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Pneumomediastinography has proved to be an excellent radiological method for studying the size, extent, and gross anatomical characteristics of mediastinal masses (1, 2, 5, 10, 11). It has also been employed successfully in estimating thymic size in autoimmune diseases and in studying the response of the thymus gland after steroid therapy (9, 11). To our knowledge there have been two European papers and a single American paper which discuss the results of pneumomediastinography in evaluating bronchogenic carcinoma (1, 6, 10). The purposes of this report are to describe the recent modifications of our original method of pneumomediastinography (2) and to relate our experience with this procedure in evaluating 64 instances of suspected bronchogenic carcinoma. We shall emphasize the rationale for and the technical details of successful pneumomediastinography and also describe radiological principles and criteria for the interpretation of pneumomediastinograms. Rationale Using injection technics, Marchand exam...

“Scalloping” is used to describe that change in the configuration of the vertebrae, in which there exists an exaggeration of the normal slight concavity of the dorsal surface of the body. Scalloping in association with a locally expanding mass in the spinal canal is well recognized. There are other less well known causes of this type of vertebral deformity. This paper will present a retrospective study in which examples of scalloping were collected from our files and from the literature and were classified according to the pathogenic mechanisms involved. Our aim is to bring a sense of order to a subject which is discussed in a rather fragmentary manner in the literature. Examples from the various groups will be illustrated, and hypotheses regarding the mechanisms of scalloping will be offered. In formulating a classification of scalloped vertebrae, we have taken into consideration the pathogenic mechanisms by which the configuration of bones may be altered. An abnormal configuration might result either pr...

A radiolucent linear shadow can be seen on plain radiographs in the right upper quadrant of 30% of patients. The surface anatomy of the liver and its associated ligaments were studied in the cadaver, clinically, and in surgical patients to determine the cause of this shadow. From these studies it is concluded that the shadow is cast by the fat that normally surrounds the ligamentum teres hepatis. The soft-tissue “mass” that the fat shadow demarcates should not be interpreted as a pathological process.

Intrinisic tumors of the spinal cord arise from neuronal tissue, glial cells, vascular structures, and occasionally from other cellular components of the spinal medulla. Tumors which arise from the meninges and nerve root sheaths or which result from the developmental inclusion of foreign dermal, fibrous or adipose tissue within the substance of the spinal cord are not truly intrinsic tumors. As in the brain, the majority of primary intrinsic spinal cord tumors are gliomas, but the growth characteristics and effects upon the host are not the same. It is the purpose of this paper to analyze the case histories of a relatively large number of patients with primary spinal cord tumor and to evaluate the effect of radiation therapy upon the course of the disease. Incidence and Pathology It is difficult to establish definitely the relative incidence of intraspinal tumors, either in comparison with intracranial tumors or with other neurologic diseases, since necropsy material, even in large metropolitan hospitals...

THE PURPOSE of this paper is to describe the roentgen manifestations of alterations of the normal anatomy of the extraperitoneal perivisceral fat pad and to emphasize that both intra- and extraperitoneal pathologic processes can affect the e. p. f. p. Intraperitoneal Disease A. Fluid: Intraperitoneal fluid in the upper abdomen frequently manifests itself radiologically by collecting adjacent to the properitoneal fat line as a linear density, displacing the colon medially and thinning the properitoneal fat. This shadow has been called the “flank stripe” (5). In addition, the medial margin of the “hepatic angle” may be lost (Fig. 1). What is the explanation for the loss of the hepatic angle by intraperitoneal fluid if the shadow of the hepatic angle is cast by the liver's contrasting with extraperitoneal Iat?3 The great pliability of the e. p. f. p. explains this finding. The intraperitoneal fluid fills the peritoneal recess about the posterior inferior portions of the liver, widening and blunting it. The f...