Prevalence and clinical significance of incidental extra-intestinal findings in MR enterography: experience of a single University Centre.

PURPOSE: To determine the incidence and clinical relevance of extra-intestinal incidental findings (IF) in a cohort of patients with proven or suspected Crohn disease (CD) examined with magnetic resonance enterography (MR-E) in a single University Centre. METHODS: Between January 2018 and June 2019, 182 patients with proven or suspected CD with a planned first MR-E examination, were retrospectively included in this study. Incidental findings were considered as any abnormality identified in the absence of previous clinically suspected or known disease. IF were categorized as unremarkable, benign or potentially relevant findings requiring further imaging or specific treatment. RESULTS: Of the 182 revised MR-E, extra-intestinal IF were recorded in 70 cases (38.5%); 35 (50%) incidental lesions were recognized as non-significant, 24 (34%) as benign and 11 (16%) as clinically relevant. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between IF and patients' age (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, a high number of IF (38.5%) was found, with a prevalence that increases with patients' age. Clinically relevant findings were found in 16% of MR-E. This means that MR-E is a useful tool to detect IF, therefore, the presence of a radiologist during the image acquisition is crucial in adding sequences to the examination.

[Pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia: role of MR angiography]. / Fistole artero-venose polmonari in pazienti con teleangiectasia emorragica ereditaria: ruolo dell'angio-RM.

The aim of this work is to establish the accuracy of pulmonary magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) compared to multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and pulmonary angiography in the diagnostic evaluation of pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) in patients with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia. Eight consecutive patients underwent MRA, MDCT and pulmonary angiography. All patients were carriers of PAVMs amenable to endovascular treatment. The parameters we have evaluated were the presence, the number of fistulas and the diameter of the feeding artery of the malformation. In all cases, the findings of the three tests were comparable. In only one case, MR images were considered qualitatively poorer than MDCT, although sufficient for the recognition of the lesion located in the hilum. The diameters of the arteries showed no statistically differences between MRA and CT. In conclusion, the MRA technique was found to be valid and reliable in the diagnosis of PAVMs in patients with HHT.

MDCT in the differentiation of adrenal masses: comparison between different scan delays for the evaluation of intralesional washout.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the accuracy of the washout in the differential diagnosis between adenomas and nonadenomas and to compare the obtained results in delayed CT scans at 5, 10 and 15 minutes. METHODS: Fifty patients with adrenal masses were prospectively evaluated. CT scans were performed by using a 320-row MDCT device, before and after injection of contrast material. In 25 cases, delayed scans were performed at 5' and 10' (group 1), while in the remaining 25, at 5' and 15' (group 2). Absolute and relative wash-out percentage values (APW and RPW) were calculated. RESULTS: Differential diagnosis between adenomas and nonadenomas was obtained in 48/50 (96%) cases, with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy values of 96%, 95%, and 96%, respectively. In group 1, APW and RPW values were, respectively, 69.8% and 67.2% at 5' and 75.9% and 73.5% at 10' for adenomas and 25.1% and 15.8% at 5' and 33.5% and 20.5% at 10' for nonadenomas. In group 2, APW and RPW values were 63% and 54.6% at 5' and 73.8% and 65.5% at 15' for adenomas and 22% and 12.5% at 5' and 35.5% and 19.9% at 15' for nonadenomas. CONCLUSIONS: The evaluation of the wash-out values in CT scans performed at 5', 10', and 15' provides comparable diagnostic results. CT scans performed at 5' are, therefore, to be preferred, since they reduce the examination time and patient discomfort.

Overload and neovascularization of shoulder tendons in volleyball players.

BACKGROUND: In overhead sports like volleyball, the onset of a rotator cuff tendinopathy due to functional overload is a common observation. An angiofibroblastic etiopathogenesis has been hypothesized, whereby a greater anaerobic metabolism occurs in critical zones of the tendon with a lower degree of vascularization; this would induce collagen and extracellular matrix degradation, that could then trigger a compensatory neovascularization response. We performed a clinical observational study of 80 elite volleyball players, monitoring the perfusion values of the supraspinatus tendons by oximetry. RESULTS: No statistically significant differences were found between the oximetry data and age, sex or years of sports activity, nor when comparing the right and left arm or the dominant and non-dominant arm. A statistically significant difference was found for the dominant arm values in relation to the competitive role, higher values being obtained in outside hitters (62.7%) than middle hitters (53.7%) (p = 0.01), opposite hitters (55.5%) (p = 0.02) and libero players (54.4%) (p = 0.008), whereas there were no differences in setters (56.2%) (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The different tendon vascularization values found in players with different roles in the team may be attributed to a response to the specific biomechanical demands posed by the different overhead throwing roles.