An automated ultrasound transducer beam profiling system.

An automatic, three-dimensional, ultrasound beam profiling system was developed and incorporated into a radiotherapy planning minicomputer system with few modifications and at minimal cost. This profiler was invaluable in assessing the characteristics of beams emitted by ultrasound transducers.

Lymph node metastases from osteoblastic osteogenic sarcoma visible on plain films.

The radiologic features of lymph node metastases from osteogenic sarcoma visible on plain films in two patients are described. In one patient the lymph node ossification was visible on presentation and in the other patient it was demonstrated six months after the initial diagnosis. The radiologic pattern in both cases was similar.

Tissue mimicking materials for ultrasound phantoms.

Up until now, no material has been found whose attenuation and speed of sound properties not only mimic those of human soft tissue, but are controllable in magnitude. We have discovered such a material in the form of water-based pharmaceutical gels containing uniform distributions of graphite powder and known concentrations of alcohol. The magnitude of the attenuation coefficient can be controlled easily between 0.

Applications of catastrophe theory to optometry.

Catastrophe theory, a recently developed area of mathematics, is used to model two aspects of visual behavior. Visual behavior measured in a patient undergoing phorometry and the visual behavior of some patients with anomalous retinal correspondence undergoing the Walraven technique are characterized as catastrophes.

X-ray examination of endoscopy? A blind prospective study including barium meal, double contrast examiniation, and endoscopy of esophagus, stomach, and duodenum.

One hundred and one consecutive patients with upper abdominal dyspepsia were examined by conventional barium meal, double contrast examination, and endoscopy of the stomach and the duodenum in a blind prospective investigation. All the examiners were specially trained. Only small differences between the sensitivity and the specificity of the methods were found, but the clinical importance of the false positive and the false negative errors of the three methods of examination was not the same.

Complications by translumbar aortography.

The complications resulting from different methods of translumbar aortography were evaluated by checking 1192 examinations performed with 1) a cannula, 2) a straight catheter, and 3) a curved catheter. The latter method was found to be far more safe than the other two. According to the complication rates found in the literature the curved catheter translumbar method is also safer than the transaxillar and comparable to transfemoral aortography by the Seldinger method.

The use of tampons for identifying asymptomatic N. gonorrhoeae infections.

Female contacts of males with gonococcal urethritis were screened for asymptomatic infection using self-inserted tampons. Results of cultures were compared with specimens collected with cervical swabs during a pelvic examination. The sequence of collection of specimens was randomized, and specimens were promptly incubated.

Four cases of right-sided bundle-branch block and one case of atrioventricular block in three generations of a family.

Four cases of complete right bundle-branch block and one case of atrioventricular heart block, all occurring within three generations of the same family, are described. The 4 patients with bundle-branch block had no symptoms, whereas the patient with atrioventricular heart block suffered Adams-Stokes attacks from the age of 13 and died at 47 years of age. A 33-year-old man with bundle-branch block had a normal electrocardiogram at the age of 7, suggesting that inherited bundle-branch block does not necessarily manifest itself during the first years of life.