CT-determined sarcopenia as a predictor of post-operative outcomes in patients undergoing an emergency laparotomy.

Purpose: Emergency laparotomy has a high reported thirty-day mortality, ranging from 11 to 15%. Current peri-operative risk assessment tools may poorly estimate the risk of perioperative mortality. We sought to determine if CT-determined sarcopenia may be a useful predictor of post-operative outcomes in patients undergoing an emergency laparotomy.

Computed tomographic evaluation of the thymus-does obesity affect thymic fatty involution in a healthy young adult population?

Objective: To determine a relationship between increased body mass index (BMI) and fatty involution of the thymus in subjects aged between 20 and 30 years.

Methods: CT images of 94 patients aged between 20 and 30 years were reviewed. Quantitative thymic mean attenuation was recorded and qualitative thymic attenuation was assigned to 1 of 4 possible grades.