Correlation between Computed Tomography Clinical Diagnosis and Findings in Pediatric Computed Tomography.

<b>Background and Objective:</b> Pediatric Computed Tomography (CT) is a fast, accurate imaging examination using ionizing radiation to create detailed images of pathological conditions. The radiation benefit should be outweighing the risk through the procure justification and dose optimization. The study aimed to investigate the correlation between the physician's initial diagnosis and the CT findings to build procedure justification for a pediatric patient's head scan. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> The study included 81 children examined clinically and by CT scan to diagnose cranial and cerebral pathology. Eighty-one pediatric patients were investigated by CT scan and clinical diagnosis. <b>Results:</b> The patient age ranged between 1-15 years old, (44%) were male and (56%) females. The patients referred to the CT scan from emergency department n = 10 (7%), outpatient clinics n = 66, (84%) and inpatients clinics n = 5, (9%). The study showed that 46% of patients were normal with no CT findings. Almost half of the cases were negative and did not confirm the clinical diagnosis. <b>Conclusion:</b> The study concluded that most head CT scans in children were not justified. An effort towards improving the refereeing physician's awareness about radiation dose and request justification should be conducted.

Characterization of Foot Mycetoma Using Sonography and Color Doppler Imaging.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Mycetoma of the foot, commonly referred to as Madura foot, is a chronic granulomatous infection, which impacts vascularization of the affected region. This study aimed to evaluate foot mycetoma using Doppler and sonography techniques to identify the principle sonographic features and blood flow patterns associated with the condition. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a cross-sectional prospective single-center study conducted at the Mycetoma Research Center (MCR) in Khartoum State, Sudan. Sixty patients with Madura foot were examined using a Duplex ultrasound machine with a 7-10 MHZ linear probe. Data was analyzed using SPSS software. The distribution of demographic data was evaluated by simple descriptive statistics. Statistical tests was performed using Student's independent t-tests to compare different forms of mycetoma and Chi-square tests to examine differences in blood flow patterns between fungal (eumycetoma) and bacterial (actinomycetoma) forms of the infection. RESULTS: The presence of multiple cavities and aggregated grains were more common in eumycetoma than in actinomycetoma. The echotexture was significantly more heterogeneous in eumycetoma than in actinomycetoma (p = 0.03). Eumycetoma had higher vascularity than actinomycetoma. CONCLUSION: Mycetoma has characteristic sonographic features and patterns of vascularity, which are essential to differentiate between the fungal and bacterial forms of mycetoma.