Imaging of gallstones and complications.

Gallbladder pathologies caused by gallstones are commonly encountered in clinical practice, making accurate diagnosis critical for effective patient management. Radiologists play a key role in differentiating these conditions through imaging interpretation, ensuring that appropriate treatment is initiated. The imaging features of gallstone associated diseases are classified into various categories, such as inflammatory conditions, benign lesions, malignant tumors, and associated complications.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Acute Pelvic Pain in the Reproductive Age Group: 2023 Update.

This review focuses on the initial imaging in the reproductive age adult population with acute pelvic pain, including patients with positive and negative beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) levels with suspected gynecological and nongynecological etiology. For all patients, a combination of transabdominal and transvaginal pelvic ultrasound with Doppler is usually appropriate as an initial imaging study. If nongynecological etiology in patients with negative β-hCG is suspected, then CT of the abdomen and pelvis with or without contrast is also usually appropriate.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Sepsis.

Sepsis is defined as a life-threatening organ dysfunction caused by a dysregulated host response to infection. A search for the underlying cause of infection typically includes radiological imaging as part of this investigation. This document focuses on thoracic and abdominopelvic causes of sepsis.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Hydronephrosis on Prior Imaging-Unknown Cause.

Initial imaging evaluation of hydronephrosis of unknown etiology is a complex subject and is dependent on clinical context. In asymptomatic patients, it is often best conducted via CT urography (CTU) without and with contrast, MR urography (MRU) without and with contrast, or scintigraphic evaluation with mercaptoacetyltriglycine (MAG3) imaging. For symptomatic patients, CTU without and with contrast, MRU without and with contrast, MAG3 scintigraphy, or ultrasound of the kidneys and bladder with Doppler imaging are all viable initial imaging studies.

Expanding Role of Dual-Energy CT for Genitourinary Tract Assessment in the Emergency Department, From the Special Series on Emergency Radiology.

Among explored applications of dual-energy CT (DECT) in the abdomen and pelvis, the genitourinary (GU) tract represents an area where accumulated evidence has established the role of DECT to provide useful information that may change management. This review discusses established applications of DECT for GU tract assessment in the emergency department (ED) setting, including characterization of renal stones, evaluation of traumatic injuries and hemorrhage, and characterization of incidental renal and adrenal findings. Use of DECT for such applications can reduce the need for additional multiphase CT or MRI examinations and reduce follow-up imaging recommendations.

Psoas attenuation and cross-sectional area improve performance of traditional sarcopenia measurements in predicting one-year mortality among elderly patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery: a pilot study of five computed tomography techniques.

Background: Risk stratification is challenging in the growing population of geriatric patients requiring emergency surgery. Sarcopenia, which assesses muscle bulk, is a surrogate for frailty and predicts 1-year mortality, but does not incorporate potentially valuable additional information about muscle quality.

Objective: To describe five different CT methods of measuring sarcopenia and muscle quality and to determine which method has the greatest sensitivity for predicting 1-year mortality following emergency abdominal surgery in elderly patients.

Multienergy Computed Tomography Applications: Trauma.

Computed tomography (CT) plays an important role in trauma because imaging findings directly impact management. Advances in CT technology, specifically multienergy CT, have allowed for simultaneous acquisition of images at low and high kilovolt peaks. This technique allows for differentiation of materials given that materials have different absorption behaviors.

Hepatobiliary Trauma Imaging Update.

The liver is one of the most commonly injured organ in the abdomen and pelvis. Hepatobiliary trauma is best assessed by contrast-enhanced CT in hemodynamically stable patients. Prompt and accurate diagnosis of hepatobiliary traumatic injuries and associated vascular injuries guides management and allows for successful nonsurgical management of the traumatic injuries.

CT imaging findings of complications of optical colonoscopy.

Colonoscopy is one of the most commonly performed endoscopic procedures and remains the most commonly used screening modality method for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening in the USA. Although serious complications of fiberoptic colonoscopy are uncommon due to technical advances, due to increasing number of colonoscopy procedures, post-procedural complications are not uncommonly encountered in the routine clinical practice. Also, as some of the post-colonoscopy complications are life threatening, it is important to diagnose them early so that timely treatment measures can be taken to decrease mortality and morbidity.

Sarcopenia Is Associated With Increased Mortality in Patients With Necrotizing Soft Tissue Infections.

Introduction: Necrotizing soft tissue infections (NSTIs) are surgical emergencies associated with high morbidity and mortality. Identifying risk factors for poor outcome is a critical part of preoperative decision-making and counseling. Sarcopenia, the loss of lean muscle mass, has been associated with an increased risk of mortality and can be measured using cross-sectional imaging.

Improved Appropriateness of Advanced Diagnostic Imaging After Implementation of Clinical Decision Support Mechanism.

The Protecting Access to Medicare Act (PAMA) mandates clinical decision support mechanism (CDSM) consultation for all advanced imaging. There are a growing number of studies examining the association of CDSM use with imaging appropriateness, but a paucity of multicenter data. This observational study evaluates the association between changes in advanced imaging appropriateness scores with increasing provider exposure to CDSM.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Postpartum Hemorrhage.

Postpartum hemorrhage (PPH) can be categorized as primary or early if occurring in the first 24 hours after delivery, whereas late or delayed PPH occurs between 24 hours and 6 weeks. Most of the causes of PPH can be diagnosed clinically, but imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis of many causes of PPH. Pelvic ultrasound (transabdominal and transvaginal with Doppler) is the imaging modality of choice for the initial evaluation of PPH.

Beyond business as usual: Radiology residency educational response to the COVID-2019 pandemic.

The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted standard hospital operations and diagnostic radiology resident education at academic medical centers across the country. Deferment of elective surgeries and procedures coupled with a shift of resources toward increased inpatient clinical needs for the care of COVID-19 patients has resulted in substantially decreased imaging examinations at many institutions. Additionally, both infection control and risk mitigation measures have resulted in minimal on-site staffing of both trainees and staff radiologists at many institutions.

Dual energy CT in clinical routine: how it works and how it adds value.

Dual energy computed tomography (DECT), also known as spectral CT, refers to advanced CT technology that separately acquires high and low energy X-ray data to enable material characterization applications for substances that exhibit different energy-dependent x-ray absorption behavior. DECT supports a variety of post-processing applications that add value in routine clinical CT imaging, including material selective and virtual non-contrast images using two- and three-material decomposition algorithms, virtual monoenergetic imaging, and other material characterization techniques. Following a review of acquisition and post-processing techniques, we present a case-based approach to highlight the added value of DECT in common clinical scenarios.

ACR Appropriateness Criteria® Female Infertility.

The most common known causes of female infertility are male factor (26%), ovulatory failure (21%), and tubal damage (14%), while in 28% a couple's infertility remains unexplained. Female-specific causes of infertility include deterioration of oocyte quality with increasing maternal age; ovulatory disorders, most notably polycystic ovarian syndrome; history of salpingitis such as that caused by chlamydia infection; endometriosis; and uterine cavity abnormalities interfering with implantation causing inability to become pregnant or causing recurrent pregnancy loss. These potential causes of female infertility are discussed in this document and the appropriate imaging recommendations for each variant are provided.

Bone Marrow Edema at Dual-Energy CT: A Game Changer in the Emergency Department.

Dual-energy CT is increasingly being used in the emergency department to help diagnose acute conditions. Its applications include demonstrating bone marrow edema (BME) seen in the setting of occult fractures and other acute conditions. Dual-energy CT acquires data with two different x-ray energy spectra and is able to help differentiate materials on the basis of their differential energy-dependent x-ray absorption behaviors.

Imaging of Acute Hepatobiliary Dysfunction.

Abdominal pain is a common cause for emergency department visits in the United States, and biliary tract disease is the fifth most common cause of hospital admission. Common causes of acute hepatobiliary include gallstones and its associated complications and multiple other hepatobiliary etiologies, including infectious, inflammatory, vascular, and neoplastic causes. Postoperative complications of the biliary tract can result in an acute abdomen.

Dual-energy CT for routine imaging of the abdomen and pelvis: radiation dose and image quality.

Purpose: To assess the radiation dose and image quality of routine dual energy CT (DECT) of the abdomen and pelvis performed in the emergency department setting, compared with single energy CT (SECT).

Materials And Methods: Seventy-five consecutive routine contrast-enhanced SECT scans of the abdomen and pelvis meeting inclusion criteria were compared with 75 routine contrast-enhanced DECT scans matched by size and patient weight (within 10 lbs), performed on the same dual-source DECT scanner. Cohorts were compared in terms of radiation dose metrics of CT dose index (CTDI) and dose length product (DLP), objective measurements of image quality (signal, noise, and signal-to-noise ratio of a variety of anatomical landmarks), and subjective measurements of image quality scored by two emergency radiologists.