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Biomedical subjects

M E Roddie

Publications and source records attributed to M E Roddie.

12 recordsLinked to original sources

Quantification of pneumothorax size on chest radiographs using interpleural distances: regression analysis based on volume measurements from helical CT.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to define the relationship between interpleural distance measurements on an erect posteroanterior chest radiograph and pneumothorax size as measured by helical CT in a series of patients. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Twenty pneumothoraces from 19 patients (10 males, nine females) were analyzed. Most pneumothoraces were on the right side (n = 16). The etiology was spontaneous in seven patients and iatrogenic in thirteen. All patients underwent an erect inspiratory posteroanterior radiograph and a helical CT scan of the thorax on the same visit to the radiology department. The interpleural distance was measured at three locations and the figures added together. Following helical CT of the thorax, the percentage pneumothorax size was calculated by drawing regions of interest around the relevant hemithorax and lung on 10-mm reconstructed slices. A scattergram of the sum of interpleural distances in centimeters versus percentage pneumothorax size was plotted. RESULTS: Analysis of results showed that percentage pneumothorax size could be calculated by the formula Y = 4.2 + [4.7 x (A + B + C)], r = .98, p < .0001. CONCLUSION: This study identified a formula for accurately calculating percentage pneumothorax size as determined by helical CT from an erect posteroanterior radiograph. Using this formula with the clinical status of the patient should more easily identify patients requiring active intervention.

Adolescent

Metallic stents in biliary disease.

The development of self-expanding metallic endoprostheses which can be implanted easily, with minimal trauma, has revolutionized the non-surgical treatment of both benign and malignant biliary strictures. The Wallstent (Medinvent SA, Lausanne, Switzerland), a pliable, tubular stainless steel mesh, is the metallic stent of choice for treatment of malignant strictures and can be implanted in a single session resulting in a shortened hospital stay for patients undergoing palliation of irresectable biliary tumours. Although follow-up is currently rather limited, it appears that the occlusion rate of Wallstents will be lower than that of plastic endoprostheses and no cases of stent migration have been reported. The Gianturco zigzag stent (Cook Inc., Bloomington, Ind, USA) should not be used in malignant strictures because of rapid occlusion due to tumour ingrowth through the struts. However, it exerts a strong, continuous, outward radial force and is ideally suited for use in the small, but difficult to manage, group of patients with benign biliary strictures which recur despite surgery and repeated balloon dilations.

Bile Duct Neoplasms

Patency of side branches after peripheral placement of metallic biliary endoprostheses.

During a 28-month period, the authors placed 91 Wallstent endoprostheses in 55 patients with malignant obstructive jaundice. Five patients developed recurrent jaundice between 2 and 60 weeks after stent insertion due to stent occlusion by tumor overgrowth on seven occasions. To assess long-term segmental side-branch drainage through the walls of such endoprostheses, the cholangiograms obtained following stent occlusion were reviewed. In all five patients, evidence of drainage of intrahepatic ducts through the side of the mesh was observed. Although the number of patients in the series is small, this initial experience suggests that long metallic endoprostheses can be placed peripherally in the intrahepatic bile ducts without the potential risk of infection or occlusion of undrained, noninvolved segments. This policy may delay or prevent endoprosthesis occlusion in many patients.

Adenoma, Bile Duct

Acute cholecystitis: radiological management.

Acute cholecystitis is a common condition which may be difficult to diagnose with confidence on clinical grounds alone. A large number of techniques are now available for imaging the gall bladder but, in practice, ultrasonography and cholescintigraphy are of greatest value. The former is cheap, readily available and features such as the presence of gall stones, gall bladder wall inflammation and a positive sonographic Murphy sign strongly suggest the diagnosis of acute cholecystitis. In addition to its diagnostic uses, ultrasonographically guided percutaneous cholecystostomy provides an alternative and sometimes life-saving form of treatment in those patients who are unfit for surgery. Cholescintigraphy is a highly accurate, non-invasive method for assessing patency of the cystic duct but is not always available in the emergency situation and takes longer to perform than an ultrasound examination. Acute cholecystitis, however, has many manifestations and may be calculous or acalculous, be associated with a patent or obstructed cystic duct, and may be complicated or uncomplicated. Imagining modalities other than those mentioned above may be useful in certain circumstances and this chapter aims to present the advantages and disadvantages of each technique in order to provide guidance for the clinician caring for a patient with suspected acute cholecystitis.

Acute Disease

Biliary endoprosthesis dysfunction in patients with malignant hilar tumors: successful treatment by percutaneous replacement of the stent.

Symptoms caused by malignant hilar bile duct tumors are often palliated by the insertion of a percutaneous biliary endoprosthesis. However, these often occlude early and may be difficult to replace. We have reviewed our experience with percutaneous replacement of endoprostheses in 17 patients with 31 episodes of stent dysfunction. The stent was changed successfully in 30 of the 31 attempts. The average durations of initial and subsequent stent patencies were 28 and 20 weeks, respectively. Significant acute complications occurred in three patients, one of whom had a perihepatic abscess and two of whom had septicemia. Two patients died within 30 days of their last stent change. The one patient in whom attempted insertion of a new stent was unsuccessful had to remain on continuous external catheter drainage. The occluded or migrated endoprosthesis was successfully removed either percutaneously (55%) or endoscopically (26%) in 25 of the 31 cases. Successful removal of the stent and reinsertion after blockage or migration is possible in most patients. Our experience suggests that patients with malignant obstruction of the bile duct should not be refused an indwelling endoprosthesis just because of the frequent occurrence of early occlusion of the stent.

Adenoma, Bile Duct

Noninvasive measurement of renal blood flow with technetium-99m-DTPA in the evaluation of patients with suspected renovascular hypertension.

If a hypertensive patient with renal artery stenosis (RAS) is to benefit from percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) in terms of a sustained improvement in blood pressure control, one may postulate a demonstrable reduction in renal blood flow (RBF) to that kidney, reversible by PTRA. In a population of 32 hypertensive patients, RAS was present in 23 of 62 kidneys. Eleven of the 32 patients underwent renal revascularization, of whom 6 showed improvement in blood pressure control at 6 mo, i.e., had renovascular hypertension (RVH). There was no correlation between RBF and angiographic appearances of the renal artery. Furthermore, there was no significant difference between RBF in the stenosed kidneys of the patients with RVH compared with the stenosed kidneys of patients without RVH. Individual kidney RBF was 22% (s.d. 11) higher 1-3 wk after PTRA but the increase did not correlate with clinical outcome. Angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition increased RBF by 25% (s.d. 25) of baseline flow before PTRA but the increase did not correlate with clinical outcome. Measurement of RBF is of limited value for the prediction of the long-term blood pressure response following PTRA.

Angiography, Digital Subtraction

Fatal duodenocaval fistula resulting from a giant peptic ulcer. Case report.

Duodenocaval fistula is exceedingly rare. Penetrating trauma, gunshot wounds and toothpick perforation of the duodenum are known aetiological factors. Two recent case reports have implicated radiation-induced ulceration of the duodenum. We describe the first case of duodenocaval fistula resulting from a giant peptic ulcer of the descending duodenum.

Duodenal Ulcer

99Tcm-HMPAO labelled leucocytes: comparison with 111In-tropolonate labelled granulocytes.

The lipophilic complex, 99Tcm-hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) is an efficient leucocyte label, and labels granulocytes with more stability than mononuclear leucocytes. The recovery of 99Tcm-HMPAO granulocytes, expressed as the percentage of injected granulocyte-associated activity circulating as granulocyte-associated activity 40-45 min after injection, was 37% (S.E. 3%), similar to the recovery of 111In-labelled granulocytes isolated and labelled in plasma using tropolone. The T1/2 of 99Tcm-HMPAO labelled granulocytes in blood was 4.4 h (S.E. 0.4 h), less than that of 111In-labelled granulocytes, although when a correction was made for 99Tcm elution, it was 6.4 h. The initial biodistribution of 99Tcm-labelled leucocytes was similar to 111In-labelled granulocytes, with a rapid initial lung transit, prominent splenic activity, bone marrow activity and minimal hepatic activity, although, unlike 111In, 99Tcm activity was also seen in urine, occasionally in the gallbladder, and, from about 4 h, consistently in the colon. Bone marrow activity was particularly prominent with 99Tcm. About 6% of 99Tcm was excreted in the faeces up to 48 h after injection, and about 17% in urine up to 24 h. The time-activity curves of reticuloendothelial activity up to 24 h were broadly similar for the two labelled cell preparations, and the differences that were observed can be explained on the basis of a higher rate of 99Tcm elution. Clinical information given by the two agents was similar in 27 of 30 patients who received both. Of the three who gave different information, one received 111In-labelled granulocytes which were considered to be functionally suboptimal and two, with inflammatory bowel disease, showed different distributions of abnormal bowel activity. We conclude that with respect to granulocyte kinetics and clinical data, 99Tcm-HMPAO labelled leucocytes are comparable with 111In-tropolonate labelled granulocytes.

Colitis, Ulcerative

Osteomyelitis.

The use of 111In-labelled granulocyte scintigraphy is recognized as a reliable method for detecting osteomyelitis and has similar sensitivity and significantly increased specificity compared to bone scintigraphy and 67Ga studies. Recent published work using pure granulocytes labelled with 111In tropolonate to detect osteomyelitis resulted in sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 92%. 99Tcm as an alternative granulocyte label offers advantages of convenience, lower radiation dose and higher image resolution. We have scanned 20 patients with suspected osteomyelitis using autologous granulocytes labelled with 99Tcm hexamethylpropyleneamineoxime (HMPAO), 12 of whom had prosthetic joints. The scan results were correlated with clinical, radiographic, microbiological and histological findings. Sensitivity was 100% and specificity was 93% which compares favourably with results obtained using 111In-labelled granulocytes. We believe that labelled granulocyte scintigraphy is a useful investigation in the diagnosis of osteomyelitis and that 99Tcm HMPAO appears to be at least as useful as 111In as the labelling agent.

Granulocytes

Inflammation: imaging with Tc-99m HMPAO-labeled leukocytes.

Leukocytes labeled with technetium-99m hexamethylpropyleneamine oxime (HMPAO) were used in 100 patients: 32 with suspected inflammatory bowel disease, 17 with fever of unknown origin, 21 with suspected abdominal sepsis, 20 with suspected bone sepsis, seven with bronchiectasis, and three with recent myocardial infarction. The distribution of activity in patients subsequently shown not to have inflammatory bowel disease was similar to that previously described for indium-111-labeled leukocytes. However, in this study, activity was also seen in the kidneys and bladder and occasionally the gallbladder on both early (1-3 hours) and late (24 hours) views, and in the colon in late views. Migration of Tc-99m-labeled granulocytes was seen in inflammatory disease as early as 30 minutes after injection, while normal bowel activity was not seen before 4 hours. The sensitivity of Tc99m-labeled leukocytes in the detection of inflammation was 100%, the specificity was 95%.

Colitis

Metallic stents in malignant biliary obstruction: results of a multicenter European study of 240 patients.

PURPOSE: In this retrospective multicenter study, the authors analyzed the clinical efficacy of different metallic stents in the palliative treatment of patients with neoplastic obstructive jaundice. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Two hundred forty patients were treated in four European centers. Causes of obstruction were pancreatic carcinoma (n = 84), biliary neoplasm (n = 99), metastases in hilar nodes (n = 34), primary or secondary liver tumors (n = 4), and other tumors (n = 19). A total of 388 metallic stents were used: 300 Wallstents, 35 nitinol Strecker stents, 40 Gianturco-Rosch Z stents, and 13 tantalum Strecker stents. RESULTS: Overall 25- and 50-week survival rates were 42% and 16%, respectively; the 30-day mortality rate was 14.6%. Two deaths were related to the procedure (0.8%); 19 patients (8%) had major complications. The 25-week patency rate was significantly higher for the nitinol Strecker stents and the Wallstents (78% and 67%, respectively) than for the Z stents and the tantalum Strecker stents (30% and 20%, respectively) (P < .01 and P < .001, respectively). Average patency was 8.3, 5.9, 2.3, and 4.0 months, respectively. Reintervention due to stent obstruction was necessary in 53 patients. CONCLUSION: The Wallstent and the nitinol Strecker stents were the most effective in achieving long-term palliation. Patency was significantly affected by the level of obstruction but not by the type of obstructing tumor.

Aged