Informing patients about risks and benefits of radiology examinations: a review article.

Communicating the risks, benefits, and alternatives to a planned medical intervention is integral to high-quality patient care. When effective, such communication promotes patient autonomy, alleviates unfounded patient apprehension, and mitigates medicolegal liability. The topic of medical radiation adds to the usual challenges of effective medical communication some special challenges of its own.

Workers with Libby amphibole exposure: retrospective identification and progression of radiographic changes.

Purpose: To assess how early pleural and/or parenchymal abnormalities consistent with asbestos exposure could be ascertained and to identify factors associated with progression.

Materials And Methods: Informed consent was obtained under an institutional review board-approved protocol. Multiple sequential chest radiographs obtained between 1955 and 2004 in 84 workers exposed to amphiboles associated with vermiculite in the town of Libby, Montana, were studied.

Routine isotropic computed tomography scanning of chest: value of coronal and sagittal reformations.

Objective: We sought to evaluate the usefulness of coronal and sagittal reformations from isotropic chest computed tomography (CT) examinations.

Methods: A total of 30 chest CT examinations were reconstructed into 2 sets of axial source images: 0.9-mm slice width with 0.

Radiology of community-acquired pneumonia.

This article reviews the radiographic appearance of common community-acquired pneumonia. Included are the common bacterial pneumonias, tuberculosis, fungal pneumonia, pneumocystis pneumonia, and viral pneumonias. The various radiographic appearances and the clues for differentiating the pneumonias are discussed.

Suspected acute pulmonary embolism: evaluation with multi-detector row CT versus digital subtraction pulmonary arteriography.

Purpose: To determine diagnostic accuracy of four-channel multi-detector row computed tomography (CT) in emergency room and inpatient populations suspected of having acute pulmonary embolism (PE) who prospectively underwent both CT and pulmonary arteriography (PA).

Materials And Methods: Patients referred for PA to assess suspected PE were eligible. Institutional review board approval and written informed consent were obtained.

Current practices in evaluating radiology residents, faculty, and programs: results of a survey of radiology residency program directors.

Rationale And Objectives: We surveyed program directors to determine current radiology program practices in evaluating their residents, faculty, and program.

Materials And Methods: In January 2003, a 52-item Web-based survey was made available to program directors of accredited core radiology programs. Responses to the items were tabulated to determine relative frequency distribution.

Lung tumor growth: assessment with CT--comparison of diameter and cross-sectional area with volume measurements.

Purpose: To compare diameter and cross-sectional area measurements with volume measurements in the assessment of lung tumor growth with serial computed tomography (CT).

Materials And Methods: Patients with lung cancer who underwent at least one pair of chest CT examinations 25 or more days apart before treatment and with a tumor size of T1 (< or =3-cm diameter) at the initial CT examination were identified. A total of 63 patients (62 men, one woman) who underwent 93 pairs of CT examinations were included.

Effect of varying CT section width on volumetric measurement of lung tumors and application of compensatory equations.

Purpose: To determine how volume measurements of simulated and clinical lung tumors at standard computed tomographic (CT) lung window and level settings vary with section width and to derive and apply compensatory equations.

Materials And Methods: Spherical simulated tumors of varying diameters were imaged with varying CT section widths, the images were displayed on a workstation, the cross-sectional area of the tumor on each section was measured by using elliptical and perimeter methods, and the areas were integrated to compute tumor volume. The actual and measured tumor volumes for differing section widths and tumor diameters were compared, and compensatory equations were derived.

Assessing radiology resident reporting skills.

Purpose: To develop an Objective Structured Clinical Examination for assessing the reporting skills of radiology residents.

Materials And Methods: The approach used in this study derives from performance-based assessment, that is, tests in which actual performance of a skill is observed and measured. For this task, 29 radiology residents and five faculty members (n = 34) independently dictated reports regarding a set of 20 cases with radiographs in 1 hour.

Fat-containing lesions of the chest.

Although most lesions that occur in the chest have a nonspecific soft-tissue appearance, fat-containing lesions are occasionally encountered at cross-sectional computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging. The various fat-containing lesions of the chest include parenchymal and endobronchial lesions such as hamartoma, lipoid pneumonia, and lipoma. Endobronchial hamartoma usually appears at CT as a lesion with a smooth edge, focal collections of fat, or fat collections that alternate with foci of calcification.

Volumetric growth rate of stage I lung cancer prior to treatment: serial CT scanning.

Purpose: To determine the range of growth rates of stage I lung cancers prior to treatment by using volumetric measurement at serial chest computed tomographic (CT) examinations.

Materials And Methods: The study population comprised 50 patients who underwent two CT examinations at 25-day or greater intervals. Tumor craniocaudal length and cross-sectional diameters and perimeters were used to volumetrically model each tumor in three ways (spherical, elliptical, perimeter).

Transesophageal Echocardiographic Detection of Malignant Lymphoma.

Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is an excellent method for visualizing pathology of the mediastinum. We present a case in which TEE detected an unsuspected lymphoma posterior to the descending thoracic aorta in a man suspected of having endocarditis. This case illustrates the advantages of TEE over transthoracic echocardiography in examining the mediastinum and the importance of performing a complete TEE examination.