Disseminated Dactylaria constricta infection in a renal transplant recipient.

We report the case of a 32-year-old renal transplant recipient who developed disseminated Dactylaria constricta infection. The patient died despite treatment with amphotericin B, itraconazole, and fluconazole.

Subchorionic hemorrhage: sonographic diagnosis and clinical significance.

Twenty-one pregnancies with sonographic evidence of subchorionic hemorrhage were evaluated clinically and sonographically. Clinical evaluation included maternal age, gravidity, parity, gestational age, presence of pain, presence and amount of bleeding, and pregnancy outcome. Sonographic evaluation included the relative and absolute size of the hematoma, its echogenicity and location in relation to the placenta, the presence of marginal placental abruption, and progress on follow-up examinations. The outcome of these pregnancies was unfavorable in 15 cases (71%) and correlated well with the relative and absolute size of the hematoma, severity of vaginal bleeding, change in hematoma size on follow-up examination, and presence of pain. There was no significant correlation between the outcome and the echogenicity of the hematoma, presence of placental margin elevation, gestational and maternal age, gravidity, or parity. All hematomas extended to the margin of the placenta. Subchorionic hemorrhage is a frequent cause of first and second trimester bleeding and has a grave prognosis. Familiarity with the varied sonographic appearances and meticulous sonographic examination with special attention to the placental margins can be helpful in the diagnosis.

High-resolution sonography of acute appendicitis.

During a 7-month period high-resolution sonography was used in the evaluation of 68 patients with an equivocal clinical diagnosis of acute appendicitis. The sonographic findings were correlated with surgical-pathologic outcome in 32 cases and with clinical follow-up in the remainder. This technique was found to be accurate in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis with a specificity of 95%, a sensitivity of 80%, and an accuracy of 90%. The predictive value of a positive test was 91%; that of a negative test was 89%. The results show that high-resolution sonography is indicated to establish the diagnosis of acute appendicitis in patients with equivocal clinical findings.

Osteoma cutis: computed tomography appearance.

Subcutaneous ossification of the lower extremities and chronic venous stasis has been described in the radiologic literature. The computed tomography appearance has been recently described. We present a case of osteoma cutis presenting as a discrete inflammatory mass of a lower extremity with correlation of plain radiographic, computed tomographic, and histologic findings.