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Agreement on the assessment of metastatic spine instability is moderate. The SINS can help improve communication among clinicians in oncology care.

The prevalence of Baker cysts in MR studies of the knee is high. Its presence and volume are related to the quantity of synovial fluid, and to the presence and severity of meniscal lesions.

Sedation is routinely required for successful Magnetic Resonance imaging in infants and children. Five hundred and ninety-six paediatric patients (270 female and 326 male, age (mean +/- SD) 41 +/- 30 months and weight 14.8 +/- 6.5 kg) entered an open, non-comparative, prospective study to assess oral chloral hydrate sedation in a large and homogeneous paediatric population undergoing Magnetic Resonance imaging. Chloral hydrate syrup 70 mg/ml was administered 20-40 min prior to the procedure. Effective sedation was reached in 94.1% with a total dose (mean +/- SEM) of 68 +/- 1 mg/kg (range 20-170 mg/kg). Statistical analysis of sedation failures vs. successful examinations after the total dose showed significant differences for dose (62 +/- 4 vs. 69 +/- 1 mg/kg; P < 0.05), age (64 +/- 7 vs. 40 +/- 1 months; P < 0.001) and weight (19.8 +/- 1.5 vs. 14.5 +/- 0.0 kg; P < 0.001). Effectiveness fell to around 80% in children with encephalic white matter alterations, medullary tumours or syringohydromyela (P = 0.07). The mean time of onset of sedation was 26 +/- 1 min, and the mean time to spontaneous awakening after the completion of the Magnetic Resonance examination was 38 +/- 2 min. Fifty-nine children (9.9%) experienced adverse reactions, with nausea and vomiting being the most common (n = 41), followed by nervousness and unusual excitement (n = 6). Discriminant function analysis identified age and total dose as the quantitative variables helping to differentiate between sedation failures and satisfactory examinations (sensitivity = 0.73, and specificity = 0.61; r = 0.20, P < 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)