Solitary pulmonary metastases from renal cell carcinoma: comparison of high-resolution CT with pathological findings.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine the radiographic features of solitary pulmonary metastases from renal cell carcinoma by comparing high-resolution CT (HRCT) findings with histopathological observations.

Materials And Methods: Three thoracic radiologists retrospectively reviewed HRCT findings from eight patients who underwent surgery on the basis of the diagnosis of solitary pulmonary metastatic renal cell carcinoma. The histopathological diagnoses for six of these eight lesions were metastases from clear cell carcinoma of the kidney, one case was a metastasis from papillary renal cell carcinoma, and the remaining case was a metastasis from a poorly differentiated carcinoma including predominantly spindle cells, papillary cells, and clear cells.

Imaging characteristics of papillary renal cell carcinoma by computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging.

Aim: To analyse the differences in the patterns between clear and papillary renal cell carcinomas using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and dual-phase helical computed tomography (CT).

Methods: We examined seven patients with papillary renal cell carcinoma, and six with clear cell carcinoma. The highest attenuation value of tumors in the corticomedullary phase (CMP) and the excretory phase (EP) was measured using the observer-defined region of interest (ROI).

[CT evaluation of response to chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy in primary lung cancer: comparison of response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST) and the WHO criteria, and comparison of both methods with the histological evaluation].

Purpose: The new RECIST criteria for evaluation of tumor response to chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy were proposed in 1999. We compared RECIST with the WHO criteria and also compared both methods with the histological findings, to evaluate RECIST.

Subjects And Methods: The subjects were 32 primary lung cancer patients operated on after chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.

Aortic valve replacement for a patient with porcelain aorta and retrosternal gastric tube reconstruction after esophageal resection.

A 67-year-old woman with congestive heart failure due to aortic stenosis and regurgitation needed aortic valve replacement. She had undergone right radical mastectomy 23 years before, and total thoracic esophagectomy with retrosternal gastric tube reconstruction 11 years before. Plain computed tomography showed coincident porcelain aorta.

[Percutaneous localization of pulmonary nodules with CT guidance for lung resection: use of dyes].

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the benefits of computed tomography(CT)-guided marking using dyes in patients undergoing lung resection for peripheral nodules.

Methods: Between January 1997 and August 2002, the location of small pulmonary nodules was identified with the aid of CT-guided marking in 52 patients scheduled for surgery. Dye-injection was performed in 52 patients (indigo carmine, n = 15; indocyanine green, n = 37).

Detection of lung cancer on chest radiographs: analysis on the basis of size and extent of ground-glass opacity at thin-section CT.

Purpose: To evaluate the detection of small peripheral lung tumors on chest radiographs on the basis of the size of the tumor and its extent of ground-glass opacity (GGO) at thin-section computed tomography (CT).

Materials And Methods: Chest radiographs of 75 patients with peripheral carcinomas 20 mm in diameter or smaller (26 localized bronchioloalveolar carcinomas [BACs], 49 other carcinomas) and 60 normal chest radiographs were retrospectively reviewed individually by 10 radiologists. The extent of GGO within the lesions at thin-section CT was reviewed retrospectively.

Regional left ventricular motion during early filling phase in patients with right ventricular pressure overload.

Global left ventricular (LV) diastolic function has been reported to be disturbed under conditions of right ventricular pressure overload (RVPO). However, from the standpoint of regional wall motion, only a little information related to the mechanism of LV diastolic dysfunction is available. Eight patients with RVPO and 7 healthy volunteers were investigated using tagged cine magnetic resonance imaging.

Comparison between computer-aided diagnosis and radiologists: assessment of pulmonary blood flow on chest radiographs.

To evaluate the performance of a computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) scheme for estimating increased pulmonary blood flow on chest radiographs, we compared computerized assessment with findings by radiologists. Our CAD scheme extracts selectively linear opacities corresponding to vessels in regions of interest (ROIs) in the right upper and lower lung zones on digitized chest radiographs, and then calculates a radiographic index as a physical measure that reflects the area of the extracted opacities in selected ROIs. As a measure of increased pulmonary blood flow, the upper/lower radiographic index ratio was calculated for each patient.

[Usefulness of helical scanning CT in assessment of left ventricular papillary muscle contractility].

Three-dimensional data on the left ventricle at quasi-end-diastole and quasi-end-systole were acquired by helical scanning CT in 12 patients. Short axial images of the left ventricle and long axial images of the papillary muscle were created using multiplanar reconstruction. Left ventricular dimensions and the length of the papillary muscle were measured, and fractional shortening of the papillary muscle was calculated.

Left ventricular regional systolic motion in patients with right ventricular pressure overload.

Left ventricular regional systolic motion was investigated in patients with right ventricular pressure overload and 10 controls using tagged cine magnetic resonance imaging. The regional shortening fraction was determined in four segments (septal, lateral, inferior, and anterior) on the short-axis image. An asynchrony index, nonhomogeneity of regional shortening, was calculated.

Visualization of air-trapping area with expiratory CT in hypersensitivity pneumonitis.

We report a case of summer-type hypersensitivity pneumonitis that demonstrated air-trapping. In this case we used images at inspiratory and expiratory volumetric HRCT, which enabled us to obtain images of the same level at inspiratory and expiratory CT.

Development and evaluation of PC-based HIS-RIS-modality-PACS coupling: the results of evaluation of initial stage with personal computer application.

A PC-based HIS/RIS/Modality/PACS coupling was developed and operated where hospital-wide PACS was closely cooperated with the HIS and RIS. Three workstations with a magneto-optical disk (MOD) juke-box for each one were used as PACS servers to collect images from eight computed radiography systems and three CT scanners. An implementation of JPEG compression reduced network load and storage volume.

[Results of clinical study with epirubicin hydrochloride injectable solution in hepatoma].

A 10-center cooperative clinical study with a new formulation of epirubicin hydrochloride injectable solution (Epirubicin-RTU) was conducted in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma. Epirubicin-RTU 60 mg/m2 was injected into the hepatic artery and a three-week drug-free interval followed. Of 15 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma registered in this study, 14 patients were eligible, and they all completed the entire course.

Regional ventricular systolic abnormalities caused by a rudimentary chamber in patients with univentricular hearts.

Previous studies have demonstrated that regional wall motion abnormalities are common in univentricular hearts; however, the mechanism of this abnormality and its relation to hemodynamics remain unclear. The aim of this study was to document and analyze the etiology of regional wall motion abnormality and its relation to hemodynamics in univentricular hearts. Sixteen patients (age 11+/-6 years) were examined.

[Noninvasive hemodynamic assessment of internal thoracic artery grafts using duplex echocardiography from supraclavicular fossa--a comparison with Doppler catheter method].

We evaluated the usefulness of noninvasive hemodynamic assessment of internal thoracic artery grafts (ITAGs) using duplex Doppler echocardiography from the supraclavicular fossa (transcutaneous pulsed Doppler method: PD method). Eighteen ITAGs were examined by PD method in comparison with Doppler catheter method using Doppler flowire (DC method). The hemodynamic indices used were the diastolic/systolic peak velocity ratio (DSVR) and the diastolic fraction of time-velocity integral (DF) in the ITAGs.

Fractal analysis for classification of ground-glass opacity on high-resolution CT: an in vitro study.

Purpose: Fractal analysis based on the fractional Brownian motion model was applied ground-glass opacity on high-resolution CT (HRCT) to investigate its usefulness in distinguishing ground-glass opacity caused by nonfibrotic disease processes and that caused by fibrotic disease processes, confirming pathology.

Method: Twenty-one postmortem lungs inflated and fixed by Heitzman's method were evaluated. By correlating HRCT and pathology, the lungs were classified into nonfibrotic disease processes and fibrotic disease processes.

Computerized radiographic assessment of pulmonary blood flow in patients with and those without mitral stenosis.

The authors investigated whether a computerized analysis system can be used with chest radiography for estimating the redistribution of pulmonary blood flow in patients with and those without mitral stenosis (MS). Their system uses four-directional Laplacian-Gaussian filtering and binarization. As a physical measure, the radiographic index, which reflects the area of opacity in selected regions of interest (ROIs), was used.

[Fast cine MR coronary angiography compared with conventional coronary angiography: criteria for coronary artery stenosis].

Magnetic resonance coronary angiography (MRA) was performed in 5 healthy volunteers and 13 patients to evaluate its diagnostic capability. Ten to 15 continuous cross sections were obtained for each coronary artery using fast cardiac cine MR (FASTCARD) with breath-hold, and reconstructed images were made. The control study showed good demonstration of the left main, proximal left anterior descending (Seg.

Acute interstitial pneumonia: high-resolution CT findings correlated with pathology.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the relation between pathologic phases and high-resolution CT (HRCT) findings in patients with acute interstitial pneumonia (AIP).

Materials And Methods: Our retrospective review found 14 patients with AIP who were included in this study. Three patients were pathologically diagnosed as having AIP by open lung biopsy, and the other 11 patients were confirmed at autopsy.

Normal nonuniformity of left ventricular contraction. Assessment by cine MR imaging with presaturation myocardial tagging.

Purpose: To identify the normal performance of left ventricular (LV) regional contraction using cine MR imaging with presaturation myocardial tagging.

Material And Methods: Sixteen normal volunteers were examined on a 1.5 T MR system with tagging cine sequences.

Detection of subtle interstitial abnormalities of the lungs on digitized chest radiographs: acceptable data compression ratios.

Objective: To determine acceptable compression ratios for digital radiography, we evaluated the effect of data compression on the detection of subtle interstitial lung abnormalities using digitized chest radiographs.

Materials And Methods: Screen-film chest radiographs of 38 patients with subtle interstitial lung abnormalities and 40 patients with normal lung parenchyma were digitized (spatial resolution, 0.175 mm; 2000 x 2000 pixels; 10 bits per pixel) and compressed with the discrete cosine transform method at ratios of 10:1, 20:1, and 30:1.

Usefulness of high-resolution CT for differential diagnosis of multi-focal pulmonary consolidation.

To determine whether high-resolution CT (HRCT) is useful for diagnosing patients with multi-focal pulmonary consolidation observed on chest radiography, we reviewed the HRCT scans of 80 patients with various kinds of diseases. The patients were divided into three groups: those with infectious diseases (group A, n = 28), those with non-infectious diseases in which the use of corticosteroids was the treatment of choice (group B, n = 33), and others (group C, n = 19). Centrilobular branching structure, small nodules within the consolidation, and segmental distribution were specific or more prevalent in group A.

Dynamic range control processing of digital chest images. A clinical evaluation.

Purpose: The clinical usefulness of an advanced image-processing system called "dynamic range control processing" was investigated, with which selected parts of the dynamic range of digital chest images could be controlled.

Material And Methods: A comparative study of 3 different post-processed formats of storage phosphor (SR) images was performed in 35 patients with abnormalities in the chest. The 3 formats were SR images with standard mode (SR-standard), SR images with strong edge-enhancement (SR-enhanced), and dynamic range controlled SR images (SR-controlled).