The Effect of a Full Bladder on Proportions of Diagnostic Ultrasound Studies in Children with Suspected Appendicitis.

Objectives: We examined the effect of a full bladder on proportions of diagnostic ultrasound (US) studies in children with suspected appendicitis. We also examined the effect of a full bladder on proportions of fully visualized ovaries on US in children with suspected appendicitis.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective health record review of children aged 2-17 years presenting to a tertiary pediatric emergency department (ED) with suspected appendicitis who had an ultrasound performed.

Outcomes of children with suspected appendicitis and incompletely visualized appendix on ultrasound.

Objectives: The objective was to review the clinical outcomes of children with suspected appendicitis after an ultrasound (US) examination fails to fully visualize the appendix, the diagnostic characteristics of US in children with suspected appendicitis, and the predictive value of secondary signs of appendicitis when the appendix is not fully visualized.

Methods: This was a retrospective health record review of children aged 3 to 17 years presenting to a tertiary pediatric emergency department (ED) with suspected appendicitis. Descriptive statistics and diagnostic test characteristics are reported.

Pediatric metanephric adenoma: case report and review of the literature.

Metanephric adenomas are rare benign renal neoplasms, uncommonly seen in the pediatric population. They are typically detected incidentally on imaging studies performed for unrelated clinical presentations. Preoperatively, the imaging appearance of this tumor overlaps with the appearance of more common and more aggressive renal neoplasms such as Wilms' tumor or renal cell carcinoma.

Landmarking and segmentation of computed tomographic images of pediatric patients with neuroblastoma.

Objectives: Segmentation and landmarking of computed tomographic (CT) images of pediatric patients are important and useful in computer-aided diagnosis, treatment planning, and objective analysis of normal as well as pathological regions. Identification and segmentation of organs and tissues in the presence of tumors is difficult. Automatic segmentation of the primary tumor mass in neuroblastoma could facilitate reproducible and objective analysis of the tumor's tissue composition, shape, and volume.

Automatic segmentation of the ribs, the vertebral column, and the spinal canal in pediatric computed tomographic images.

We propose methods to perform automatic identification of the rib structure, the vertebral column, and the spinal canal in computed tomographic (CT) images of pediatric patients. The segmentation processes for the rib structure and the vertebral column are initiated using multilevel thresholding and the results are refined using morphological image processing techniques with features based on radiological and anatomical prior knowledge. The Hough transform for the detection of circles is applied to a cropped edge map that includes the thoracic vertebral structure.

Landmarking of computed tomographic images to assist in segmentation of abdominal tumors caused by neuroblastoma.

Segmentation of the primary tumor mass in neuroblastoma could aid radiologists by facilitating reproducible and objective quantification of the tumor's tissue composition and size. However, due to the heterogeneous nature of the tissue components of the neuroblastic tumor, ranging from low-attenuation necrosis to high-attenuation calcification, some of which possess strong similarities with adjacent nontumoral tissues in computed tomographic (CT) images, segmentation of the tumor is a difficult problem. In this context, landmarking methods are proposed to assist in the segmentation of neuroblastic tumors.

Automatic delineation of the diaphragm in computed tomographic images.

Segmentation of the internal organs in medical images is a difficult task. By incorporating a priori information regarding specific organs of interest, results of segmentation may be improved. Landmarking (i.

Three-dimensional segmentation of the tumor in computed tomographic images of neuroblastoma.

Segmentation of the tumor in neuroblastoma is complicated by the fact that the mass is almost always heterogeneous in nature; furthermore, viable tumor, necrosis, and normal tissue are often intermixed. Tumor definition and diagnosis require the analysis of the spatial distribution and Hounsfield unit (HU) values of voxels in computed tomography (CT) images, coupled with a knowledge of normal anatomy. Segmentation and analysis of the tissue composition of the tumor can assist in quantitative assessment of the response to therapy and in the planning of the delayed surgery for resection of the tumor.