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SummaryBackground:Spinal infection (discitis; spondylodiscitis) presents a wide spectrum of pathologies. The method of choice for spondylodiscitis imaging is magnetic resonance (MR). It provides detailed anatomical information, especially concerning epidural space and spinal cord. The main aim of this article is the description and evaluation of spondylodiscitis morphological variation visible in magnetic resonance imaging.Material/Methods:In this article we retrospectively analysed the patients diagnosed at the Department of Radiology of the Provincial Hospital No 2 in Rzeszów between October 2009 and October 2011. The subjects involved a group of five women aged 41–74 (mean 56.3 years) and eight men aged 46–69 (mean 61,3 years). All patients had spondylodiscitis symptoms. All patients underwent MRI examination before and after the contrast enhancement. In three patients additional CT examination was performed.Results:Following the MRI procedure all patients were diagnosed with typical symptoms of spondylodiscitis. It also revealed a number of pathologies resulting from morphological spondylodiscitis variation. Other pathologies found on the MR images of the study group patients involved epidural intra-canal spinal pathological masses causing spinal cord compression, lung abscess, pyothorax, paravertebral abscesses and epidural empyemas, abscess between adjacent vertebral bodies, abscesses beneath anterior longitudinal ligament, and iliopsoas muscle abscesses. In all cases a destruction of vertebral bodies with end plates loss restriction and cortical layer discontinuity was observed. Moreover, one person was diagnosed with pathological vertebral body fractures and liquefactive necrosis of the vertebral body.Conclusions:Spondylodiscitis manifests itself in a great number of morphological variations visible on the radiological images. Apart from ordinary features of vertebral bodies and discs, progressive spinal destruction is observed together with reactive bone changes and soft tissue infiltration. The latter leads to a number of complications e.g. abscesses or even fistulas and also to the formation of obstacles in radiological images. The knowledge of radiological images together with overall evaluation of clinical and laboratory features enables a proper diagnosis.

Introduction andObjective. CT examination is an important diagnostic tool in assessment of the severity of the infection and course of the disease. The aim of the study was to evaluate the degree and frequency of involvement of individual lung lobes and the population Lobe Involvement Coefficient (pLIC) value in the investigated population. Materials and method. The analyzed material comprised 124 patients aged 18-92 years. CT examinations were performed using a 16-and 32-row CT LightSpeed apparatus. The spatial distribution of typical Covid -19 pathological changes was analyzed, divided into five lung lobes. The degree of the severity of lobe involvement was assessed using counters and percentages, as well as the population Lobe Involvement Coefficient (pLIC). Statistical analysis of data was performed with the use of Statistica 10.0 software. Values were measured on an oridinal scale. Anova Friedman's test was used to compare lobes. Results. Statistically significant differences in the involvement between most of the individual lobes were shown. There was no statistically significant difference in the degree of lobe involvement between the left and right upper lobes, nor in the left and right lower lobes. The highest pILC was demonstrated for the lower lobe and the lowest value was obtained for the middle lobe. Conclusions. The lower lobes were affected most frequently and most severely, with no statistical difference between the right and left sides. The middle lobe was affected relatively least frequently and lightly. The introduced pLIC index allows quantitative assessment of individual lobes involvement in relation to the entire studied population.

Background and Objectives: During osteopetrosis course, impaired bone remodeling induces skeletal osteosclerosis and abnormally dense bones, which, however, are brittle and susceptible to low-energy fractures. In this study, radiological evaluation and densitometric measurements of several bones of the skeleton in one of the oldest patients in the world suffering from osteopetrosis was presented. Materials and Methods: Volumetric bone mineral density measurements of the examined bones in an 80-year-old man were performed using two different quantitative computed tomography techniques. Results: The obtained results show higher values of the volumetric bone mineral density of the trabecular bone in lumbar spine than in the cortical bone compartment. T-score and Z-score in this patient reached values of 27–28 and 31–32, respectively. Conclusions: The obtained densitometric data may serve for further diagnostic purposes of osteopetrosis. As documented, the severity of the osteosclerotic changes of bones were higher in this patient than in most other described cases. Moreover, radiological signs diagnosed in this patient were characteristic for all types of osteopetrosis making this case very uncommon.

Epidemiologically, breast cancer is the most common cancer in middle-aged women and it is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths. Middle-aged patients are covered by screening tests – digital mammography, often supplemented with ultrasound (US) breast examination. Other radiological tests in the diagnosis of breast cancer include such techniques as tomosynthesis, spectral mammography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Many research groups around the world have demonstrated superiority of tomosynthesis in detecting focal lesions in breasts when compared to conventional mammography. Tomosynthesis usage was proposed for screening studies as a test of choice and for radiologically-guided tissue biopsies of suspicious tissue lesions.