The Role of Positron-Emission Tomography in Diagnosis and Assessment of Treatment Response in Takayasu Arteritis / 대한신장학회지

Takayasu arteritis is a nonspecific granulomatous inflammatory arteriopathy of unknown cause that results in occlusive obliteration and less commonly aneurysmal degeneration of large and medium-sized elastic arteries. The diagnosis of Takayasu arteritis and the assessment of its progression and extent remain challenging, especially in patients presenting with a constellation of non-specific symptoms and laboratory tests. The standard diagnostic procedures include biopsy, arteriography, sonography, and magnetic resonance angiography. However, these procedures are invasive or largely operator-dependent, and document only morphological changes such as stenosis, occlusion and aneurysmal transformation which mainly occur in late stages of the disease. On the other hand, Positron-emission tomography is an operator-independent, non-invasive metabolic imaging modality which plays a major role in diagnosis of nonspecific inflammatory diseases. We report a case in which Positron-emission tomography was applied to the detection of Takayasu arteritis and assessment of its disease progression.

Diagnostic Value of Ultrasonography for the Assessment of Rib Fractures

PURPOSE: Rib fractures are the most common injuries resulting from blunt chest trauma. The sensitivity of conventional chest radiography (chest PA, rib series) in showing a rib fracture is limited, particularly in those involving the cartilage part of the rib. We investigated the possible rib fractures. We used ultrasonography (US) to investigate possible rib fractures in patients with minor blunt chest trauma who showed no evidence of a rib fracture on the conventional chest radiography. METHODS: A total of 96 patients with minor blunt chest trauma and showing no evidence of a rib fracture on the conventional chest radiography were examined with US performed with a 7.5-MHz linear transducer. RESULTS: A total of 44(45.8%) patients showed a rib fracture whereas 52(54.2%) patients had no evidence of a rib fracture. Fracture of the rib with displacement 24 patients was the most common finding. CONCLUSIONS: Rib US is a useful imaging method in showing rib fractures overlooked on chest X-rays in cases of minor blunt chest trauma. Compared with conventional chest radiography, rib US takes a shorter time and is not difficult. Additionally, lesions combined with rib fractures and costal cartilage fractures are diagnosed more easily when using rib US.