Objective-A total of 979 women from the Chingford general population survey were studied to examine the hypothesis that osteoarthritis (OA) and osteoporosis are inversely related.Methods-All women had radiographs of the hands and knees. A total of 579 also had AP radiographs of the lumbar spine which were graded for the presence of osteophytes. All women had bone densitometry performed at the lumbar spine (L1-L4) and femoral neck. Mean bone densities (BMD) were compared between those with disease and those with no disease at any other sites. All results were adjusted for age and body mass index (BMI).Results-All OA groups had significantly higher bone density than controls at the lumbar spine. For distal interphalangeal (DIP) OA (n = 140) the difference was +5.8% (+3.0, +8.6), for carpometacarpal (CMC) OA (n= 160) +3.0% (+0*1, +5.9), for knee OA (n = 118) +7*6% (+4.3, +10.9), and lumbar spine OA (LSOA) (n = 194) +7.8% (+6.0, +8-8). Those with generalised OA (GOA n = 22), a combination of knee, DIP and CMC OA had an increase of +9-3 (+2.0, +16.6). For the femoral neck BMD was also increased significantly ranging from +2.5% for the CMC, +6-2% for the knee and +6.3% in the lumbar spine OA group. The risk of knee OA for women in the top tertile of BMD was [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13] (1. 15-3-93 Others, however, have failed to find a relationship. Price found a significant difference in bone mineral density (BMD) when adjusting for age, which disappeared after adjusting for height and weight.6 Other studies have also been inconclusive.7 Much of the previous studies were based on small numbers with often poorly matched controls, and using relatively crude techniques to detect bone loss. Many subjects had advanced disease and if OA has been present for some time the resulting immobility is likely to affect bone mass. We therefore chose to examine the relationship between bone density and early OA of the hand, knee and spine using a middle-aged general population sample and high precision dual x ray absorbtiometry of the spine and femoral neck (FN). The area is predominantly middle class but with a range of all social groups. A socioeconomic profile was performed using the Acorn classification system which is based on each subject's postcode and residence (CACI

Twenty-three cases of renal or perirenal involvement by non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were identified from a retrospective review of computed tomography (CT) scans performed on patients at St Bartholomew's Hospital over an 8-year period. The histology, clinical features and survival of these patients were examined. Eighteen of the 23 patients had high grade histological subtypes according to the Kiel classification. The majority of cases were identified from scans performed at the time of presentation. In nine cases renal lymphoma was observed in the absence of detectable retroperitoneal lymphadenopathy. Staging was rarely altered by the finding of renal lymphoma as 21 of the 23 patients had involvement of other extranodal sites in addition to the kidney. Survival did not appear to be adversely affected by the presence of renal lymphoma at the time of initial diagnosis. During the same period no cases of renal involvement were identified in patients with Hodgkin's disease, although one patient had perirenal involvement.

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Computed tomography and bronchography were used to assess the distribution of bronchiectasis in 15 lungs from eight patients with clinical features of the disease. Of the 36 lobes adequately displayed by bronchography, 22 were found to have bronchiectasis and 14 were found to be normal by both techniques. Cystic disease was readily identified by computed tomography but the cylindrical and varicose types of bronchiectasis could not be distinguished. Segmental localisation was less accurate, with agreement between computed tomography and bronchography in 1 16 out of 130 segments. It is concluded that with a modern high resolution scanner computed tomography provides a useful method of assessing lobar distribution in bronchiectasis.