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Purpose: To prospectively develop equations for the calculation of expected intraoperative weight and volume of a living donor's right liver lobe by using preoperative computed tomography (CT) for volumetric measurement., Materials and Methods: After medical ethics committee and state medical board approval, informed consent was obtained from eight female and eight male living donors (age range, 18-63 years) for participation in preoperative CT volumetric measurement of the right liver lobes by using the summation-of-area method. Intraoperatively, the graft was weighed, and the volume of the graft was determined by means of water displacement. Distributions of pre- and intraoperative data were depicted as Tukey box-and-whisker diagrams. Then, linear regressions were calculated, and the results were depicted as scatterplots. On the basis of intraoperative data, physical density of the parenchyma was calculated by dividing weight by volume of the graft., Results: Preoperative measurement of grafts resulted in a mean volume of 929 mL +/- 176 (standard deviation); intraoperative mean weight and volume of the grafts were 774 g +/- 138 and 697 mL +/- 139, respectively. All corresponding pre- and intraoperative data correlated significantly (P < .001) with each other. Intraoperatively expected volume (V(intraop)) in millilliters and weight (W(intraop)) in grams can be calculated with the equations V(intra)(op) = (0.656 . V(preop)) + 87.629 mL and W(intra)(op) = (0.678 g/mL . V(preop)) + 143.704 g, respectively, where preoperative volume is V(preop) in milliliters. Physical density of transplanted liver lobes was 1.1172 g/mL +/- 0.1015., Conclusion: By using two equations developed from the data obtained in this study, expected intraoperative weight and volume can properly be determined from CT volumetric measurements., ((c) RSNA, 2006.)

The purpose of this study was to construct and evaluate a phantom for measurement of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging sections with thicknesses of 0.3-0.6 mm. The phantom consisted of 304 0.1-mm-thick disks, each of which had a single notch filled with a diluted solution of gadopentetate dimeglumine. Qualitative and quantitative evaluations of T1-weighted images with section thicknesses of 0.3-0.6 mm were performed. A computer simulation was performed to evaluate the influence of different examination angles. At quantitative evaluation, the difference between nominal and measured section thicknesses ranged from 11% (nominal section thickness, 0.6 mm) to 18% (nominal section thickness, 0.4 mm). Computer simulations revealed that the phantom's positioning along the z-axis had a negligible influence at quantitative evaluation., (RSNA, 2006)

Purpose: To evaluate whether the different signal intensities at magnetic resonance (MR) imaging of melanoma are associated with a higher content of melanin., Materials and Methods: In a prospective study, MR imaging and ophthalmoscopic examination findings in 42 patients (19 women, 23 men; age range, 30-87 years) with uveal melanoma were compared with histopathologic examination findings obtained after enucleation. MR imaging was performed with 2-mm sections by using a 5-cm surface coil. T1- and T2-weighted images were obtained before and after contrast material administration., Results: In 33 (79%) of the patients, there was homogeneous tumor pigmentation, whereas in nine (21%) patients, there was inhomogeneous bipartite tumor pigmentation. Compared with the histopathologic data, the results of qualitative evaluation were accurate in 29 (58%) of 50 and in 26 (53%) of 49 tumorous areas on T1- and T2-weighted images, respectively. Quantitative evaluation yielded better results, especially at T1-weighted imaging; an 86% correlation was found. Because of methodological reasons, only the superficial pigmentation of inhomogeneous tumors could be evaluated with ophthalmoscopy., Conclusion: Thin-section MR imaging of the eye enables an accurate prediction of melanomatous pigmentation with quantitative evaluation of plain T1-weighted images and is superior to ophthalmoscopy in cases of inhomogeneous pigmentation.

Purpose: To compare the sensitivity and specificity of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging with that of ultrasound (US) in the detection of extraocular extension of uveal melanoma., Materials and Methods: In 70 patients, the diagnosis of melanoma and absence or presence of extraocular growth were confirmed with histologic examination (13 patients) or with ophthalmoscopy and surgery (57 patients). Unenhanced and enhanced T1-weighted and T2-weighted MR imaging was performed with surface coils at 1.5 T. A- and B-mode US scans were obtained with 8- and 10-MHz probes, respectively., Results: Extraocular growth was confirmed in seven patients: Five patients had retrobulbar tumor, and two had optic nerve infiltration. US enabled detection in three cases, whereas six cases were diagnosed with MR imaging including both cases of optic nerve infiltration. False-positive findings were more frequent with US (n = 5) than with MR imaging (n = 1)., Conclusion: MR imaging proved to be more sensitive and more specific than US in the detection of extraocular extension of uveal melanoma.