Multimodality imaging of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19): a pictorial essay.

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) or severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) or new coronavirus 2019 (2019-nCoV) is now a global pandemic with attendant morbidity, mortality, and socioeconomic disruption. Its features have been described on plain chest radiography, chest computed tomography (CT), chest ultrasonography, brain CT, brain magnetic resonance imaging, and fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography. Based on current evidence, imaging plays an ancillary role in the management of those with severe illness. This essay illustrates the imaging manifestations of COVID-19 pictorially.

Doppler ultrasonographic evaluation of celiac and mesenteric arteries in subjects with sickle cell disease.

Vasculopathy, as occurring in sickle cell disease (SCD), can affect celiac and mesenteric arteries and result in stenosis, with elevated peak systolic velocity (PSV) on Doppler ultrasonography. In six subjects with confirmed SCD in steady state, routine Doppler ultrasonographic examination discovered features of celiac artery (CA) or superior mesenteric artery (SMA) stenosis with CA PSV >200 cm/s (median = 222.8 cm/s; range = 201.5-427.1 cm/s) and/or SMA PSV >275 cm/s (median 183.2 cm/s; range = 87.8-289.3 cm/s). Among the six subjects, five had elevated soluble P-selectin values (median 72.55 ng/mL), while all six (100%) had elevated cystatin C levels (median 4.15 mg/L). Peripheral oxygen saturation was suboptimal in five subjects. All subjects had low hemoglobin concentration levels (median 8.5 g/dL) while four had elevated white blood cell count. Although vaso-occlusive crises result from microvessel occlusion, these findings at the macrovascular level suggest that SCD patients may also be vulnerable to mesenteric ischemic injury, especially in the setting of anemic heart failure from hemolysis.

Sonographic detection of inferior subluxation in post-stroke hemiplegic shoulders.

AIM OF THE STUDY: To evaluate the usefulness of ultrasonographic acromion-greater tuberosity distance measurement and Shoulder ratio in detecting post-stroke inferior shoulder subluxation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-five hemiplegic stroke patients and 45 controls underwent shoulder sonography to measure their acromion-greater tuberosity distance. Side-to-side acromion-greater tuberosity distance differences and Shoulder ratios were derived from the acromion-greater tuberosity distance values. The long head of biceps tendon, subscapularis tendon, supraspinatus tendon, and the infraspinatus tendon were also evaluated to exclude full thickness tendon tears. Data were analyzed using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 20.0 for windows. Normality of data distribution was checked using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. Mann-Whitney U test and Chi-square tests were utilized. RESULTS: Hemiplegic and control shoulders' acromion-greater tuberosity distance values were 2.8 ± 0.6 cm and 2.4 ± 0.4 cm, respectively (p = 0.001). Hemiplegic and control shoulder ratios were 1.3 ± 0.3 and 1.1 ± 0.1, respectively; p < 0.001. Point biserial correlation showed that the presence of subluxation correlated moderately with higher shoulder ratios in all the hemiplegics (rpb = 0.520; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that acromion-greater tuberosity distance measurement is useful for detecting inferior shoulder subluxation. Shoulder ratio may be of complementary or supplemental value to acromion-greater tuberosity distance difference.