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Background: Computed tomography of the abdomen is a useful diagnostic tool in acute abdominal pain in the emergency room. The single phase could be sufficient for kidney stones, renal clinic if typical. Objectives: To evaluate the usefulness of tomography in only the single phase in the definitive diagnosis of renal colic typical and atypical. Patients and method: Patients attending in emergency room of the Sanatorio Durango by typical or atypical renal colic study with simple and proven renal colic tomography. Two observers evaluated tomograms in single phase at a time and in the two phases in the other. diagnostic concordance was analyzed according to symptoms. Results: 102 patients were studied, 37 (36.2%) with typical clinical and the rest 63.8% with atypical symptoms. In 94.5% (35/37) with typical clinical, simple phase tomography was enough to confirm the diagnosis of renal calculi, in two patients the proven need (one for no other ureteral stones and calcium rupture). 65 with atypical symptoms, 38 (58.4%) had no gallstone renal disease, 22 (33.8%) abdominal pathology and five (7.6%) normal. Positron in single phase could be sufficient for diagnosis in 30.7% of cases (20/65: 9 renal pathology not lithiasic, 6 and 5 regular abdominal pathology). In total 53.9% in single phase tomography could allow definitive diagnosis. Conclusions: Abdominal tomography in single phase becomes sufficient to make a definitive diagnosis in a patient with renal colic typical. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transdisciplinary research project Virtopsy is dedicated to implementing modern imaging techniques into forensic medicine and pathology in order to augment current examination techniques or even to offer alternative methods. The "digital autopsy", even when post processing time was added, was more rapid than the classic forensic autopsy and, based on the nondestructive approach, offered certain advantages in comparison with the forensic autopsy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. Urinary stone disease is a frequent illness, being the acute uretral obstruction the cause of consultation of first time, manifested as renal colic. The value of the image studies in these patients resides in that near 90% of stones are visible on plain films. Intravenous Urography has been used during a lot of time for the evaluation of stone disease. The recent development of the computed tomography (CT) has allowed an appropriate valuation of the stones and other possible causes of flank pain. The multidetector-row CT systems allow to value the genitourinary tract after the administration of contrast media. Material and methods. Ten patients were studied with renal colic and they were carried out computed tomography urography (CTU) in a 16-detector row CT. They were carried out three study phases: Native phase (nonenhanced phase), nefrographic phase (70–100 seconds post-injection of the contrast) and pielographic phase (200–240 seconds post-injection). Results. Renal stones was detected in five patients, eight patients presented uretral stones. All the stones were observed in the nonenhanced phase. Five patients with uretral stones presented tomographic signs of acute uretral obstruction, two patients presented data of acute inflammatory process. Other findings included cystic lesions in annexes, thickness of the seminal glands and fleboliths coexisting with uretral stones. Conclusions. The intravenous urography in our country is the main image study for the patient's evaluation with flank pain and renal colic. However, the computed tomography in a nonenhanced phase demonstrated the cause of renal colic almost always. The multidetector row CT is useful in the evaluation of patient with renal colic, but they should be considered several factors, among them the radiation dose, an then be able to decide the best image method for our patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. To determine prognostic value of the severity index obtained by means of early contrasted tomography in patients with acute pancreatitis comparing it with the one obtained after 48 hrs. Method. Descriptive, retrospective and comparative in the Hospital Central Militar, in the service of Computed Tomography and General Surgery. Results. The clinic and radiologic files were m 67 patients with diagnostic of acute pancreatitis, 38 women and 29 men with a relationship 1.3:1, with age 51.9 years old average. The most frequent etiology of acute pancreatitis was the idiophatic (34%), followed by biliar (32%). 46% of the CT studies was carried out before the first 48 hrs. and 54% were carried out later. In relation to the prognostic value of the early and late CT there was not statistically significant difference. Conclusion. The obtained ISTC of an early contrasted CT has a good prognostic value and it is an useful tool for the handling of the patients with PA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]