Ultrasound evaluation of gynecologic causes of pelvic pain.

Ultrasound should be considered the first-line imaging modality of choice in women presenting with acute or chronic pelvic pain of suspected gynecologic or obstetric origin because many, if not most, gynecologic/obstetric causes of pelvic pain are easily diagnosed on ultrasound examination. Since the clinical presentation of gynecologic causes of pelvic pain overlaps with gastrointestinal and genitourinary pathology, referral to CT or MRI, especially in pregnant patients, should be considered if the US examination is nondiagnostic.

Patient size and radiation exposure in thoracic, pelvic, and abdominal CT examinations performed with automatic exposure control.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of patient size on the amount of radiation used to perform CT examinations of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis with automatic exposure control and on the corresponding patient doses.

Materials And Methods: Ninety-one patients underwent CT of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis with a 64-MDCT scanner with automatic exposure control in the x, y, and z planes (noise index, 11.5; tube rotation speed, 1 second; maximal x-ray tube capacity, 800 mA; slice thickness, 5 mm; slice interval, 5 mm; table speed, 40 mm/rotation; pitch, 1; tube voltage, 120 kVp).

Superior mesenteric vein thrombosis after colectomy for inflammatory bowel disease: a not uncommon cause of postoperative acute abdominal pain.

Purpose: Thromboembolism is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in inflammatory bowel disease. Several prothrombotic conditions have been investigated in inflammatory bowel disease. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence of symptomatic postoperative superior mesenteric vein thrombosis in inflammatory bowel disease patients undergoing colonic resections and to identify and characterize their clinical presentation.

Cyclic mechanical stretch inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis in fetal rat lung fibroblasts.

Development of the pulmonary air sacs is crucial for extrauterine survival. Late fetal lung development is characterized by a thinning of the mesenchyme, which brings pneumocytes and endothelial cells into apposition. We hypothesized that mechanical stretch, simulating fetal breathing movements, plays an important role in this remodeling process.

Mechanical stretch promotes alveolar epithelial type II cell differentiation.

Functional maturation of pulmonary alveolar epithelial cells is crucial for extrauterine survival. Mechanical distension and mesenchymal-epithelial interactions play important roles in this process. We hypothesized that mechanical stretch simulating fetal breathing movements is an important regulator of pulmonary epithelial cell differentiation.