Articles

Gallstone ileus is an uncommon cause of mechanical small bowel obstruction. It is a rare complication of chronic cholecystitis 7 and occurs when a gallstone passes through a fistula between the gallbladder and small bowel before becoming impacted at the ileocecal valve.  Epidemiology Although ...

Elastofibroma dorsi, a benign soft-tissue tumor, is distinctly situated in the infrascapular or subscapular region, being bilateral close to a third of cases. On imaging, it presents as a poorly defined soft-tissue mass with CT attenuation closely resembling adjacent skeletal muscle. Epidemiolo...

Sjögren syndrome, or Sjögren disease, is an autoimmune condition of the exocrine glands that produce tears and saliva. Epidemiology Sjögren syndrome is the second most common autoimmune disorder after rheumatoid arthritis. There is a recognized female predilection with F:M ratio of ~9:1. Patie...

Diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH) is a subset of diffuse pulmonary hemorrhage when bleeding is diffuse and directly into the alveolar spaces. It can occur in a vast number of clinical situations and can be life-threatening. Pathology Blood tends to fill alveolar spaces at multiple sites. Etio...

Scoliosis (plural: scolioses) is defined as an abnormal lateral curvature of the spine. It is quite common in young individuals and is often idiopathic and asymptomatic. In some cases, however, it is the result of underlying structural or neurological abnormalities. Terminology Early onset sco...

Ectopic testes are a rare congenital anomaly, differing from undescended testis (cryptorchidism) in that ectopic testis is a congenitally abnormally located testis, that has descended from the abdominal cavity away from the normal path of descent while undescended testis are congenitally abnorma...

Hamartomas of mature cardiac myocytes (HMCM) are benign tumors arising from mature striated cardiac myocytes. Terminology Terms that are not recommended include ‘cardiac hamartoma’ or ‘hamartoma of adult cardiac myocytes’ 1. Epidemiology A hamartoma of mature cardiac myocytes is a very rare ...

Diffuse axonal injury (DAI), also known as traumatic axonal injury (TAI), is a severe form of traumatic brain injury due to shearing forces. It is a potentially difficult diagnosis to make on imaging alone, especially on CT as the finding can be subtle, but it has the potential to result in seve...

Leptomeningeal metastases, also known as carcinomatous meningitis and meningeal carcinomatosis, refers to the spread of malignant cells through the CSF space. These cells can originate from primary CNS tumors (e.g. in the form of drop metastases), as well as from distant tumors that have metasta...

Hemobilia refers to the presence of blood in the biliary tree. Clinical presentation The classical Quincke triad, is seen with hemobilia in the context of hepatic arterial aneurysms, and consists of: melena (i.e. upper gastrointestinal bleeding) jaundice abdominal pain Pathology Etiology ...

Aneurysmal bone cysts (ABC) are benign expansile osteoclastic giant cell-rich bony neoplasms, composed of numerous blood-filled channels and cystic spaces 1. ABC accounts for the 'A' in the popular mnemonic for lucent bone lesions FEGNOMASHIC. Terminology The terms 'giant cell reparative gran...

Spatial resolution in CT is the ability to distinguish between object or structures that differ in density. A high spatial resolution is important for one to discriminate between structures that are located within a small proximity to each other.  Factors affecting CT spatial resolution field...

This is a basic article for medical students and other non-radiologists Diplopia, also known as double vision, is a visual symptom of seeing two images of a single object. Reference article This is a summary article; there is not a more in-depth reference article currently. Summary epidemio...

Connective tissue disease-interstitial lung disease (CTD-ILD) has various manifestations however the most frequent patterns seen on CT are NSIP or UIP. CTD-ILD should be suspected in younger patients especially women and never-smokers and particulary if there is involvement of pleura, airways or...

Quincke triad is the finding of jaundice, right upper quadrant pain, and upper gastrointestinal bleeding. This sign is seen in patients with hemobilia secondary to a hepatic artery aneurysm. History and etymology Heinrich Quincke (1842 –1922) was a German surgeon and internal medicine speciali...

Gallbladder metastases are rare and usually represent an advanced and end-stage of malignancy. Malignant melanoma and gastric carcinoma account for the most common primary malignancies to seed metastases to the gallbladder, in Western and Asian societies, respectively.  Epidemiology They repre...

Hepatic hemangiomas or hepatic venous malformations are the most common benign vascular liver lesions. They are frequently diagnosed as an incidental finding on imaging, and most patients are asymptomatic. From a radiologic perspective, it is important to differentiate hemangiomas from hepatic m...

Endometrial polyps are benign nodular protrusions of the endometrial surface, and one of the entities included in a differential of endometrial thickening. Endometrial polyps can either be sessile or pedunculated. They can often be suggested on ultrasound or MRI studies but may require sonohyste...

Endometriosis is a common, chronic gynecological condition defined as the presence of functional endometrial glands and stroma-like lesions outside the uterus. It manifests in three ways: superficial (peritoneal) disease, ovarian disease (endometriomas), and deep endometriosis. Endometriosis is...

Adrenal adenomas (alternative plural: adenomata) are the most common adrenal lesion and are often found incidentally during abdominal imaging for other reasons. In all cases, but especially in the setting of known current or previous malignancy, adrenal adenomas need to be distinguished from adr...