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Two small neonates, one with hypoplastic right heart syndrome, and the other with tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary atresia, were treated with intravenous prostaglandin E (Prostyn VR, Upjohn, Kalamazoo, Michigan) for 96 and 33 days, respectively. They developed limited cortical hyperostosis, but marked soft tissue swellings in all extremities. The changes were noted after PGE treatment for four weeks and one week, respectively. A skin biopsy was performed in one patient and revealed edematous changes and arteriolar wall abnormalities. We add this peripheral hard edema to the list of complications of PGE therapy, and speculate as to its pathophysiology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We have established a statistically significant difference in the measurements and contour of the normal cervicocranial prevertebral soft-tissue shadow compared with the same measurements and contours found in that of patients with an acute posttraumatic nasopharyngeal hematoma secondary to subtle cervicocranial injuries. The width of the cervicocranial prevertebral soft-tissue shadow may be altered by many factors, making actual measurements of this thickness at any specific point clinically unreliable. In contrast, changes in the contour of the shadow following acute upper cervical spine trauma is sufficiently sensitive of a hematoma to require further radiologic evaluation in a patient with acute post-traumatic upper cervical spine symptoms and no obvious radiologic sign of a cervicocranial injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]