Comparatively new in the roentgen evaluation of infants and children, xerography would appear to be ideal for portraying the pediatric airway. Since the radiation dose of xerography is higher than conventional radiography, its image quality is the subject of careful scrutiny in a pediatric setting here described in 23 infants and children with tracheostomies. In this appraisal three pediatric radiologists independently compared each child's xeroradiograph with an accepted control, conventional radiography. The principal conclusion: the xerographic image of the pediatric airway is slightly superior to standard radiography in most studies (40 of 47 paired studies, 85.1%). In all but two comparisons, however, the tracheal morphology is correctly perceived, described, and interpreted in both the standard radiograph and the xeroradiograph. The main role of xerography, then, is its verification of tracheal detail as first depicted by the preliminary radiography. This confirmation is important in this particular pediatric problem, the tracheostomy, which has inherent difficulties in correct roentgen diagnosis.

Airway Obstruction↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Milk-of-calcium hydronephrosis in patients with paraplegia and urinary-enteric diversion: CT demonstration.

The CT demonstration of milk of calcium occurring in hydronephrosis is described in four patients each of whom had a urinary-enteric diversion because of paraplegia. In each case CT showed a fluid-fluid interface of urine over milk of calcium in a dilated urinary collecting system. This condition cannot be definitively diagnosed from enhanced scans since a contrast-urine level may have a similar appearance. The incidence of milk-of-calcium hydronephrosis may be underestimated, as the density of the milk of calcium is often insufficient for the condition to be detected by plain radiography.

Adolescent↗