[en] Eighteen patients who had fallen or jumped, and who had sustained fractures of the thoracolumbar spine, were examined with high-resolution computed tomography (CT). Two distinctive patterns of fracture were demonstrated: compression, or wedge, fractures of the vertebral body were present in seven patients, but they were not associated with permanent neurological deficit; and burst fractures with sagittal cleavage into two fragments occurred in five of 11 patients, and they were associated with permanent neurological deficit. CT provided precise and unique information that aided in clinical decision making for this group of patients

[en] Early stages of hydration in a sodium iodide crystal may cause artifactual ''hot'' spots on thallium-201 heart images. This phenomenon was observed when a mobile gamma camera was used even though the daily quality-control flood-field views revealed no apparent abnormalities. Nevertheless, hot spots were visible on thallium-201 and xenon-133 flood-field images. With asymmetric photopeak positioning using a technetium-99m source, hot spots were noted in addition to phototube nonuniformities. Subsequently, the camera head was disassembled, the crystal was inspected visually, and the crystal seal was found to be broken. Hydration of the crystal was confirmed by the camera manufacturer. Quality-control procedures should test for hydration-induced artifacts on a regular basis

[en] Technetium-99m iminodiacetic acid (IDA) cholescintigraphy was performed in 15 patients with acute acalculous cholecystitis. Fourteen of the 15 patients with acute disease had positive findings, indicating the presence of cystic duct or common duct obstruction. One case in which the gallbladder was visualized failed to respond to sincalide stimulation; this was classified as a suggestive finding of disease. The diagnostic accuracy of ⁹⁹/sup m/Tc-IDA cholescintigraphy was far superior to the other imaging studies used (8 sonograms, 1 intravenous cholangiogram, 3 oral cholecystograms, 1 percutaneous transhepatic cholangiogram). The ⁹⁹/sup m/Tc-IDA study is recommended as the imaging procedure of choice for examining patients with suspected acute acalculous cholecystitis

[en] Numerous CT performance-evaluation procedures have been described in the literature, but they are generally unsuitable for routine quality-assurance (QA) testing. This report describes the QA test protocol performed at two institutions. The protocol is comprehensive and practical to perform on a routine basis. Test data demonstrate that clinically signficant changes in CT scanner performance do occur, and that this protocol is capable of detecting these changes

[en] Six healthy individuals and six patients with a wide range of hepatobiliary function abnormalities were studied with Tc-99m-trimethylbromo-IDA; all normal subjects and four of the six patients were also studied with Tc-99m-diisopropyl-IDA. Visual evaluation of analog images demonstrated a greater liver-to-kidney ratio for Tc-99m-trimethylbromo-IDA (p<0.01). Sampling for radiopharmaceutical in urine at three hours following injection demonstrated the Tc-99m-trimethylbromo-IDA had a lower renal excretion rate than Tc-99m-diisopropyl-IDA regardless of whether hepatocyte function was normal or abnormal (p<0.01). There were no significant differences between the two radiopharmaceuticals in hepatocyte extraction efficiency or hepatic parenchymal transit time. It is concluded that the lower rate of renal excretion and, therefore, greater hepatocyte specificity of Tc-99m-trimethylbromo-IDA justifies expanded clinical trials and may make it the radiopharmaceutical of choice for hepatobiliary imaging

[en] Twenty-eight patients with progressive myasthenia gravis without thymoma received treatment of 3000 rads (30 Gy) to the anterior mediastinum, and a followup was conducted for five to 18 years. Twenty-four patients had generalized myasthenia, and four had ocular myasthenia gravis. Twenty patients with generalized myasthenia survived the several month post-treatment period and improved, but four died during that period. The improvement lasted a median of 1.5 years, and older patients had longer remissions than younger patients. The four patients who had ocular myasthenia did not change after treatment. Mediastinal irradiation produces a temporary remission in generalized myasthenia

[en] Scintigrams of the leg were obtained following antecubital venous injection of ⁹⁹/sup m/Tc-sulfur colloid (SC) in 25 patients with suspected deep venous thrombosis. Contrast venograms were taken following the scan in all cases. Of 44 patients with confirmed deep venous thrombosis, 11 had positive scans. Of 11 patients with normal venograms, 10 had negative scintigrams. The simplicity of ⁹⁹/sup m/Tc-SC venography and its high rate of accuracy (84% in this series) suggest that it may be useful as a relatively noninvasive means of identifying deep venous thrombosis of the leg

[en] Two hundred patients with testicular tumor were examined by computed tomography (CT), lymphography, and phlebography of the inferior vena cava and left renal and testicular veins. Metastases were demonstrated in 71. CT was positive in 66, lymphography in 60, phlebography in 53, and a combination of lymphography and phlebography in 65. CT was particularly helpful in studying the upper retroperitoneal space and defining the extent of tumor. Lymphography was preferable for demonstrating metastases in non-enlarged, contrastfilled nodes. Phlebography was never the only positive examination and is not recommended as a routine procedure, though it may be helpful in planning surgery. The authors suggest that CT be performed first, followed by lymphography in negative or equivocal cases

[en] Video-printer (VP) images of 24 abnormal views from a body CT scanner were made. Although the physical quality of printer images was poor, a group of radiologists and clinicians found that VP images are adequate to confirm the lesion described in the radiology report. The VP images can be used as secondary images, and they can be attached to a report as a part of the radiology service to increase communication between radiologists and clinicians and to prevent the loss of primary images from the radiology file

[en] Tantalum-178 (¹⁷⁸Ta) is compared with technetium-99m (⁹⁹/sup m/Tc) as an imaging agent to be used with Anger and multicrystal cameras in first-pass cardiac studies