ABSTRACT
Pulmonary artery dissection is a serious fatal complication of chronic pulmonary arterial hypertension, always occurring at the site of maximal dilatation of the artery. Diagnosis is made mainly at autopsy as many of these patients experience sudden death when the main pulmonary artery dissects into the pericardium, causing acute cardiac tamponade. To our knowledge, five reported cases have described CT imaging findings of acute pulmonary artery dissection in the literature.
Subject(s)
Aortic Dissection/diagnostic imaging , Pulmonary Artery/diagnostic imaging , Adult , Aortic Dissection/etiology , Fatal Outcome , Humans , Hypertension, Pulmonary/complications , Male , Pericardial Effusion/diagnostic imaging , Pericardial Effusion/etiology , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
At arterial phase gadolinium-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) angiography, artifactual stenosis of the subclavian artery is sometimes seen adjacent to the subclavian vein on the side of the contrast material injection. Experiments in phantoms and in 19 patients showed increased artifact with longer echo time and higher concentration of injected contrast material. An effective method to substantially decrease this susceptibility artifact was threefold dilution of gadopentetate dimeglumine and use of a short echo time (1 msec).
Subject(s)
Artifacts , Contrast Media/administration & dosage , Gadolinium DTPA , Magnetic Resonance Angiography , Subclavian Artery/anatomy & histology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Child , Child, Preschool , Female , Gadolinium DTPA/administration & dosage , Humans , Infant , Male , Middle Aged , Phantoms, Imaging , Subclavian Vein/anatomy & histologySubject(s)
Contrast Media , Gadolinium , Magnetic Resonance Angiography/methods , Aorta, Thoracic/pathology , Brachiocephalic Veins/parasitology , Coronary Vessels/pathology , Humans , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted , Pulmonary Artery/pathology , Pulmonary Veins/pathology , Thoracic Arteries/pathology , Vena Cava, Superior/pathologyABSTRACT
End stage renal disease is common and can result from a variety of diseases. The expense and morbidity of dialysis has made renal transplantation the preferred treatment when it is available. In the United States, 11,000 renal transplants are performed annually. Because of the limited supply of donor organs, every effort is made to salvage the transplanted kidney that has began to fail. Imaging modalities that are currently used to evaluate transplanted kidneys are ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), scintigraphy, intravenous urography (IVU), contrast angiography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). MRI offers multiple advantages. MRI provides cross sectional and vascular information without the risks of ionizing radiation, iodinated contrast, or arterial catheterization. This article describes the role of MR imaging in renal transplantation, technical aspects of image acquisition, and MR findings of post-transplantation complications.
