Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to S Schimel.
Unruptured bilateral intracavernous carotid artery aneurysms are very rare. Within the last 30 years only five cases have been diagnosed radiologically and reported in the medical literature. We wish to add an additional three cases diagnosed during life by computed tomography and confirmed by angiography.
The diagnosis of herniated thoracic disks has historically been confusing for the clinician and difficult for the radiologist. Its protean manifestations lead it to mimic many diseases including spinal cord tumors and degenerative diseases. Radiographically, its diagnosis has been difficult by both routine radiography and myelography. Our two cases demonstrate post-metrizamide (Amipaque) myelogram computed tomography to be a valuable aid in the diagnosis of herniated thoracic disks.
Four patients who had received chymopapain injections for treatment of herniated lumbar disks were evaluated by computed tomography (CT) because of persistent low back pain and suspicion of infection. Irregularity of the vertebral end-plate and a mottled appearance of the vertebral bodies suggested the diagnosis of disk-space infection in all four cases. CT-guided biopsy of the disk space was performed in each case, and bacterial cultures demonstrated staphylococcal infections, which were treated accordingly. Diskitis secondary to chymopapain injection is rare because of the precautions that are usually taken. No antibiotics are used routinely with such injections, although systemic antibiotics have been used in diabetics for prophylaxis.