No abstract

Purpose In response to the outbreak of COVID-19 in Ireland, the government implemented a nationwide stay-at-home order, with the closure of all non-essential businesses. During this period, there was a significant increase in supermarket expenditure. It has been shown that stress, anxiety and boredom are triggers for unhealthy eating habits. Fat consumption is a risk factor for both the development of gallstones and, additionally, the development of acute calculous cholecystitis. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence of acute calculous cholecystitis during the nationwide lockdown and compare it to the same period one year prior. Methods A retrospective review of all emergency abdominal imaging performed during the first 5 weeks of the lockdown was completed using the hospital PACS (picture archiving and communication system). All cases of acute calculous cholecystitis were identified and compared with the same period 1 year prior. Results Eighteen cases of acute calculous cholecystitis were identified from 24 March to 27 April 2020. Eleven cases were identified during the same period in 2019. This represented an increase of 63%. Non-COVID-19-related emergency presentations decreased during this period, and imaging of emergency presentations decreased by 24%. The rate of scans positive for acute cholecystitis more than doubled (p < 0.037). Conclusion A statistically significant increase in cases of acute calculous cholecystitis was observed during a nationwide lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is hypothesised that this is due to increased consumption of fatty foods during this period due to stress, anxiety and boredom.

With increasing subspecialized experience in radical cytoreductive surgery and intra abdominal chemotherapy for peritoneal malignancy, outcomes have improved significantly in selected patients. The surgery and the treatment regimens are radical and therefore correct patient selection is critical. The radiologist plays a central role in this process by estimating, as precisely as possible, the pre-treatment disease burden. Because of the nature of the disease process, accurate staging is not an easy task. Tumour deposits may be very small and in locations where they are very difficult to detect. It must be acknowledged that no form of modern day imaging has the capability of detecting the smallest peritoneal nodules which may only be visible to direct inspection or histopathological evaluation. Nonetheless, it behoves the radiologist to be as exact and precise as possible in the reporting of this disease process. This is both to select patients who are likely to benefit from radical treatment, and just as importantly, to identify patients who are unlikely to achieve adequate cytoreductive outcomes. In this review, we outline the patterns of spread of disease and the anatomic basis for this, as well as the essential aspects of reporting abdominal studies in this patient group. We provide an evidence-based update on the relative strengths and limitations of our available multimodality imaging techniques namely CT, MRI and PET/CT.

Extraosseous radiotracer uptake during bone scintigraphy must be carefully assessed and it offers the potential to detect previously undiagnosed disease processes. A range of neoplastic, metabolic, traumatic, ischaemic and inflammatory disorders can cause soft tissue accumulation of bone avid radiopharmaceuticals. Accordingly, cardiac uptake in bone scintigraphy has a broad differential diagnosis and is commonly attributed to ischaemia/infarction related to coronary artery disease. However, there has been renewed focus on incidental cardiac uptake in recent years in light of significant developments in the diagnosis and management of cardiac amyloidosis.

Image-guided lung intervention in the oncologic patient includes transthoracic needle biopsy, thermal ablation, fiducial placement, and tunneled pleural catheter placement and is made possible by technical advancements in computed tomography, fluoroscopy, and ultrasound technology, as well as the proliferation of available thermal ablation modalities such as radiofrequency, microwave, and cryoablation. With increasingly earlier cancer diagnoses being made and a greater patient demand for minimally invasive therapies, interventional oncology has many options to offer the patient with thoracic malignancies. The indications, technique, outcomes, and complications of these diagnostic and therapeutic procedures are described in detail in this review article.