Vesicoureteral reflux after kidney transplantation: clinical significance in the medium to long-term.

103 patients who received a cyclosporine-treated primary cadaver kidney transplant (TX) at our center between 1985 and 1989, whose graft survived for more than 1 year and who accepted to undergo voiding cystography after TX were analyzed and grouped according to the highest grade (regardless to whether active or passive) of vesicourteral reflux (VUR): group 0, absent (n = 14); group 1-2, grade I or II (n = 62); group 3, grade III (n = 27). Patient follow-up ranged from 5 to 10 (median 7) years. Patient and graft survivals and prevalence of hypertension (defined as the persistent need of antihypertensive therapy), did not differ significantly between groups (Mantel-Cox test p: n.

Clinical significance of vesicoureteral reflux after kidney transplantation.

In this study 103 out of our 125 CsA-treated patients who received between January 1985 and December 1989 a first cadaver kidney transplant that functioned for at least one year were studied with voiding cystography (VC) for vesicoureteral reflux (VUR). All patients had an external uretero-neo-cystostomy. VUR occurred in 89 (86.

[The elbow: normal and pathologic patterns].

The elbow is an anatomically complex joint, which is nonetheless quite easy to investigate by means of US thanks to the superficial location and relative abundance of periarticular structures--i.e., tendons, muscles, bursae, vessels and nerve.

[Extrarenal ultrasound and color Doppler: renal artery stenosis].

There is a long term interest in noninvasive Doppler (Duplex Doppler, Color Doppler) methods to screen patients with reno-vascular hypertension resistant to medical therapy. Doppler criteria for the diagnosis of renal artery stenosis in native kidneys vary (peak systolic velocity exceeding 100 cm/sec; RAR (Renal Aortic Ratio) exceeding 3.5; Doppler shift frequency exceeding 6-8 KHz; dampened peripheral waveform; lack of signal in complete occlusion).

[The hypothesis of a diagnostic-prognostic assessment of intestinal invagination with the aim of treatment by echo-guided pneumatic reduction].

The authors investigated the role of US in the diagnostic-prognostic evaluation of enteric intussusception, for the use of US-guided pneumatic reduction (RPEG). In the last 5 years, 59 young patients were examined; 44 of them had clinically suspected enteric intussusception which was confirmed by US. US allowed site and nature of the condition to be demonstrated (sensitivity and specificity: 100%), while supplying helpful predictive prognostic elements as to the extent of intussuscepted loop involvement (predictive prognostic value: 100%).

[The intraoperative echography of malignant hepatic lesions].

IOU (intraoperative ultrasound) is nowadays an indispensable technique for the surgeon to confirm the information collected from preoperative tests or to gain further information that may modify surgical strategy. A series of 350 patients were studied with IOU: in 67 cases the liver was involved, with 23 malignant lesions. In the latter group, 10 lesions were found which had been missed even at palpation; the size of 9 of them could be correctly assessed, which had been overestimated in 8 cases and underestimated in 1 before surgery.

[The echo-guided fine-needle biopsy of thoracic and abdominal masses].

Five hundred and seventy-two US-guided fine-needle biopsies were performed on 561 patients (1.2 puncture/patient); in two cases only minor complications were observed. The patients were 12 to 86 years old--most of them ranging 40 to 75.

[Ultrasonography of the borderline between normal and pathological state of the hip in newborn infants (borderline hip)].

Infant hips are classified, according to Graf, in 4 US types on the basis of the morphologic changes in both the cartilaginous and the bony roofs (type I, II, III, IV). Out of 6,000 examined hips, 170 (2.8%) were considered, which could be classified neither as type I (mature) nor as type II (delayed/immature ossification).

[Utility of the Doppler technique in the uro-nephrologic field].

Doppler techniques (echo Doppler, Color Doppler) may be useful in many urologic and nephrologic applications. Renal vein thrombosis can be determined by discovering a combination of a distended, thrombus-filled renal vein and the absence of detectable flow. The use of Doppler as screening technique for suspected renal artery hypertension remains controversial.

[Diagnostic errors in the echography of the hip in newborns].

Neonatal hip sonography according to Graf employs a standardized image in a frontal section plane ("3-point system") and a good scanner adjustment (the femoral head must be anechoic, like the hyaline cartilage roof triangle). Pathologic conditions can change some of these parameters. The authors examined 6,000 neonatal hips in order to point out the commonest causes of diagnostic error.

[Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of the normal mediastinum].

Magnetic Resonance (MR) cross sectional images of the normal mediastinum are presented and discussed. In normal subjects most mediastinal structures visible on Computed Tomography (CT) are also visible using MR. The primary advantages of MR over CT in the evaluation of mediastinum are the greater soft tissues contrast resolution, the multiplanar (axial, coronal and sagittal) display of the mediastinal anatomy and its ability to distinguish vascular from nonvascular structures without injection of contrast media.

[White and black in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). Impulse sequences and their significance in the NMR image].

In order to understand how pulse sequences affect what is black and what is white in Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) images, the tissue parameters (proton density; relaxation times T1 and T2) are related to the operator selectable controls (type of pulse sequence; repetition time TR; interpulse delay TI; echo delay TE). The pulse sequences "Saturation Recovery"; "Inversion Recovery"; "Spin Echo" are discussed. The authors also analyze the effect of flowing blood on NMR images.