Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed improved accuracy in the diagnosis of CTS determined with the Delta CSA compared with the accuracy of the diagnosis determined with the CSAc.

Background: Anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (ALCAPA) is a rare congenital coronary abnormality associated with early infant mortality and adult sudden death. As it predominantly presents in the first year of life, diagnosis in living adults is extremely rare. Current management is based on limited case series or extrapolated from pediatric cases. Modern advances in noninvasive cardiac imaging have substantially increased the number of diagnoses, uncovering a large adult population that has not been reviewed. Hypothesis: The availability of newer diagnostic modalities correlates with an increasing incidence in an older cohort, and true association between sudden death and ALCAPA may be lower, especially among older patients. Methods: A comprehensive literature search was performed for all case reports of ALCAPA on MEDLINE and PubMed using the keywords ALCAPA, Bland-White-Garland, and coronary anomaly; and augmented by references from published case reports from 1908 to 2008. All adult cases, defined by age 18 years and older, were reviewed for this article. Results: One hundred fifty-one adult cases of ALCAPA are described, in addition to the case of an asymptomatic 53-year-old woman. The average reported age was 41 years old with the oldest being 83. Sixty-six percent of the patients presented with symptoms of angina, dyspnea, palpitations, or fatigue; 17% presented with ventricular arrhythmia, syncope, or sudden death; and 14% were asymptomatic. Twelve percent were diagnosed at autopsy. The majority had some form of surgical correction during their clinical course. Conclusions: ALCAPA is a rare and life-threatening condition in adults. The availability of newer, less invasive diagnostic modalities has resulted in more frequent identification of this condition in an older cohort.

Dynamic US allows excellent depiction of finger pulley injuries in extreme rock climbers.

Objective. A prospective study was performed to assess the usefulness of contrast-enhanced color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) in the evaluation of intraarticular vascularization of finger joints in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).Methods. We investigated 198 finger joints in 46 patients with RA, and 80 finger joints in 10 healthy volunteers. Joints with varying levels of clinical activity of inflammation were classified as being active, moderately active, or inactive. CDUS was performed with a high-frequency multi-D linear array transducer. A microbubble-based ultrasound (US) contrast agent (Levovist; Schering, Berlin, Germany) was intravenously infused. Doppler findings were rated on the basis of both unenhanced and contrast-enhanced CDUS images.Results. Healthy joints showed no intraarticular vascularization on either unenhanced or contrastenhanced CDUS. Unenhanced CDUS detected intraarticular vascularization in 7 (8%) of 83 inactive joints, in 31 (52%) of 60 moderately active joints, and in 32 (58%) of 55 active joints. Contrast-enhanced CDUS detected intraarticular vascularization in 41 (49%) of 83 joints with inactive RA, in 59 (98%) of 60 joints with moderately active RA, and in all 55 joints with active RA. Detection of intraarticular vascularization was improved by administration of the microbubble-based US contrast agent (P < 0.001). Contrast-enhanced CDUS demonstrated differences in intraarticular vascularization between joints with inactive RA and those with active RA (P < 0.001), between joints with inactive RA and those with moderately active RA (P < 0.001), and between joints with moderately active RA and those with active RA (P < 0.001). Conclusion. The use of a microbubble-based US contrast agent significantly improved the detection of intraarticular vascularization in the finger joints of patients with RA. This technique seems to be a useful adjunct in the assessment of disease activity.A crucial event in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the development of pannus (1). Proliferation of pannus is an early event in the course of the disease and can be seen before destruction of cartilage and bone. Vascularization of pannus appears to be crucial to its invasive and destructive behavior (2,3). Radiography is currently the method used for assessing the degree of actual joint destruction (4). Contrastenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has also been utilized for this purpose, but this technique is not yet routinely available and is relatively cost-intensive and time-consuming (5,6).Hypervascularization of the pannus is usually caused by inflammatory activity. Color Doppler ultrasound (CDUS) imaging allows for detection of vascularity (6-11). CDUS combines the imaging capabilities of conventional B-mode ultrasound (US) with the bloodflow determinations of Doppler US and permits assessment of both the anatomy and the characteristics of blood flow of the vessels at specific sites. However, this technique is limited in the detection of slow flow and flow in small vessels. The add...

Real-time elastography targeted biopsy allows prostate cancer detection in men with prostate specific antigen 1.25 ng/ml or greater and 4 ng/ml or less with a decreased number of cores compared with that of systematic biopsy.

Triple-rule-out (TRO) computed tomographic (CT) angiography can provide a cost-effective evaluation of the coronary arteries, aorta, pulmonary arteries, and adjacent intrathoracic structures for the patient with acute chest pain. TRO CT is most appropriate for the patient who is judged to be at low to intermediate risk for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and whose symptoms may also be attributed to acute pathologic conditions of the aorta or pulmonary arteries. Although a regular cardiac rhythm remains an important factor in coronary CT image quality, newer CT scanners with 64 or more detector rows afford rapid electrocardiographically (ECG) gated imaging to provide high-quality TRO CT studies in patients with a heart rate of up to 80 beats per minute. Injection of iodinated contrast material (< or = 100 mL) is tailored to provide simultaneous high levels of arterial enhancement in the coronary arteries and aorta (> 300 HU) and in the pulmonary arteries (> 200 HU). To limit radiation exposure, the TRO CT examination does not include the entire chest but is constrained to incorporate the aortic arch down through the heart. Scanning parameters, including prospective ECG tube current modulation and prospective ECG gating with the "step-and-shoot" technique, are tailored to reduce radiation exposure (optimally, 5-9 mSv). When performed with appropriate attention to timing and technique, TRO CT provides coronary image quality equal to that of dedicated coronary CT angiography and pulmonary arterial images that are free of motion artifact related to cardiac pulsation. In an appropriately selected emergency department patient population, TRO CT can safely eliminate the need for further diagnostic testing in over 75% of patients.

No abstract

Triple rule-out coronary CT angiography evaluation of low-to-moderate risk ACS patients presenting to the ED provided a noncoronary diagnosis that explained the presenting complaint in 11% of patients, suggested the presence of significant moderate-to-severe coronary disease in 11% (22 of 197) of patients, and precluded additional diagnostic cardiac testing in the majority of patients with no adverse outcomes at 30-day follow-up.