Grade IV renal trauma in a 17-year-old patient.

Renal trauma occurs in 1-5% of all trauma cases. The kidney is the most commonly injured genitourinary and abdominal organ. In this case we present a 17-year-old patient with a grade IV trauma of the left kidney with renal rupture, hematoma, and urinoma. He was referred to our hospital in hemodynamic stability; therefore, a conservative approach was chosen. One year after the accident the patient was free from symptoms, and the renal function was normal; CT-scan revealed neither hematoma nor urinoma. Since nothing is known on the long-term outcomes in patients with severe renal traumas, long-term follow up studies are highly recommended.

Acute pancreatitis as rare complication of the right radical transperitoneal open nephrectomy.

Radical open nephrectomy is considered the standard treatment for kidney tumors or masses greater than 10 cm. We present a rare case of acute pancreatitis that occurred after right radical transperitoneal nephrectomy, which was treated by nonsurgical conservative interventions. The incidence of acute pancreatitis after renal surgery is not known in the literature. A 56-year-old man developed acute pancreatitis postoperatively after radical transperitoneal nephrectomy. An initial CT scan showed an enlarged pancreas with hypodense, heterogeneous consistency and with peripancreatic, perihepatic, mesenteric, and pelvic fluid collections. This complication was managed conservatively.

Transient global amnesia: diffusion-weighted imaging lesions and cerebrovascular disease.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: A hypoxic-ischemic origin of transient global amnesia (TGA) has been suggested on the basis of the observation of infarctlike diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) abnormalities in some affected individuals. We tested this hypothesis by comparing vascular risk factors, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) markers of cerebral small-vessel disease, and other evidence of a cerebrovascular disorder between TGA patients with (DWI+) and without (DWI-) DWI lesions and normal community-based controls. METHODS: We retrospectively identified 86 patients hospitalized for TGA (mean+/-SD age, 65.9+/-10.9 years; 62% female). Brain MRI at 1.5 T was assessed for DWI lesions exhibiting restricted diffusion (ie, DWI+), white-matter hyperintensities, lacunes, and chronic infarcts (median time lag to clinical onset, 66.6+/-54.6 hours). Vascular risk factors and findings from duplex sonography, ECG, and echocardiography were recorded. A 1:2 age- and sex-matched sample of 172 elderly subjects (mean+/-SD age, 65.6+/-9.3 years; 62% female) free of neuropsychiatric disease served for comparison. RESULTS: DWI lesions were observed in 10 patients with TGA (11.5%; mean+/-SD age, 68.3+/-5.4 years; 8 women). They were all small and located in the mesiotemporal region (9 left hemisphere, 5 right hemisphere). The vascular risk profile of TGA patients and concomitant changes on brain MRI were comparable with those of healthy controls and did not show significant differences between DWI+ and DWI- subjects. A comprehensive diagnostic workup also provided no evidence for a higher rate of cerebrovascular disorder-related abnormalities in either the total group of TGA patients or TGA DWI+ patients. CONCLUSIONS: These findings do not support a cerebrovascular etiology of TGA, even in those individuals showing acute DWI lesions. Other pathophysiologic mechanisms need to be explored.

Acute pulmonary embolism: comparison of standard axial MDCT with paddlewheel technique.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of rotated paddlewheel reformations for the detection of central and peripheral pulmonary embolism (PE) compared to standard axial multi detector CT (MDCT) images. MATERIAL AND METHODS: CT scans of 35 patients with PE were reviewed by three independent readers for the detection of pulmonary emboli using standard axial CT scans and reformatted paddlewheel technique. All images were evaluated in random order. MDCT examinations were performed with a collimation of 1.25 mm, a pitch of six and a reconstruction interval of 0.8mm. For each patient MIP were reformatted by using a paddlewheel arrangement with 5mm slab thickness and 5 degrees rotation. Standard of reference for PE was a consensus reading of the axial images by all three readers. RESULTS: The overall sensitivity for the axial images for the three readers ranged between 91% and 96%; for paddlewheel reformations from 78% to 83%; the specificity for both methods was 98-99%. Inter- and intraobserver agreement was also higher for axial images than for paddlewheel reformations. CONCLUSION: Comparing standard axial MDCT scans and reformatted paddlewheel images no significant difference for the detection of central PE was found, whereas for the detection of peripheral emboli standard axial images showed a significant higher percentage of detecting PE than paddlewheel reformations.

Neonatal trauma.

A variety of traumatic lesions can occur during the neonatal period. Some of those lesions are clearly birth injuries due to delivery and others are caused by necessary procedures during intensive care in critically ill neonates. As usual patient history must be known and knowledge about the typical complications is necessary in order to select the appropriate imaging modality and thus enabling correct interpretation of those investigations by the radiologist. The purpose of this article is to present typical neonatal injuries, describe the underlying pathomechanisms and aetiology as well as the imaging findings.