This report describes the diagnostic workup of a case of a pseudoaneurysm of the heart resulting from Staphylococcal pericarditis and/or abscesses of the myocardium. The pericardial effusion and myocardial abscesses were detected on 2D echocardiography and computed tomography. The resulting pseudoaneurysm could be demonstrated on magnetic resonance imaging and color Doppler ultrasound, and confirmed by left ventriculography. Color-encoded Doppler ultrasound alone would have provided the definitive diagnosis of the aneurysm.

Abscess↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Counting ribs on chest CT.

Explore the source record for details and available documents.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Primary extraosseous pulmonary osteogenic sarcoma: CT findings.

This is a report of a primary extraosseous osteogenic sarcoma of the lung. The patient presented with fever and productive cough. Chest radiography and CT showed a cavitary lesion with an air-fluid level. The lesion was treated as an abscess. Despite aggressive antibiotic therapy and drainage, the patient continued to deteriorate rapidly. At autopsy the lesion was found to be a primary extraosseous pulmonary osteogenic sarcoma.

Diagnosis, Differential↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Normal position of trachea and anterior junction line on CT.

OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: In unilateral diseases of the chest accompanied by either volume loss or expansion there is mediastinal shift and mediastinal "herniation" of one lung into the opposite hemithorax. This may also be accompanied by changes in the size of the hemithoraces. Although early detection of these changes may be difficult on chest radiography, one can detect all these changes on CT with greater ease. Since the normal range of position of the mediastinal structures on CT and the symmetry of the hemithoraces have not been studied before, we conducted a prospective study of normal chest CT to define the range of position of the trachea and the anterior junction line, as well as the normal range of differences in the parasagittal diameters of the two hemithoraces. RESULTS: The trachea was < or = 1.6 cm to the right and 0.7 cm to the left of midline; the anterior junction line was < or = 1 cm to the right and 2 cm to the left. The hemithoraces were asymmetric in 84%, with the difference in the parasagittal diameters of the two hemithoraces < or = 1.5 cm. CONCLUSION: These data may help radiologists detect subtle mediastinal shifts and asymmetry in patients with unilateral pleural or pulmonary disease.

Humans↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Dual kV CT to detect calcification in solitary pulmonary nodule.

OBJECTIVE: At the high kVp values used in CT scanning, almost all interactions in soft tissues occur by Compton scattering. By lowering the kVp close to the k-edge of calcium, beam attenuation by calcium will be greater and will be reflected as an increase in density reading (DR). The presence of calcification in solitary pulmonary nodules (SPNs), and thus an implied benign etiology, is currently being diagnosed on CT by using reference phantoms. We explored the possibility of utilizing low kVp (i.e., 80 kVp) to detect the presence of such calcification in SPNs, thus obviating the need for expensive and cumbersome reference phantoms. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We first tested this phenomenon of photoelectric interaction by CT and its effect on DRs by scanning various dilutions of calcium bicarbonate solution at the standard 140 kVp and at a lower, 80 kVp, setting. After confirming the hypothesis, we conducted a prospective clinical study of 27 consecutive SPNs and scanned them at 140 and 80 kVp to detect the presence of calcification by measuring their DRs at both kVp values. RESULTS: All calcium solutions showed an increase in DR on the 80 kVp scan. Of the 27 nodules, 11 (41%) showed an increase in DR, suggesting the presence of calcification: 10 (91%) were benign, and 1 (9%) was malignant. CONCLUSION: Our study demonstrates that dual kVp CT could be reliably used to identify calcifications in SPNs, very similar to the use of the reference phantoms currently being applied for the purpose.

Calcinosis↗