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Background: There is an increasing interest in the relation between retinal artery abnormalities and cerebral small-vessel diseases (SVD), because retinal vessels share common properties with cerebral small vessels. We report a case of juvenile cerebrovascular disease presenting retinal vessel abnormalities, which clinically resembled cerebral autosomal dominant arteriopathy with stroke and ischemic leukoencephalopathy (CADASIL) but in which Notch3 gene mutations were not detected., Case: A 42-year old woman was hospitalized at the department of Neurology in our hospital, complaining of headache and dysarthria. MRI showed bilateral spotted white matter lesions in the paraventricular area and the temporal lobe, and an ovoid lesion in the right corona radiata. Despite steroid pulse therapy, she developed right incomplete hemiparesis and new lesions were detected in the anterior temporal pole and external capsule. Her genetic analysis showed no mutations in the Notch 3 gene. Ophthalmological examination revealed arterial sheathing in the peripapillary region. Fluorescein angiography showed narrowing of the retinal arterioles and distinguished a peripheral vascular network., Conclusion: In this case, ophthalmological examination revealed retinal vessel abnormalities in a relatively young woman with no risk factors such as hypertention or artheriosclerosis, presenting recurrent subcortical strokes. This actual case indicates the association between retinal vessel abnormalities and cerebral SVDs.

A 62-year-old male with emphysema developed recurrent episodes of transient left ventricular ballooning occurring in different regions. Left ventriculography revealed symmetric mid-ventricular ballooning when he was 60 years old, and he also developed mid-ventricular ballooning of larger extent at the age of 62 years. Furthermore, as he was treated for severe asthma attack 3 months later, left ventricular apical ballooning occurred. Echocardiography also demonstrated akinetic wall motion in the right ventricular apex. These episodes showed myocardial infarction-like onset, ST elevations on electrocardiography, no significant increases in cardiac enzymes, wall motion abnormalities incompatible with coronary artery disease, and complete recovery within a few weeks. From these findings, we speculate that the recurrent left ventricular wall motion abnormalities including the mid-ventricular ballooning were so-called takotsubo-like left ventricular dysfunction.

We were requested to perform IVR for uterine artery embolotherapy of a patient who was unable to take the decubitus position. Because of extreme overweight, the patient was limited to a sitting posture on a bed in the living environment. Therefore, a device to support her sitting posture on the IVR patient table was designed and created. The support device was used to hold the patient's body in a half-sitting posture and distribute her weight load appropriately so that the weight load applied to the patient's body could be minimized. Using this support device, IVR could be performed smoothly during a period of 2 hours 40 minutes.

For physicians who monitor images during interventional radiology (VR), we have built and been using a system that employs a liquid crystal display (LCD) instead of the conventional cathode ray tube (CRT). The system incorporates a ceiling-suspension-type monitor (three-display monitor) with an LCD on each of the three displays for the head and abdominal regions and another ceiling-suspension-type monitor (5-display monitor) with an LCD on each display for the cardiac region. As these monitors are made to be thin and light in weight, they can be placed in a high position in the room, thereby saving space and allowing for more effective use of space in the X-ray room. The system has also improved the efficiency of operators in the IVR room. The three-display folding mechanism allows the displays to be viewed from multiple directions, thereby improving the environment so that the performance of IVR can be observed.

We report two young women, 22 and 19 years old, who showed bilateral optic disc edema in the course of systemic lupus erythematosus. Lumbar puncture showed increased intracranial hypertension with no abnormal findings in the composition of the cerebrospinal fluid. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed no abnormal findings. They were diagnosed as having rare intracranial hypertension associated with systemic lupus erythematosus. Treatment with systemic corticosteroids produced a dramatic resolution of the increased intracranial hypertension and the disc edema.