Increased Rates of Gold and Acrylate Allergy in Individuals with Fibromyalgia Tested with an Extended Dental Patch Test Series.

Fibromyalgia is a common chronic pain condition. Rates of contact allergy in individuals with fibromyalgia have not been widely studied. Systemic contact allergy can present with muscle and joint pain and general malaise.

Increased rates of fragrance allergy in fibromyalgia individuals tested with the Swedish baseline patch test series.

Background: Contact allergy can manifest in a variety of ways clinically. Systemic contact allergy may occasionally present with pain in muscles and joints. Fibromyalgia is a chronic rheumatic disease characterized by pain and with virtually unknown aetiology.

Performance characteristics of magnetic resonance imaging without contrast agents or sedation in pediatric appendicitis.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has emerged as a promising modality for evaluating pediatric appendicitis. However optimal imaging protocols, including roles of contrast agents and sedation, have not been established and diagnostic criteria have not been fully evaluated.

Objective: To investigate performance characteristics of rapid MRI without contrast agents or sedation in the diagnosis of pediatric appendicitis.

Iterative reconstruction technique with reduced volume CT dose index: diagnostic accuracy in pediatric acute appendicitis.

Background: Iterative reconstruction technique has been proposed as a means of reducing patient radiation dose in pediatric CT. Yet, the effect of such reductions on diagnostic accuracy has not been thoroughly evaluated.

Objective: This study compares accuracy of diagnosing pediatric acute appendicitis using contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic CT scans performed with traditional pediatric weight-based protocols and filtered back projection reconstruction vs.

Congenital oligomeganephronia: computed tomography appearance.

We report a case of congenital oligomeganephronia unexpectedly imaged with computed tomography (CT). Oligomeganephronia is a form of renal hypoplasia that leads to renal failure in childhood or adolescence. If encountered, its CT features should suggest the diagnosis and prompt renal biopsy.

Alveolar soft part sarcoma: unusual etiology of mediastinal mass in an adolescent.

Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare malignancy that usually arises in an extremity. Mediastinal involvement is uncommon, with only two reports of primary mediastinal disease and two reports of metastatic mediastinal disease in the literature, all referencing adult patients. To our knowledge, ours is the first report of ASPS presenting with a mediastinal mass in adolescence.

Bedside optic nerve sheath diameter ultrasound for the evaluation of suspected pediatric ventriculoperitoneal shunt failure in the emergency department.

Objective: To determine the feasibility and test characteristics of optic nerve sheath diameter (ONSD) measured by ocular ultrasound as a screening tool for ventriculoperitoneal shunt (VPS) failure.

Methods: Prospective observational study using a convenience sample of children 6 months to 18 years of age, presenting to an academic pediatric emergency department for evaluation of possible VPS failure between September 2008 and March 2009. ONSD was measured by anterior transbulbar and lateral transbulbar techniques.

Size-appropriate radiation doses in pediatric body CT: a study of regional community adoption in the United States.

Background: During the last decade, there has been a movement in the United States toward utilizing size-appropriate radiation doses for pediatric body CT, with smaller doses given to smaller patients.

Objective: This study assesses community adoption of size-appropriate pediatric CT techniques. Size-specific dose estimates (SSDE) in pediatric body scans are compared between community facilities and a university children's hospital that tailors CT protocols to patient size as advocated by Image Gently.

Medulloblastoma: seeding of VP shunt tract and peritoneum.

We report on a 5-year-old boy with seeding of the peritoneum and a ventriculoperitoneal shunt tract by anaplastic medulloblastoma. The role of ventriculoperitoneal shunting in the spread of primary central nervous system tumors has been controversial. In the case reported here, the unique distribution of tumor implants on ultrasound and multiplanar computed tomography gives further credence to the argument that ventriculoperitoneal shunting is a pathway for extraneural metastases of primary central nervous system tumors.

Neuroblastoma found in a 4-year-old after rituximab therapy for opsoclonus-myoclonus.

Opsoclonus-myoclonus, a rare paraneoplastic syndrome that may occur in patients with neuroblastoma, is thought to be a humorally mediated immune reaction to malignant cells that cross-react with autoantigens. This report describes the case of an occult neuroblastoma diagnosed in a 4-year-old female 2 years after presentation of opsoclonus-myoclonus. Although no mass was evident on previous imaging at an interval of 10 months, a computed tomographic scan 4 months after rituximab treatment and 20 months after presentation revealed a new left adrenal mass.