Clinical and Radiologic Considerations for Idiopathic Superior Mesenteric Artery Syndrome.

Superior mesenteric artery (SMA) syndrome often occurs in the setting of rapid weight loss and scoliosis corrective spinal surgery. A reduction of fat around the third part of the duodenum can predispose the duodenum to compression and obstruction by the SMA as it emerges from the abdominal aorta. In this report, we describe this underdiagnosed condition in a previously healthy young female presenting with progressive post-prandial emesis, non-specific abdominal pain, and weight loss. A critical review of this disease process is explored to highlight pathology, imaging characteristics, and essential alternative diagnostic considerations. We also discuss potential complications and current treatment strategies. SMA syndrome poses unique diagnostic challenges, and an awareness of its clinical presentation can further improve patient outcomes and avoid potentially life-threatening complications.

Rapid acquisition technique for MR elastography of the liver.

Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) of the liver is a novel noninvasive clinical diagnostic tool to stage fibrosis based on measured stiffness. The purpose of this study is to design, evaluate and validate a rapid MRE acquisition technique for noninvasively quantitating liver stiffness which reduces by half the scan time, thereby decreasing image registration errors between four MRE phase offsets. In vivo liver MRE was performed on 16 healthy volunteers and 14 patients with biopsy-proven liver fibrosis using the standard clinical gradient recalled echo (GRE) MRE sequence (MREs) and a developed rapid GRE MRE sequence (MREr) to obtain the mean stiffness in an axial slice. The mean stiffness values obtained from the entire group using MREs and MREr were 2.72±0.85 kPa and 2.7±0.85 kPa, respectively, representing an insignificant difference. A linear correlation of R(2)=0.99 was determined between stiffness values obtained using MREs and MREr. Therefore, we can conclude that MREr can replace MREs, which reduces the scan time to half of that of the current standard acquisition (MREs), which will facilitate MRE imaging in patients with inability to hold their breath for long periods.