Six-month outcomes from a randomized controlled trial of minimally invasive SI joint fusion with triangular titanium implants vs conservative management.

Purpose: To compare the safety and effectiveness of minimally invasive sacroiliac joint fusion (SIJF) using triangular titanium implants vs conservative management (CM) in patients with chronic sacroiliac joint (SIJ) pain.

Methods: 103 adults with chronic SIJ pain at nine sites in four European countries were randomly assigned to and underwent either minimally invasive SIJF using triangular titanium implants (N = 52) or CM (N = 51). CM was performed according to the European guidelines for the diagnosis and management of pelvic girdle pain and consisted of optimization of medical therapy, individualized physical therapy (PT) and adequate information and reassurance as part of a multifactorial treatment.

In vivo evidence by magnetic resonance volumetry of a gestational age dependent response to tracheal occlusion for congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Objective: We aimed to assess in vivo changes in lung and liver volumes in fetuses with isolated congenital diaphragmatic hernia, either expectantly managed or treated in utero.

Method: This is a secondary analysis of prospectively collected data at two fetal therapy centers. We used archived magnetic resonance images of fetuses taken ≥7 days apart, creating paired observations in 20 expectantly managed cases, 41 with a second magnetic resonance prior to balloon reversal and 64 after balloon removal.

Correlation of observed-to-expected total fetal lung volume with intrathoracic organ herniation on magnetic resonance imaging in fetuses with isolated left-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia.

Objectives: To assess using fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) the relationship between the position of the stomach as well as the volume of herniation of organs into the thorax, and the observed-to-expected total fetal lung volume (o/e-TFLV), as a measure of pulmonary hypoplasia, in fetuses with isolated left-sided congenital diaphragmatic hernia (LCDH).

Methods: This was a single-center retrospective study using archived MR images from fetuses > 20 weeks' gestation evaluated for isolated LCDH over an 11-year period between July 2002 and September 2013. We retrieved data on the gestational age at MRI, o/e-TFLV and liver position.

Three-dimensional venography of the brain with a volumetric interpolated sequence.

Informed consent was obtained from all patients before participation; study was approved by institutional review board. Three-dimensional (3D) gradient-echo magnetic resonance sequences can be optimized for rapid acquisition through asymmetric k-space sampling and interpolation of image data. A T1-weighted volumetric interpolated brain examination sequence (acquisition time, 1 minute 24 seconds) was prospectively compared qualitatively and quantitatively with magnetization-prepared rapid acquisition gradient-echo sequence (acquisition time, 6 minutes 6 seconds) for venography of cerebral venous structures in 21 female and seven male consecutive patients (mean age, 52.