Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S R Cho.
Undigested vegetable matter may reach the colon intact and be discovered on barium-enema examination. The authors demonstrate several examples of filling defects in the colon caused by vegetable matter. The characteristic shape and corresponding dietary history should allow for an appropriate diagnosis.
Dilatation of stenotic esophageal lesions containing diverticula has not been previously addressed in the literature. We report a case of successful dilatation. With increased intraluminal pressures, there is an increased risk of esophageal rupture in this situation. We suggest that dilatation can be safely done in this situation, and we recommend the use of a Gruntzig balloon catheter because of its unique properties.
We correctly diagnosed seven cases of inflammatory aneurysm of the abdominal aorta preoperatively by computerized tomography (CT) and ultrasonography (US). Excessive thickening of the aneurysmal wall and conspicuous enhancement on CT are the characteristic features that led to the correct diagnosis. Ultrasonographic findings are nonspecific, but US is the screening method of choice. If US shows a sonolucent zone anterior or anterolateral to an atherosclerotic aneurysm, CT should be used to delineate the perivascular abnormalities.
Pulmonary embolism is an uncommon cause of a massive unilateral lung scan perfusion defect; other causes may mimic PE clinically. Angiography may, therefore, be essential for accurate diagnosis.
Cholangiography is a well established method of evaluating the biliary tract, and the typical appearances of the more commonly encountered biliary tract disorders have been well described. There are many pitfalls, however, in the interpretation of cholangiograms that become apparent as large numbers of patients are examined. These pitfalls may be secondary to: congenital anatomic alteration, failure to appreciate normal biliary ductal anatomy, technical errors, and interpretative confusion. Awareness of these pitfalls is emphasized to avoid serious cholangiographic misdiagnosis.
Over the past 7 years, eight patients with splanchnic artery aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms were studied and treated. Transcatheter embolization resulted in occlusion of the lesions in all eight patients. Potentially risky and difficult surgery was avoided completely in four patients. Three patients had elective surgery at a later date when their condition was more stable. The remaining patient had definitive surgery after embolization. Transcatheter embolization should be the initial treatment of choice in splanchnic artery aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms.
Inadvertent injection of contrast medium or tube feedings into the wrong port of a Miller-Abbott tube can be catastrophic. Four cases are reported, three of which required emergency surgery and two resulted in small-bowel infarction. This complication can easily be avoided if the attending physician and radiologist are aware of the entity.
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We report a patient who sustained a single gunshot wound in the left supraclavicular fossa followed by retrograde venous bullet embolization from the left subclavian or innominate veins to a tributary of the right popliteal vein. We briefly discuss the clinical importance of this occurrence and emphasize the value of venography in the diagnosis of this rare form of missile migration.
We report a patient with a cervical aortic arch diagnosed by thoracic aortography and restudied 12 years later. We also briefly discuss the clinical significance of this rare anomaly of development of the aortic arch.
Bilateral selective embolization of the internal iliac arteries was utilized to control late recurrent post-partum hemorrhage. Angiographic embolization appears to be safe and effective, and giving consideration to its use in patients in similar situations is recommended.
Thirty-four manic patients were randomly assigned to treatment with carbamazepine or lithium. Clinical response was rated over 4 weeks. Twenty-eight patients, 14 in each group, completed the full protocol. Serum levels for both drugs were within the accepted therapeutic range. The overall response to treatment was not significantly different between the two groups. Comparison of individual Clinical Global Impressions, Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale, and Beigel-Murphy Manic State Rating Scale change scores showed a more consistent level of improvement across patients in the lithium-treated group compared to a minority of good responders in the carbamazepine-treated group. The findings suggest that carbamazepine has antimanic potential in specific bipolar patients whose clinical characteristics remain to be clearly defined.
This extensive study of thoracic sarcoidosis calls attention to a number of unusual manifestations of the disease including airway compression, venous obstruction and direct pericardial and myocardial involvement.
A technique is described for angioplasty of the renal arteries using two catheters in a patient with two renal arteries to the left kidney. Injury to the nonstenotic supplemental artery during balloon dilatation of the stenotic main artery was avoided with the use of this technique.
Persistence of the sciatic artery (SA) is a rare vascular anomaly, resulting from lack of regression of an embryonal artery to the lower extremity. Forty-nine cases have been published in the world literature since 1832. The persistent sciatic artery (PSA) is particularly prone to undergo aneurysm formation or atherosclerosis. It originates from the internal iliac artery, courses in close proximity to the sciatic nerve, and provides the main supply to the popliteal artery because a hypoplastic superficial femoral artery (SFA), contributing only collaterals to the knees, is usually associated with a PSA. This anomaly should be kept in mind in the clinical assessment of a pulsatile gluteal mass. It also presents a potential hazard during hip and renal transplant surgery.
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Meningioma is one of the neoplasms in which there may be extraosseous localization of bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals. Tumor calcification, calvarial erosion, and the formation of reactive bone have been proposed as the cause of this abnormal tracer localization. We present a patient with a frontal meningioma that was evaluated using 99mTc-methylene-diphosphonate bone scintigraphy, head computed tomography, and skull radiography; the homogeneous density seen in the radiographic studies corresponded to the area of bone-seeking-agent localization shown in the scintigram. At autopsy, bony tissue and a few psammoma bodies were found in the meningioma, and apparently accounted for the bone-tracer localization. There was no calvarial erosion and no formation of reactive bone. If skull-radiographic studies show a homogeneous, radio-opaque lesion with no reactive changes in the adjacent skull, a meningioma showing a localization of a bone-seeking radiopharmaceutical may be predicted to have bone-tissue formation with or without psammoma bodies.
Small aortic injuries are difficult to detect by computed tomography. We report a patient with a traumatic aortic injury that was not demonstrated on two high-resolution computed tomography scans 1 month apart despite prior angiographic demonstration of the lesion.