ABSTRACT
The preoperative plain abdominal radiographs of 34 patients who had had appendectomies were evaluated to determine the frequency of well-known radiographic signs in acute appendicitis. Scoliosis occurred in 17 patients (50%), right lower quadrant (RLQ) fluid levels in 21 (62%), ileus in 24 (70%), and combined RLQ fluid levels and ileus in 27 (80%). Bowel wall edema was seen in eight patients (23%) and calcified coproliths in six (17%). The presence of RLQ fluid levels or localized ileus or both proved to be the most reliable of the signs.
Subject(s)
Appendicitis/diagnostic imaging , Acute Disease , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Body Fluids/analysis , Child , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Radiography, AbdominalABSTRACT
Four of the first 24 patients who received 31 orthotopic liver transplantations in our institution developed complications at the site of the surgical anastomosis in the common bile duct. There was one anastomotic stricture, one anastomotic stricture with "bile sludge" deposition, and two cases of bile sludge formation without stricturing at the anastomotic site. The two cases of stricturing required surgical revision while both those of bile sludge accumulation without stricture were successfully managed conservatively. Familiarity with the postoperative appearance of the common bile duct anastomosis and its complications is necessary for the proper assessment of these patients.
Subject(s)
Bile Duct Diseases/diagnostic imaging , Liver Transplantation , Postoperative Complications/diagnostic imaging , Adolescent , Adult , Cholangiography , Common Bile Duct/diagnostic imaging , Constriction, Pathologic/diagnostic imaging , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Reoperation , Therapeutic IrrigationABSTRACT
A prospective study was done on 27 adults to assess the changes in serum electrolytes and proteins induced by bolus administration of 100 ml of the ionic contrast medium diatrizoate meglumine and sodium (Renografin-60) for IV urography. Statistically significant changes in serum sodium, chloride, potassium, calcium, bicarbonate, phosphate, total proteins, and albumin were shown at 5 min postinjection. The mean percentage decreases were sodium 2%, chloride 2%, potassium 9%, calcium 13%, bicarbonate 9%, phosphate 10%, and proteins 15%. A mean 3% increase in serum osmolality was observed. By 30 min, sodium and chloride levels had returned to baseline; potassium, calcium, and albumin values were incompletely recovered; bicarbonate was not significantly changed from 5 min; and phosphate values continued to decrease. An in vitro dialysis experiment in which different volumes of Renografin-60 were dialysed against an electrolyte solution (pseudoserum) produced a dilutional factor of 5 to render a given volume of the contrast isoosmotic with plasma. The observed changes from the baseline values of the electrolytes and proteins up to 10% are therefore assumed to be due to hemodilution resulting from movement of fluid from the extravascular to the intravascular compartment. This study confirms alterations in serum levels of several electrolytes after the use of ionic contrast media beyond simple hemodilution. Although these changes appear not to be clinically significant in this investigation, the alterations in potassium and calcium may contribute to arrhythmias, particularly when hypokalemia or hypocalcemia preexists.
Subject(s)
Diatrizoate Meglumine/pharmacology , Diatrizoate/analogs & derivatives , Diatrizoate/pharmacology , Electrolytes/blood , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Blood Proteins/analysis , Drug Combinations/pharmacology , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , UrographyABSTRACT
A simple modification of a caulking gun for the administration of high-viscosity barium during small-bowel enteroclysis is described.
Subject(s)
Barium Sulfate/administration & dosage , Enema/instrumentation , Intestine, Small/diagnostic imaging , RadiographyABSTRACT
The postoperative chest radiographs of 11 patients who underwent 14 orthotopic liver transplantations were reviewed. Pleural effusions occurred on the right side in all patients and on the left side in four. The effusions were unrelated to primary cardiovascular disease and usually asymptomatic. They were transudates and resolved spontaneously.
Subject(s)
Liver Transplantation , Pleural Effusion/etiology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Female , Graft Rejection , Humans , Lung/diagnostic imaging , Male , Middle Aged , Pleural Effusion/diagnostic imaging , Postoperative Complications , RadiographyABSTRACT
Salmonella typhi bacilli were isolated from the pleural aspirate and the blood culture of an 8-year-old girl who presented with clinical and roentgenographic alveolar pneumonia. There was no accompanying gastrointestinal manifestation. The literature on pneumonia in typhoid fever is briefly reviewed.
Subject(s)
Bronchopneumonia/diagnostic imaging , Typhoid Fever/diagnostic imaging , Bronchopneumonia/etiology , Child , Female , Gastrointestinal Diseases/diagnosis , Humans , RadiographyABSTRACT
This case report describes a woman with progressive systemic sclerosis who, in addition to the more classical acro-osteolysis, demonstrated destruction of the shafts of the phalanges and the ulna. The literature on bone lysis in atypical sites in scleroderma is reviewed and the etiology discussed.
Subject(s)
Bone Resorption/etiology , Fingers , Osteolysis/etiology , Scleroderma, Systemic/complications , Ulna , Female , Humans , Middle AgedABSTRACT
A 33-year-old male with staphylococcal pneumonia who presented radiographically with multiple thin-walled pulmonary cavities (pneumatoceles) is reported. The cavities rapidly altered following treatment with antibiotics and the patient clinically improved.
Subject(s)
Cysts/diagnostic imaging , Pneumonia, Staphylococcal/complications , Adult , Cysts/etiology , Cysts/pathology , Humans , Lung/diagnostic imaging , Lung/pathology , Male , Pneumonia, Staphylococcal/diagnostic imaging , Pneumonia, Staphylococcal/pathology , RadiographyABSTRACT
The sphenoidal bones of 70 adults were removed at post-mortem and were examined for the degree of pneumatization, number of intersphenoidal septa and the relationship of the septa to the lowest portion of the sellar floor. In 85.7%, pneumatization was of the sellar type, in 11.4% of the pre-sellar type and in 2.8% of the conchal type, as defined here. A single septum was present in 61%, two septa in 14%, more than two septa in 12.8% and no septum was present in 11.4%. The insertion of the septum represented the lowest point in the sellar floor in 50% of the bones. In these the septum was located in the center of the sellar floor. Attachment to one or the other side did not correspond to the lowest point of the sellar floor.
Subject(s)
Sphenoid Bone/anatomy & histology , Sphenoid Sinus/anatomy & histology , Humans , Radiography , Sphenoid Bone/diagnostic imaging , Sphenoid Sinus/pathologyABSTRACT
The case of a 50-year-old man with a supratentorial dural arteriovenous malformation (AVM) associated with intracerebral hemorrhage is reported. Angiographically confirmed spontaneous regression of the AVM occurred without any form of surgical intervention. A possible mechanism of spontaneous closure of the AVM is offered.
Subject(s)
Cerebral Hemorrhage/etiology , Dura Mater/blood supply , Hematoma/etiology , Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations/pathology , Cerebral Angiography , Humans , Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations/complications , Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformations/diagnostic imaging , Male , Middle Aged , Parietal Lobe , Remission, Spontaneous , Tomography, X-Ray ComputedABSTRACT
Computed tomography (CT) findings in two patients with orbital histiocytosis are described. The main features are (a) replacement of bone by soft tissue, which has an absorption value of approximately 40 Hounsfield units (HU) and is not contrast-medium enhanced; (b) bone expansion at the rim of the lesion; (c) a large intraosseous component and a small extraosseous part; and (d) absence of calcification or periosteal reaction.