Safe Use of Contrast Media: What the Radiologist Needs to Know.

Iodinated and gadolinium-based contrast media are used on a daily basis in most radiology practices. These agents often are essential to providing accurate diagnoses, and are nearly always safe and effective when administered correctly. However, reactions to contrast media do occur and can be life threatening.

Reducing Unnecessary Portable Pelvic Radiographs in Trauma Patients: A Resident-Driven Quality Improvement Initiative.

Quality improvement is increasingly important in the changing health care climate. We aim to establish a methodology and identify critical factors leading to successful implementation of a resident-led radiology quality improvement intervention at the institutional level. Under guidance of faculty mentors, the first-year radiology residents developed a quality improvement initiative to decrease unnecessary STAT pelvic radiographs (PXRs) in hemodynamically stable trauma patients who would additionally receive STAT pelvic CT scans.

Development of automated detection of radiology reports citing adrenal findings.

The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of automated detection of adrenal nodules, a common finding on CT, using a newly developed search engine that mines dictated radiology reports. To ensure Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act compliance, we utilized a preexisting de-identified database of 32,974 CT reports from February 1, 2009 to February 28, 2010. Common adrenal descriptors from 29 staff radiologists were used to develop an automated rule-based algorithm targeting adrenal findings.

Staphylococcus-infected tunneled dialysis catheters: is over-the-wire exchange an appropriate management option?

Purpose: Over-the-wire exchange of tunneled dialysis catheters is the standard of care per K/DOQI guidelines for treating catheter-related bacteremia. However, Gram-positive bacteremia, specifically with staphylococcus species, may compromise over-the-wire exchange due to certain biological properties. This study addressed the effectiveness of over-the-wire exchange of staphylococcus-infected tunneled dialysis catheters compared with non-staphylococcus-infected tunneled dialysis catheters.

Psychosocial status in adolescents undergoing bariatric surgery.

Background: Little is known about the psychosocial status of adolescents who undergo bariatric surgery. Our objective was to describe the psychological and behavioral characteristics of patients in this age group who underwent bariatric surgery at our institution.

Methods: A review of clinical charts of patients aged 14-21 years who had bariatric surgery at our institution between 2000 and 2005 was conducted.