Articles

Articles are a collaborative effort to provide a single canonical page on all topics relevant to the practice of radiology. As such, articles are written and continuously improved upon by countless contributing members. Our dedicated editors oversee each edit for accuracy and style. Find out more about articles.

798 results found
Article

PET-CT indications

PET-CT is a combination of cross-sectional anatomic information provided by CT and the metabolic information provided by positron emission tomography (PET). PET is most commonly performed with 2-[F-18]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG). Fluorine-18 (F-18) is an unstable radioisotope and has a half-...
Article

Duchenne muscular dystrophy

Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is a dystrophinopathy and the most common muscular dystrophy. Epidemiology Duchenne muscular dystrophy has an incidence of 1 in 3500 to 5000 males 1,2. The condition is extremely rare in females due to its inheritance pattern, as discussed below 1. Clinical p...
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Atrial septal defect

Atrial septal defect (ASD) is the second most common congenital heart defect after ventricular septal defect (VSD). Diagnosis is often delayed until adulthood when complications arise such as atrial arrhythmias or pulmonary hypertension. The radiologist may be the first to suggest the diagnosis ...
Article

Labeled imaging anatomy cases

This article lists a series of labeled imaging anatomy cases by body region and modality. Brain CT head: non-contrast axial CT head: non-contrast coronal CT head: non-contrast sagittal CT head: non-contrast axial with clinical questions CT head: angiogram axial CT head: angiogram coronal ...
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Left ventricular hypertrophy

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is present when the left ventricular mass is increased. It is a common condition, typically due to systemic hypertension, and it increases with age, obesity and severity of hypertension. Epidemiology Studies have demonstrated a prevalence on echocardiography ...
Article

Systemic lupus erythematosus

Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) is a complex autoimmune disease with multisystem involvement. Although abnormalities in almost every aspect of the immune system have been found, the key defect is thought to result from a loss of self-tolerance to autoantigens. Epidemiology There is a strong...
Article

Straight left heart border sign

Straight left heart border sign is a described finding on chest radiograph in cases of hemopericardium. It is a fairly specific (84%) sign of hemopericardium after a penetrating chest trauma, although sensitivity at 40% is relatively poor. Positive predictive value (PPV) was found to be 89% 1. ...
Article

Rheumatoid arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune multisystemic inflammatory disease that affects many organs but predominantly attacks the synovial tissues and joints. Epidemiology The overall prevalence is 0.5-1% and the disease is 2-3 times more common in women 1. Onset is generally in adu...
Article

Situs inversus

Situs inversus, (rare plural: sitūs inversi) short form of the Latin “situs inversus viscerum”, is a term used to describe the inverted position of chest and abdominal organs. Terminology The condition is called situs inversus totalis when there is a total transposition of abdominal and thorac...
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Left atrial enlargement

Left atrial enlargement (LAE) may result from many conditions, either congenital or acquired. It has some characteristic findings on a frontal chest radiograph. CT or MRI may also be used for diagnosis. Clinical presentation An enlarged left atrium can have many clinical implications, such as:...
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Medical devices in the thorax

Medical devices in the thorax are regularly observed by radiologists when reviewing radiographs and CT scans. Extrathoracic devices tubing, clamps, syringes, scissors, lying on or under the patient rubber sheets, foam mattresses, clothing, hair braids, nipple piercings, etc., may also be visi...
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Marfan syndrome

Marfan syndrome is a multisystem connective tissue disease caused by a defect in the protein fibrillin 1, encoded by the FBN1 gene. Cardiovascular involvement with aortic root dilatation and dissection is the most feared complication of the disease. Epidemiology The estimated prevalence is aro...
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Right heart strain

Right heart strain (or more precisely right ventricular strain) is a term given to denote the presence of right ventricular dysfunction usually in the absence of an underlying cardiomyopathy. It can manifest as an acute right heart syndrome. Pathology Right heart strain can often occur as a re...
Article

Congestive cardiac failure

Congestive cardiac failure (CCF), also known as congestive heart failure (CHF) or simply heart failure, refers to the clinical syndrome caused by inherited or acquired abnormalities of heart structure and function, causing a constellation of symptoms and signs that lead to decreased quality and ...
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Coronary stent thrombosis

Coronary stent thrombosis or scaffold thrombosis refers to an acute thrombus or occlusion in a coronary segment previously treated with a coronary stent or scaffold. It is a severe complication of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and a major adverse cardiovascular event. Epidemiology C...
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Ischemic cardiomyopathy

Ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) refers to significant systolic dysfunction with a moderate to severely impaired left ventricular ejection fraction as a consequence of myocardial ischemia and/or myocardial infarction. The condition is not listed or classified as cardiomyopathy in the position state...
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Coronary stent

Coronary stents or coronary artery stents are expandable tubular medical meshwork devices used for interventional treatment of coronary artery disease and prevention of negative remodeling and vascular recoil, restenosis as well as abrupt vessel occlusion from local coronary artery dissection af...
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Cardiovascular shunts

Cardiovascular (cardiac) shunts are abnormal connections between the pulmonary and systemic circulations. Most commonly they are the result of congenital heart disease. Pathology Blood can either be shunted from the systemic circulation to pulmonary circulation (i.e. 'left-to-right shunt') or ...
Article

Shepherd's crook right coronary artery

A shepherd’s crook right coronary artery is an anatomic variant of the course of the proximal right coronary artery. While the RCA origin is normal (arising from the right coronary cusp), the variant is characterized by a tortuous and high course, usually in the proximal segment just after its o...
Article

Isomerism

Isomerism is a term which in general means 'mirror-image' and refers to finding normally-asymmetric bilateral structures to be similar. It is used in the context of heterotaxy and is of two types: left isomerism right isomerism Left isomerism Mirror image of the structures on the left side o...

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