Top RSNA posters spotlight implants and transplants

Radiologists who can recognize and evaluate the growing number of orthopedic implants and their radiographic appearances are in demand, according to Magna Cum Laude poster winner Dr. Samuel S. Charles, a radiologist at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

"These radiologists can offer important observations to referring physicians," Charles said.

Among the devices covered in the poster are low-contact dynamic compression plates, locked extremity plates, locking condylar plates, less invasive stabilization system plates, trochanteric femoral nails, locking cervical plates, laminoplasty, bone-graft substitutes, bioabsorbable hardware, and disc arthroplasty.

Dr. So Yeon Kim, a radiologist at the Asan Medical Center, University of Ulsan, Seoul, reported on congenital abnormalities of the coronary arteries. Catheter angiography, the standard of care for diagnosis, has limitations that are overcome with ECG-gated multislice CT, he said.

"Knowledge of CT findings of these anomalies, along with understanding their clinical significance, is essential for an accurate diagnosis and proper patient management," Kim said.

In her award-winning exhibit, Dr. Teresa Berrocal, a pediatric radiologist at University Hospital La Paz in Madrid, Spain, focused on orthotopic liver transplantation. This is the current treatment of choice for patients with severe liver failure for which no other therapy is available. Because the number of cadaveric donor livers is not sufficient, partial liver transplantation from a living related donor has become an important therapeutic option for children with terminal liver disease.

The main complications in living related donor transplantation include vascular stenosis and thrombosis, biliary stenosis or bilomas, fatty liver, extrahepatic fluid collection, post-transplantation lymphoproliferative disorder, and rejection. Early diagnosis of these complications is essential for achieving the best short- and long-term results, Berrocal said.

The three other prizewinners were Dr. Marcus Van from the University of California, Los Angeles (evidence-based review of indications of fetal and obstetrical MRI), Dr. Srinivasa Prasad from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (common and uncommon histologic subtypes of renal cell carcinoma), and Dr. Robert Kuske from the Arizona Oncology Services and Cancer Research Foundation (use of the stereotactic breast core biopsy table to perform image-guided breast brachytherapy in the prone position for select carcinomas of the breast).