Benign cardiac tumours: cardiac CT and MRI imaging appearances.

Primary benign cardiac tumours are rarely found in clinical practice and are generally evaluated with echocardiography. However, with the increasing usage of helical multislice CT, the initial detection and evaluation of these masses may be made by the radiologist during routine daily practice for other indications. The echocardiographic, CT and cardiac MRI appearances of various benign cardiac tumours and masses are described and illustrated in this review.

Adult cardiac cystic lymphangiectasia of the right atrium.

Cardiac lympangiectasia is a rare pathological dilation of the lymphatic channels of the heart. Diagnosis is made by pathology; however, there remains no definitive diagnostic study. There are reports of cardiac cystic lymphangiectasias in children.

Ultrasound evaluation of soft tissue masses and fluid collections.

Musculoskeletal ultrasound has utility as a first-line screening modality in the evaluation of soft tissue masses. The sonographic appearances of cysts or lipomas may be sufficient to obviate the need for further imaging. For other complex cystic or solid masses, ultrasound is an inexpensive, widely available imaging modality that can evaluate lesion vascularity, guide diagnostic and therapeutic aspiration or biopsy procedures, and be used for follow-up examinations to determine response to therapeutic interventions.

Portal vein thrombosis with unusual hepatic enhancement pattern: diagnosis using 64-slice multidetector computed tomography and 3 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging.

Portal vein thrombosis is a potentially life-threatening condition with occasionally uncertain clinical symptoms and signs. Consequently, the diagnosis may be first made by the radiologist using cross-sectional imaging modalities. A case of extensive portal venous system thrombosis extending into the superior mesenteric vein associated with an unusual pattern of central hepatic enhancement imaged by both 64-slice multidetector CT and 3 Tesla MRI is presented with a discussion of the imaging features of both modalities.

Lower extremity deep venous thrombosis: evaluation with ferumoxytol-enhanced MR imaging and dual-contrast mechanism--preliminary experience.

Institutional review board approval and informed consent were obtained for this HIPAA-compliant study, whose purpose was to prospectively evaluate the use of a dual-contrast mechanism in conjunction with an iron oxide blood pool contrast agent, ferumoxytol, to depict deep venous thrombosis (DVT). Nine patients with lower extremity DVT detected with duplex ultrasonography (US) were imaged with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging and ferumoxytol. Three techniques, including precontrast two-dimensional time-of-flight (TOF) imaging, ferumoxytol-enhanced bright-blood imaging, and ferumoxytol-enhanced dark-blood imaging, were applied.