Prospective evaluation of ultra-low-dose contrast-enhanced 100-kV abdominal computed tomography with tin filter: effect on radiation dose reduction and image quality with a third-generation dual-source CT system.

Objectives: To investigate the radiation dose exposure, image quality, and diagnostic performance of enhanced 100-kVp abdominopelvic single-energy CT protocol with tin filter (TF).

Methods: Ninety-three consecutive patients referred for a single-phase enhanced abdominopelvic CT were prospectively included after informed consent. They underwent in addition to a standard protocol (SP) an acquisition with TF.

Rectal cancer treatment in a teaching hospital.

Background: Rectal adenocarcinomas surgery morbidity and mortality might be impaired by neoadjuvant therapy. We performed this retropsective study to be compared with the PROCARE study running afterwards.

Methods: We performed a retrospective study of 95 patients operated on for rectal adenocarcinoma in a single institution during the period of 2007-2009.

MR imaging of iron phagocytosis in intraluminal thrombi of abdominal aortic aneurysms in humans.

Purpose: To prospectively determine if superparamagnetic iron oxide (SPIO)-enhanced magnetic resonance (MR) imaging could help visualize leukocyte phagocytic activities in human abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAAs).

Materials And Methods: This study was approved by the institutional ethics committee; all patients gave informed consent. Preoperative MR imaging data, including unenhanced and SPIO-enhanced T1-, T2*-, and T2-weighted transverse images of the entire AAA, obtained 1 hour after contrast enhancement from 15 patients (mean age, 72.

Free-breathing accelerated gadolinium-enhanced MR Angiography in the Diagnosis of Renovascular Disease.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility and accuracy of accelerated free-breathing and breath-hold gadolinium-enhanced MR angiography of the main renal arteries compared with digital subtraction angiography.

Materials And Methods: Renal MR angiograms and catheter angiograms of 47 patients (19 men, 28 women; mean age, 68.1 +/- 15.

Virtual dissection CT colonography: evaluation of learning curves and reading times with and without computer-aided detection.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate the learning curves and reading times of inexperienced readers who used the virtual dissection reading method for retrospective computed tomographic (CT) colonography data sets, with and without concurrent computer-aided detection (CAD).

Materials And Methods: An Institutional Review Board approved this study; informed consent was waived. Four radiologists without experience in CT colonography evaluated 100 optical colonoscopy-proved data sets of 100 patients (49 men, 51 women; mean age, 59 years +/- 13 [standard deviation]; range, 21-85 years) by using the virtual dissection reading method.

Significance of bowel wall abnormalities at ultrasound in Henoch-Schönlein purpura.

Objectives: To describe the polymorphism of intestinal ultrasound findings in children with gastrointestinal symptoms of Henoch Schönlein purpura (HSP) and to investigate the clinical relevance of these findings in terms of symptoms and length of hospitalization.

Patients And Methods: Clinical and ultrasound data from 43 consecutive children with HSP (36 with and 7 without abdominal symptoms) were reviewed. Patients with abdominal symptoms of HSP were divided into 4 groups (0-III) representing at ultrasound normal appearance and differentiated, pseudodifferentiated, and dedifferentiated bowel wall thickening, respectively.

Sonography in wrist tendon pathology.

Wrist tendons may be affected by a variety of pathologic conditions, including those caused by trauma and overuse, inflammatory and metabolic disorders, or infection. Sonography is a very sensitive means of detecting tendinous pathology because of its spatial resolution and its comparative and dynamic capabilities. Its wide availability makes it the preferred first-line imaging modality in the case of wrist pain.