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Objectives: Toinvestigate the diagnostic efficiency of elastography in differentiation of malignantandbenigntumorsby evaluating salivary gland masses in means of their elastography scores and strain ratios. Patients and Methods: Twenty five patients with salivary gland mass lesions were detected through B- mode ultrasonography, Doppler ultrasonography, strain elastography and their strain ratios were calculated. The results were compared with histopathologic results. Results: Twenty five patients had 27 lesions consisting of seven malignant and 20 benign lesions. Mann Whitney U test, ROC analysis, Fisher test and Chi square tests were used statistically. Mean strain rates were calculated as 2.26 - 0.29 in the benign group and 2.02-0.59 in the malignant group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.698). Elastography score was calculated as mean 2.4-0.94 in the benign group and mean 2.28-0.38 in the malignant group. There was no statistically significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.708). Accepting the strain rate as 0.89; sensitivity of elastography in differentiating malignant from benign lesions is 71%, and the specificity is 50%. However, the area under the ROC curve is 0.55, which is not statistically significant (P = 0.699). Conclusion: In conclusion, elastography is a supporting method for B-mode ultrasonography in the differentiation of benign and malignant salivary gland masses. However, the overlap of elastographic findings is evident in benign and malignant masses. Care should be taken to have tissues with similar stiffness under the reference tissue and the lesions in elastographic evaluation of the superficial mass. We have not met a study that has pointed out the importance of stiffness of the tissue located beneath the lesion that may affect the elastography results in the literature. In this respect our study is unique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of chemical shift imaging in vertebral compression. Patients and Methods: Forty-nine patients with vertebral compression with suspected malignancy or history of trauma were included in this study. MRimaging of the spine with standard conventionalMRsequences and additional chemical shift imaging was done with 1.5 Tesla MR Unit. Regions of interest (ROI) were placed on the abnormal marrow of compressed vertebrae both on the opposed phase and on the matching in phase images and signal intensity (SI) ratio values (SI out-phase/SI-in phase) were calculated. Results: Forty-nine patients had 68 spine lesions, consisting of 49 benign and 19 malignant fractures. Student t test, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysisandinterclass correlation test were used statistically. MeanSI ratio of benign vertebral compression (0. 68 - 0.29, range 0.13 - 1.53) was significantly lower than malignant SI ratio values (1.06 - 0.10, range 0.96 - 1.35). With student t-test, there was significant difference between benign compressions compared to malignant compressions (P < 0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to determine the optimal cut off value in malignant and benign lesion defi- nition. The optimal SI ratio cut off value was found to be 0.96 for separating benign and malignant vertebral compression. The area under the curve (AUC) value was observed as 0.92 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.86 - 0.99). According to that cutoff value, sensitivity was 100% (95% CI = 82.35% - 100%) and the specificity was 86% (95% CI = 72.76% - 94.06%). Interobserver reliability was studied with intraclass correlation and results were statistically significant with intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) as 0.85 (P < 0.05). Conclusions: There is significant difference in signal values between benign and malignant compression fractures in chemical shift MR imaging. Chemical shift MR imaging has much additive data to conventional MRI in vertebral compression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In this study, we define the characteristics of perfusion computed tomography (CT) in an experimental model of testicular torsion. Methods: Twenty male Sprague-Dawley rats were included for the study. Torsion was applied to 10 rats and perfusion CT was performed in the first hour to evaluate the following perfusion parameters: blood flow (BF), blood volume (BV) and time to peak (TTP) values. Detorsion was done for the same rats, and perfusion CT was repeated 2 hours later to evaluate reperfusion. Ten rats were left as part of the control group. Results: There is significant statistical correlation between the BF and BV values in the torsion and control groups (p = 0.001 and p = 0.001, respectively). There is no statistical correlation of the TTP parameters between the groups. No correlation was found between torsion and detorsion perfusion parameters. Conclusion: Perfusion CT can demonstrate the testicular perfusion insult in an experimental model of torsion. Perfusion CT may be an alternative method for diagnosis of torsion in indeterminate cases. Following detorsion an interval of 2 hours is not sufficient for demonstrating luxury perfusion of the testis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climatic and altitude features of living region may affect human body. Many changes in several tissues and organs and several health problems due to climatic and altitude effects were defined in the literature. However, there were limited number of studies which evaluated correlation between development of frontal sinus and climatic/altitude effect. In this study, widths, heights, AP lengths and volumes of frontal sinus were compared by Paranasal CT scans in populations living in Van which has colder climate and higher altitude and Manisa which has milder climate and lower altitude. It was found that widths, antero-posterior lengths and volumes of frontal sinus were higher in populations living in colder climate and higher altitude according to populations living in milder climate and lower altitude. Heights of frontal sinuses were on the contrary of this. These results were found appropriate to increasing of cephalic index in cold climate according to Allen's Rule. We suggest that larger population study should be made with peoples having the same or similar race and genetic structure in different climate and altitude regions and the proportional comparison of frontal sinus measurements with cephalic index should be considered in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: An inverted papilloma (IP) is a benign sinonasal tumor of ectodermal origin, which is locally aggressive and destructive, tends to recur if incompletely removed, and has significant malignant potential. On CT scan, the appearance of an IP is variable and nonspecific but most commonly it appears to have soft tissue density. The association of IPs and new bone formation is extremely rare; to the best of our knowledge, only one case has been reported in the literature to date., Methods: We report three cases with existence of bony mass surrounded by polypoid soft tissue diagnosed as IP histopathologically., Results: The nature, shape, and location of the bony mass were not in concordance with trapped bone, with tumoral calcifications, or with osteoma., Conclusion: We propose that with regard to the three cases presented here, new bone formation may be associated with IP pathologically. We also believe that additional investigations are required to characterize the pathophysiological mechanisms involved in neoplasm-induced osteogenesis.

Background & Objectives: Mammographic screening is an effective tool for the early detection of breast cancer. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been shown to increase mammographic density and thus may hinder early detection of small tumours. We undertook this study to determine and compare the frequency and degree of change in mammographic density in postmenopausal women in HRT using two different methods: the classical Wolfe classification and a new semiquantitative method, which we named as the comparison wheel., Methods: This study included 285 women, 206 under hormone treatment, and 79 control subjects. All women underwent baseline mammographic study before the beginning of treatment. Mean interval of the follow up mammograms was 16 months. The methods were compared in evaluating the effects of three types of hormone therapies on mammographic density., Results: The frequency of change was only significant in the combined hormone replacement group when Wolfe classification was used. However, the frequency of increase in density (estrogen group 21%, combined therapy group 42%, tibolone group 28%) was markedly higher when the comparison wheel was used. The inter-rater Kappa value was calculated as 0.977 for the first and 0.957 for the second readings of the two radiologists for the comparison wheel, and 0.973 and 0.968 for the Wolfe classification. The intra-rater Kappa values were determined as 0.972 and 0.957 for the first and and 0.963 and 0.926 for the second radiologist for comparison wheel and Wolfe classification respectively., Interpretation & Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the estimated increase of mammographic density depends on the selected hormone regimen, as well as the method of evaluation. The comparison wheel is a semiquantitative method of evaluating changes of mammographic density and is sensitive and reproducible with high inter- and intra-rater Kappa values. This method can be used as an alternative for comparison of digital mammographic applications in the future.