Empty gestational sacs diagnosed by abdominal real-time ultrasonography.

310 patients with threatened abortion were examined by ultrasound. 86 cases showed empty gestational sacs of which 14 (16%) completed their pregnancy. All sacs were evaluated (and scored) with respect to size, shape, wall definition, trophoblastic reaction and position inside the uterus. Prediction of a non-viable pregnancy from a single ultrasound examination was achieved in some cases. However, this prediction could not be made in other cases before a follow-up ultrasound examination was performed. The proposed scoring system proved to be very helpful in identifying empty gestational sacs in which serial ultrasound examinations are highly required before termination of pregnancy.

Roscoe Miller award. Fatty-meal sonography for evaluating patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction.

We evaluated the efficacy of fatty-meal sonography for identifying patients with partial common duct obstruction. The test consisted of initial control measurements of common duct diameter followed by repeated measurements every 15 min for 60 min after a fatty meal consisting of Lipomul (1.5 ml/lb). The rationale proposed for the fatty-meal test is that in the presence of partial common duct obstruction, fat-induced increases in bile flow related to increased circulating levels of cholecystokinin are associated with an increase in the diameter of the common duct. Initial analysis of our data indicated that a change in diameter of +/- 1 mm was within the range of measurement error or possibly physiologic variation. In 44 control subjects (24 without a gallbladder), the common duct diameter either remained unchanged, showed an insignificant change of +/- 1 mm, or decreased (greater than or equal to 2 mm). The common duct diameter never showed an increase of more than 1 mm. The results of fatty-meal sonography in 47 patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction were negative in all 28 true-negative cases (specificity, 100%) and were positive (common duct increased by greater than or equal to 2 mm) in 14 of 19 true-positive cases (sensitivity, 74%). Thus, in this study a positive test finding always indicated partial common duct obstruction. Of the true-positive cases, fatty-meal sonography correctly identified seven of eight patients with cryptic obstructive sphincter-of-Oddi dysfunction (stenosis or dyskinesia) and five of nine patients with commun duct stones. We conclude that fatty-meal sonography is a useful noninvasive screening test for evaluating patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction.

Efficacy of quantitative hepatobiliary scintigraphy and fatty-meal sonography for evaluating patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction.

In this study we evaluated by blinded design the diagnostic efficacy of two noninvasive techniques, quantitative hepatobiliary scintigraphy (QHS) and fatty-meal sonography (FMS), for evaluating patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction. Quantitative hepatobiliary scintigraphy was performed on 56 cholecystectomized individuals (22 asymptomatic controls, 28 patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction, and 6 nonjaundiced cirrhotics) and FMS was done in 51 cases. For QHS, time-activity curves were generated for regions of interest over the liver, hepatic hilum, and common duct. For FMS, we measured common duct diameter before and 45 min after a fatty meal (Lipomul, 1.5 ml/kg). Each of the 28 patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction and 6 cirrhotic patients underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiography, often accompanied by sphincter of Oddi manometry. Findings from these examinations were taken as the gold standard to determine the presence or absence of conditions that could account for intermittent symptomatic partial common duct obstruction. The most sensitive indicators for a positive test were a 45-min isotope clearance of less than 63% for QHS and a common duct increase of greater than or equal to 2 mm after the fatty meal for FMS. Of 28 patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction, 15 were judged to be true-positive and 13 true-negative. The 6 cirrhotic patients were without common duct obstruction. The study findings showed that each test had a 67% sensitivity that improved to 80% when the findings from both test results were combined. The specificity of QHS was 85% and that of FMS was 100%. All 6 cirrhotic patients had negative findings on FMS and 4 were false-positive on QHS. The true-positives included 8 patients with a small common duct stone and 6 with obstructive sphincter of Oddi dysfunction (4 stenosis, 2 dyskinesia). We conclude that noninvasive QHS and FMS afford good sensitivity and specificity for evaluating cholecystectomized patients with suspected partial common duct obstruction.

Computed tomography examination of periampullary neoplasms.

The hospital records of 24 patients with periampullary neoplasms were reviewed. The clinical triad of jaundice, pain, and weight loss and the radiographic imaging triad of dilated biliary ducts, dilated pancreatic duct, and periampullary mass should suggest the diagnosis of periampullary neoplasm.

Sonographic evaluation of resting gallbladder volume and postprandial emptying in patients with gallstones.

We investigated fasting gallbladder volume and gallbladder emptying in response to a fatty meal in 20 patients with asymptomatic gallstones and compared the results with findings from healthy controls. Compared with control subjects without gallstones, the majority of patients with gallstones exhibited a higher resting gallbladder volume, less fractional emptying after a fatty meal, and a higher postmeal residual volume. These abnormalities all appeared to stem from an abnormally high resting gallbladder volume. Whether the increased gallbladder volume and decreased postprandial fractional emptying in the gallstone patients represents a primary or secondary abnormality remains to be determined. The results suggest that in some patients decreased gallbladder contractility may contribute to gallstone development or proliferation.

Comparison of pseudoachalasia and achalasia.

Malignancies involving the gastric cardia or distal esophagus can result in a clinical syndrome termed pseudoachalasisa that mimics idiopathic achalasia. If not promptly recognized, pseudoachalasia can result in inappropriate pneumatic dilatation of the lower esophageal sphincter segment and delay appropriate treatment of the underlying malignancy. During the past 14 years, six patients with pseudoachalasia and 161 patients with primary idiopathic achalasia were encountered. Pseudoachalasia occurred mainly in the elderly and represented about 9 percent of these patients over 60 years of age with suspected achalasia. Five of the six pseudoachalasia cases were secondary to adenocarcinoma that originated in the gastric fundus, and one was caused by a squamous cell carcinoma of the distal esophagus. Conventional esophageal manometry did not discriminate achalasia from pseudoachalasia. On the other hand, esophagogastroscopy with biopsy resulted in a diagnosis of pseudoachalasia in five of these cases and in 24 of 32 cases reported previously. Ominous endoscopic findings are mucosal ulceration or nodularity, reduced compliance of the esophagogastric junction, or an inability to pass the endoscope into the stomach. Radiographic evaluation, particularly in conjunction with amyl nitrite inhalation, was also useful in discriminating pseudoachalasia from primary achalasia. It is concluded that pseudoachalasia generally mimics idiopathic achalasia imperfectly and can usually be diagnosed prior to surgery by fastidious endoscopic and radiographic examination.

Radiologic amyl nitrite test for distinguishing pseudoachalasia from idiopathic achalasia.

In a simple radiologic test, amyl nitrite inhalation seems to distinguish patients with pseudoachalasia from those with idiopathic achalasia. In three pseudoachalasia patients with tumor infiltration of the distal esophagus, the narrow lower esophageal sphincter segment was unaffected by the smooth-muscle relaxant effect of amyl nitrite. In contrast, amyl nitrite caused a measurable increase of 2 mm or more in sphincter diameter in nine patients with idiopathic achalasia. The amyl nitrite test may be a useful method for distinguishing patients with pseudoachalasia from those with idiopathic achalasia.

Sonographic measurement of gallbladder volume.

Sonographic images of the gallbladder enable satisfactory approximation of gallbladder volume using the sum-of-cylinders method. The sum-of-cylinder measurements, however, are moderately cumbersome and time consuming to perform. In this investigation, in vitro and in vivo testing was done to determine that a simple ellipsoid method applied to sonographic gallbladder images yields reasonable volume approximations that are comparable to the volumes calculated by the sum-of-cylinders method. Findings from a water-bath experiment showed that measurement of gallbladder volume by the ellipsoid method closely approximated the true volume with a mean difference of about 1.0 ml. The results of in vivo studies in five volunteers demonstrated that the gallbladder contracted substantially after a fatty meal and that volumes calculated by the ellipsoid and sum-of-cylinders methods were nearly identical. Thus, a simple ellipsoid method, requiring negligible time, may be used to approximate satisfactory gallbladder volume for clinical or investigative studies.