academic Radiology Faculty. JACR, 2020. In Press.
Sekhar A, Eberhardt L, Lee KS. Imaging of the Female Urethra. Abdom Radiol (NY). 2019.
Shenoy-Bhangle AS, Putta N, Adondakis M, Rawson J, Tsai L. Prospective Analysis of Radiology Resource Utilization and Outcomes for Participation in Oncology Multidisciplinary Conferences. Academic Radiology. 2020 Jul 1.
Taso M, Papadopoulou F, Smith MP, Tsai L, Mortele KJ., Alsop DC. Pancreatic Perfusion Modulation Following Glucose Stimulation Assessed by Non-invasive Arterial Spin Labeling (ASL) MRI. J Magn Reson Imaging. 2019 Aug 13.
Wei CJ, Levenson RB, Lee KS. Diagnostic Utility of CT and Fluoroscopic Esophagography for Suspected Esophageal Perforation in the Emergency Department. AJR Am J Roentgenol. 2020 Jun 09; 1-8.

*Denotes a Radiology trainee

Recent Grants

Brook OR. Radiology Review of Pathology Results Discordant with Imaging Findings of Image‐guided Biopsy, CRICO, 2020-2022.
Rawson JV. Using Modeling of Incidental Follow-up Recommendation Compliance to Predict High-Yield Interventions; Harvey L. Neiman Health Policy Institute Grant, 2019-2020.
Tsai L. A Novel Coaxial Deflectable Microcatheter for Rapid Navigation of Tortuous Vessels SBIR NIH R44HL137521, Agile Devices, Inc. BIDMC Site Principal Investigator, Agile Devices Co-Investigator (PD: Tully) 2017-2020.
Tsai L. Arterial Spin Labeling Blood Flow MRI for Evaluation of Response to Antiangiogenic and Targeted Therapies of Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) Clinical Trial NCT00749320, Sponsor: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. Collaborators: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Pfizer, and Novartis Principal Investigator, 2017-2020.
Tsai L. Development and Validation of MRI-based Quantitative Fat and Fluid Volumetrics for Lymphedema Staging and Guidance of Liposuction and Lymphatic Reconstruction in Upper and Lower Extremities, RSNA RR1820, Mentor & Co-Investigator (PI: Kim), 2018-2020.
Tsai L. In-vivo Tracking of Hepatic c-Met Expression Following RF Ablation and Tumorigenic Response in c-Met Positive Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Targeted Molecular MRI. 2017 Society of Abdominal Radiology Wylie J. Dodds Research Award, Principal Investigator, 2017-2019.

Recent Awards