An Unusual Case of Xanthoma of Bilateral Achilles Tendon with Gouty Infiltration: A Rare Case Report.

Achilles tendon xanthoma is a benign and rare disease with a high incidence in patients having familial hypercholesterolemia. Patients present with or without pain and thickened tendons. Gout is seen in patients with hyperuricemia. Coexistence of xanthoma and gout is extremely rare. We searched the PubMed literature with 'Xanthoma' and 'Gout' as keywords and could find only one case report. Imaging modalities such as radiography and ultrasonography, play a vital role in diagnosing this condition early, hence helping the patient to commence the use of potentially lifesaving lipid-lowering therapeutic agents. Magnetic resonance imaging is helpful in delineating the morphological changes, exact measurements, and eventually in treatment planning. It helps to rule out early involvement of other tendons by the same pathology. We present a case of a 25-year-old male patient who presented to our institute with bilateral large symmetrical swelling in the posterior aspects of ankles for 4 years, with normal serum and blood parameters. Bilaterality, enormous size and normal blood and serum parameters make this case unique.

A Rare Case of Systemic Cystic Angiomatosis Involving the Bones, Spleen, Liver, and Lungs.

Systemic cystic angiomatosis (SCA) is a rare disorder, usually involving the visceral organs with incidental detection during its insidious course. On radiography, it can present as multiple cystic lesions. In rare instances, it can present as mixed lesions (lytic, sclerotic) as was the case with our patient. The disease has a better prognosis than most vascular neoplasms involving the bones. We present a rare case of this disease, involving multiple organs, and presenting with an insidious onset.

Extraarticular Synovial Osteochondromatosis in Baker's Cysts Bilaterally: a Rare Presentation.

Synovial osteochondromatosis is a rare benign pathology arising from the synovial membrane of the joints, synovial sheaths or uncommonly the bursae around the joints. Baker's cysts are fluid filled, synovium-lined lesions arising in popliteal fossa. Synovial chondromatosis involving the Baker`s cyst is extremely rare. The aim of this case report is to document this exceedingly rare extra articular synovial pathology involving Baker's cysts of bilateral knees and to emphasize the importance of radiographs and sonography in the diagnosis.

Hypovitaminosis D in patients with osteoporotic hip fractures.

BACKGROUND: Inadequate serum vitamin D levels are associated with secondary hyperparathyroidism, increased bone turnover, bone loss and increased fracture risk. Vitamin D is well recognized to be suboptimal in older patients when compared to age-matched controls. There are no published studies on the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in Indian population with fragility fractures around the hip associated with osteoporosis and comminution at the fracture site. AIM: To investigate the prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in patients admitted with osteoporotic hip fractures and associated fracture site comminution in a South Indian Institute. MATERIAL & METHODS: A prospective cross sectional study was conducted on 100 patients admitted with osteoporotic hip fracture. Measurement of serum 25-hydroxy vitamin D was done and the same was correlated with the degree of osteoporosis using Singh's index and fracture site comminution. RESULTS: Out of 100 patients studied, 92% had hypovitaminosis D with mean vitamin D level of 16.08 ±â€¯5.95 ng/dl (65% vitamin D deficiency with mean 13.16 ±â€¯4.24 ng/dl and 27% vitamin D insufficiency with mean 23.11 ±â€¯2.62 ng/dl) and 94% had osteoporosis with Singh's index grade 3 or less. Out of the 36 patients with fracture site comminution 34 patients (94%) had hypovitaminosis D and 33 patients (91.6%) had osteoporosis. Statistical significance was established for all the variables. CONCLUSION: Significant association was found between hypovitaminosis D, osteoporosis and fracture site comminution. High prevalence of hypovitaminosis D in patients presenting with hip fractures and fracture site comminution implicates the necessity for proper evaluation and effective supplementation of vitamin D in elderly patients along with anti-osteoporotic regimens for effective prevention and appropriate management of osteoporotic hip fractures.

Justification of whole-body CT in polytrauma patients, can clinical examination help selecting patients?

BACKGROUND: Whole-body computed tomography (WBCT) is used indiscriminately in trauma cases, just on the suspicion of them being polytrauma cases. A good clinical examination done pre-emptively could prevent the need for this investigation and its undesirous effects. We did this study with an overall aim to assess, if WBCT can be limited to subgroup of trauma patients without compromising clinical safety. METHODS: Retrospective database analysis of 150 cases of polytrauma who underwent WBCT in 2017 was performed. We recorded age, gender, radiation dose and CT findings in all cases and calculated mean age, number of total patients and female patients less than 25 years of age, number of normal WBCT scans, mean radiation dose in the normal and total scans. We also compared pre-test clinical requests with whole-body CT findings, and categorised them in following seven categories: Category 1-Normal Scans; Category 2-Clinically expected Major Injuries; Category 3-Clinically expected Minor Injuries (low risk injuries with no risk of morbidity or mortality if remained undiagnosed), Category 4-Clinically expected CT findings with unexpected Minor (non-serious) injuries; Category 5-Clinically expected CT findings with unexpected Major (serious) injuries, Category 6-Unexpected Minor (non-serious) injuries; Category 7-Unexpected Major (serious) injuries. Categories 2 &3 of clinically expected major and minor injuries included patients with fewer injuries than expected. On the other hand, Category 4 & 5 consist of clinically expected findings with other unexpected injuries, including minor and major injuries respectively. Body injuries were reported in seven areas as per our institutional reporting protocol- Head (including face), Cervical Spine, Thoracolumbar Spine, Chest, Abdomen, Pelvis and Appendicular Skeleton (if asked for). RESULTS: Overall, we found statistically significant correlation between clinical suspicion raised and WBCT findings with good clinical correlation noticed in 106 (70.66%) cases (including 61 cases of clinically suspected major injuries, 15 cases of clinically suspected minor injuries and 25 nearly normal scans with no obvious clinical concern). Isolated unexpected serious injury without any clinical suspicion was seen in only 1 case. Surprisingly, 25 scan requests were made due to high risk mechanism of injury with no obvious clinical concern and were found normal in 20 cases and showed very subtle injuries in 5. Notably, 30 cases of expected major and minor injuries showed highly accurate clinical findings with no injury other than the region of concern and in these cases, limited scan requests would have been sufficient. Mean radiation dose of the entire study group was 22.45 mSv and those to normal patients was 21.19 mSv. CONCLUSIONS: This study re-emphasizes the significance of good clinical examination in the era of evidence based medicine, which would reduce the high number of unnecessary high dose WBCT (25 scans with no positive findings on clinical examination were nearly normal and in 30 cases limited CT would have been sufficient), thereby, decreasing radiation exposure and its potential side effects on polytrauma patients without affecting their survival.

Tracheal septum: real or virtual?

Tracheal septum has never been reported in human beings, though it's a common occurrence in few lower vertebrates. We are presenting a case of thick tracheal secretion that appeared as a midline tracheal septum and prompted the clinician to go for bronchoscopy.

Ossification of the bilateral Achilles tendon: a rare entity.

Ossification of the Achilles tendon is a rare clinical entity comprising of one or more segments of variable sized ossified masses in the fibrocartilaginous substance of the tendon. The etiology of ossification of the Achilles tendon is multifactorial with recurrent trauma and surgery comprising major predisposing factors, with others being metabolic, systemic, and infectious diseases. The possibility of a genetic predisposition towards this entity has also been raised, but has not yet been proven. We present a rare case of ossification of the bilateral Achilles tendons without any history of trauma or surgery in a 48-year-old female patient.

Imaging features on sonography and MRI in a case of lipofibromatous hamartoma of the median nerve.

Lipofibromatous hamartomas are rare benign tumours of Peripheral nerves. Median nerve is most common affected nerve involved in about 80 percent of the cases. Approximately 92 cases have been reported so far. We present a case of lipofibromatous hamartoma of median nerve diagnosed on sonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). These rare lesions are an important entity to be known to radiologists because their imaging features are quite pathognomonic and allow for confident diagnosis negating the need for biopsy.

Increased renal corticomedullary FDG activity in a patient of NHL-malignant or benign?

Authors describe diagnostic dilemma of differentiating pyelonephritis with lymphomatous involvement of kidney in a known case of lymphoma. FDG uptake pattern was non-discriminatory and pyelonephritis diagnosed retrospectively on follow up study. Authors emphasize the importance of recognition of features and subtle clues of infection evident on CT component of PET-CT.