The diagnostic accuracy of sonography and computed tomography for detecting liver metastases was analysed in 526 patients with tumors and the findings were compared with those at laparotomy and at post mortem. The surgical protocols were analysed in respect of the primary tumour, the frequency of metastases and the number, localisation and size of metastases. A comparison of sonography and CT showed a higher sensitivity for CT (57.1%) compared with sonography (52.3%) although specificity was slightly higher for sonography. Liver metastases greater than 15 mm were detected by sonography (80.5%) and CT (92%), with much higher sensitivity. CT also proved superior, since the results depended less on the size, number and localisation of the deposits and on the primary tumor than did sonography.

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The standard radiographs in two planes of the ankle joint and of the foot do not allow an exact evaluation of the subtalar joint. Two additional views are proposed. With a dorsal flexion of the ankle joint one radiograph is obtained in 60 degrees internal rotation and the other in 60 degrees external rotation. The medial-oblique and lateral-oblique views considerably increase diagnostic information with a minor effort compared to tomography.

Angiographic studies of the arteries adjoining the knee in 25 patients show extensive kinking and stenoses of the popliteal artery and less frequently of the distal femoral artery during flexion of the knee joint. This is due to the loss of elasticity with increasing age forcing the vessel into a tortuous course during shortening of the pathway of the popliteal artery with knee flexion. Independent of the principle of the different stents available they probably will not increase the contractility of the stented vessel in the longitudinal axis. It is to expect that after implantation of stents into the popliteal artery kinking will occur predominantly in the original segments of the vessel and at the transitions to the stented segments leading to intimal damage by shear forces thus propagating local progress of atherosclerosis.

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