Low rate of cardiovascular events in patients with acute myocarditis diagnosed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

BACKGROUND: Myocarditis is a relatively common inflammatory disease that affects the myocardium. Infectious disease accounts for most of the cases either because of a direct viral infection or post-viral immune-mediated reaction. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has become an established non-invasive diagnosis tool for acute myocarditis. A recent large single centre study with patients with biopsy-proven viral myocarditis undergoing CMR scans found a high rate of mortality. The aim of this study was to assess the rate of clinical events in our population of patients with diagnosed myocarditis by CMR scan. METHODS: Patients who consulted to the emergency department with diagnosis of myocarditis by CMR were retrospectively included in the study from January 2008 to May 2012. A CMR protocol was used in all patients, and were followed up to assess the rate of the composite endpoint of all-cause death, congestive heart failure, sudden cardiac death, hospitalization for cardiac cause, recurrent myocarditis or need of radiofrequency ablation or implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD). A descriptive statistical analysis was performed. RESULTS: Thirty-two patients with myocarditis were included in the study. The mean age was 42.6±21.2 years and 81.2% were male. In a mean follow up of 30.4±17.8 months, the rate of the composite endpoint of all-cause death, congestive heart failure, sudden cardiac death, hospitalization for cardiac cause, recurrent myocarditis or need of radiofrequency ablation or ICD was 15.6% (n=5). Two patients had heart failure (one of them underwent heart transplant), one patient needed ICD because of ventricular tachycardia and two other patients were re-hospitalized, for recurrent chest pain and for recurrent myocarditis respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In our series of acute myocarditis diagnosed by CMR we found a low rate of cardiovascular events without mortality. These findings might oppose data from recently published myocarditis trials.

Pneumo-CT assessing response to neoadjuvant therapy in esophageal cancer: Imaging-pathological correlation.

Pneumo-computed tomography (PnCT) is a technique primarily developed and used to study stenotic lesions of the esophagus, gastroesophageal junction and stomach for pre-surgical planning. It helps to define both upper and lower borders of neoplasms located in the aforementioned areas. It achieves maximum lumen distension with CO2 highlighting thickened areas of the esophageal wall, thus allowing an accurate quantification of their extents. Although there are other alternatives for distension (oral contrast agents, water and effervescent granules), they may be suboptimal. Patients with locally advanced esophageal cancer have a dismal prognosis despite surgical resection. Therefore, neoadjuvant treatment strategies using radiation therapy and chemotherapy were developed to improve survival. Neoadjuvant therapy improves esophageal tumor prognosis in a substantial proportion of patients, and the use of imaging techniques is mandatory to detect their response. PnCT combined with virtual endoscopy and multiplanar reconstruction enhances morphologic details in esophageal cancer, and thus would allow an improved assessment of response to neoadjuvant treatment. Therefore, more information could be provided to assess the efficacy of pre-surgical treatment. We describe the potential use of PnCT to assess the response to neoadjuvant therapy in esophageal cancer with an imaging pathologic correlation.

Espectro de hallazgos abdominales con tomografía computada multidetector en la telangiectasia hemorrágica hereditaria / Spectrum of abdominal findings by multidetector computed tomography in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia

Objetivos de aprendizaje. Demostrar la utilidad de la tomografía computada multidetector (TCMD) en la realización de un protocolo de estudio específico en el diagnóstico, caracterización y diferenciación de las distintas lesiones vasculares abdominales halladas en la telangiectasia hemorrágica hereditaria (THH). Revisión del tema. La telangiectasia hemorrágica hereditaria o síndrome de Rendu-Osler-Weber es una alteración vascular multisistémica, caracterizada por la formación de lesiones angiodisplásicas, en la que existe una comunicación directa entre las arterias y venas, sin una red capilar entre ambas. Es transmitida como un rasgo autosómico dominante, con una prevalencia de 1 a 2 casos cada 10.000 personas. Clínicamente se caracteriza por la presencia de telangiectasias mucocutáneas con hemorragias gastrointestinales y epistaxis recurrentes, así como también por la conformación de shunts que, dependiendo del órgano afectado, pueden causar complicaciones, como hipoxemia, stroke, abscesos cerebrales o falla cardíaca. El diagnóstico se basa en una combinación entre la clínica, el examen físico y los métodos diagnósticos. Hallazgos en imágenes. El papel de la tomografía computada multidetector en el diagnóstico de la telangiectasia hemorrágica hereditaria adquiere cada vez mayor relevancia, ya que permite obtener imágenes de alta resolución espacial y temporal con un protocolo multifásico específico. Éste consiste en la realización de una fase arterial precoz, una fase arterial tardía (a los 20 segundos de la anterior) y una fase venosa (a los 40 segundos de la primera). De acuerdo con su comportamiento en las diferentes fases, podemos identificar lesiones como telangiectasias, masas vasculares confluentes, trastornos de la perfusión hepática, shunts arteriovenosos, arterioportales, porto-venosos y aneurismas arteriales. Conclusión. La tomografía computada multidetector, debido a su alta resolución témporo-espacial y a un protocolo específico multifásico...

MDCT findings after hepatic chemoembolization with DC-beads: what the radiologist needs to know.

Transcatheter arterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads (TACE-DC-beads) is a new local treatment for primary or metastatic liver tumors. Despite technical efforts to achieve highly selective embolization of the tumor-supplying vessels, small, or large insults to the non-tumorous parenchyma are inevitably induced by the embolic materials or procedure itself. Parenchymal changes following TACE-DC-beads include bile duct injuries (bile duct dilatation, periportal edema, and bilomas), obliteration of intrahepatic portal vein branches, hypodense ill-defined areas, and perilesional parenchymal enhancement. The radiologist must be familiar with the changes induced by this treatment in order to distinguish therapeutic effect and collateral findings from complications and residual or recurrent tumor.

Esophageal cancer characterization with pneumo-64-MDCT.

Early diagnosis and accurate staging of esophageal cancer are both essential for therapeutic strategy planning. Endoscopic ultrasound, CT, and positron emission tomography have all been used in the preoperative staging of esophageal cancer separately or in various combinations. Each imaging method has its strengths and weaknesses. Depiction of the tumor's anatomic location conditions the surgical strategy. Endoscopic ultrasound and PET have important advantages but neither provides information for surgical planning. CT scans have some limitations for hollow organ assessment in the absence of lumen distension, since the organ wall may be collapsed. Therefore, optimal esophageal distension could be very useful to overcome these limitations. This potential drawback is crucial at the level of the GE junction, a typically difficult region to evaluate. In order to optimize tumor visualization in the esophageal wall and in the GE junction, we developed a technique named pneumo-64-MDCT. We achieve maximum lumen distension, which better highlights the thickened areas in relation to the normal esophageal wall. At the present time, we have performed 200 studies with this technique and it proved useful, safe and accurate to identify esophageal wall thickening and to stage esophageal cancer. The additional stomach distension led to an adequate definition of both the upper and lower borders of the lesion in tumors located in the GE junction, which in turn was helpful to design the surgical approach.

[Usefulness of Pneumo-64-MDCT in the presurgical evaluation of esophageal cancer]. / Utilidad de la neumotomografia multislice 64 en la evaluación prequirúrgica del cáncer esofágico.

BACKGROUND: Pre-surgical characterization and staging of esophageal and esophagogastric union cancer with only one imaging method could be useful for the therapeutic strategy. OBJECTIVE: 1) To evaluate the sensitivity of Pneumo-64-MSCT (PnCT64) in the diagnosis of esophageal-cardial wall thickening in correlation with anatomopathological and postsurgical findings. 2) To evaluate the usefulness of gastric distension in the presurgical planning of esophageal cancer, especially those located in the gastroesophageal junction. METHODS: Twenty-four patients with endoscopic diagnosis of esophageal and cardial cancer were prospectively studied with PnCT64 before surgery. CT's were performed with a 64 row CT scanner and in order to achieve esophageal distension, CO2 was instilled with an automated insufflator through a Foley catheter. Mural thickening was evaluated as well as its scope, shape and anatomic location by using different type of reconstructions. PnCT64 findings were correlated with anatomopathological staging. RESULTS: In 21 patients an asymmetric wall thickening was observed with a sensitivity of 86.4% in correlation with anatomopathological findings. Adequate gastroesophageal distension defining the limits of the lesions was achieved in all patients. CONCLUSION: PnCT64 showed high sensitivity in the diagnosis of esophageal and cardial thickening. Gastric distension proved to be useful for the presurgical evaluation defining both upper and lower borders of the tumors located in the gastroesophageal junction.