Résumé
Chronic back pain is a common and frequent clinical presentation in any population. Presence of disc disease, facet syndrome, and vertebral body disease are usually addressed by the radiologists. Facet joints are proven to be the culprit in 15 – 45 % of patients with low back pain. We wanted to compare effectiveness of fluoroscopy and computed tomography guided lumbar facet injections for pain relief in patients with facet arthropathies and mild canal stenoses. METHODSThis is a retrospective cross-sectional study performed in the Department of Radiology at our Hospital in Dhahran. This record-based study was performed in our department from Jan. 2015 - 2020. All patients (N = 112) who underwent fluoroscopy and computed tomography (CT) guided facet injections (either alone or with epidural injections) for relief of chronic back pains (due to facet arthropathies and mild canal stenoses) were included, and grouped as (i) facet injections under fluoroscopy (F), and (ii) facet injections under CT guidance (C). Patients with acute disc prolapse, trauma to spine, lumbar surgeries, moderate to severe lumbar stenoses, spondylolisthesis, known systemic arthritides, those not suitable for the procedures, and those lost to follow-up were excluded. Repeat procedure within one year for recurrent complaints was used as a measure of effectiveness of the procedure. Proportional Z-test was used, and a p-value less than 0.05 was considered to be significant. RESULTSOut of a total of 112 patients, 64 were females (57 %) and 48 were males (43 %). The mean age was 56.4. Twenty out of 78 patients with facet injections under fluoroscopy and 3 out of 34 patients with facet injections under CT underwent repeat procedures (P = 0.042). CONCLUSIONSCT guided facet injections combined with epidural injections may be more effective in relief of lower back pain in patients with facet arthropathies and mild canal stenoses
Résumé
Acute cholecystitis is a potentially serious condition and usually needs to be treated in the hospital. Identification of a common bile duct (CBD) stone before cholecystectomy is of concern for the treating physicians as management may change. Magnetic Resonance Cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) can help in identifying causes of biliary obstruction (if present) and adequately delineate biliary tree in selected patients with limited or abnormal ultrasounds and cholestatic liver pattern. Therefore, we aim to demonstrate imaging findings of MRCP in such patients of acute cholecystitis, and highlight the diagnostic ability of MRCP in biliary ductal evaluation as well. METHODSThis secondary data analysis from hospital records was performed in Radiology department at our Hospital in Dhahran from August 2017 to 2019. All clinically suspected and ultrasound supported cases of acute cholecystitis who were referred for MRCP studies were included. Dilated CBDs (more than 4 mm in caliber) with partial visualization or non-discernible causes of CBD dilatations, rising or persistently raised LFTs (denoting cholestatic pattern) were the common indications for the MRCP referrals. Patients with chronic cholecystitis, previous hepatobiliary surgery, pregnant patients, and those contraindicated to MRI were excluded. RESULTSOf the 104 patients, majority (60%) were females. The mean age was 43 years. Two-thirds of patients were having normal CBDs (68.3%), while nearly one-third (31.7%) had dilated CBDs, and half of these (16.4%) showed identifiable causes of obstruction that were later confirmed on ERCP and histopathology. Thirteen patients (12.5%) had associated anomalies. Sensitivity and specificity of MRCP in CBD evaluation were measured as 90.5% (CI, 79.3-96.8) and 86.2% (CI, 73.7-94.3) respectively. The length of the hospital stay was found to be significantly less in laparoscopic cases compared to open cholecystectomies (P= 0.0005). CONCLUSIONSMagnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography can help in identifying the causes and anomalies in patients with acute cholecystitis having deranged or obstructive liver function.