Using ultrasound to visualize the lingual nerve.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of ultrasonography in visualizing the lingual nerve, calculating its distance from the lingual cortex at the area of the third molar, and in detecting injuries.

Materials And Methods: Using a standardized protocol, lingual nerve dissections were performed in Yorkshire pig cadaver heads. After nerve isolation was confirmed, the nerve was left intact, fully transected, or partially transected.

Three- and 4-dimensional ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology: proceedings of the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine Consensus Conference.

The American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine convened a panel of physicians and scientists with interest and expertise in 3-dimensional (3D) ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology to discuss the current diagnostic benefits and technical limitations in obstetrics and gynecology and consider the utility and role of this type of imaging in clinical practice now and in the future. This conference was held in Orlando, Florida, June 16 and 17, 2005. Discussions considered state-of-the-art applications of 3D ultrasound, specific clinical situations in which it has been found to be helpful, the role of 3D volume acquisition for improving diagnostic efficiency and patient throughput, and recommendations for future investigations related to the utility of volume sonography in obstetrics and gynecology.

Intraoperative US in patients undergoing surgery for liver neoplasms: comparison with MR imaging.

Purpose: To retrospectively compare intraoperative ultrasonography (US) and preoperative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with contrast material enhancement for the depiction of liver lesions in patients undergoing hepatic resection.

Materials And Methods: A radiologist (D.V.

Haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets syndrome: ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging findings in the liver.

We describe the imaging findings of the HELLP (haemolysis, elevated liver enzymes and low platelets) syndrome in a gravid 36-year-old-woman who presented at 19.5 weeks gestation with severe right upper quadrant pain. Ultrasound findings suggested a focal hyperechoic liver lesion suggesting pregnancy-related hepatopathy prior to development of biochemical signs of HELLP syndrome.

A comparison of verbal and written language in Alzheimer's disease.

Unlabelled: Few studies have examined characteristics of both verbal and written language of individuals with Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study used parallel measures (picture description, word fluency, spelling to dictation, and confrontational naming) to compare verbal and written language of individuals with mild AD, moderate AD, and normal controls (14 participants per group). Goals were to determine whether verbal/written differences would be exhibited within groups, and to identify measures sensitive to the effects of mild AD.

Recurrent abdominal and pelvic abscesses: incidence, results of repeated percutaneous drainage, and underlying causes in 956 drainages.

Objective: We undertook this study to determine the incidence and results of repeated (secondary) percutaneous abscess drainage performed on recurrent abscesses after successful initial (primary) percutaneous abscess drainage.

Materials And Methods: Imaging studies from patients who underwent multiple drainages were reviewed to define a cohort of patients who underwent secondary percutaneous abscess drainage after successful initial percutaneous abscess drainage of the same abscess. Medical records of these patients were then reviewed to assess the results of secondary percutaneous abscess drainage.

Ultrasound: assessment of the distraction osteogenesis wound in patients undergoing mandibular lengthening.

Purpose: Common methods of assessment of the clinical distraction osteogenesis (DO) wound consist of serial physical examinations, plain radiographs, and computed tomography (CT). Ultrasound (US) is an inexpensive and efficient method of imaging that provides detailed assessment of bone formation across a defect. It has proved to be useful for the evaluation of long bone DO healing.

Sonohysterography.

Sonohysterography can distinguish focal from diffuse pathology reliably and has become a crucial imaging test in the triage of PMB and in premenopausal patients with dysfunctional uterine bleeding or infertility. Polyps and submucosal fibroids are the most common focal findings during SHG. In postmenopausal patients, detection and accurate localization of findings, rather than lesion characterization, are the primary goals of the procedure.

Comparison between low (3:1) and high (6:1) pitch for routine abdominal/pelvic imaging with multislice computed tomography.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to compare the performance of low helical pitch acquisition (3:1) and high helical pitch acquisition (6:1) for routine abdominal/pelvic imaging with multislice computed tomography (CT).

Method: Three hundred eighty-four patients referred for abdominal/pelvic CT were examined in a breath-hold on a multislice CT scanner (LightSpeed QX/I; General Electric Medical Systems, Milwaukee, WI). Patients were randomized and scanned with pitch of 3:1 or 6:1 using a constant 140 peak kV and 280-300 mA.

Use of ultrasound to assess healing of a mandibular distraction wound.

Purpose: A standardized, noninvasive technique to assess healing of the mandibular distraction wound is not available. Current methods include clinical examination, plain radiography, and computed tomography. These imaging techniques are expensive and obligate the patient to serial radiation exposure.

Sonohysterographic findings of endometrial and subendometrial conditions.

Sonohysterography has become the standard test in the evaluation of dysfunctional uterine and postmenopausal bleeding because it allows reliable differentiation between focal and diffuse endometrial and subendometrial lesions, with the most common being polyps and submucosal fibroids. An endometrial polyp usually appears as a well-defined, homogeneous, polypoid lesion that is isoechoic to the endometrium with preservation of the endometrial-myometrial interface. Atypical polyps have cystic components, multiplicity, a broad base, and hypoechogenicity or heterogeneity.

Percutaneous abscess drainage in Crohn disease: technical success and short- and long-term outcomes during 14 years.

Purpose: To determine technical success with percutaneous abscess drainage (PAD) in patients with Crohn disease during 14 years.

Materials And Methods: Medical records of 32 patients with Crohn disease who underwent PAD from 1985 to 1999 were reviewed. Results of abscess drainage and nature of subsequent surgical procedures were recorded.

Cystic lymph node metastases in papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Objective: The aim of this study was to illustrate and discuss the sonographic spectrum of surgically proven cystic nodal metastases from papillary thyroid carcinoma. By correlative evaluation of the sonographic imaging findings to gross pathology and histology, our purpose was to provide useful hints to differentiate cystic lymph node metastases from other benign cystic neck lesions such as branchial cysts.

Materials And Methods: Sonographic examinations of 74 patients (47 women, 27 men; mean age, 49 years) with 97 histologically confirmed cystic lymph nodes metastases from papillary thyroid carcinoma were included in the study.