Forensic imaging: The sensitivities of various imaging modalities in detecting skeletal trauma in simulated cases of child abuse using a pig model.

Physical child abuse is a major problem in South Africa and throughout the world, and the detection of skeletal trauma in victims of abuse may be critical in the accurate investigation of these cases. Since many of these fractures are not detected during traditional autopsy, the use of various diagnostic imaging tools is implemented in order to aid in the detection of trauma. In South Africa, Lodox (low-dose full-body X-ray) is commonly used in forensic mortuaries and the aim of this study was to assess the sensitivities of CT, X-ray and Lodox, in comparison to dry bone as the gold standard, in detecting both the number of fractures and minimum number of impacts in piglets subjected to blunt force trauma.

Nocardia veterana: disseminated infection with urinary tract infection.

Nocardia spp. are a group of aerobic actinomycetes widely distributed in soil, and associated with severe opportunistic infections, essentially pulmonary infections. We report the first case of disseminated infection associated with urinary tract infection caused by Nocardia veterana.

Impairment of cardiac metabolism and sympathetic innervation after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage: a nuclear medicine imaging study.

Introduction: Although aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) is often complicated by myocardial injury, whether this neurogenic cardiomyopathy is associated with the modification of cardiac metabolism is unknown. This study sought to explore, by positron emission tomography/computed tomography, the presence of altered cardiac glucose metabolism after SAH.

Methods: During a 16-month period, 30 SAH acute phase patients underwent myocardial (18)F- fluorodesoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)F-FDGPET), (99m)Tc-tetrofosmin and (123)I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-mIBG) scintigraphy, respectively, assessing glucose metabolism, cardiac perfusion, and sympathetic innervation.

A rare presentation of metastatic renal clear cell carcinoma to the tongue seen on FDG PET.

Renal clear cell carcinoma has a great metastatic potential, with possibly uncommon secondary lesions, notably in the head and neck region. The role of F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-18 FDG PET) in the staging or follow-up of urological malignancies is still not clearly defined. We report a case of metastatic renal cell carcinoma involving the tongue and a cervical lymph node, 3 years after initial nephrectomy.