Is there need for thoracic spine radiographs following a negative chest CT in trauma patients?

The purpose of this study was to assess the need for conventional radiographs of the thoracic spine for routine clearance of trauma patients in whom chest CT has revealed no spinal trauma. The study was in the form of a retrospective review of trauma patients over the previous five years who underwent conventional radiographs of the thoracic spine following a chest CT that revealed no spinal trauma. Two hundred thirty-five trauma patients were found to have undergone conventional thoracic spine series following a chest CT that showed no spinal trauma.

Lumbar disc volume measured by MRI: effects of bed rest, horizontal exercise, and vertical loading.

Background: Nutrition to the cells in the disc is partly dependent on fluid flowing out during the day and flowing in during bed rest. In spaceflight there are little or no such diurnal changes, since the gravitational load is essentially zero.

Hypothesis: The questions we asked were: 1) How much fluid does the disc gain during the night and how quickly does the disc lose fluid during the following day? 2) Is it possible to carry out, in a reasonable amount of time, an exercise regimen on a spacecraft that would be rigorous enough to expel from the disc the equivalent amount of fluid lost during a normal day's activity?

Methods: in five normal subjects, magnetic resonance imaging was used to measure the volume changes (and the corresponding fluid changes) in the lumbar intervertebral discs (L1/L2, L2/L3, L3/L4, L4/L5) before and after a night's bed rest and again at specific intervals during the course of the day while carrying out three different protocols: walking, carrying a backpack, and exercising in a horizontal position.

An in vivo MRI study of the changes in volume (and fluid content) of the lumbar intervertebral disc after overnight bed rest and during an 8-hour walking protocol.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to measure the changes in the volume (and fluid content) of the lumbar intervertebral discs (L1-L2, L2-L3, L3-L4, L4-L5) in five normal subjects. For each subject, MRI scans were taken at the end of a normal day and again on the following morning (after a night's bed rest). Ten further scans were taken during an 8-h protocol consisting of alternate periods of walking (40 min) and scanning (10 min).

Injuries about the knee and tibial/fibular shafts.

Injuries to the knee and tibial/fibular shafts are extremely common, with knee injuries alone accounting for over 1.3 million emergency department visits yearly in the United States. Many of these injuries will present with straightforward radiographic findings, but others will have a subtle or complex appearance.