Giuseppe Guglielmi (editor) - Imaging in Geriatrics (Practical Issues in Geriatrics)

This practically oriented series presents state of the art knowledge on the principal diseases encountered in older persons and addresses all aspects of management, including current multidisciplinary diagnostic and therapeutic approaches. It is intended as an educational tool that will enhance the everyday clinical practice of both young geriatricians and residents and also assist other specialists who deal with aged patients. Each volume is designed to provide comprehensive information on the topic that it covers, and whenever appropriate the text is complemented by additional material of high educational and practical value, including informative video-clips, standardized diagnostic flow charts and descriptive clinical cases. Practical Issues in Geriatrics will be of value to the scientific and professional community worldwide, improving understanding of the many clinical and social issues in Geriatrics and assisting in the delivery of optimal clinical care.

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Demographic changes, due to the longer lifespan and the improvement of the quality of life, led to an aging society, where developing high-quality healthcare for older people becomes increasingly important.

Nowadays the elderly population is more informed and more demanding of better care through cutting-edge technology and treatment. Specifically, radiologists play an increasingly important role and occupy a frontline position in the evaluation of this cohort of patients, who necessitate definitive imaging.

In this perspective, the complex relationship between geriatrics and radiology must be redefined. Imaging in Geriatrics is the result of a teamwork of radiologists, experts in the field, with the aim to provide guidance for the appropriate use of imaging in modern geriatric care, describing how to recognize pathology from para-physiological findings in the elderly population.

The study of diagnostic imaging in geriatrics, enriched by traditional and modern imaging methods, is primarily oriented to the clinical and radiological analysis most frequently encountered in these patients and, above all, to the not easy distinction between normal and pathological, especially in situations in which para-physiological changes resulting from aging processes are associated with alterations related to comorbidity and chronicity.

This volume includes a multidisciplinary approach, and it covers all major medical issues related to aging, divided by apparatus. In particular, it encloses the main pathologies in the neurological, cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, urogenital, hematologic, and musculoskeletal field.

This book considers all imaging techniques that have been the cornerstones of radiology, but also modern innovations. Conventional radiography is still the first approach in the diagnosis of a frequent variety of pathological conditions of elderly patients, such as fractures, often due to osteoporosis, pneumothorax, or heart failure. On the other hand, Computer Tomography (CT), with its intrinsic resolution power, allows radiologists to detect a possible ischemic or hemorrhagic cerebral focus, as well as neoplastic metastases for the staging of the primary pathology. Spinal cord injuries are best identified with Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). But nowadays, and therefore modern tailored medicine, is changing, going towards Artificial Intelligence (AI), a technological evolution that brings with it the limits related to the training and updating of the healthcare personnel involved. For this reason, a section about the role of AI in the management of geriatric patients could not be missed at the end of this volume.

Finally, the aim of this book is to simplify the approach and the diagnostic imaging process of geriatric diseases, bringing out the potential and limitations of each imaging technique.

We recommend the reading of this book not only to radiologists for their daily clinical practice but also to all physicians who require a basic knowledge of imaging concerning the main geriatric pathologies, because of their complex clinical presentations.