Iterative reconstruction technique with reduced volume CT dose index: diagnostic accuracy in pediatric acute appendicitis.

Background: Iterative reconstruction technique has been proposed as a means of reducing patient radiation dose in pediatric CT. Yet, the effect of such reductions on diagnostic accuracy has not been thoroughly evaluated.

Objective: This study compares accuracy of diagnosing pediatric acute appendicitis using contrast-enhanced abdominopelvic CT scans performed with traditional pediatric weight-based protocols and filtered back projection reconstruction vs.

Alveolar soft part sarcoma: unusual etiology of mediastinal mass in an adolescent.

Alveolar soft part sarcoma (ASPS) is a rare malignancy that usually arises in an extremity. Mediastinal involvement is uncommon, with only two reports of primary mediastinal disease and two reports of metastatic mediastinal disease in the literature, all referencing adult patients. To our knowledge, ours is the first report of ASPS presenting with a mediastinal mass in adolescence.

Size-appropriate radiation doses in pediatric body CT: a study of regional community adoption in the United States.

Background: During the last decade, there has been a movement in the United States toward utilizing size-appropriate radiation doses for pediatric body CT, with smaller doses given to smaller patients.

Objective: This study assesses community adoption of size-appropriate pediatric CT techniques. Size-specific dose estimates (SSDE) in pediatric body scans are compared between community facilities and a university children's hospital that tailors CT protocols to patient size as advocated by Image Gently.

Inadequate internal mammary artery graft as a cause of postoperative ischemia: incidence, diagnosis and management.

Inadequate left internal mammary artery (LIMA) graft to the left anterior descending artery (LAD) was encountered in 10 of 3,076 patients between 1984 and July 1990. The mean number of bypass grafts was 2.9 per patient.

The value of thermography in the early diagnosis of postoperative sternal wound infections.

Peristernal skin temperatures were recorded postoperatively by infrared thermography in 150 patients. Persistent elevation of peristernal skin temperature during the 3rd and 4th post-operative week was found in 5 patients, all of whom developed sternal wound infection. A further group of 18 patients, all suspected to have occult wound infection, showed persistent temperature elevation in 7 patients, 6 of these patients were proven later to have manifest infection and needed treatment.