Detection of Ablation Boundaries Using Different MR Sequences in a Swine Liver Model.

Purpose: To determine the magnetic resonance (MR) sequences best suited for the assessment of ablation zones after radiofrequency ablation (RFA).

Methods: Three percutaneous MR-guided RFA of the liver were performed on three swine. Four pre-contrast and two hepatobiliary post-contrast sequences were obtained after ablation.

Two case reports: Breast schwannoma and a rare case of an axillary schwannoma imitating an axillary lymph node metastasis.

A 79-year-old woman with a newly detected oval circumscribed lump in subcutaneous location on mammography and ultrasound turned out to be a Schwannoma after ultrasound-guided core needle biopsy. A 72-year-old woman with breast cancer in medical history demonstrated a new axillary mass in follow up, initially regarded as a lymph node metastasis. Core needle biopsy did not lead to a sufficient diagnosis.

Periportal fields cause stronger cooling effects than veins in hepatic microwave ablation: an in vivo porcine study.

Background: Vascular cooling effects are a well-known source for tumor recurrence in thermal in situ ablation techniques for hepatic malignancies. Microwave ablation (MWA) is an ablation technique to be considered in the treatment of malignant liver tumors. The impact of vascular cooling in MWA is still controversial.

Abuse as a Cause of Childhood Fractures.

Background: It is well known that physical abuse of children all too often escapes detection. Fractures are among the potential consequences of physical abuse but are also com- mon in childhood because of accidents. A question frequently addressed to the Medical Child Protection Hotline (Medizini- sche Kinderschutzhotline) is how fractures due to abuse can be distinguished from accidental fractures.

(90)Yttrium-ibritumomab-tiuxetan as first-line treatment for follicular lymphoma: 30 months of follow-up data from an international multicenter phase II clinical trial.

Purpose: We report on a multicenter phase II trial of (90)yttrium-ibritumomab-tiuxetan ((90)YIT) as first-line stand-alone therapy for patients with follicular lymphoma (FL).

Patients And Methods: Fifty-nine patients with CD20(+) FL grade 1 to 3a in stages II, III, or IV, age 50 years old or older requiring therapy were enrolled. They received (90)YIT according to standard procedure.

Post-processing central k-space subtraction for high-resolution arterial peripheral MR angiography.

Peripheral MR angiography requires high resolution and arterial contrast. Neither can be obtained simultaneously due to the short arterial phase of the contrast agent. To improve temporal resolution, keyhole imaging was developed, which combines high resolution and arterial k-spaces at the time of image acquisition.

Gadofluorine M-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging of inflammatory bowel disease: quantitative analysis and histologic correlation in a rat model.

Objectives: : To determine the colonic mural enhancement in a rat model of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) using gadofluorine M- and diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-DTPA)-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, and to correlate the degree of enhancement with the histopathologic severity of the disease.

Materials And Methods: : This study was approved by our hospital's institutional animal care and use committee. A total of 44 rats with 2 grades (mild, n = 17; and severe, n = 27) of dinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (DNBS)-induced IBD and 13 rats without IBD, were examined using a 2.

In vivo validation of a therapy planning system for laser-induced thermotherapy (LITT) of liver malignancies.

Purpose: In situ ablation is increasingly being used for the treatment of liver malignancies. The application of these techniques is limited by the lack of a precise prediction of the destruction volume. This holds especially true in anatomically difficult situations, such as metastases in the vicinity of larger liver vessels.

Evaluation of possible drug-drug interaction between gadoxetic acid and erythromycin as an inhibitor of organic anion transporting peptides (OATP).

Purpose: To evaluate if erythromycin compromises liver-specific enhancement of gadoxetic acid; both compounds competing in organic anion transporting peptides (OATP) -mediated hepatocytic uptake.

Materials And Methods: The study was approved by institutional review board. Twelve healthy subjects (nine men, three woman; mean age, 38.

Outcome of patients with acute sigmoid diverticulitis: multivariate analysis of risk factors for free perforation.

Background: Sigmoid diverticulitis (SD) is common in the West; its incidence is increasing as the average age of the population increases. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical outcomes of patients with acute SD and to determine whether emergency operation was associated more often with previous episodes of acute diverticulitis.

Methods: All consecutive patients admitted for acute SD were recruited prospectively over an 11-year period from January 1998 to December 2008.

Preoperative CT staging in sigmoid diverticulitis--does it correlate with intraoperative and histological findings?

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate whether the computed tomography (CT) reflects the extent of the inflammation in sigmoid diverticulitis (SD) in order to draw conclusions for selecting the appropriate treatment.

Methods: Two hundred four patients who underwent resection for SD from January 2003 to December 2008 were included. The preoperative CT stage was compared with intraoperative and histological findings.

[A young man with chronic diarrhea and epigastric pain].

Case Report: A 26-year-old man was admitted to hospital with a 6-month history of diarrhea and abdominal pain. Before admission, upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy had shown a mild erosive duodenitis and the patient was started on a proton pump inhibitor. Physical examination and laboratory tests on admission were not constructive.

Microscopic findings in sigmoid diverticulitis--changes after conservative therapy.

Introduction: The indications for prophylactic surgery for phlegmonous and covered perforated type of acute sigmoid diverticulitis (SD) are currently matters of debate, and a more conservative approach has been advocated. However, it has not yet been clarified to what extent CT findings indicative of acute SD correlate with histological findings, and it is still uncertain how these findings change in the time interval between initial antibiotic treatment and late elective surgery. The aim of this study was to record time-course changes of inflammation in phlegmonous and abscess-forming diverticulitis after conservative treatment in order to check the indication for surgery.

Bipolar radiofrequency ablation for nodular thyroid disease--ex vivo and in vivo evaluation of a dose-response relationship.

Background: The prevalence of thyroid nodules ranges between 2% and 60% depending on the population studied. However, minimally invasive procedures like radiofrequency ablation (rfA) are increasingly used to treat tumors of parenchymatous organs, and seem to be suitable for singular thyroid nodules as well. Their successful clinical application depends on the induction of sufficiently large lesions and a knowledge of the energy parameters required for complete thermal ablation.

Qualitative and quantitative evaluation of hepatocellular carcinoma and cirrhotic liver enhancement using Gd-EOB-DTPA.

Objective: The objective of our study was to prospectively evaluate quantitatively and qualitatively the enhancement patterns of cirrhotic liver tissue and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) after administration of the hepatocyte-specific contrast agent gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA) on dynamic MRI and to determine the time point of maximum liver-to-lesion contrast.

Subjects And Methods: Twenty-five patients with HCC in liver cirrhosis underwent 1.5-T MRI.

Hepatic transit time analysis using contrast-enhanced ultrasound with BR1: A prospective study comparing patients with liver metastases from colorectal cancer with healthy volunteers.

We prospectively compared hepatic transit time (HTT) measurements in subjects with liver metastases from colorectal cancer (group a) and healthy volunteers (group b) using contrast-enhanced ultrasound with BR1. The purpose of this study was to verify our hypothesis that the hemodynamic changes of the liver, which occur during metastasis seeding, would shorten the HTT, and we expect that such changes could be used for the detection of occult liver metastases from colorectal cancer in the future. The study had institutional review board approval and all subjects gave informed written consent.

Biphasic blood pool contrast agent-enhanced whole-body MR angiography for treatment planning in patients with significant arterial stenosis.

Objective: To prospectively evaluate diagnostic accuracy of first pass and combined first pass and steady state high-spatial-resolution whole-body magnetic resonance (MR) angiography with a blood pool contrast agent for quantification of arterial stenosis in different vascular territories.

Materials And Methods: After Institutional Review Board approval and informed consent, 50 patients with known 50% or greater stenosis in at least one vascular territory; as shown by the standard-of-reference (14 digital subtraction angiographies, 4 computed tomographies, 32 ultrasound examinations), were included. The patients underwent MR angiography at 1.

Interspecies difference in liver-specific functions and biotransformation of testosterone of primary rat, porcine and human hepatocyte in an organotypical sandwich culture.

Interspecies difference is an important issue in toxicology research. We compared the potential in vitro metabolism of human, porcine and rat hepatocytes over 2 weeks in culture in an organotypical culture model which reflects the in vivo situation. All three species show similar LDH-rates.

Ex vivo evaluation of a bipolar application concept for radiofrequency ablation.

Background: Bipolar radiofrequency ablation (RFA) can avoid complications such as thermal tissue damage, a possible consequence of monopolar RFA. However, basic studies about the dosage/effect relationship of bipolar systems are missing. This is systematic research on ex vivo beef livers to find which capacity parameters produce high energy in the tissue and achieve large lesion volumes.

Comparison of 1.0 M gadobutrol and 0.5 M gadopentetate dimeglumine-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in five hundred seventy-two patients with known or suspected liver lesions: results of a multicenter, double-blind, interindividual, randomized clinical phase-III trial.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic efficacy (accuracy, sensitivity, specificity) of 1.0 M gadobutrol versus 0.5 M gadopentetate for the classification of lesions as either benign or malignant in patients with known or suspected liver lesions.

Magnetic resonance imaging of experimental inflammatory bowel disease: quantitative and qualitative analyses with histopathologic correlation in a rat model using the ultrasmall iron oxide SHU 555 C.

Objectives: To quantitatively and qualitatively characterize the MR findings of inflammatory bowel disease in a rat model after i.v. injection of the reticuloendothelial system cell specific ultrasmall iron oxide SHU 555 C.

Electromagnetic field-based navigation for percutaneous punctures on C-arm CT: experimental evaluation and clinical application.

The aim of this study was to prospectively evaluate the needle visualization and placement error and use of an electromagnetic field-based tracking navigation device for puncture procedures based on C-arm CT (CACT) images. A commercially available navigation device was mounted on an angiographic X-ray system setup for CACT. After the target was defined, needle placement was performed under real-time visualization of the virtual needle in CACT images.