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Objective: To determine the correlation between cerebral infarct volume, carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), and plaque echotexture in patients with ischemic stroke. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study of 70 patients with ischemic stroke who were imaged using the head coil of a 1.5T Toshiba magnetic resonance machine. The volumes of infarcts were documented and calculated using the manual tracing of the infarct perimeter method. The common carotid CIMT was measured on ultrasound using a linear high-frequency 7.5 MHz transducer. Results: Seventy subjects were evaluated. The mean magnetic resonance imaging cerebral infarct volume was 8.07% volume. Hyperechoic plaques were the most prevalent (36.7%) compared to the hypoechoic (33.3%) and isoechoic (30%) plaques. There was a moderate positive correlation between CIMT and infarct volume (r = 0.70; P = 0.001) in the entire study population. Similarly, positive correlations between CIMT and infarct volume were recorded in both the male (r = 0.73; P = 0.001) and female (r = 0.67; P = 0.001) subjects. Furthermore, subjects who presented in the acute phase (1-3 days) of ictus showed a moderate positive correlation (r = 0.621; P = 0.0001) between CIMT and infarct volume, while there was a strong positive correlation (r = 0.74; P = 0.0001) in subjects that presented in the subacute phase (4-7 days). Conclusion: Common carotid artery CIMT correlated positively with cerebral infarct volume in patients with ischemic stroke. Furthermore, hyperechoic plaques were associated with significantly larger infarct volumes compared to hypoechoic and isoechoic plaques.
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Objective: This study was done to evaluate the relationship between cervical spine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings and clinical features in adults with chronic neck pain (NP) at our tertiary hospital. Materials and Methods: This was a prospective cross-sectional study of the cervical spine MRI of 90 adult patients with chronic NP. The clinical history, biodata, and cervical spine MRI findings were analysed. Statistical tests were considered significant at P ≤ 0.05. Results: The mean age of the participants was 54.72 (13.51) years (range = 28-79 years). There were 52 (58%) males and 38 (42%) females. Cervical disc desiccation and disc herniation were the most prevalent MRI findings. C4/C5 and C5/C6 disc levels were most commonly affected. Disc height reduction correlated with shoulder pain (r = 0.23, P = 0.030), unsteady gait (r = 0.27, P = 0.010), and lower limb weakness (r = 0.23, P = 0.029). Vertebral collapse correlated with shoulder pain (r = 0.22, P = 0.036), upper limbs burning sensation (r = 0.33, P = 0.001), and loss of dexterity (r = 0.22, P = 0.037). Spondylolisthesis correlated significantly with unsteady gait (r = 0.34, P = 0.001), dizziness/vertigo (r = 0.29, P = 0.005), painful neck movement (r = 0.32, P = 0.002), loss of dexterity (r = 0.37, P < 0.001) and sphincteric dysfunction (r = 0.23, P = 0.031). Modic changes correlated with loss of dexterity (r = 0.39, P < 0.001) and upper limbs burning sensation (r = 0.21, P = 0.048). Cervical canal stenosis did not correlate significantly with any symptom. Conclusion: Cervical disc disease (C4/C5 and C5/C6 levels) was the most prevalent finding on MRI. Disc height reduction, vertebral collapse, spondylolisthesis, and Modic changes correlated with various clinical symptoms.
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Aim of the study: Portal vein congestion index has shown promise in detecting early portal venous hemodynamic changes in chronic liver disease. The aim of this study was to compare the portal vein congestion index of adult patients with chronic liver disease to that of healthy controls, and to evaluate the differences in portal vein congestion index, if any, between the common etiologies of chronic liver disease (chronic viral hepatitis, alcoholic liver disease, and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease). Method and materials: Eighty participants with chronic liver disease and 80 healthy controls had their sociodemographic variables, anthropometric indices, liver size/echotexture, spleen size, presence of ascites, and portal vein parameters (diameter, cross-sectional area, velocity, and congestion index) evaluated. P ≤0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results: There were 48 (60%) males and 32 (40%) females in the control group, while 56 (70%) males and 24 (30%) females were included in the chronic liver disease group (p = 0.185). Of the eighty people with chronic liver disease, 57 (71.2%) were diagnosed with alcoholic liver disease, while 23 (28.8%) were diagnosed with chronic viral hepatitis. There were no cases of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease during the study period. The mean liver spans of the control and chronic liver disease groups were 13.45 ± 0.85 cm and 16.50 ± 4.96 cm, respectively. All the controls had normal hepatic parenchymal echogenicity, while 45 (56.3%) subjects with chronic liver disease (36 alcoholic liver disease and 9 chronic viral hepatitis) had increased hepatic echogenicity. The mean values of the portal vein congestion index for the control and chronic liver disease groups were 0.0775 ± 0.02 cm/sec and 0.1037 ± 0.03 cm/sec, respectively (p <0.0001). Conclusion: The chronic liver disease group showed a significantly higher mean portal vein congestion index than the control group.
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Objectives: Our study sought to determine the effect of age, parity, body mass index (BMI), and previous oral contraceptive use on gallbladder volume and ejection fraction in pregnancy to enable obstetricians to identify patients at risk of gallbladder disease in pregnancy. Methods: We conducted a prospective cross-sectional study involving 190 pregnant women who were evaluated within 32 and 40 weeks gestation at the Fetal Assessment Unit of the Department of Radiology, University of Ilorin Teaching Hospital, Nigeria. Patients were scanned with a commercially available Siemens Ultrasound scanner using a curvilinear probe and a transducer frequency of 3.5 MHz. The fasting gallbladder volume (FGBV) and 30 minutes postprandial gallbladder volume (PGBV) were calculated using the prolate ellipsoid method. Gallbladder ejection fraction was determined using FGBV and PGBV. Each patient's biodata, medical history, and somatometric parameters were documented. Results: A total of 190 volunteers were included in the study. BMI showed statistically significant positive, though weak correlations with FGBV (r = 0.179, p =0.015) and PGBV (r = 0.216, p =0.003). Maternal age, parity, and previous oral contraceptive use did not show any statistically significant correlation with gallbladder parameters. Conclusions: BMI showed a statistically significant but weakly positive correlation with FGBV and PGBV in pregnancy. Our study demonstrated that gallbladder volume in pregnancy might be dependent on BMI. Thus, high BMI may predispose to large gallbladder volume, increasing the risk of biliary stasis and gallstone formation in pregnancy. This is relevant for early detection and prevention of gallbladder disease and follow-up, including expectant management of subjects that may develop gallbladder disease in pregnancy.
