Since MR angiography (MR) can demonstrate the whole brain arterial system without introduction of contrast medium, it is very useful in screening for aneurysm, AVM and vascular occlusion in outpatients.
There are two methods in MRA-subtraction and non-subtraction methods (time of flight, TOF).
The magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) technique can demonstrate smaller vessels and slower blood flow than any conventional TOF-MRA.
Compared with the subtraction MRA, the MTC-TOF-MRA demonstrates smaller vessels clearly in a shorter time. By Gd-enhancement, the image of the arterial system can be also improved on the MTC method.

In the 21st century, the notion that healthcare is a service business has become widespread in Japanese society. Patients now have the option of choosing hospitals. Consequently, many medical institutions implement enlightenment activities to improve the level of hospitality among staff. The Hospitality Improvement Committee at Ibaraki Seinan Medical Center Hospital, comprising members of varying professional backgrounds, has been established to improve healthcare services and hospitality skills as well as provide educational activities. As clinical radiologists, we have also established our own internal committee and incorporated a self-assessment system that individual staff use for routine self-assessment of hospitality skills. After approximately 2 years of engaging in these and other educational activities, hospitality skills among clinical radiologists have improved overall, suggesting the beneficial effect of the activities. However, some self-assessment items show no improvement above a certain level. In this study, we focused on this finding and evaluated the educational activities implemented so far.