F. De Ridder

Can bone marrow edema be seen on STIR images of the ankle and foot after 1 week of running

PURPOSE To evaluate whether initiation of running in sedentary individuals would lead to bone marrow edema on MR images, within the time span of 1 week. MATERIALS AND METHODS The feet of 10 healthy volunteers were imaged by MR imaging before and after running during 30 min a day for 1 week. The images were evaluated by consensus of 2 musculoskeletal radiologists who graded the presence of bone marrow edema on a 4-point scale. Edema scores and number of bones involved before and after running were compared statistically. RESULTS Edema was present on the baseline images in 3 subjects. After running edema showed an increase or was present in 5 subjects. The changes after running were statistically significant. Bones involved were the talus, calcaneus, navicular bone, cuboid bone, and 5th metatarsal. CONCLUSION Edema patterns can be seen in the feet of asymptomatic individuals. During initiation of running an increase of edema or development of new edema areas can be seen.

Paraneoplastic Rhombencephalitis and Brachial Plexopathy in Two Cases of Amphiphysin Auto-Immunity

Amphiphysin, a synaptic vesicle protein, is an auto-immune target in rare cases of paraneoplastic neurological disorders. We report two additional cases with distinct neurological syndromes and paraneoplastic anti-amphiphysin antibodies. The first patient, a 59-year-old man, presented with cerebellar and cranial nerve dysfunction and small cell lung carcinoma. The second, a 77-year- old woman, presented with left brachial plexopathy followed by sensorimotor neuropathy and breast carcinoma.

Comparison of surface coil and knee coil for evaluation of the patellar cartilage by MR imaging

PURPOSE The aim of this work was to compare the knee coil and the surface coil for the visualisation of the patellar cartilage. MATERIALS AND METHODS In 28 patients (17 women, 11 men) with an average age of 40 years (range 14-76) with knee pain MR was performed. Transverse images were obtained using a fast spin echo proton density weighted sequence on a Philips Gyroscan Intera 1.5 T clinical system. Transverse images were obtained at the level of the patellar cartilage using both the surface and the knee coil. All images were evaluated by consensus of two radiologists. They evaluated a number of quality criteria on a 4-point scale. Criteria for artefacts were also graded on a 4-point scale. RESULTS For the visualisation of fluid there was no significant difference between the knee coil and the surface coil (P=0.021). For all other criteria regarding image quality and presence of imaging artefacts there was a significant difference between both coils (P<0.001) with the surface coil obtaining the better result. CONCLUSION The use of the surface coil in the visualisation of the patellar cartilage can be recommended at knee MR.

Shape and Size Determination by Laser Diffraction:Feasibility of Data Analysis by Physical Modeling

The feasibility of the inversion of laser diffraction data for size and shape distributions by a constrained regularization method (Contin) has been investigated by computer simulation. Diffraction data are simulated for particles with elliptical projections. An iterative procedure is proposed to calculate the size and shape distribution. This method was able to recover both the size and shape distribution from simulated diffraction patterns of elliptical particles with different sizes and aspect ratios.