Imaging

Those who care for patients with pulmonary, critical care or sleep disorders rely heavily on chest radiology and pathology to determine diagnoses. The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep publishes case-based articles with characteristic chest imaging and related pathology.

The editor of this section will oversee and coordinate the publication of a core of the most important chest imaging topics. In doing so, they encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. It cannot be overemphasized that both radiologic and pathologic images must be of excellent quality. As a rule, 600 DPI is sufficient for radiographic and pathologic images. Taking pictures of plain chest radiographs and CT scans with a digital camera is strongly discouraged. The figures should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively. The stain used for pathology specimens and magnification should be mentioned in the figure legend. Those who care for patients with pulmonary, critical care or sleep disorders rely heavily on chest radiology and pathology to determine diagnoses. The Southwest Journal of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep publishes case-based articles with characteristic chest imaging and related pathology. The editor of this section will oversee and coordinate the publication of a core of the most important chest imaging topics. In doing so, they encourage the submission of unsolicited manuscripts. It cannot be overemphasized that both radiologic and pathologic images must be of excellent quality. As a rule, 600 DPI is sufficient for radiographic and pathologic images. Taking pictures of plain chest radiographs and CT scans with a digital camera is strongly discouraged. The figures should be cited in the text and numbered consecutively. The stain used for pathology specimens and magnification should be mentioned in the figure legend.

Rick Robbins, M.D. Rick Robbins, M.D.

Medical Image of the Week: Polysomnogram Artifact

Figure 1. Thirty second polysomnogram epoch showing artifact in lead O1M2 (black arrow).

 

Figure 1. Ten second polysomnogram epoch showing artifact in lead O1M2 (black arrow).

 

A 54 year-old man with a past medical history of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), low back pain, and paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia presented to the sleep laboratory for evaluation of sleep disordered breathing. Pertinent medications include fluoxetine, ambien, and clonazepam. His Epworth sleepiness score was 18. He had a total sleep time of 12 min. On the night of his sleep study, the patient was restless and repeatedly changed positions in bed. 

Figures 1 and 2 show the artifact determined to be lead displacement of O1M2 after the patient shifted in bed, inadvertently removing one of his scalp electrodes. The sine waves are 60 Hz in frequency. Once the problem was identified, the lead was quickly replaced to its proper position.

Jared Bartell1, Safal Shetty, MD1,2, and John D. Roehrs, MD1,2

1University of Arizona Medical Center

2Southern Arizona VA Health Care System

Tucson, AZ

Reference as: Bartell J, Shetty S, Roehrs JD. Medical image of the week: polysomnogram artifact. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2015;10(2):95-6. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc014-15 PDF

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