ObjectivesTo evaluate the incidence, management, and outcome of visceral artery aneurysms (VAA) over one decade.Methods233 patients with 253 VAA were analyzed according to location, diameter, aneurysm type, aetiology, rupture, management, and outcome.ResultsVAA were localized at the splenic artery, coeliac trunk, renal artery, hepatic artery, superior mesenteric artery, and other locations. The aetiology was degenerative, iatrogenic after medical procedures, connective tissue disease, and others. The rate of rupture was much higher in pseudoaneurysms than true aneurysms (76.3 % vs.3.1 %). Fifty-nine VAA were treated by intervention (n = 45) or surgery (n = 14). Interventions included embolization with coils or glue, covered stents, or combinations of these. Thirty-five cases with ruptured VAA were treated on an emergency basis. There was no difference in size between ruptured and non-ruptured VAA. After interventional treatment, the 30-day mortality was 6.7 % in ruptured VAA compared to no mortality in non-ruptured cases. Follow-up included CT and/or MRI after a mean period of 18.0 ± 26.8 months. The current status of the patient was obtained by a structured telephone survey.ConclusionsPseudoaneurysms of visceral arteries have a high risk for rupture. Aneurysm size seems to be no reliable predictor for rupture. Interventional treatment is safe and effective for management of VAA.Key Points• Diagnosis of visceral artery aneurysms is increasing due to CT and MRI.• Diameter of visceral arterial aneurysms is no reliable predictor for rupture.• False aneurysms/pseudoaneurysms and symptomatic cases need emergency treatment.• Interventional treatment is safe and effective.

The high frequency of inflammatory pulmonary disease after a suspicious HRCT scan (> 50%) proves that pneumonia is not excluded by a normal chest roentgenogram. Given the significantly longer duration of febrile episodes in transplant recipients, HRCT findings are particularly relevant in this subgroup. Patients with normal HRCT scans, particularly transplant recipients, have a low risk of pneumonia during follow-up. All neutropenic patients with fever of unknown origin and normal chest roentgenograms should undergo HRCT.

Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine (DICOM) has become one of the most popular standards in medicine. In the beginning, DICOM was used for communication of image data between different systems. Actual developments of the standardisation enables increasingly more DICOM-based services for the integration of modalities and information systems (e.g. RIS, PACS). In this article a review of the historical background, the technological concept, the organizational structure and current developments is given.

This study was designed to determine lung volumes using inspiratory and expiratoryhelicalCT with two-dimensional (2D) andthree-dimensional (3D) postprocessing and to compare the accuracy of those measurementswith pulmonary function test results. SUBJECTS AND METHODS.Seventy-two patients with suspected pulmonary disease underwent unenhanced helical CT (slice thickness, 8 mm; pitch, 2; increment, 8 mm) at deep inspiration and expiration. Lung volumes were determined using either a 2D approach (semi automatic segmentation; thresholds, â€"¿ 1024 and â€"¿ 200 H) or a 3D technique (double-threshold seeded volumes of interest; thresholds, â€"¿ 1024 H [lower] and â€"¿ 900, â€"¿ 500, â€"¿ 400, â€"¿ 300, or â€"¿ 200 H [upper]). Pulmonary function tests were available for correlation in all cases.RESULTS. Using inspiratory helical CT, we underestimated total lung capacity by 12%, which had a goodcorrelation( r = .89) with staticlung volumes.Volumerevealedby expira tory helical CT was equivalent to intrathoracic gas volume, which also exhibited a good corre lation ( r = .88). However, using expiratory helical CT, we overestimated residual volume by ml with a rather good correlation ( r = .77). An emphysema index revealed moderate correlation with the relative forced expiratory volume in I sec (inspiration, r = â€"¿ .66; expiration, r = â€"¿ .54), whereas the expired volume showed a moderate correlation with the absolute forced expiratory volume in I sec ( r = .65). The 2D approach showed lower absolute volumes than the 3D technique (mean, 3.6%; r = .99). In the 3D technique, lower upper thresholds led to reduced volumes (170 ml/l00 H). CONCLUSION.Inspiratory and expiratory helical CT show high correlation with static lung volumes. The 3D technique (â€"1024 to â€"¿ 200 H) is recommendedfor absoluteestimation of lung volumes.L ung volumes are routinely as sessedusing pulmonary function tests.Thesetestsallow global mea surement of static inspiratoty volumes (total lung capacity); static expiratory volumes (in trathoracic gasvolumeafternormalexpiration and the residual volume after maximum expi ration); and dynamic volumes, like the abso lute and relative forced expiratory volume in 1 sec (FEV1). However, measurement of unilat eral or regional lung volumes is a major chal lenge in lung function testing.Helical CT is widely regarded as the im aging technique of choice for the radiologic assessment of the thorax [ I , 2]. A volume ac quisition of the lungs can be obtained in a single breath-hold of about 20 sec. Global, regional, and density-based (emphysema in dex) area and volume measurementscan be easily performed. The purpose of our study was to evaluate the accuracy with respect to pulmonary function tests of measurements of lung volumes and hyperinflation based on helical CT scans obtained at inspiration and expiration. Different postprocessing tech niques and different thresholds, including the emphysema index, were compared. Subjects and Methods PatientsSeventy-twopatients(58 men, 14women)with a median age of 59 years (ra...

The purpose of this study was to determine right ventricular (RV) function from 16-detector-row CT by using two different software tools in comparison with MRI. Nineteen patients underwent cardiac CT. (1) With semiautomated contour detection software end-diastolic and end-systolic RV volumes were determined from short-axis CT reformations (MPR) created at every 10% of the RR-interval. (2) End-systolic and end-diastolic axial images were transformed to 3D to determine the volumes by using a threshold-supported reconstruction algorithm. Steady-state free-precession cine-MRI of the heart was done in short-axis orientation. RV function could not be analyzed in one patient because of sternal wire artifacts in MRI. Mean end-diastolic (155.4+/-54.6 ml) and end-systolic (79.1+/-37.0 ml) RV volumes determined with MPR correlated well with MRI [151.9+/-53.7 ml (r=0.98) and 75.0+/-36.0 ml (r=0.96), respectively (P<0.001)]. RV stroke volume (76.2+/-20.2 ml for MPR-CT, 76.9+/-20.7 ml for MRI, r=0.93) showed a good correlation and RV ejection fraction (50.8+/-8.4% for MPR-CT, 51.9+/-7.4% for MRI, r=0.74) only a moderate one. Threshold supported 3D reconstructions revealed insufficient correlations with MRI (r=0.31-0.59). MPR-based semiautomated analysis of cardiac 16 detector-row CT allows for RV functional analysis. The results correlate well with MRI findings. Threshold value-supported 3D reconstructions did not show satisfying results because of inhomogeneities of RV contrast enhancement.