Compendium of national guidelines for imaging the pregnant patient

OBJECTIVE: Diagnostic imaging performed during pregnancy, particularly if it involves the use of ionizing radiation, can be a source of great anxiety for both health care providers and patients. Especially with the growing public awareness of the increasing radiation from medical imaging, including CT, it is important to have a contemporary policy for imaging evaluation in the pregnant or potentially pregnant patient. Implementation of such policies and guidelines would be useful for those developing or modifying policies for imaging pregnant or potentially pregnant patients; those developing regional or national guidelines or recommendations (i.e., professional specialty societies, including emergency medicine, radiology, and obstetrics and gynecology); and groups such as National Council on Radiation Protection, advocacy groups, and individuals writing research grants or articles. CONCLUSION: To this end, a compendium of resources representing national organization guidelines would be useful. The purpose of this study is to review available resources for pertinent recommendations that can be used to develop or update policies for imaging during pregnancy, as well as to serve as a reference document for preparing reports, scientific articles, or other documents by individuals or organizations, including regulatory agencies.     

Small blue round cell tumor: an unusual case presentation in the foot

Small blue round cell tumors of childhood rarely present in the foot or ankle. The following is a case presentation of an 18-year-old male with a large soft-tissue mass of the foot with associated lung metastasis. A definitive diagnosis could not be fully made, even with immunohistochemical and genetic testing. Diagnosis favored poorly differentiated synovial sarcoma.     

Electromyographic investigation of unstable patella before and after its realignment operation

Background:

Patellar dislocations are either due to superolateral contracture of the soft tissue or imbalance of the power between the vastus medialis (VM) and the vastus lateralis (VL). The imbalance of muscle power as an etiology of patellar dislocation has not been studied. Hence, we studied the recurrent, habitual and permanent dislocations of the patella with an electromyogram (EMG) of the vastus medialis, vastus lateralis, and pes anserinus, before and after realignment operations, to document the muscle imbalance and effectiveness of the realignment operation.

Materials and Methods:

An electromyographic investigation was carried out on the vastus medialis and vastus lateralis in nine recurrent, 20 habitual, and 13 permanent dislocations of the patella, before and after their realignment operations. Pes anserinus transposition, which acted as a medial stabilizer of the patella, was also investigated with an EMG study, to understand its role on patellar stability at 0°, 30°, 60°, 90°, 120°, 150°, and full flexion of the knee. The age of the patients varied from nine to 30 (mean 15) years. There were 24 males and 18 females. Twenty-six patellar dislocations were on the right and 16 were on the left side.

Results:

Electromyographic pictures reveal subnormal activity of the vastus medialis in all types of dislocations and similar activities of the vastus lateralis in permanent and habitual dislocations recorded pre operatively, which recovered to almost normal values postoperatively, at the mean one-year follow-up. Pes anserinus, which was used for medial stabilization of the patella after its realignment, maintained normal EMG activity before and after the operation.

Conclusion:

This study is significant for understanding the imbalance of muscle activities in patients with an unstable patella, which can be rectified without recurrence after pes anserinus transposition.