BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The purpose of this study was to determine the accuracy of a risk index in symptomatic or asymptomatic carotid stenoses. METHODS Consecutive patients presenting 50% to 99% carotid stenoses were included. A semiautomated gray scale-based color mapping (red, yellow, and green) of the whole plaque and of its surface was achieved. Surface was defined as the region located b...

OBJECTIVES This study examined whether intensive cholesterol-lowering therapy with statins in nonhypercholesterolemic patients is effective in improving echolucency of vulnerable plaques assessed by ultrasound with integrated backscatter (IBS) analysis. BACKGROUND Atherosclerotic plaque stabilization is a promising clinical strategy to prevent cardiovascular events in patients with coronary a...

abstract pseudoxanthoma elasticum is a rare, hereditary, multisystemic disease affecting the skin, eye, and cardiovascular system. renal involvement is uncommon. we describe two cases of pseudoxanthoma elasticum (pxe) in two women with distinctive skin lesions and nephrocalcinosis that renal ultrasonography showed a characteristic pattern of dotted increased echogenicity in the corticomedullary...

We describe a 25-week-old female fetus of consanguineous parents with ultrasonographic findings of increased echogenicity of lungs mimicking CAM (cystic adenomatoid malformation) type III, olygohydramnios and fetal ascites. A therapeutic abortion was performed and unilateral cryptophthalmos, laryngeal atresia and bilateral syndactyly of the hands and feet were observed at post-mortem. These fin...

Cavernous hemangioma of the adrenal gland is a rare lesion and is seldom examined radiographically. In our case, on staging of gynecological carcinoma, a tumor with calcifications was found in the right adrenal region. On sonography it was of mixed echogenicity, enhanced only poorly on computed tomography and had long-standing contrast-filled lakes on angiography. Surgery revealed a cavernous h...

We performed serial cranial ultrasonography in four newborns affected by maple syrup urine disease. Symmetric increase of echogenicity of periventricular white matter, basal ganglia (mainly pallidi), and thalami was detected in the acute stage. The degree of ultrasonography abnormalities paralleled the clinical course of the disease.

Echogenic liposomes (ELIP) are submicron-sized phospholipid vesicles that contain both gas and fluid. With antibody conjugation and drug incorporation, these liposomes can be used as novel targeted diagnostic and therapeutic ultrasound contrast agents. The utility of liposomes for contrast depends upon their stability in an acoustic field, whereas the use of liposomes for drug delivery requires...

Methods Fifteen ICU patients were studied on day 1 and on day 20 after trauma and compared with 15 anorexic patients with severe malnutrition (BMI < 17) volunteering to participate to the study. Muscle mass was evaluated by ultrasound scan, a recently validated method with several advantages: it is accurate, non-invasive, inexpensive, easily repeatable, easy to perform at bedside and apt to det...

Use of illicit stimulants such as methamphetamine, cocaine, and ecstasy is an increasing health problem. Chronic use can cause neurotoxicity in animals and humans but the long-term consequences are not well understood. The aim of the current study was to investigate the long-term effect of stimulant use on the morphology of the human substantia nigra. We hypothesised that history of illicit sti...