BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Tinnitus is a common disorder, and the etiology remains mostly unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the causative effect of the vascular loop and compression of the vestibulocochlear nerve at the cerebellopontine angle in patients with unexplained tinnitus.

Our results with a mean follow-up 18.5 months suggest that stent-graft implantation for the closure of postcatheterization femoral AVFs originating from the deep femoral artery is an effective, minimally invasive alternative procedure.

The objective is to evaluate the appearance of phleboliths and distal ureteral stones by determining their roundness and presence of central lucency on thin-slice CT. Seventy-seven patients with pelvic radioopacities at unenhanced CT were selected. Those patients consequently underwent thin-slice CT with 1-mm collimation, a FOV of 10 cm, a pitch of 1:1 and a bone reconstruction algorithm. Three radiologists reviewed all images for roundness and the presence of central radiolucency. No calculi showed central lucency on either imaging technique used. Thin-slice CT revealed central lucency in 60% of phleboliths with 100% specificity. Three of 40 ureteral stones showed round contour. Thin-slice CT revealed a round contour in 97% of phleboliths with 93% specificity. Central lucency is a characteristic finding of pelvic phleboliths on thin-slice CT. This finding can therefore be used in combination with roundness as a problem-solving tool in differentiating phleboliths from distal ureteral stones.

Purpose The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the preoperative screening performance of chest CT (computerized tomography) examination to detect COVID-19 positive individuals. Materials and methods In this retrospective study 218 adult patients who had preoperative chest CT and RT-PCR were enrolled. CT imaging results, which have been reported according to the Radiological Society of North America expert consensus on COVID-19, were collected from the picture archiving and communicating system. Demographic data, planned surgeries, and postoperative outcomes were collected from the electronic patient records. Results One patient (0.5%) showed typical CT features for COVID-19 pneumonia; 12 patients (5.5%) were reported as indeterminate, and eight (3.7%) were reported as atypical for COVID-19 pneumonia. Only one of the three patients with positive RT-PCR had abnormalities on CT. When RT-PCR tests were taken as reference, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of chest CT in showing COVID-19 infection in asymptomatic patients were 33.3%, 90.7%, and 90.0%, respectively. Conclusion Chest CT screening for COVID-19 has a very low yield in asymptomatic preoperative patients and shows false-positive findings in 9.2% of cases, potentially leading to unnecessary postponing of the surgery.

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