Meconium pseudocyst secondary to ileal atresia complicated by volvulus: antenatal MR demonstration.

We report a case of meconium pseudocyst evaluated by prenatal MR imaging. The unusual features were its huge size, the absence of meconium peritonitis, and its development late in fetal life. The case also demonstrates a possible diagnostic pitfall since it suggests that rapid deterioration of a mechanically compensated bowel obstruction may occur, potentially occurring only after an MRI study has been performed.

Normal appendix: is there any significant difference in the maximal mural thickness at US between pediatric and adult populations?

Purpose: To evaluate the normal maximal mural thickness (MMT) of the appendix in asymptomatic subjects and determine whether any significant difference in MMT exists between pediatric and adult populations.

Materials And Methods: The MMT of 187 appendices in asymptomatic subjects was measured at sustained-compression ultrasonography (US). The measured MMTs were categorized into three groups according to patient age (39 young children [including infants] aged 1-6 years, 79 older children and adolescents aged 7-15 years, 69 adolescents and adults aged 16-82 years), and the relationships between categoric variables were analyzed by using analysis of variance and the parametric Scheffé test.

[Detection of diseases mimicking acute appendicitis using ultrasonography].

Using the method of graded compression the author examined by ultrasonography a total of 1318 patients with an equivocal clinical finding of acute appendicitis. In patients where finally appendicitis was not verified a wide spectrum of other diseases was detected including gastrointestinal (n = 406), biliary (n = 12), gynaecological (n = 72), urological (n = 12) and other (n = 7) pathological conditions using sonography. Sonography is a useful differential diagnostic modality which makes it possible to visualize diseases which clinically imitate appendicitis.

[Detection of acute appendicitis using ultrasonography].

1318 patients with a clinically equivocal diagnosis of appendicitis were evaluated using graded compression sonography. Sonographic (US) examination could able be performed in 1199 patients. Appendicitis was diagnosed if the appendiceal maximal mural thickness was 3 mm or more, or the appendices presented with luminal dilatation due to a large appendicolith or non-expressible fluid.