Both Bone Forearm Fracture
History: 10 year old male status post fall. This is the appearance of a both bone forearm fracture in the pediatric patient. The most common mechanism is fall on an outstretched hand, sometimes referred to as FOOSH; however, this mechanism of injury typically causes other types of distal forearm fractures such as a Colles fracture or […]
Toddler Fracture
History: 16 month old female refusing to bear weight. This is the appearance of a Toddler fracture. A toddler fracture is a stress type fracture which is typically seen in young children around the age they begin to walk (hence the term “Toddler” fracture). They are nondisplaced spiral tibial shaft fractures. They have been termed […]
Rickets – Rachitic Rosary and Differential Diagnosis
History: pediatric patient with bowed legs. This is a classic case of Rickets, which is a metabolic bone disease caused by lack of calcium and phosphate, which is commonly due to vitamin D deficiency. This leads to softening of the bones due to failure to mineralize bone. Causes of rickets in children less than 6 […]
Bronchiectasis – Differential Diagnosis
History: 65 year old male with shortness of breath. This is the appearance of bronchiectasis. Bronchiectasis is defined as abnormal widening or dilatation of the airways. It can be diagnosed by a bronchoarterial ratio (B/A) of greater than 1.5. Other ways to diagnose bronchiectasis include lack of bronchial tapering after airway bifurcations and visualization of […]
Penetrating Chest Trauma – Knife in Chest
History: 50 year old male with self inflicted chest stab wound. Important findings to look for in the case of penetrating trauma to the chest include pneumothorax, pleural effusion (which indicates hemothorax), widened mediastinum indicating injury to the vascular pedicle, enlarged cardiac silhouette indicating hemopericardium, diaphragmatic injury, and pneumoperitoneum. Surprisingly, this patient did not have […]
Solution to Unknown Case #2 – Bronchogenic Cyst
History: 40 year old male with cough. This is a case of a bronchogenic cyst, which is a congenital lesion thought to arise from abnormal budding of the foregut during development, and it is classified as a foregut duplication cyst along with enteric and neurenteric cysts. Many bronchogenic cysts are asymptomatic and not discovered until […]
Unknown Case # 2 – Chest CT
History: 40 year old male with cough. Diagnosis? For the solution, click here.
Lung Mass – Differential Diagnosis
History: 60 year old male with cough. A lung mass is a focal opacity that measures greater than 3 cm. If it measures less than 3 cm and is the only lesion, it is classified as a solitary pulmonary nodule. Read this post for the differential diagnosis for a solitary pulmonary nodule. The differential diagnosis […]
Chest Radiograph – Tubes, Lines, and Drains
History: 65 year old male status post coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The upward pointing arrow on the patient’s right labels a Swan-Ganz catheter coursing through the right internal jugular vein and ending in the right pulmonary artery. The downward pointing arrow on the patient’s left labels a mediastinal drain. The leftward pointing arrow over the patient’s […]
Solution to Unknown Case 1 – Indirect Sign of Deep Vein Thrombosis
History: 50 year old male with lower extremity swelling. This is an indirect sign of a deep vein thrombosis. Normally, flow within the deep venous system is low resistance with variation during inspiration and expiration as central venous pressure changes with the respiratory cycle and cardiac cycle (as is seen in the first image above […]