Changes in skeletal muscle and organ size after a weight-loss intervention in overweight and obese type 2 diabetic patients.

Background: The effect of a weight-loss intervention on the masses of lean tissues and organs in humans is not well known.

Objective: We studied the effects of a diet and exercise weight-loss intervention on skeletal muscle (SM) mass and selected organs over 2 y using MRI in overweight adults with type 2 diabetes.

Design: Participants were 53 women and 39 men [mean ± SD: age 58 ± 7 y; body mass index (BMI; in kg/m) 32 ± 3] enrolled in the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) trial and randomly assigned to an intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) or diabetes support and education (DSE) on whom 2 y of data were collected.

Left Ventricular Metastasis from a Primary Pancreatobiliary Tumor.

Metastatic disease to the heart is not uncommon. We describe a case of a man in his 60s with an unusual metastasis to the heart and detail its intracardiac location by means of cardiac computerized tomography (CCT) and transthoracic echocardiography. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a pancreatobiliary tumor metastasizing exclusively to the left ventricle (LV) of the heart.

Multi-Detector Coronary CT Imaging for the Identification of Coronary Artery Stenoses in a "Real-World" Population.

Background: Multi-detector computed tomography (CT) has emerged as a modality for the non-invasive assessment of coronary artery disease (CAD). Prior studies have selected patients for evaluation and have excluded many of the "real-world" patients commonly encountered in daily practice. We compared 64-detector-CT (64-CT) to conventional coronary angiography (CA) to investigate the accuracy of 64-CT in determining significant coronary stenoses in a "real-world" clinical population.

Changes in adipose tissue depots and metabolic markers following a 1-year diet and exercise intervention in overweight and obese patients with type 2 diabetes.

Objective: We aim to characterize the effects on total body fat and distribution of a 1-year intensive lifestyle intervention (ILI) for weight loss in overweight and obese adults with type 2 diabetes and to examine whether changes in adipose tissue (AT) depots were associated with changes in metabolic biomarkers.

Research Design And Methods: Participants were 54 females and 38 males (age 57.8 ± 6.

Skeletal muscle and organ masses differ in overweight adults with type 2 diabetes.

Whether lean body mass (LBM) composition, especially skeletal muscle and abdominal organs, differs in adults with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) compared with nondiabetic healthy controls has not been investigated. A subset of African-American and Caucasian participants with T2DM from the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) trial had body composition assessed and compared with a sample of healthy controls. Skeletal muscle mass (SMM), liver, kidneys, and spleen mass were quantified using a contiguous slice magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol.

Novel computed tomography indexes of left atrial appendage stasis.

Contrast enhanced multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) may detect left atrial appendage (LAA) thrombus; however, its ability to qualify LAA stasis has not been studied. We sought to identify MDCT derived LAA radiographic parameters which could qualify LAA stasis as defined by established transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) parameters. Pre-procedural MDCT followed by TEE (median procedural time difference of 11 days) from 45 patients who underwent ablation for atrial fibrillation were analyzed retrospectively.

Brain and high metabolic rate organ mass: contributions to resting energy expenditure beyond fat-free mass.

Background: The degree to which interindividual variation in the mass of select high metabolic rate organs (HMROs) mediates variability in resting energy expenditure (REE) is unknown.

Objective: The objective was to investigate how much REE variability is explained by differences in HMRO mass in adults and whether age, sex, and race independently predict REE after adjustment for HMRO.

Design: A cross-sectional evaluation of 55 women [30 African Americans aged 48.

Can computed tomography improve outcomes in acute coronary syndrome?

Each year, six million patients in the USA visit the emergency department for acute chest pain. Many patients are hospitalized because immediate discharge of those suspected of acute coronary syndrome could be disastrous. This review looks at whether patient outcomes could be improved by coronary computed tomography angiography.

Isolated subacute effusive and nonconstrictive epicarditis masquerading as a right atrial mass.

Epicarditis (visceral pericardial inflammation) is a very unique and rare diagnosis. It is almost always associated with parietal pericardial involvement and may occur in medical conditions such as viral, bacterial (mycobacterial) infections and uremia or postoperatively in the setting of cardiac surgery. Frequently, no etiology is found.

Smaller organ mass with greater age, except for heart.

Autopsy/cadaver data indicate that many organs and tissues are smaller in the elderly compared with young adults; however, in vivo data are lacking. The aim of this study was to determine whether the mass of specific high-metabolic-rate organs is different with increasing age, using MRI. Seventy-five healthy women (41 African-Americans and 34 Caucasians, age range 19-88 yr) and 36 men (8 African-Americans and 28 Caucasians, age range 19-84 yr) were studied.

Adipose tissue distribution is different in type 2 diabetes.

Background: The extent to which adipose tissue (AT) distribution is different between persons with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and nondiabetic control subjects remains unclear.

Objective: The aim of this study was to establish whether total body adiposity and its distribution, quantified by using state-of-the-art whole-body magnetic resonance imaging, differs between these 2 groups.

Design: This cross-sectional evaluation included 93 participants (n = 56 women and 37 men) in the Look AHEAD (Action for HEAlth in Diabetes) Trial with T2DM who had a mean (+/-SD) age of 58.

Demonstration of left ventricular outflow tract eccentricity by 64-slice multi-detector CT.

Background: Newer three-dimensional imaging technologies provide insight into cardiac shape and geometry from views previously unobtainable. Standard formulae like the continuity equation (CE) that rely on inherent assumptions about left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) shape may need to be revisited. In the CE, small changes in LVOT diameter may significantly change calculated aortic valve area (AVA).