scholarly journals Importance of calculating various casting indices in predicting radiological outcomes of paediatric forearm fractures

Author(s):  
Pyntngen Kharbamon ◽  
Binoti A. Sheth ◽  
Pankaj Pawar ◽  
Siddhart Parekh ◽  
Rishabh Jaiswal ◽  
...  

<p class="abstract"><strong>Background:</strong> The present study is aimed at determining the importance of various casting indices in predicting the outcome of paediatric forearm fractures treated with closed reduction and plaster application in our department.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Methods:</strong> Thirty children, aged 5 to 15 years, with closed forearm fractures not requiring surgical fixation were included to assess their casting indices and radiological outcomes using X-rays. After satisfactory casting, patients were followed up weekly till 6 weeks with anteroposterior (AP) and lateral X-ray.<strong></strong></p><p class="abstract"><strong>Results:</strong> Acceptable reduction was achieved in 26 cases, while re-manipulation was done in 4 cases. Cast Index ranged from 0.80±0.09 at first week to 0.78±0.09 at 6 weeks, Padding Index was 0.30±0.04 at first week and increased to 0.31±0.03 at 6 weeks, Canterbury Index was 1.07±0.24 at first week and 1.07±0.78 at 6 weeks, Gap Index 0.15±0.02 remained the same throughout, and Three Point Index changed from 0.81±0.08 at first week to 0.77±0.18 six weeks. Radial bow of children showed no significant change at various time points of assessment. Rotational mal-alignment was observed in 5 patients, one had a 0.5 cm radial overlap, while none had an ulnar overlap. Radial angulation was observed in five and six children on AP and lateral X-ray respectively. Ulnar angulation was seen in two and one child on AP and lateral X-ray respectively.</p><p class="abstract"><strong>Conclusions:</strong> Continued use of these casting indices to assess paediatric forearm cast adequacy is supported by this study.</p>

2020 ◽  
pp. emermed-2020-209689
Author(s):  
Peter J Snelling ◽  
Philip Jones ◽  
Gerben Keijzers ◽  
David Bade ◽  
David W Herd ◽  
...  

BackgroundPaediatric distal forearm fractures are a common ED presentation. They can be diagnosed with point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) as an alternative to X-rays. Given that ED nurse practitioners (NPs) are relied on for the diagnosis of paediatric fractures, it is important to describe the diagnostic accuracy of NP-conducted POCUS versus X-ray.MethodsThis prospective diagnostic study was conducted in a tertiary paediatric hospital in Queensland, Australia, between February 2018 and April 2019. Participants were children aged 4–16 years with a clinically non-angulated, suspected distal forearm fracture. Diagnosis from 6-view NP-administered POCUS of the distal radius and ulna was compared against the reference standard of 2-view X-ray. Each patient received both imaging modalities. Overall forearm diagnosis was classified as ‘no’, ‘buckle’ or ‘other’ fracture for both modalities. The primary outcome was diagnostic accuracy for ‘any’ fracture (‘buckle’ and ‘other’ fractures combined). Secondary outcomes included diagnostic accuracy for ‘other’ fractures versus ‘buckle’ and ‘no’ fractures combined, and pain, imaging duration and preference for modality.ResultsOf 204 recruited patients, 129 had X-ray-diagnosed forearm fractures. The sensitivity and specificity for NP-administered POCUS were 94.6% (95% CI 89.2% to 97.3%) and 85.3% (95% CI 75.6% to 91.6%), respectively. ‘Other’ fractures (mostly cortical breach fractures), when compared with ‘buckle’/ ‘no’ fractures, had sensitivity 81.0% (95% CI 69.1% to 89.1%) and specificity 95.9% (95% CI 91.3% to 98.1%). Pain and imaging duration were clinically similar between modalities. There was a preference for POCUS by patients, parents and NPs.ConclusionsNP-administered POCUS had clinically acceptable diagnostic accuracy for paediatric patients presenting with non-angulated distal forearm injuries. This included good sensitivity for diagnosis of ‘any’ fracture and good specificity for diagnosis of cortical breach fractures alone. Given the preference for POCUS, and the lack of difference in pain and duration between modalities, future research should consider functional outcomes comparing POCUS with X-ray in this population in a randomised controlled trial.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (5) ◽  
pp. 536 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rajesh Arora ◽  
Puneet Mishra ◽  
AdityaNath Aggarwal ◽  
Rahul Anshuman ◽  
Ravi Sreenivasan

1994 ◽  
Vol 144 ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
E. Hildner

AbstractOver the last twenty years, orbiting coronagraphs have vastly increased the amount of observational material for the whitelight corona. Spanning almost two solar cycles, and augmented by ground-based K-coronameter, emission-line, and eclipse observations, these data allow us to assess,inter alia: the typical and atypical behavior of the corona; how the corona evolves on time scales from minutes to a decade; and (in some respects) the relation between photospheric, coronal, and interplanetary features. This talk will review recent results on these three topics. A remark or two will attempt to relate the whitelight corona between 1.5 and 6 R⊙to the corona seen at lower altitudes in soft X-rays (e.g., with Yohkoh). The whitelight emission depends only on integrated electron density independent of temperature, whereas the soft X-ray emission depends upon the integral of electron density squared times a temperature function. The properties of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) will be reviewed briefly and their relationships to other solar and interplanetary phenomena will be noted.


Author(s):  
R. H. Duff

A material irradiated with electrons emits x-rays having energies characteristic of the elements present. Chemical combination between elements results in a small shift of the peak energies of these characteristic x-rays because chemical bonds between different elements have different energies. The energy differences of the characteristic x-rays resulting from valence electron transitions can be used to identify the chemical species present and to obtain information about the chemical bond itself. Although these peak-energy shifts have been well known for a number of years, their use for chemical-species identification in small volumes of material was not realized until the development of the electron microprobe.


Author(s):  
E. A. Kenik ◽  
J. Bentley

Cliff and Lorimer (1) have proposed a simple approach to thin foil x-ray analy sis based on the ratio of x-ray peak intensities. However, there are several experimental pitfalls which must be recognized in obtaining the desired x-ray intensities. Undesirable x-ray induced fluorescence of the specimen can result from various mechanisms and leads to x-ray intensities not characteristic of electron excitation and further results in incorrect intensity ratios.In measuring the x-ray intensity ratio for NiAl as a function of foil thickness, Zaluzec and Fraser (2) found the ratio was not constant for thicknesses where absorption could be neglected. They demonstrated that this effect originated from x-ray induced fluorescence by blocking the beam with lead foil. The primary x-rays arise in the illumination system and result in varying intensity ratios and a finite x-ray spectrum even when the specimen is not intercepting the electron beam, an ‘in-hole’ spectrum. We have developed a second technique for detecting x-ray induced fluorescence based on the magnitude of the ‘in-hole’ spectrum with different filament emission currents and condenser apertures.


Author(s):  
W. Brünger

Reconstructive tomography is a new technique in diagnostic radiology for imaging cross-sectional planes of the human body /1/. A collimated beam of X-rays is scanned through a thin slice of the body and the transmitted intensity is recorded by a detector giving a linear shadow graph or projection (see fig. 1). Many of these projections at different angles are used to reconstruct the body-layer, usually with the aid of a computer. The picture element size of present tomographic scanners is approximately 1.1 mm2.Micro tomography can be realized using the very fine X-ray source generated by the focused electron beam of a scanning electron microscope (see fig. 2). The translation of the X-ray source is done by a line scan of the electron beam on a polished target surface /2/. Projections at different angles are produced by rotating the object.During the registration of a single scan the electron beam is deflected in one direction only, while both deflections are operating in the display tube.


Author(s):  
L. T. Germinario

Understanding the role of metal cluster composition in determining catalytic selectivity and activity is of major interest in heterogeneous catalysis. The electron microscope is well established as a powerful tool for ultrastructural and compositional characterization of support and catalyst. Because the spatial resolution of x-ray microanalysis is defined by the smallest beam diameter into which the required number of electrons can be focused, the dedicated STEM with FEG is the instrument of choice. The main sources of errors in energy dispersive x-ray analysis (EDS) are: (1) beam-induced changes in specimen composition, (2) specimen drift, (3) instrumental factors which produce background radiation, and (4) basic statistical limitations which result in the detection of a finite number of x-ray photons. Digital beam techniques have been described for supported single-element metal clusters with spatial resolutions of about 10 nm. However, the detection of spurious characteristic x-rays away from catalyst particles produced images requiring several image processing steps.


Author(s):  
W. Z. Chang ◽  
D. B. Wittry

Since Du Mond and Kirkpatrick first discussed the principle of a bent crystal spectrograph in 1930, curved single crystals have been widely utilized as spectrometric monochromators as well as diffractors for focusing x rays diverging from a point. Curved crystal diffraction theory predicts that the diffraction parameters - the rocking curve width w, and the peak reflection coefficient r of curved crystals will certainly deviate from those of their flat form. Due to a lack of curved crystal parameter data in current literature and the need for optimizing the choice of diffraction geometry and crystal materials for various applications, we have continued the investigation of our technique presented at the last conference. In the present abstract, we describe a more rigorous and quantitative procedure for measuring the parameters of curved crystals.The diffraction image of a singly bent crystal under study can be obtained by using the Johann geometry with an x-ray point source.


Author(s):  
Shawn Williams ◽  
Xiaodong Zhang ◽  
Susan Lamm ◽  
Jack Van’t Hof

The Scanning Transmission X-ray Microscope (STXM) is well suited for investigating metaphase chromosome structure. The absorption cross-section of soft x-rays having energies between the carbon and oxygen K edges (284 - 531 eV) is 6 - 9.5 times greater for organic specimens than for water, which permits one to examine unstained, wet biological specimens with resolution superior to that attainable using visible light. The attenuation length of the x-rays is suitable for imaging micron thick specimens without sectioning. This large difference in cross-section yields good specimen contrast, so that fewer soft x-rays than electrons are required to image wet biological specimens at a given resolution. But most imaging techniques delivering better resolution than visible light produce radiation damage. Soft x-rays are known to be very effective in damaging biological specimens. The STXM is constructed to minimize specimen dose, but it is important to measure the actual damage induced as a function of dose in order to determine the dose range within which radiation damage does not compromise image quality.


Author(s):  
J. R. Michael

X-ray microanalysis in the analytical electron microscope (AEM) refers to a technique by which chemical composition can be determined on spatial scales of less than 10 nm. There are many factors that influence the quality of x-ray microanalysis. The minimum probe size with sufficient current for microanalysis that can be generated determines the ultimate spatial resolution of each individual microanalysis. However, it is also necessary to collect efficiently the x-rays generated. Modern high brightness field emission gun equipped AEMs can now generate probes that are less than 1 nm in diameter with high probe currents. Improving the x-ray collection solid angle of the solid state energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) results in more efficient collection of x-ray generated by the interaction of the electron probe with the specimen, thus reducing the minimum detectability limit. The combination of decreased interaction volume due to smaller electron probe size and the increased collection efficiency due to larger solid angle of x-ray collection should enhance our ability to study interfacial segregation.


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