Determination of a normogram for testicular volume measured by ultrasonography in a normal population boys in Abuja

Background: Reference values are necessary in clinical practice in order to correctly evaluate testicular volume and detect disorders.Aim: To determine the normogram for testicular volume measured by ultrasound in normal boys aged 1-18years.Methodology: This was a cross sectional prospective study conducted over a period of twelve months on 400 normal boys aged 1-18years who were attending outpatient care at paediatric department of University of Abuja Teaching Hospital, Abuja. Those who met the inclusion criteria had a testicular scan in the department of radiology. Both testes were scanned using a high resolution 7.5 MHz linear transducer. The length, width, depth were determined and the testicular volume was calculated using the empiric formula of Lambert: length x width x height x 0.71. Ethical clearance was obtained from University of Abuja Teaching Hospital Research and Ethical Committee.Results: The mean age, height, weight, and Body Mass Index (BMI) were 6.96±4.67years, 1.18±0.29m, 24.79±14.76kg and 15.82±2.63kg/m2. The mean testicular volume in the study population was 1.93±3.31ml. The right and left mean testicular volume were 2.27±+3.66ml and 2.23±3.61ml, respectively. Testicular volume correlated positively with age, height weight and BMI.Conclusion: Normative values of testicular volume in boy’s age 1-18years using ultrasound have been established. Age, weight and BMI have a significant effect on testicular volume.Keywords: Age, Androgen, Body mass index, Height, Length, Testicle, Weigh

Cranial computed tomography assessment of HIV/AIDS patients with neurological features

Background: HIV/ AIDS patients do have variable neurological manifestation of the disease that will require neuro-imaging for proper evaluation. Computed tomography is one of the neuro-imaging techniques that can be used for diagnostic work up of patients with neurological symptoms and signs.Objective: To determine the spectrum of cranial computed tomographic findings in HIV/AIDS patients with neurological signs and symptoms and correlate with CD4 count.Methodology: This is a retrospective analysis of 43 HIV/AIDS patients who presented with neurological signs and symptoms and had cranial computed tomography from December 2014 to June 2018 (43 months).Results: The mean age of subjects studied was 29±17 years with age range of 21-47 years. There were 27 males and 16 females with male to female ratio 1.7:1. Nineteen (44.2%) patients presented with one neurological sign and twenty-four (55.8%) presented with more than one neurological sign. Thirty-six (83.7%) of patients had abnormal CT findings. Cranial computed tomographic findings were cerebral infracts (27.9%), cerebral mass (18.6%), cerebral atrophy (16.3%), haemorrhage (7%). Others were meningeal enhancement (4.7%), brain oedema (4.7%) and white matter lesion (4.7%). Cerebral mass was the most common CT findings in patient with CD4 count less than 200cells/mm3. In subjects with CD4 count of 200-499 cells/mm3 and greater than 500cells/mm3, cerebral infracts and atrophy were the commonest CT findings respectively. There was statistically significant association between CD4 counts and abnormal CT findings in relation to cerebral infract and atrophy (cerebral infarcts, p=0.02 and cerebral atrophy p=0.02).Conclusion: Cerebral infracts was the commonest CT findings in this study. CT plays an important role in evaluation of HIV/AIDS patient with neurological features. CT scan should be a routine investigation in HIV/AIDS patients with low CD4 count presenting with neurological signs and symptoms in view of the abnormalities seen in them from our study.Keywords: Cranial findings, computed tomographic, HIV/AIDS, CD4 coun

The value of dynamic (triphasic) computed tomography in differentiating malignant and benign portal vein thrombi using thrombus density

Background: Portal vein thrombosis (PVT) is the development of thrombus in the main trunk of a portal vein and its intrahepatic right and left branches. Malignant PVT typically arises from invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma into the portal vein of patients with liver cirrhosis. In contrast, bland PVT is attributed to sluggish portal venous flow in cirrhotic patients with portal hypertension. The study was to determine the diagnostic performance of Triphasic CT imaging using thrombus density in differentiating malignant from benignportal vein thrombi.Methods: In this retrospective study, 46 patients with PVT who had contrast-enhanced Triphasic CT of the abdomen were evaluated for PVT. The assessment was performed by measuring the CT attenuation values of the thrombi in Hounsfield Units (HU). ROC (Receiver Operating Characteristic) curves were used to identify accuracy and optimal cutoff values.Results:Out of the 46 CT studies, 32 neoplastic thrombi and 14 bland thrombi were identified on the images. All patients with malignant thrombosis showed contrast enhancement while all patients with bland thrombi demonstrated no contrast enhancement. Contrast enhanced CT showed thrombi density sensitivity of 93.8%, specificity of 100% and accuracy of 95.7%. The AUCs was 0.539 in precontrast and 0.996 in portovenous phase for thrombus density. The optimal cut off in precontrast was 28.5 and in porto-venous phase was 59.0.Conclusion: Estimating thrombi density with triphasic dynamic CT may represent a vital tool for reliable differentiation of neoplastic from bland thrombi in patients with PVT. Key Words: Dynamic CT, Differentiating Benign, Malignant, PVT

Hepatic Sonographic findings at the Jos University Teaching Hospital, Nigeria

Background: Ultrasound examination is considered to be a very useful imaging modality for the diagnosis of hepatic diseases. Its major advantage is the avoidance of ionizing radiation exposure. However, it is operator dependent and less accurate when compared with Computed Tomography. The present study describes hepatic sonographic findings in patients referred to the radiology department for ultrasound examination based on clinical suspicion of liver disease. Methods: This observational descriptive study was conducted between June 2019 and April 2020 at Department of Radiology, Jos University Teaching Hospital, Jos, Nigeria. Two hundred and twenty seven patients with clinical features suggestive of hepatic disease and referred to the department for ultrasound examination were enrolled. Ultrasonography was done using a LOGIQ V duplex Doppler ultrasound machine with 3.5-5 MHz curvilinear transducer Results: The age of the patients ranged from 0 to above 60 years. Out of 227 patients studied, 48% were males and 52% were females. Decompensated chronic liver disease and chronic liver disease (CLD) dominated the indications for hepatic ultrasound scan with 23.3% and 19.4% respectively. The predominant pathological ultrasonic liver finding reported was chronic liver disease, accounting for up to 48% in frequency. This was followed by Hepatitis (16.3%) and Liver cirrhosis (13%). Conclusions: The various indications and findings of liver ultrasonographic evaluation have been established by this study with chronic liver disease being the commonest indication for sonographic evaluation of the liver as well as the commonest finding. Keywords: Hepatic, Jos, North-Central, Nigeria, ultrasoun