Obstructed hemivagina with ipsilateral renal and urinary tract anomaly presenting as an unusual cause of acute abdomen: a radiologic perspective.

Obstructed hemivagina with ipsilateral renal anomaly (OHVIRA) is a rare congenital genitourinary defect with a triad of unilateral vaginal obstruction, uterine anomaly and ipsilateral renal agenesis. This paper reports an unusual presentation of OHVIRA, with our patient experiencing severe abdominal pain from a left tubo-ovarian abscess that is contralateral to the side of the vaginal outflow obstruction. Another reportable finding is our patient's rare association of a trifid ureter that fuses distally before inserting ectopically in her vaginal canal. Lastly, this case report also emphasises the importance of radiologists' expertise in suspecting the diagnosis early on and in contributing to the preoperative evaluation of patients with OHVIRA, thereby providing adequate management for these patients.

Serial susceptibility weighted MRI measures brain iron and microbleeds in dementia.

A new iron sensitive MR sequence (susceptibility weighted imaging - SWI) enabling the simultaneous quantitation of regional brain iron levels and brain microbleeds (BMB) has been acquired serially to study dementia. Cohorts of mildly cognitively impaired (MCI) elderly (n = 73) and cognitively normal participants (n = 33) have been serially evaluated for up to 50 months. SWI phase values (putative iron levels) in 14 brain regions were measured and the number of BMB were counted for each SWI study. SWI phase values showed a left putaminal mean increase of iron (decrease of phase values) over the study duration in 27 participants who progressed to dementia compared to Normals (p = 0.035) and stable MCI (p = 0.01). BMB were detected in 9 out of 26 (38%) MCI participants who progressed to dementia and are a significant risk factor for cognitive failure in MCI participants [risk ratio = 2.06 (95% confidence interval 1.37-3.12)]. SWI is useful to measure regional iron changes and presence of BMB, both of which may be important MR-based biomarkers for neurodegenerative diseases.