Chemotherapy-associated liver morphological changes in hepatic metastases (CALMCHeM).

Purpose: To review imaging findings in chemotherapy-associated liver morphological changes in hepatic metastases (CALMCHeM) on computed tomography (CT)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and its association with tumor burden.

Methods: We performed a retrospective chart review to identify patients with hepatic metastases who received chemotherapy and subsequent follow-up imaging where CT or MRI showed morphological changes in the liver. The morphological changes searched for were nodularity, capsular retraction, hypodense fibrotic bands, lobulated outline, atrophy or hypertrophy of segments or lobes, widened fissures, and one or more features of portal hypertension (splenomegaly/venous collaterals/ascites).

Identifying and Managing Patients with Elevated Breast Cancer Risk Presenting for Screening Mammography.

Background: Identifying the prevalence and management of patients at high-risk for breast cancer can improve resource utilization and provide individualized screening strategies.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify the prevalence of high-risk patients in our institution who presented for screening mammography and to understand how they utilized downstream resources offered to them.

Materials And Methods: This single institution retrospective study utilized the Tyrer-Cuzick risk assessment model to provide lifetime risk of breast cancer of patients presenting for screening mammography over a one-year period.

Thyroid Ultrasound: Diffuse and Nodular Disease.

Thyroid ultrasound with gray-scale and color Doppler is the most helpful imaging modality to differentiate normal thyroid parenchyma from diffuse or nodular thyroid disease by evaluating glandular size, echogenicity, echotexture, margins, and vascularity. The various causes of diffuse thyroid disease often have overlapping sonographic imaging features. Thyroid nodules may be hyperplastic or neoplastic, with most due to benign hyperplastic changes in architecture and benign follicular adenomas; only a small percentage are malignant.

Prophylactic Intravenous Access: Is It Necessary for Renal Transplant Biopsies?

Introduction: Percutaneous renal transplant biopsies have long been a safe and effective procedure with bleeding being the most common significant complication. Only a few studies, however, have addressed the need for intravenous access prior to the procedure.

Objectives: We postulate that the number of patients requiring intravenous resuscitation after a routine renal transplant biopsy is sufficiently low enough to prove that eliminating pre-procedural peripheral IV placement will have no negative impact on patient safety and could improve departmental efficiency.

A Large Cohort Study of 18F Fluoro-Deoxy-Glucose Uptake in Normal Spinal Cord: Quantitative Assessment of the Contamination From Adjacent Vertebral Marrow Uptake and Validity of Normalizing the Cord Uptake Against the Lumbar Thecal Sac.

Purpose: This study aimed (1) to assess the influence of age, sex, blood glucose, and body mass index on the F fluoro-deoxy-glucose (F-FDG) uptake in normal spinal cord; (2) to quantitatively evaluate contamination of the spinal cord SUVmax by the adjacent vertebral marrow activity; and (3) to investigate the validity of normalizing spinal cord SUVmax against lumbar thecal sac SUVmax.

Methods: Two hundred positron emission tomography-computed tomography examinations of subjects with normal spinal cord were retrospectively reviewed. SUVmax of spinal cord and vertebral body was obtained at C2, C5, T6, T12, and L3 levels.