Publications by authors named "Erin McComb"

Article Synopsis
  • Left atrial (LA) myopathy may lead to silent brain infarctions (SBI) due to altered blood flow, and 4D-flow MRI is used to assess LA hemodynamics.
  • A study involving 125 participants from the MESA population aimed to explore the links between LA and LAA blood flow parameters and the occurrence of SBI.
  • Results showed that older age and reduced peak velocity in the left atrial appendage were significantly associated with a higher likelihood of having SBI.
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Background: Cerebral vascular malformations (CVMs) may result in hemorrhage, seizure, neurologic dysfunction, and death. CVMs include capillary telangiectasias, venous malformations, cavernous malformations, and arteriovenous malformations. Cavernous and arteriovenous malformations carry the highest risk of complications.

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Surgery is a potentially curative treatment option for patients with medically refractory focal epilepsy. Advanced neuroimaging modalities often improve surgical outcomes by contributing key information during the highly individualized surgical planning process and intraoperative localization. Hence, neuroradiologists play an integral role in the multidisciplinary management team.

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Purpose: Human papillomavirus (HPV) is an important cause of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) and accounts for a large majority of new cases. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is an association between nodal calcification and HPV positivity in the setting of metastatic HNSCC.

Methods: Consecutive patients with HNSCC who underwent CT were retrospectively identified.

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Nevus of Ota, also known as oculodermal melanocytosis, is a benign melanocytic lesion that develops along the distribution of the V1 and V2 branches of the trigeminal nerve. Prior reports have described the typical imaging and clinical features of nevus of Ota. We present a rare case of a 31 year-old female with midface tumors and presumed hemorrhage into an orbital lesion in the setting of nevus of Ota resulting in acute loss of vision.

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Vaccination is a key strategy to prevent cervical cancer in developed countries. Lower uptake of human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine among new immigrants and refugees has been documented, although exploration of underlying reasons remains an understudied area. Semi-structured interviews with eleven immigrant women (ages 18-26 years) were conducted to understand their knowledge, attitudes and barriers regarding HPV vaccination in a western Canadian province.

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Objectives: Spontaneous intracranial hypotension (SIH) is an uncommon cause of headache that can be challenging to treat and can have serious clinical consequences. When symptoms persist despite conservative treatment, an interlaminar epidural blood patch is often performed, but may not be effective.

Methods: Case report and review of the literature.

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Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) and venous thrombosis are frequently encountered first in the emergency setting and share some common characteristics. The clinical presentation in both entities is vague, and the brain parenchymal findings of PRES syndrome may resemble those of venous thrombosis in some ways. Both entities often occur in a bilateral posterior distribution and may be associated with reversible parenchymal findings if the inciting factor is treated.

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Background: We evaluated the utility of the telephone-administered Mental Alternation Test (MAT, an oral variant of the Trail-Making Test) for remote assessment of cognitive functioning in older adults. We examined (1) the sensitivity of MAT scores to cognitive change across 4 age groups, (2) practice effects associated with repeat administration, and (3) the uniformity of practice effects across age groups.

Methods: Community-dwelling volunteers were recruited randomly and categorized as young-middle-aged (45-54 years; n = 51), middle-aged (55-64 years; n = 58), young-old (65-74 years; n = 43) or old-old (75-85 years; n = 43).

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Administration mode, age, education, and practice effects were examined for the Mental Alternation Test (MAT), a brief orally administered measure of executive function. Participants (N = 135) between the ages of 65 and 85 years completed the MAT twice in person, twice over the telephone, or once in person and once over the telephone. MAT scores did not differ across administration modes.

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Purpose: To investigate the frequency and significance of adrenal lesions that demonstrate heterogeneous suppression on chemical shift magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Materials And Methods: A retrospective search of adrenal lesions identified on MR from November 1997-July 2001 was performed. The adrenal lesions were classified as having suppression typical for an adenoma, nonsuppression, or atypical heterogeneous suppression.

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