BACKGROUND: South Africa bares a significant burden of HIV and imaging is commonly performed as part of the workup for respiratory distress. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to document the prevalence of pulmonary thrombo-embolic disease (PTED) and other findings in HIV-infected patients referred for CT pulmonary angiography (CTPA) for suspected PTED. METHOD: Forty CTPA...
BACKGROUND: Globally, adults presenting with seizures account for 1% - 2% of visits to emergency departments (EDs), of which 25% are new-onset seizures. Neuroimaging is essential as part of the initial workup. Multiple studies have demonstrated abnormal CT brain (CTB) findings in these patients. OBJECTIVES: To review the CTB findings in adults presenting with new-onset seizures...
BACKGROUND: Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the subsequent global outbreak (coronavirus disease 2019 [COVID-19]) was declared a public health emergency in January 2020. Recent radiologic literature regarding COVID-19 has primarily focused on Computed Tomography (CT) chest findings, with chest radiography lacking in comparison. OBJECTIVES: To...
Carotid webs are important, often undiagnosed causes of cryptogenic and recurrent strokes. CT angiography and digital subtraction angiography adequately demonstrate webs as linear filling defects in the carotid bulb. However, findings are overlooked unless viewed in optimal planes and easily misdiagnosed as dissection flaps or atheromatous plaques, altering management and outcome...
Myeloid sarcoma or chloroma is a localised tumour characterised by extramedullary proliferation of precursor myeloid cells. Commonly occurring in association with acute myeloid leukaemia, chloroma can occasionally be seen in myeloproliferative disorders with subsequent blastic transformation. Imaging plays an important role in the diagnosis and evaluation of this entity. A case...
CORRECTION Corrigendum: Evaluation of self-reported confidence amongst radiology staff in initiating basic life support across hospitals in the Cape Town Metropole West region Isak D. VorsterI; Steve BeningfieldIIIDepartment of Diagnostic Radiology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa IIDivision of Radiology, Faculty of Health Sciences...
CORRECTION Corrigendum: Not always 'squame': The rare entity of follicular dendritic cell sarcoma of the tonsil presenting with cervical nodal metastases Jaanri BrugmanI; Gerard de BruynII; Komeela NaidooIII; Marc MervenII; Johan OppermanIV; Leon Janse van RensburgIIDivision of Radiodiagnosis, Department of Medical Imaging and Clinical Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and Health...
Racemose and intraventricular neurocysticercosis are uncommon types of neurocysticercosis, resulting in a multiloculated, grape-like cluster appearance in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) spaces. A male patient presented with symptoms of raised intracranial pressure and demonstrated racemose neurocysticercosis at an atypical location involving the region of the crus of the fornix at...
Pneumorrhachis (PR) is a rare and interesting phenomenon, in which air is present within the spinal canal. The aetiologies are varied, broadly grouped as traumatic, non-traumatic or iatrogenic. Pneumorrhachis secondary to spontaneous pneumomediastinum (SPM) and barotrauma of the lungs is uncommon and even rarer within the paediatric group. This report describes a paediatric...
Visceral larva migrans (VLM) occurs because of a host inflammatory response to the migrating larvae of a nematode. Patients usually present with fever, hepatomegaly and abdominal pain; vascular arterial complications are uncommon. A 19-year female presented with fever, jaundice, abdominal discomfort and melena. Computed tomography (CT) revealed multiple discrete, clustered...
Positron emission tomography combined with X-ray computed tomography (PET-CT) has an established role in the management of brain disorders, but may be underutilised in South Africa. Possible barriers to access include the limited number of PET-CT facilities and the lack of contemporary guidelines for the use of brain PET-CT in South Africa. The current review aims to highlight...
BACKGROUND: Although global use of medical imaging has increased significantly, little is known about utilisation trends in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). OBJECTIVES: To evaluate changes over a decade in public sector diagnostic imaging utilisation at provincial level in a middle-income country. METHOD: A retrospective analysis of medical imaging utilisation in the...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Letter to the editor: Addressing radiological terminology of basal ganglia and thalamic injury in hypoxic ischaemic injury Bates AlheitPrivate Radiology, Cape Town, South AfricaCorrespondence I refer to a recent webinar presented by Prof. Savvas Andronikou on the patterns of hypoxic ischaemic brain injury (HIBI) in children when scanned by magnetic resonance...
BACKGROUND: Chronic exertional compartment syndrome (CECS) of the forearm is a rare but important cause of morbidity amongst athletes involved in strenuous upper limb activities. The diagnosis remains challenging due to the absence of objective, reproducible diagnostic studies. OBJECTIVES: To assess and quantify signal intensity (SI) changes of involved muscles in patients with...
BACKGROUND: South Africa has high healthcare expenses. Improving cost-consciousness could decrease government expenditure on healthcare. OBJECTIVES: To determine cost awareness of radiological studies among doctors at a tertiary hospital. The objective was met by assessing the accuracy of cost estimation according to the level of training and speciality, whether participants had...
Undifferentiated embryonal sarcoma (UES) is an uncommon paediatric hepatic tumour that clinically simulates a liver abscess when present with fever. This report describes a case of UES in a 12-year-old boy, who presented with abdominal pain, swelling and fever, all simulating a liver abscess. The possibility of UES was considered at imaging, based on the solid appearance on...
Primary pulmonary angiosarcomas (PPAs) are rare, and often, their diagnosis is delayed because of insidious clinical symptoms and imaging findings mimicking pulmonary thromboembolism (PE). A 33-year-old female patient presented with chest pain and progressive dyspnoea. Her initial diagnosis, based on clinical symptoms and CT pulmonary angiography (PA) findings, was PE. However...
Appendicitis is a common childhood condition requiring surgical intervention and delayed diagnosis can have serious consequences. This report describes the case of a child who presented with an acute abdomen and intestinal obstruction. Multidetector (MD) CT demonstrated a left-sided caecum and an inflamed appendix with a faecolith. Maximum intensity projection (MIP) post...
Intravesical instillation of Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is used as an adjuvant treatment of bladder cancer. Systemic BCG infection occurs in less than 1% of cases, and pulmonary involvement is even rarer (0.3% - 0.7%), with a favourable prognosis. A 78-year-old male developed miliary tuberculosis (TB) secondary to intravesical BCG treatment and subsequent coronavirus disease...
LETTER TO THE EDITOR Letter to the editor: Addressing radiological terminology of basal ganglia and thalamic injury in hypoxic ischaemic injury Bates AlheitPrivate Radiology, Cape Town, South AfricaCorrespondence I refer to a recent webinar presented by Prof. Savvas Andronikou on the patterns of hypoxic ischaemic brain injury (HIBI) in children when scanned by magnetic resonance...
Pulmonary underdevelopment is a rare congenital disease which manifests as persistent hemithorax opacification at chest radiography. We present three patients with different types of pulmonary underdevelopment, their imaging features and associated anomalies. Case 1 is a premature neonate with persistent respiratory distress. Further imaging confirmed right pulmonary hypoplasia...
BACKGROUND: Radiology subspecialisation is well-established in much of Europe, North America, and Australasia. It is a natural evolution of the radiology speciality catalysed by multiple factorsOBJECTIVES: The aim of this article is to analyse and provide an overview of the current status of radiology subspecialisation in African countriesMETHODS: We reviewed English-language...
Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the prostate has become a vital imaging tool in daily radiological practice for the stratification of the risk of prostate cancer. There has been a recent update to the Prostate Imaging-Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS). The updated changes in PI-RADS, which is version 2.1, have been described with information pertaining to...
BACKGROUND: MRI is the imaging modality of choice for the assessment of intracranial masses in children. Imaging is vital in planning further managementOBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe the common intracranial masses and their imaging characteristics in the paediatric population referred to Inkosi Albert Luthuli Central Hospital for MRI of the brainMETHOD: We...