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The authors investigated US capabilities in detecting foreign bodies retained in superficial soft tissues. Ten patients were studied: 5 of them with history of recent trauma and 5 with painful superficial swelling where US revealed the presence of foreign matter. US findings were confirmed by subsequent surgical specimens. In the first group of patients, a hyperechoic stripe was observed, whereas a hyperchoice nodule with a hyperechoic core was detected in the second group of patients. The latter US pattern may be explained by the presence of a reactive granuloma. US has shown to be very useful in diagnosing this kind of lesion, and it can thus be considered as the only reliable imaging modality to identify radiolucent foreign bodies.

Sclerosing adenosis and infiltrating epitheliosis are both benign diseases which are clinically, radiologically and macroscopically impossible to distinguish from cancer. Over a four years' period, 27 lesions of this kind, which are usually considered as rare, were found in 27 patients. The average age of the patients was 36 years, which confirmed the lesions as diseases typical of fertile women. In all cases, both clinical and instrumental findings (mammography and echotomography) indicated a kind of malignant cancer. The final diagnosis was always made on surgical/bioptic (fine-needle biopsy) specimens. This paper is aimed at stressing the lack of mammographic findings useful for the differential diagnosis of sclerosing adenosis-infiltrating epitheliosis and breast cancer. The utility of fine-needle aspiration biopsy is also stressed.

The vasodilator effect obtained by the topic use of a nitroglycerin compound (TNG) has been angiographically tested on 11 patients affected by distal arteriopathy of the legs. All patients presented arteriosclerotic vascular lesions; two of them also suffered from diabetic angiopathy. Arteriography of the legs has proved to be a very important tool in the evaluation of the patients' response to the administration of the drug. An hour after 80 mg of TNG had been applied to the skin of the examined leg, arteriography showed a marked dilation, especially of the muscular arteries and the undamaged tracts of the arteries of the legs. Angiographic evaluation of the functional blood supply thus obtained provides prognostic information and helps in the choice of the subsequent therapy. Furthermore, the clinical efficacy of prolonged treatment with this drug has been tested in 10 out of the 11 patients. They all responded with an immediate and persistent hemodynamic improvement, evaluated according to Fontaine's classification.

A simple method of sonographic (US) evaluation of penile and bulbous urethra is reported. Twenty-three dysuric patients were examined. They were divided into 2 groups according to their pathology. The US patterns of normal urethra were evaluated in 10 patients (first group) with no obstructive lesions. Urethral and periurethral structures were examined in 13 patients (second group) with urethral obstructive pathology. All patients underwent conventional cystourethrography. The diagnostic parameters considered were urethral gauge and thickness, echogenicity of the urethral wall, and Cowper's glands. US evaluation of obstructive lesions provided the same findings as conventional radiological techniques. Moreover, US allowed the evaluation of both thickness and echogenicity of the urethral wall, and of normal/injured Cowper's glands.

The effectiveness of real-time sonography and mammography are examined in localizing with a hookwire (introduced via a straight needle) the nonpalpable breast lesions. The method, used for surgery or biopsy, was successful in a series of 13 patients with non-palpable breast lesions, 4 affected by carcinoma.