Management peculiarities of costovertebral hydatidosis

BackgroundCostovertebral hydatidosis is a rarely reported clinical and radiological entity, estimated at less than 1% of thoracic hydatid locations. Its management is still not codified.ObjectiveThe aim of our study was to specify the management peculiarities of costovertebral hydatidosis.MethodsBetween January 2000 and December 2018, 14 patients were managed for costovertebral hydatidosis in a thoracic surgery department.ResultsThe mean age of our patients was 48 years. The history of a prior hydatid disease was found in 7 patients. Imaging features were suggestive in 13 cases. They showed: involvement of the spinal canal (6 cases), of the soft tissues (5 cases) and spinal cord compression (3 cases). Costovertebral resection of the hydatid lesions was complete in 12 cases. Four patients presented postoperative complications.ConclusionCostovertebral hydatid involvement, may threaten the functional and vital prognosis. Therefore, early diagnosis and management are mandatory, before the occurrence of irreversible neurological impairment. Surgical resection remains the treatment of choice and must be complete whenever possible. Relapse is frequent, hence the importance of a regular follow-up.     

Comparison of single-breath-hold fast spin-echo sequences with routine non-breath-hold techniques: Application to MRI of renal masses

In 24 patients presenting with 55 renal lesions (mean size, 20.8 mm), single-breath-hold (SBH) fast spin-echo (FSE) techniques allowing T1 and T2 images to be produced within 20 and 23 sec, respectively, were compared with routine non-breath-hold (NBH) spin-echo (SE) T1 and NBH-FSE T2 sequences. Contrast-to-noise ratios (CNRs) measured from SBH-FSE T1 images were an average of 97% higher than their NBH counterparts (P = .0001) and allowed an improved lesion conspicuity in 80% of the cases (P = .0001). For T2 imaging, SBH-FSE and NBH-FSE sequences were not statistically different with respect to lesion conspicuity (P = .55) and CNR values (P = .19). This was observed despite a 35% average decrease in CNR of SBH-FSE compared to NBH-FSE images. By reducing respiratory motion artifacts while preserving SE-like image contrast, SBH-FSE techniques have the potential to replace routine NBH sequences for an optimal diagnosis of renal masses.     

Place of embolization in the treatment of severe epistaxis

On the basis of long-term study on embolization for severe epistaxis, the authors show the different indications and results of this relatively new method; and 54 cases are presented including Rendu-Osler diseases, primary and traumatic epistaxis, or those due to vascular malformation and benign or malignant tumors. Embolization can prove a very effective method in most cases.