A two-part study using medium field strength magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was designed to describe the normal paranasal sinus development and to provide preliminary criteria for clinical sinus disease. In part I of the study the paranasal sinuses were retrospectively evaluated in 80 infants and children aged 0-17 years undergoing brain MRI for indications both unrelated and related to sinus disease. We developed MRI criteria for independent grading of paranasal sinus development and 'anatomical' sinus disease, i.e., disease as seen by the radiologist. We quantified the variability in extent of sinus pneumatization (a measure of sinus development) in infants and young children. Part II of the study was a double-blind prospective study in 21 patients to correlate 'anatomical' disease with 'clinical' sinus disease. In this limited preliminary study, clinical sinus disease was only seen in the patients with moderate or severe anatomical disease (sensitivity 100%; specificity 100%).

Adolescent↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Mycotic pseudoaneurysm of the aortic arch: an unusual complication of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis.

Invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) is usually a condition of the immunocompromised patients. The organism has a tendency to invade pulmonary blood vessels. Extension of a pulmonary parenchymal lesion to involve the mediastinal great vessels is very rare. This is the first case where the extension of IPA to the aortic arch and the formation of a pseudoaneurysm were demonstrated on serial CT scans.

Aneurysm, False↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Knowledge-based segmentation of pediatric kidneys in CT for measurement of parenchymal volume.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to develop an automated method for segmenting pediatric kidneys in helical CT images and measuring their volume. METHOD: An automated system was developed to segment the kidneys. Parametric features of anatomic structures were used to guide segmentation and labeling of image regions. Kidney volumes were calculated by summing included voxels. For validation, the kidney volumes of four swine were calculated using our approach and compared with the "true" volumes measured after harvesting the kidneys. Automated volume calculations were also performed in a cohort of nine children. RESULTS: The mean difference between the calculated and measured values in the swine kidneys was 1.38 ml. For the pediatric cases, calculated volumes ranged from 41.7 to 252.1 ml/kidney, and the mean ratio of right to left kidney volume was 0.96. CONCLUSION: These results demonstrate the accuracy of a volumetric technique that may in the future provide an objective assessment of renal damage.

Artificial Intelligence↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Myelin disorders of childhood: correlation of MR findings and severity of neurological impairment.

Twenty-five children and young adults with myelin disorders were studied to determine how magnetic resonance (MR) findings correlated with the clinical severity of their disease. The MR images were evaluated using both subjective and objective criteria and graded for extent of white matter involvement. Patients were also graded for severity of their neurological and psychological impairment. The assessment of MR severity of white matter involvement using subjective and objective methods showed moderate to good correlation (r2 = 0.473). There was poor correlation between clinical severity of disease and extent of MR involvement for the overall group of children, however (subjective r2 = 0.038, objective r2 = 0.072). Moderate correlation was seen when clinical severity and MR subjective assessment were compared for the specific diseases metachromatic leukodystrophy and subacute sclerosing panencephalitis.

Adolescent↗