AJR. American journal of roentgenology
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Jan 2016
ReviewImaging of Cerebrovascular Disease in Pregnancy and the Puerperium.
The purpose of this article is to review the unique physiologic changes that characterize pregnancy and the puerperium, some that substantially affect the cerebrovascular system. Conditions that can cause neurologic deterioration and share features with preeclampsia-eclampsia include postpartum angiopathy, reversible cerebral vasoconstriction syndrome, posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome, and amniotic fluid embolism. Other conditions not specific to this patient group include cerebral venous thrombosis, cervicocephalic arterial dissection, ischemic stroke, and hemorrhagic stroke, which can pose specific diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. ⋯ Radiologists must be familiar with the imaging findings of cerebrovascular complications and pathologic entities encountered during pregnancy and the puerperium. Ongoing improvements in understanding of molecular changes during pregnancy and the puerperium and advances in diagnostic tests should allow radiologists to continue to make important contributions to the care of this patient population.
-
The purpose of this study was to describe trends over time in female authorship in the radiology literature and to investigate the tendency of female first authors to publish with female senior authors. ⋯ Over 35 years, there was a statistically significant upward linear trend of female physician participation in authorship of academic radiology literature. Female first authors were more likely to publish with female senior authors.
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Jan 2016
JOURNAL CLUB: Incidence of Complications Following Fluoroscopically Guided Lumbar Punctures and Myelograms.
Headaches due to CSF leak are a well-described complication of dural puncture. It is uncertain how long patients should be observed after dural puncture to reduce the risk of headache. Most of the literature has focused on dural punctures performed without fluoroscopic guidance. The purpose of this study was to determine the incidence of complications from fluoroscopically guided dural punctures, with attention to predictive factors such as the length of bed rest after the procedure. ⋯ Fluoroscopically guided dural punctures result in few complications compared with lumbar punctures performed without fluoroscopic guidance. Postprocedural bed rest greater than 2 hours does not reduce complication rates for fluoroscopically guided lumbar punctures.
-
AJR Am J Roentgenol · Dec 2015
Acute Abdomen in the Emergency Department: Is CT a Time-Limiting Factor?
The purpose of this study was to quantify and integrate key emergency department (ED) and radiology department workflow time intervals within the ED length of stay (LOS) for patients presenting with acute abdomen who require CT. ⋯ To our knowledge, this study is the first to quantify the contribution of CT-related workflow time intervals within the context of ED LOS. We have shown that patients do not have identical ED transit pathways, and this may under- or overestimate time interval calculations. These results show the importance of site-specific ED LOS timeline analysis to identify potential targets for quality improvement and serve as baseline targets for measuring future quality improvement initiatives.