Radiological Findings and Outcomes of Bronchial Artery Embolization in Cryptogenic Hemoptysis

Management of cryptogenic massive hemoptysis is difficult, and conservative treatment may be inadequate to stop the hemorrhage. Surgery is not a reasonable option because there is no underlying identifiable pathology. This study aimed to investigate the radiologic findings and bronchial artery embolization outcomes in cryptogenic hemoptysis, and to compare the results with non-cryptogenic hemoptysis. We evaluated 26 patients with cryptogenic hemoptysis and 152 patients with non-cryptogenic hemoptysis. A comparison of the bronchial artery abnormalities between the cryptogenic and non-cryptogenic hemoptysis groups showed that only extravasation was more statistically significant in the cryptogenic hemoptysis group than in the non-cryptogenic hemoptysis group, while the other bronchial artery abnormalities, such as bronchial artery dilatation, hypervascularity, and bronchial-to-pulmonary shunting, showed no significant difference between groups. Involvement of the non-bronchial systemic artery was significantly greater in the non-cryptogenic hemoptysis group than in the cryptogenic hemoptysis group. While 69.2% of patients with cryptogenic hemoptysis also had hypervascularity in the contralateral bronchial arteries and/or ipsilateral bronchial artery branches other than the bleeding lobar branches, this finding was not detected in non-cryptogenic hemoptysis. Embolization was performed on all patients using polyvinyl alcohol particles of 355-500 microm. Hemoptysis ceased in all patients immediately after embolization. While recurrence of hemoptysis showed no statistically significant difference between the cryptogenic and non-cryptogenic hemoptysis groups, it was mild in cryptogenic hemoptysis in contrast to mostly severe in non-cryptogenic hemoptysis. Transarterial embolization is a safe and effective technique to manage cryptogenic hemoptysis.

Computed tomography based measurement of the dimensions of foramen ovale and rotundum in trigeminal neuralgia

To compare sizes of the foramen ovale and rotundum in trigeminal neuralgia [TN] patients and healthy individuals on CT images. Twenty-one TN patients and 24 healthy volunteers were included in the retrospectively designed study, carried out at the Department of Anatomy, Medical School, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey, between May 2004 and August 2009. The dimension of the foramen ovale on the cross-sectional images, and the foramen rotundum on coronal sections on CT images were examined. The mean sizes of the foramen rotundum on the right and left sides were 3.04x3.2 mm and 2.8x2.9 mm in TN patients, and 2.4x3.2 mm and 2.5x3.1 mm in controls. The mean sizes of the foramen ovale on the right and left sides were 4.8x6.04 mm and 4.9x5.5 mm in TN patients, and 3.7x8.2 mm and 4.1x7.6 mm in controls.The dimension of left and right foramens were not significantly different in both TN patients, and 3.7x8.2 mm and 4.1x7.6 mm in controls. The dimensions of left and right foramens were not significantly different in both TN patients and controls [p>0.05]. Furthermore, a statistically significant difference was not found between the foraminal dimensions of the TN patients and controls [p>0.05]. This study revealed that the sizes of foramen ovale and rotundum are highly symmetrical in both groups, suggesting that sizes of the foramina are not associated with the occurrence of TN