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.
Medical Image of the Week: Vascular Occlusion
Figure 1. Left arm angiogram showing complete occlusion of ulnar artery (red arrow).
Figure 2. Angiogram showing left radial artery complete occlusion (red arrow).
Figure 3. Left hand with necrotic fingers.
The patient is a 39 year-old woman with no significant past medical history presenting with progressive left hand pain for five days. The patient denied a history of Raynaud’s phenomenon or clotting disorders. She had no radial pulse on presentation and angiogram showed severe complete occlusion of the radial and ulnar arteries (Figures 1 and 2). She had an initial partial response with intra-arterial verapamil and nitroglycerin but her hand ischemia did not improve on heparin or with intra-arterial tissue plasminogen activator. Autoimmune and coagulation work-ups were negative. Her left hand finger necrosis at time of discharge is shown (Figure 3). Further evaluation is ongoing for coagulation disorders.
Allison Shapiro MD, Carmen Luraschi-Monjagatta MD, Matthew Schreiber MD.
Department of Internal Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care, University of Nevada School of Medicine, Las Vegas, NV
Reference as: Shapiro A, Luraschi-Mongagatta C, Schreiber M. Medical image of the week: vascular occlusion. Southwest J Pulm Crit Care. 2014;9(1):36-7. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.13175/swjpcc093-14 PDF