The OAT technique for ACD or OCD repair in the athletic population allows for a higher rate of return to and maintenance of sports at the preinjury level compared with MF.

The purpose of this prospective randomized clinical study was to compare the outcomes of mosaic type autologous osteochondral transplantation (OAT) and microfracture (MF) procedures for the treatment of the articular cartilage defects of the knee joint in athletes. Between 1998 and 2002, a total of 57 athletes with a mean age of 24.3 years and with a symptomatic lesion of the articular cartilage in the knee were randomized to undergo either OAT or MF procedure. There were 28 athletes in OAT group and 29 in MF group. Patients were evaluated using a modified Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and International Cartilage Repair Society (ICRS) scores, MRI and clinical assessment after 6, 12, 24 and 36 months after the surgery. According to the modified HSS and ICRS scores, functional and objective assessment showed that 96% had excellent or good results after OAT compared with 52% after MF procedure (P<0.001). In 12, 24 and 36 months after the operations, the HSS and ICRS showed statistically significantly better results in the OAT group (P=0.03; P=0.006; P=0.006). Twenty-six (93%) athletes following OAT and fifteen (52%) athletes following MF returned to sports activities at the preinjury level at an average of 6.5 months (range, 4-8 months) after the operations. At an average of 37.1 months follow-up, our prospective, randomized, clinical study in athletes has shown significant superiority of the OAT over MF for the repair of articular cartilage defects in the knee.

Summary.Objective. The aim of this study was to establish and compare diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity, specificity, and diagnostic odds ratio) of plain x-ray, ultrasonography, bone scintigraphy, computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) CT was 0.67 (95% CI, specificity, 0.5 (95% CI, and diagnostic odds ratio, 2.0 (95% CI,. The sensitivity of early x-ray was specificity, 0.96 (95% CI, and diagnostic odds ratio, 4.34 (95% CI,. The sensitivity of MRI was 0.81 (95% CI, specificity, 0.67 (95% CI, and diagnostic odds ratio, 8.67 (95% CI,. The sensitivity of late x-ray was 0.82 (95% CI, 0.75-0.88); specificity, 0.92 (95% CI, 0.62-1.0); and diagnostic odds ratio, 51.17 (95% CI, 6.61-2222.0). The sensitivity of bone scintigraphy was 0.81 (95% CI, specificity, 0.84 (95% CI, and diagnostic odds ratio, 22.30 (95% CI,.Conclusions. Our analysis showed that late x-ray is the most valuable radiologic method in the diagnosis of acute hematogenous osteomyelitis, but bone scintigraphy and magnetic resonance imaging are the most valuable tests at the onset of the disease.Correspondence to V. Barauskas,

Different kinds of artifacts can occur during a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans due to hardware or software related problems, human physiologic phenomenon or physical restrictions. Some of them can seriously affecting diagnostic image quality, while others may simulate or be confused with different pathology. On another word artifact as an artificial feature appearing in an image that is not present in the original investigative object. It is important to recognize these artifacts according to a basic understanding of their origin, especially those mimicking pathology, as they can lead to incorrect diagnosis and cause serious after-effects on patient's health and outcomes. We presented an overview of the most common MRI artifacts and methods to fix or rectify them. We also provide the original artifacts images and statistics from the

Abstract. The aim of this work was to perform analysis of the skull morphology of red fox and raccoon dog and to examine their frontal sinuses (sinus frontalis) with the help of the methods of comparative anatomy and computed tomography. A total of 71 skulls of adult animals were used, 38 of red fox (22 male and 16 female) and 33 of raccoon dogs (21 male and 12 female). The most distinct morphological features were found in cranium bones, especially in frontal and occipital bones. The mandible was found to have four distinctive morphological features concentrated in the mandibular ramus (ramus mandibulae). The frontal sinuses in raccoon dog, unlike in red fox, occupy the entire surface of the zygomatic processes and are divided into small cavities by well-developed osseous partitions that are very thin in red fox. Computed tomography performed for the sagittal skull area revealed two prominent osseous partitions in the median part of the frontal sinuses in raccoon dogs and one partition in red fox. The maximum length, width and height of the frontal sinus cavity are larger in red fox than in raccoon dog (p < 0.001).