Gossypiboma: a ghastly find.

A gossypiboma is a mass within a patient's body comprising a cotton matrix surrounded by a foreign body granuloma. We describe an unusual presentation of a gossypiboma presenting in a 32-year-old man with acute epigastric pain and haematemesis. His surgical history revealed an emergency laparotomy following a road traffic accident 16 years ago.

Specific cancer rates may differ in patients with hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia compared to controls.

Background: Hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT) is inherited as an autosomal dominant trait, affects ~1 in 5,000, and causes multi-systemic vascular lesions and life-limiting complications. Life expectancy is surprisingly good, particularly for patients over 60ys. We hypothesised that individuals with HHT may be protected against life-limiting cancers.

Lifestyle and dietary influences on nosebleed severity in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.

Objectives/hypothesis: To identify factors influencing the severity of epistaxis in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).

Study Design: Participants with and without HHT were recruited from a specialist service and online following advertisement by the HHT Foundation International. Both groups were asked to complete a nonbiased questionnaire.

Evidence for a vascular contribution to diffusion FMRI at high b value.

Recent work has suggested that diffusion-weighted functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) with strong diffusion weighting (high b value) detects neuronal swelling that is directly related to neuronal firing. This would constitute a much more direct measure of brain activity than current methods and represent a major advance in neuroimaging. However, it has not been firmly established that the observed signal changes do not reflect residual vascular effects, which are known to exist at low b value.