Clinical-radiological scoring system for enhanced diagnosis of acute appendicitis.

Introduction: Acute appendicitis is the most common surgical condition in industrialized countries. However, diagnosis in borderline cases is often cumbersome and requires follow-up examinations, and/or a Computed Tomography examination. Therefore, our aim was to develop a combined clinical and sonographic score to enhance prediction of acute appendicitis.

Essential requirements of a CT colonography service.

There are many potential challenges to developing a high quality, efficient CT colonography service. Some are clear and predictable, for example creating CT capacity and securing financial resources, but some are less obvious, such as harnessing local support or changing referral practice amongst clinical colleagues. Notwithstanding, such barriers will need to be overcome to deliver a well-resourced, successful CT colonography programme.

Mural inflammation in Crohn disease: location-matched histologic validation of MR imaging features.

Purpose: To validate proposed magnetic resonance (MR) imaging features of Crohn disease activity against a histopathologic reference.

Materials And Methods: Ethical permission was given by the University College London hospital ethics committee, and informed written consent was obtained from all participants. Preoperative MR imaging was performed in 18 consecutive patients with Crohn disease undergoing elective small-bowel resection.

Mural Crohn disease: correlation of dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging findings with angiogenesis and inflammation at histologic examination--pilot study.

Purpose: To determine mural perfusion dynamics in Crohn disease by using dynamic contrast material-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and to correlate these with histopathologic markers of inflammation and angiogenesis.

Materials And Methods: Ethical permission was given by the University College London Hospital ethics committee, and informed consent was obtained from all participants. Eleven consecutive patients with Crohn disease (eight female patients, three men; mean age, 39.

Frequency and spectrum of cancers in the Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.

Background: Although an increased cancer risk in Peutz-Jeghers syndrome is established, data on the spectrum of tumors associated with the disease and the influence of germ-line STK11/LKB1 (serine/threonine kinase) mutation status are limited.

Experimental Design: We analyzed the incidence of cancer in 419 individuals with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome, and 297 had documented STK11/LKB1 mutations.

Results: Ninety-six cancers were found among individuals with Peutz-Jeghers syndrome.

High-dose tamoxifen and sulindac as first-line treatment for desmoid tumors.

Background: Desmoid tumors are mesenchymal nonmetastasizing neoplasms. Although rare in the general population, they are a common extracolonic manifestation of familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Because of high tumor recurrence rates, surgery has been less than satisfactory in the treatment of desmoid tumors.