Role of Sonography in Clinically Occult Femoral Hernias.

Objectives: The purpose of this article is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of sonography in clinically occult femoral hernias and to describe our sonographic technique.

Methods: The clinical and imaging data for 93 outpatients referred by general surgeons, all of whom underwent sonographic evaluation and surgery, were reviewed retrospectively. Of these, 55 patients who underwent surgical exploration for groin hernias within 3 months of sonography and met all inclusion criteria were included in the study.

Retroperitoneal lobular capillary hemangioma with synchronous ipsilateral renal cell carcinoma.

Lobular capillary hemangiomas (LCH) are acquired benign vascular tumors of skin and mucosal spaces of head and neck. Very few cases of LCH have been reported in the abdomen, predominantly occurring as mucosal polyps in the bowel. We present CT imaging features of solitary retroperitoneal LCH in a patient with synchronous ipsilateral renal cell carcinoma and review the available literature and imaging features in abdominal and extra-abdominal LCH.

Using umbilical cord tissue to detect fetal exposure to illicit drugs: a multicentered study in Utah and New Jersey.

Objective: We assessed umbilical cord tissue as a means of detecting fetal exposure to five classes of drugs of abuse.

Study Design: In a multicentered study in Utah and New Jersey, we collected umbilical cord tissue when high-risk criteria were met for maternal illicit drug use. The deidentified umbilical cord specimens were analyzed for five drug classes: methamphetamine, opiates, cocaine, cannabinoids and phencyclidine.