December 31, 2020 — After “COVID-19,” the term that most people will remember best from 2020 is likely to be “social distancing.” While it most commonly applied to social gatherings with family and friends, it has impacted the way many receive medical care. Historically, the United States has been relatively slow to broadly adopt telemedicine, largely emphasizing in-person visits.

December 30, 2020 — What happens in the brain when our conscious awareness fades during general anesthesia and normal sleep? Finnish scientists studied this question with novel experimental designs and functional brain imaging.

December 30, 2020 — Researchers at the University of Turku have discovered what type of neural mechanisms are the basis for emotional responses to music. Altogether 102 research subjects listened to music that evokes emotions while their brain function was scanned with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The study was carried out in the national PET Centre.

December 29, 2020 — The American College of Radiology (ACR), Society of Breast Imaging (SBI), patient advocates and others secured an extension of the moratorium on harmful 2009 and 2016 United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) Breast Cancer Screening Guidelines from Dec. 31, 2021 to Dec. 31, 2022.

December 28, 2020 — Adding a contrast-enhancing agent to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) significantly improves image quality and allows radiologists who interpret MRI scans to pick up subtle anatomic details and abnormalities that might otherwise be missed.