La Radiologia medica
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La Radiologia medica · Sep 1995
[The role of the radiological hemithorax examination in closed trauma of the chest].
January, 1992, to September, 1994, a hundred and seventy-eight blunt chest trauma patients were examined with plain chest films and detailed rib studies. The patients were subdivided into three groups according to: a) the presence/absence of rib fractures correlated with clinical data; b) the depiction of rib fractures and/or thoracic complications; c) treatment customization in the presence/absence of rib fractures. In our series of patients the clinical data and the presence of rib fractures were poorly correlated. ⋯ Plain chest films most frequently depicted the complications requiring conservative or surgical management and gave the indication for further imaging investigations. The detailed rib studies of the involved hemithorax yielded no further information useful to therapy except in few cases: and should therefore be limited to the cases exhibiting complications on chest films, which may benefit from surgical fixation. The accurate study of rib fractures is paramount in the cases where legal action may be undertaken.
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La Radiologia medica · Sep 1995
[Nonspecific osteomyelitis in childhood and adolescence. The contribution of imaging diagnosis].
Nonspecific osteomyelitis in children and adolescents can be diagnosed in patients 2 to 16 years old and may present as acute, subacute or chronic. During the last 9 years, 40 pediatric patients (aged 2 to 16 years) affected with extra-axial inflammatory bone lesions were examined. The series of cases was then reviewed. ⋯ In the same patients, 99mTc-HMPAO scintigraphy was always positive. In patient 5, the lesion was represented by a low-signal area on both T1 and T2-weighted images, while 99mTc-HMPAO was negative. Therefore, in chronic osteomyelitis, both MRI and 99mTc-HMPAO were useful in detecting both spinal and peripheral bone involvement, which was in some cases asymptomatic at first observation CR, CT (3/4) and MR (4/4) findings extra-axial localizations were similar to those in subacute-chronic forms.
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La Radiologia medica · Jul 1995
Comparative Study Clinical Trial[Quantification of pulmonary emphysema with computerized tomography. Comparison with various methods].
Computed Tomography (CT) has been proved to be the most accurate imaging modality to diagnose emphysema in vivo. Our study was aimed at comparing different CT methods for pulmonary emphysema quantification in patients with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Forty-six consecutive inpatients affected with COPD underwent high resolution CT (HRCT). ⋯ The expiratory measurements were better than the inspiratory ones while the analysis of both CT number and pixel index gave comparable results. Only the CT expiratory quantitative data allowed to differentiate the patients affected with COPD from the controls. In conclusion, the severity of emphysema as expressed by CT correctly reflects the functional impairment of patients with severe COPD.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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La Radiologia medica · Apr 1995
Comparative Study[Computed tomography in the diagnostic approach to acute mesenteric ischemia].
Intestinal ischemia is an uncommon disorder, whose incidence is nevertheless increasing and whose mortality remains high. The major cause of its poor prognosis is represented by the diagnostic delay depending on the poor specificity and late onset of the various clinical, biohumoral and radiographic signs associated with bowel infarction. ⋯ With CT, diagnostic accuracy is fairly increased in acute mesenteric insufficiency. CT allows this condition to be detected earlier than conventional radiology and permits the early recognition, in a larger number of cases, of the patients who will benefit most from a surgical or radiologic treatment.
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La Radiologia medica · Apr 1995
Review[Computed tomography in gunshot trauma. I. Ballistics elements and the mechanisms of the lesions].
The knowledge of wound ballistics and of wounding mechanisms is mandatory for the radiologist to interpret the CT findings of gunshot wounds. The severity of a bullet wound depends on the characteristics of the tissue it goes through, i.e., tissue elasticity, density, thickness of the wounded body part, the type of tissue, its specific gravity, internal cohesiveness and anatomical relationships, as well as on missile characteristics, i.e., mass, shape, fragmentation and deformation. Bullet velocity is certainly a major factor in wounding, but it is only one factor. ⋯ Bullet "yaw" is defined as the angle between the long axis of the bullet and its flight path. The yaw is directly proportional to tissue crushing and stretching: the wider the yaw, the most severe tissue crushing and stretching and, therefore, the more severe tissue damage. The basic knowledge of these concepts is of the utmost importance to understand the CT findings of gunshot wounds and can help physicians study and treat gunshot wounds.