Imaging in Geriatrics

This book addresses in a structured and multidisciplinary way the medical issues related to aging, paying particular attention to the role of diagnostic imaging in the field of cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, respiratory, neurological, urogenital and gastrointestinal diseases. The progressive increase of the average age of the population, of life expectancy and the improvement of the quality of life are common phenomena in many countries of the World. Over the years, the management of older persons seems to have had an increasing impact both on the socio-economic and on the medical-health level. Medicine, in all its branches, has in fact focused more and more on the health conditions of the elderly patient and its protection and, in this context, due to the increasing progress in the field of technology and imaging methods, the radiologist occupies a front-line position. Unlike the young or middle-aged patients, the elderly need special care and attention, especiallybecause of the involutive-degenerative senile processes they have to face, which must be taken into account to avoid incurring into misdiagnosis. Radiology, in fact, aims more and more at developing imaging techniques that are on the one hand satisfactory and comprehensive, but at the same time that do not represent any risk and/or obstacle for the elderly patient. The aim of this book is to provide the radiologist, and not only, with an adequate and complete geriatric preparation, thus to improve the diagnostic-therapeutic management of those patients who, to date, constitute the most conspicuous part of the medical-health users.