Understanding spatial relationships in US: a computer-based training tool that utilizes inexpensive off-the-shelf game controllers.

The authors present a simulation-based ultrasonographic (US) training tool that can help improve the understanding of spatial relationships in US. Use of a game controller to simulate a US probe allows examination of different virtual three-dimensional (3D) objects. These 3D objects are either completely artificial simple geometric objects (eg, spheres, tubes, and ellipsoids, or more complex combinations thereof) or derived from photographed gross anatomic data (eg, the Visible Human dataset [U.

Determinants of second-order bile duct visualization at CT cholangiography in potential living liver donors.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to investigate the determinants of second-order bile duct visualization at CT cholangiography in living potential liver donors.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively identified 143 potential living liver donors (83 men and 60 women; mean age, 37 years) evaluated with CT cholangiography, which included a slow infusion of iodipamide meglumine with CT acquisition 15 minutes after biliary contrast agent administration. Two readers independently scored the visualization of the second-order bile duct branches on a previously established 4-point scale (0 = not seen, 1 = faintly seen, 2 = well seen, and 3 = excellent visualization).

Renegotiating expertise: an examination of PACS and the challenges to radiology using a medical anthropologic approach.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to examine how the adoption of PACS has affected the professional relationships among radiologists and referring providers and to evaluate the effect of PACS on perceptions of radiologists' roles in patient care.

Methods: A medical anthropologic approach was used to assess the impact of PACS among radiologists and a community of clinical subspecialists at a large academic medical center (n = 40). Data collection techniques included 3 months of ethnographic participant observation during the routine medical practice of study participants as well as semistructured interviews and archival research.

Evaluation of potential outcome predictors in type II Endoleak: a retrospective study with CT angiography feature analysis.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to investigate which CT features of type II endoleaks following abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) endoluminal stent-graft repair can be used to predict clinical outcome.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively identified 59 patients with type II endoleak after endovascular repair of an AAA with CT of the abdomen and pelvis. Patients were stratified into two groups: those who did (n = 23) and those who did not (n = 35) require reintervention.

Comparison of traditional methods with 3D computer models in the instruction of hepatobiliary anatomy.

This study was designed to determine whether an interactive three-dimensional presentation depicting liver and biliary anatomy is more effective for teaching medical students than a traditional textbook format presentation of the same material. Forty-six medical students volunteered for participation in this study. Baseline demographic information, spatial ability, and knowledge of relevant anatomy were measured.

Evaluation of diffuse liver steatosis by ultrasound, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging: which modality is best?

Purpose: To compare ultrasound, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) determination of diffuse liver steatosis.

Materials And Methods: Quantification of liver steatosis on ultrasound, CT, and MRI was correlated with histopathology in 67 patients.

Results: Opposed-phase MRI demonstrated the highest correlation with steatosis (0.

CT cholangiography in potential liver donors: effect of premedication with intravenous morphine on biliary caliber and visualization.

Purpose: To retrospectively determine whether premedication with intravenously administered morphine improves bile duct caliber and visualization in potential liver donors undergoing computed tomographic (CT) cholangiography.

Materials And Methods: This was a retrospective single institution study approved by the institutional review board and compliant with requirements of the HIPAA. Multidetector CT cholangiography was performed after slow infusion of 20 mL of iodipamide meglumine 52% diluted in 80 mL of normal saline in 143 consecutive potential liver donors (81 men and 62 women; mean age, 37 years); 43 received premedication with intravenous morphine sulfate (0.

Physiology of renal medullary tip hyperattenuation at unenhanced CT: urinary specific gravity and the NaCl concentration gradient.

Purpose: To retrospectively investigate the physiology of renal medullary tip hyperattenuation at unenhanced computed tomography (CT).

Materials And Methods: This retrospective single-institution study was IRB approved and HIPAA compliant. Informed consent was waived.

Accuracy of plain abdominal radiographs in the detection of retained surgical needles in the peritoneal cavity.

Objective: To determine the accuracy of plain abdominal radiographs in the detection of retained surgical needles of varying size in the peritoneal cavity.

Summary Background Data: Accidental retention of surgical foreign bodies in the peritoneal cavity is estimated to occur once in every 1000 to 1500 abdominal operations and early prevention and identification of retained foreign bodies is increasingly important because of mounting public awareness. Most of the existing literature on the imaging detection of surgical foreign bodies has focused on retained sponges, even though retained needles may account for up to 50% of such objects and the true accuracy of plain abdominal radiographs in the detection of retained needles is not well established.

Pregnancy in chronic renal failure: a novel cause of theca lutein cysts at MRI.

We describe the MRI findings of bilateral ovarian theca lutein cysts in a pregnant patient with chronic renal failure. The recognition that pregnancy in chronic renal failure may result in theca lutein cysts, presumably due to excessive serum beta human chorionic gonadotropins (hCGs) secondary to impaired renal excretion, expands the differential diagnosis for this MRI appearance, in addition to the usual considerations of gestational trophoblastic disease, multiple gestation, and ovarian hyperstimulation.

Recording, editing, archiving, and distributing radiology lectures: a streamlined approach.

Recent advances in digital recording technology have simplified the recording of audio, video, and image information from didactic radiology conferences. Recording lectures in a suitable digital format has several advantages, including the ability to edit lecture content, combine lectures conducted at different times and places, store media digitally, and broadcast conferences electronically over the Internet. An inexpensive, commercially available conversion device was developed that allows straightforward capture and compression of multimedia audiovisual information, thus facilitating the use of this information by the conference presenter as well as the end user.

CT and MRI of congenital anomalies of the seminal vesicles.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to provide a current review of the spectrum of CT and MRI findings seen in common congenital anomalies of the seminal vesicles.

Conclusion: CT and MRI can both accurately show renal and seminal vesicle anomalies. Seminal vesicle anomalies often occur concurrently with renal and vasal defects.

Magnetic resonance imaging of hepatocellular carcinoma mimicking focal nodular hyperplasia: a potential pitfall in patients with cirrhosis?

The magnetic resonance imaging findings in 2 cases of pathologically proven hepatocellular carcinoma that mimicked focal nodular hyperplasia are presented. Both cases were found in patients with cirrhosis, a condition in which focal nodular hyperplasia is unlikely to occur. Recognition that hepatocellular carcinoma may mimic focal nodular hyperplasia in patients with cirrhosis may prevent misdiagnosis and allow for earlier intervention.

Frequency and etiology of midesophageal diverticula at barium esophagography.

Midesophageal diverticula were identified at 8 of 218 (3.6%) esophagrams performed over a 3-year period in adult patients with no prior history of gastroesophageal surgery. All eight patients received a final diagnosis of esophageal dysmotility with secondary pulsion diverticula, and seven of eight (88%) patients had abnormal peristalsis noted during the esophagram.

Risk of injury to adjacent organs with lower-pole fluoroscopically guided percutaneous nephrostomy: evaluation with prone, supine, and multiplanar reformatted CT.

Purpose: To assess the risk of injury to organs near the kidney during lower-pole fluoroscopically guided percutaneous nephrostomy by evaluation of prone, supine, and multiplanar reformatted computed tomography (CT).

Materials And Methods: Eighty-three patients who underwent prone and supine CT examinations were identified retrospectively. The expected path of nephrostomy tube placement to the lower-pole calyx was simulated on prone and supine axial images and multiplanar CT reformations.

Inferior vena cava filling defects on CT and MRI.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to describe the appearance and causes of inferior vena cava (IVC) filling defects, how such findings may be accurately characterized, and the clinical significance of IVC filling defects. Filling defects in the IVC observed at MDCT and MRI may be a result of flow artifacts, anatomic variants, or bland or malignant thrombus.

Conclusion: Familiarity with anatomy and flow effects is critical for distinguishing true from false filling defects in the IVC.

Minor morphologic abnormalities of adrenal glands at CT: prognostic importance in patients with lung cancer.

Purpose: To determine the prognostic importance of minor morphologic abnormalities of the adrenal glands at computed tomography (CT) in patients with lung cancer.

Materials And Methods: The study was approved by the committee on human research; written informed consent was not required. The authors retrospectively identified 197 patients with lung cancer who underwent serial chest or abdominal CT and did not have a focal adrenal mass at baseline CT.

Living donor candidates for right hepatic lobe transplantation: evaluation at CT cholangiography--initial experience.

Purpose: To retrospectively evaluate computed tomographic (CT) cholangiography in the depiction of second-order biliary tract anatomy in living donor candidates for right hepatic lobe transplantation.

Materials And Methods: Human research committee approval was obtained, informed consent was not required, and the study was compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. The authors identified all living right-lobe liver donor candidates who underwent CT cholangiography at their institution between October 2001 (when CT cholangiography was introduced at the institution) and March 2003 (n = 62).

Concordance of second-order portal venous and biliary tract anatomies on MDCT angiography and MDCT cholangiography.

Objective: We sought to investigate the concordance between second-order portal venous and biliary tract anatomies using MDCT angiography and MDCT cholangiography.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively identified 56 living related potential liver donors who underwent both MDCT angiography and MDCT cholangiography. Two reviewers independently rated axial images and 3D reconstructions of MDCT angiograms and cholangiograms as diagnostic or nondiagnostic with respect to depiction of second-order portal venous and biliary tract anatomies.

Small hypoattenuating hepatic lesions at contrast-enhanced CT: prognostic importance in patients with breast cancer.

Purpose: To retrospectively determine the prognostic importance of small hypoattenuating hepatic lesions at contrast material-enhanced computed tomography (CT) in patients with breast cancer.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective study was approved by the committee on human research. Written informed consent was not required.

Use of CT cholangiography to evaluate the biliary tract after liver transplantation: initial experience.

Evaluation of the biliary tract after liver transplantation, particularly when a Roux-en-Y hepatojejunostomy precludes endoscopic retrograde cholangiography, may be challenging. We present five cases of suspected biliary obstruction after liver transplantation in which multidetector-row computed tomography (CT) cholangiography was used. In conclusion, it was determined that multidetector-row CT cholangiography may be a useful modality for demonstrating patent biliary-enteric anastomoses and excluding flow-limiting biliary anastomotic strictures.

Atypical cases of gallstone ileus evaluated with multidetector computed tomography.

Objective: To describe the multidetector computed tomography (CT) findings in 3 patients with atypical gallstone ileus.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated computed radiography and CT images from three cases of surgically proven gallstone ileus. Two radiologists evaluated by consensus all images for the presence of ectopic gallstone, small bowel obstruction, intrahepatic pneumobilia, cholecystic pneumobilia.

Intrahepatic portal-to-portal venous shunts in cirrhosis: a potential mimic of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Two intrahepatic portal-to-portal venous shunts demonstrated at computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound in a 40-year-old woman with cirrhosis are described. The shunts appeared as hypervascular hepatic foci on CT, simulating multifocal hepatocellular carcinoma. Follow-up multiphase CT with multiplanar reformation and Doppler ultrasound confirmed the correct diagnosis.

Computed tomography of corpus luteal cysts.

Objective: To describe the computed tomography (CT) features of corpus luteal cysts.

Methods: We retrospectively identified 10 patients with a diagnosis of corpus luteal cysts established by ultrasound who had also undergone contemporaneous CT. A single attending radiologist, without knowledge of other clinical or radiologic findings, recorded the morphologic features of the cysts based on the CT images.

Biliary tract depiction in living potential liver donors: comparison of conventional MR, mangafodipir trisodium-enhanced excretory MR, and multi-detector row CT cholangiography--initial experience.

Purpose: To compare biliary tract depiction in living potential liver donors at conventional magnetic resonance (MR), mangafodipir trisodium-enhanced excretory MR, and multi-detector row computed tomographic (CT) cholangiography.

Materials And Methods: Eight living potential liver donors underwent iodipamide meglumine-enhanced CT cholangiography. Eight different potential liver donors then underwent conventional MR cholangiography and mangafodipir trisodium-enhanced excretory MR cholangiography.