European journal of radiology
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Prospective MR analysis of the cervical spine of 30 asymptomatic volunteers. ⋯ Annular tears and focal disk protrusions are frequently found on MR imaging of the cervical spine, with or without contrast enhancement, in asymptomatic population. The extruded disk herniation and medullary compression are unusual findings in a symptom-free population.
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Comparative Study
Degeneration and height of cervical discs classified from MRI compared with precise height measurements from radiographs.
Descriptive study comparing MRI classifications with measurements from radiographs. ⋯ 1. Progressing disc degeneration classified from MRI is on average significantly associated with a decrease of disc height as measured from radiographs. Within each MRI defined category of degeneration measured disc heights, however, scatter in a wide range. 2. The inter-observer agreement between two neuro-radiologists in both defining degeneration and disc height by MRI was only moderate. Studies addressing questions related to cervical disc degeneration should take this into consideration.
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To assess early high-resolution computer tomographic (CT) signs of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis (IPA) in non-HIV immunosuppressed patients and their potential association with patient's outcome, including frequency and severity of pulmonary hemorrhage, taking also in consideration the impact of other known risk factors contributory to IPA. ⋯ Initial CT findings of invasive pulmonary aspergillosis consist mainly of small nodules or patchy consolidations, showing in 82% of cases an early halo sign. Serious pulmonary hemorrhage was an infrequent clinical complication in our series, with an attributable mortality of 4.3%. IPA-related lethality was 26%, in our cohort. None of the early HRCT signs seemed to predict outcome.
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Tuberculosis remains an important problem in underdeveloped countries, especially in individuals under the age of 20 years. In developed countries, there was an increase of the disease due to several factors, especially the appearance of A. I. ⋯ The bacillus mycobacterium tuberculosis is characterized by a slow growth, propention for an oxygen rich environment and the absence of proteolytic enzymes. These characteristics are responsible for the imaging particularities of tuberculous osteomyelitis. The diagnosis can be confirmed by the bacteriologic and histological studies from samples removed by punction biopsy.
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To compare fast T1-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and T1-weighted turbo spin-echo (TSE) imaging of the degenerative disc disease of the lumbar spine. ⋯ Results in our study have shown that fast T1-weighted FLAIR imaging may be a valuable imaging modality in the armamentarium of lumbar spinal T1-weighted MR imaging, because the former technique has definite superior advantages such as CSF nulling, conspicuousness of the normal anatomic structures and changes in the lumbar spinal discogenic disease and image contrast and also almost equally acquisition times.