About

Ryan J Avery is the Chief of Nuclear Medicine in the Department of Radiology and an Associate Professor of Radiology (Nuclear Medicine) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. His professional role involves leadership within the nuclear medicine division, contributing to the department's clinical, educational, and research missions. As a faculty member, he is engaged in advancing the field of nuclear medicine through his expertise and contributions, supporting the department's focus on medical imaging and radiology.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Cardiology
• Artificial Intelligence
• Internal medicine
• Computer Science
• Mathematics
• Radiology
• Nuclear medicine

Selected publications

• The Value of SSTR PET for Detection, Definition, and Ongoing Management of Meningioma

  Radiology · 2026-04-01

  article

  Meningiomas are the most common primary brain tumors and present unique diagnostic challenges due to their diverse morphologic features and behavior. Somatostatin receptor (SSTR) PET imaging promises to address these hurdles and bolster the comprehensive management of meningioma. By leveraging the high SSTR expression of meningiomas, SSTR PET can provide superior sensitivity for diagnosis, delineation of tumor extent, and guidance for surgical and radiation planning, particularly in complex cases involving bone or the skull base. As evidence grows, SSTR PET may also provide insights into prognosis, with uptake patterns potentially correlating with recurrence risk and treatment response. Two illustrative cases from the authors' institution are discussed that demonstrate how SSTR PET influenced both diagnosis and treatment strategy.

  PublisherDOI

• Clinical Cases in the Diagnosis of Cardiac Sarcoidosis

  JACC Case Reports · 2025-07-01

  articleOpen access

  The clinical presentation of cardiac sarcoidosis is often nonspecific and overlaps with other conditions, making the diagnosis challenging. Differences exist in diagnostic guidelines across major consensus statements. Although tissue biopsy is the gold standard, the yield of endomyocardial biopsy is low due to its focal distribution in the myocardium and difficulty of the procedure. We describe 4 cases of cardiac sarcoidosis to illustrate the important concepts of diagnosis of this condition.

  PublisherDOI

• Regional left ventricular wall stress postmyocardial infarction with magnetic resonance imaging in swine

  American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology · 2025-05-07

  articleOpen access

  This study introduces a novel approach to assess regional left ventricular wall stress using cardiac MRI in a clinically relevant model of myocardial infarction. We demonstrate that postinfarction remodeling leads to increased wall stress not only in the infarcted region but also in remote myocardium. This regional analysis method provides mechanistic insights into the widespread mechanical impact of localized injury and could inform future investigations into the pathophysiology of adverse remodeling following myocardial infarction.

  PublisherDOI

• Quantitative Stress First-Pass Perfusion Cardiac MRI: State of the Art

  Radiographics · 2025-02-20 · 10 citations

  review

  Quantitative stress perfusion cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is an emerging and powerful clinical tool that improves the diagnostic accuracy of stress perfusion CMR for noninvasive assessment of epicardial coronary artery disease, microvascular dysfunction, aortic stenosis, and cardiac allograft vasculopathy.

  PublisherDOI

• Paradoxical Response to Neoadjuvant Therapy in Undifferentiated Pleomorphic Sarcoma: Increased Tumor Size on MRI Associated with Favorable Pathology

  Cancers · 2025-02-27 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access

  Background/Objectives: To correlate size changes in undifferentiated pleomorphic sarcoma (UPS) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after neoadjuvant chemoradiation therapy (nCRT) with pathological response, risk of local recurrence, and therapeutic regimens. Methods: This retrospective study analyzed clinical, pathological, and imaging data from 39 biopsy-proven UPS subjects. Four readers measured the tumor dimensions before and after nCRT, including two perpendicular axial diameters and the longest coronal/sagittal diameter. Three cross-sectional areas and bounding volume were also calculated. Responders (pR) were defined as having ≤10% viable cells and non-responders (pNR) as having more. Inter-reader agreement was evaluated using Kendall’s concordance coefficient. Changes in tumor size were compared between pR and pNR using one-way ANOVA and Tukey’s HSD test for multiple comparisons of means. Results: pR showed a greater increase in size across all measurements compared to pNR. For the longest axial diameter, the mean increase was 30% ± 35% for pR and 14% ± 31% for pNR, with a mean difference (pR-pNR) of 16% (95% CI: 6–27%, p = 0.003). In tumors treated with radiotherapy alone, pR exhibited larger size increases in all dimensions compared to pNR. In contrast, in the chemoradiation group, pR showed a slight increase, while pNR generally shrank, although these differences did not reach statistical significance. Notably, pNR with local recurrence exhibited a reduction in all tumor dimensions compared to pNR without local recurrence. Conclusions: This exploratory study suggests that tumor size changes may predict pathological response and local recurrence after nCRT in UPS; however, the small sample size limits the generalizability of these findings.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Suspected and Known Heart Failure: 2024 Update

  Journal of the American College of Radiology · 2025-05-01

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Use of Ictal-Interictal SPECT in Localization of Surface-EEG–Negative Insular Epilepsy

  Neurology · 2025-12-19 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Intracranial Metastases from Uterine Leiomyosarcoma: A Systematic Review and Case Illustration

  Journal of Clinical Medicine · 2025-09-20 · 1 citations

  reviewOpen access

  Background/Objectives: Brain metastasis from uterine leiomyosarcoma (ULMS) is an exceptionally rare complication of an aggressive malignancy. With fewer than 40 cases previously documented, a significant knowledge gap exists regarding its clinical course, management, and outcomes. This study provides the largest analysis of ULMS brain metastases to date, integrating a systematic literature review with a novel case report illustrating the disease’s uniquely rapid progression. Methods: Following PRISMA guidelines, we systematically reviewed four major databases to identify all reported cases of intracranial metastasis from ULMS. Data on patient demographics, clinico-radiological features, treatments, and survival were extracted and analyzed. Methodological quality was assessed using a modified Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) tool. Results: We analyzed 34 studies with 39 individual cases. Additionally, this review was supplemented by one new illustrative case from our institution. The median patient age was 51.5 years, and most presented with focal neurological symptoms. Common imaging findings included hyperdense lesions on CT and homogeneously enhancing, dural-based masses on MRI, which mimic other intracranial pathologies. Though surgery was the most frequent intervention (76.9%), median survival after a brain metastasis diagnosis was a grim 5 months, with no significant difference observed between treatment modalities. Our illustrative case was remarkable for an extremely rapid volumetric doubling time averaging just 7.3 days. Conclusions: Brain metastasis from ULMS is a lethal event with an extremely poor prognosis. Nonspecific imaging features create diagnostic challenges, necessitating histopathological confirmation. Current therapies, including surgery and radiotherapy, offer palliative benefit but do not significantly alter survival. The aggressive biological behavior demonstrated here underscores the urgent need for increased clinical awareness and collaborative research to develop more effective management strategies and improve outcomes for this devastating diagnosis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Cardiac MRI in Heart Transplantation: Approaches and Clinical Insights

  Radiographics · 2025-01-30 · 6 citations

  reviewSenior author

  Cardiac MRI provides comprehensive insights into orthotopic heart transplant (OHT) allograft structure and function with advanced tissue characterization and quantitative myocardial perfusion techniques and can be considered a complementary noninvasive tool for investigation and monitoring of major complications that limit the durability of OHT.

  PublisherDOI

• ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Cervical Pain or Cervical Radiculopathy: 2024 Update

  Journal of the American College of Radiology · 2025-05-01 · 6 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Michael Markl

  48 shared

• Phillip H. Kuo

  University of Arizona

  27 shared

• Daniel Kim

  24 shared

• Bradley D. Allen

  Toronto General Hospital

  23 shared

• Michael J. Cuttica

  Northwestern University

  22 shared

• Daniel Lee

  21 shared

• Rod Passman

  19 shared

• James Carr

  Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory

  18 shared

Education

• M.D.

  Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine

• B.S.

  University of California, San Diego