Round Atelectasis
History: 60 year old male undergoing CT of the thorax for follow up of chest x-ray abnormality. This is a classic appearance of round atelectasis. Look again at the image above. Notice the calcified pleural plaque along the area of atelectasis. Round atelectasis is most frequently seen in asbestos related pleural plaques. Other terms for […]
Coronary Artery Disease – Noncalcified Plaque
History: 55 year old male with a history of diabetes, hypertension and hyperlipidemia with atypical chest pain. On additional images, this patient had a paucity of calcified plaque (his Agatston score placed him at a very low risk for a major cardiac episode) and the majority of his coronary artery disease consisted of noncalcified atherosclerotic […]
Rib Fracture
History: 30 year old male with chest wall pain. Classic findings of a rib fracture
Esophageal Hiatal Hernia
History: 60 year old male with chest pain. Typical appearance of a large esophageal hiatal hernia containing stomach gas and liquid contents. There are two main types of esophageal hiatal hernias, sliding and paraesophageal.
Sinonasal Osteoma
History: 40 year old male with incidental finding on head CT done for minor head trauma. This is the typical appearance for a Sinonasal Osteoma. Classically they are asymptomatic, and thus are incidental findings on imaging studies done for other reasons. Sinonasal osteomas are the most common benign tumor of the sinuses. They can be […]
Congenital Bronchial Atresia
History: 35 year old male with abnormal chest radiograph. The classic triad of bronchial atresia is a bronchocele, hyperlucent distal lung, and hypoperfusion of the distal lung segment. Bronchial atresia is on the diffential diagnosis for unilateral hyperlucent lung.
Pneumoperitoneum – Rigler Sign
History: 75 year old man with abdominal pain, nausea and vomiting. This is the typical appearance of a Rigler Sign, also known as a bas relief sign, which has its origin in sculpture. Look again at the image above. Notice surgical skin staples over the right lower quadrant of the abdomen. The patient was recently […]
Vasa Previa
History: 25 year old female G5P0 presents for fetal anatomy scan at 19 weeks gestational age. This is the ultrasound appearance of vasa previa. Vasa previa is when the umbilical cord vessels course across the internal cervical os, putting the patient and baby at risk for hemorrhage during delivery. Vasa previa is seen independently of […]
Mullerian Duct Anomalies: Uterine Didelphys
History: 18 year old female with pelvic pain. This is the classic appearance of uterine didelphys. Mullerian duct anomalies are classified according to the American Fertility Society system here. Occasionally a uterine horn can become obstructed and cause hematocolpos, or hematometrocolpos.
Left Middle Cerebral Artery Stroke – The susceptibility vessel sign
History: 65 year old male with acute onset slurred speech and right hemiparesis. The susceptibility vessel sign is produced by the presence of deoxyhemoglobin within clot obstructing the left middle cerebral artery in this patient. Some articles have suggested this indicates cardioembolic stroke as an etiology.