Subtraction lung image for evaluating pulmonary ventilation in xenon-enhanced CT.

Purpose: The goal of this work was to develop a method of transforming a xenon-enhanced CT (Xe-CT) image of the lung, so as to overlap well with its baseline CT image, and creating a subtraction image (enhanced image minus baseline image), and to demonstrate the possibility of evaluating pulmonary ventilation using the subtraction image.

Methods: Eight healthy men (37.1 +/- 10.

Successful thoracoscopic lobectomy for lung cancer in a patient with anatomic variation of the left inferior pulmonary vein.

We present a case of primary lung cancer with a rare distribution pattern of left inferior pulmonary vein (PV), encountered in the thoracoscopic left lower lobectomy. Thoracoscopic observation revealed 2 trunks of inferior PV (ventral and dorsal branch) at the stem level. The ventral trunk consisted of a branch of vein (V(5)) from the lingular segment and venous ramifications (V(8)a, V(9) and V(10)a) from the basal segment.

A thoracoscopically resected case of mediastinal parathyroid cyst.

A 67-year-old male visited his physician because of a 2-month history of cough and sputum. An abnormal shadow at the left upper mediastinum on chest x-ray film was detected, and the patient was referred to our department for further examination. Chest x-ray film revealed a round shadow at the left upper posterior mediastinum.

Effect of gravitation for detection of bronchioloalveolar carcinoma on computed tomography.

A 64-year-old female was found to have localized ground-glass opacity (GGO) in the middle lobe on a chest computed tomography (CT) for screening. Middle lobectomy with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) was undertaken, and pathological diagnosis was a bronchioloalveolar carcinoma (BAC) in stage IA. A follow-up CT a year following the surgery revealed localized GGO in area S6 of the left lung.

Mediastinal cyst with rim calcification.

A 58-year-old man who had been undergoing treatment for chronic pericarditis for 15 months was found to have a calcified mediastinal mass shadow on a chest X-ray and was referred to us for further study and treatment. Chest computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed an anterior mediastinal multilocular tumor with rim calcification. Tumor markers were within normal limits.

[Investigation of cerebral blood volume measurement].

Purpose: Cerebral blood blow (ml/100g/min) (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (%) (CBV) were determined in 102 patients (68 men and 34 women; average age, 55.6 years) with diagnostic cerebral blood flow accident.

Methods: CBF was obtained by xenon inhalation computed tomography (Xe CT) and transit time (TT) by perfusion CT.

Primary thymic adenocarcinoma with production of carbohydrate antigen 19-9 and carcinoembryonic antigen.

A 59-year-old male, whose chest X-ray showed an abnormal shadow, visited us for further study. Laboratory examination showed the elevated level for both carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) and carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) in serum, and the chest X-ray and computed tomography showed an anterior mediastinal mass. Under a diagnosis of thymic malignancy, extended thymectomy with combined resection of the pleura and pericardium was performed.

Pulmonary inflammatory pseudotumor with rapid growth and serum carcinoembryonic antigen elevation.

Inflammatory pseudotumors consist of chronic inflammatory cells, predominantly plasma cells. We report a rare case of pulmonary inflammatory pseudotumor associated with rapid growth and elevated serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). A 75-year-old man referred for bloody sputum was found in chest computed tomography (CT) to have a round circumscribed tumor with a cavity located in the periphery of the right lower pulmonary lobe.

[Comparison of cerebral blood flow with Xe-inhalation CT and perfusion CT].

Cerebral blood flow (ml/min/100g) (CBF) was detected by two methods, static xenon inhalation dynamic CT (Xe-CT) and perfusion CT, and a comparison of these two methods (Xe-CBF and perfusion CBF) was carried out in the same cases. Xe CT used 30% static xenon, 4 min wash-in, and 5 min wash-out, while perfusion CT was done by injecting 30 ml of non-ionic contrast medium at a rate of 9 ml/sec. Forty-eight patients underwent these examinations (30 serious cases and 18 mild).

[Method of injection of contrast medium for brain perfusion CT].

Perfusion computed tomography (CT) has great value for detecting stroke and evaluating blood flow in the brain. With perfusion CT, it is possible to obtain two absolute values, cerebral blood flow (CBF) (ml/min/100g) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) (%). In using this examination, the main problem is the method of iodine injection.