Cindy Tung / Dr. Susan Gauthier - Week 5

 This week I spent some more time in the neurology ICU observing rounds. The purpose of rounds is for the team to update the attending on patients' conditions overnight and as a team come up with a plan for the day. the ICU is a very busy place, with up to 13 patients each day, so it is crucial that every member in the team presents in a clear and concise manner. During rounds, the attending will ask the patients simple questions or ask them to follow directions to track their improvements. 

Next, I shadowed Dr. Elcin Zan in the neuro radiology department in reading patient scans. In stroke patients, bright areas in diffusion-weighted images (DWI) are read first, then compared to a corresponding dark area in the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) to diagnose as a true stroke. The image below depicts a case of Wallerian degeneration, where damaged white matter axons on the left side lead down to the pons. The second image is a PET-MR combined image. While PET shows non-anatomical feature and are generally used for physiological purposes, they show an increase in the uptake of glucose, which is a distinguishing feature in cancer tumors. Therefore, combining PET-MR enables physicians to confirm the presence of a tumor and subsequently dictate its precise location. 



       

           Wallerian Degeneration                                                       Tumor PET-MR

For my research, we injected a new line of mice with 4T1 breast cancer cells. The injection site is in the mammary fat pad, located just under the nipple. The mice are carefully monitored for ~3 weeks and if the tumor size or body weight falls out of animal safety regulations, they are removed from the study. 

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