Serological and Molecular Testing in Viral Hepatitis: An Update

The routine serological diagnoses of the three major forms of viral hepatitis - A, B and C - as well as delta hepatitis, are important in the evaluation of acute and chronic viral hepatitis. Increasingly, molecular virology is also being used to evaluate patients with chronic hepatitis C, with genotype and viral load testing to plan therapy

Complications of abdominal and pelvic procedures: computed tomographic diagnosis.

The postprocedural period is a critical time in which serious complications can manifest. Localization of suspected complications following abdominal and pelvic procedures can be difficult on clinical evaluation alone. For example, abdominal pain after a colonoscopy may vary in etiology and can result from simple colonic spasm to colonic perforation, hemoperitoneum, or even splenic rupture. Vague abdominal pain following a renal biopsy may be due to minimal postprocedural bleeding into and around the kidney or may be due to potentially life-threatening hemorrhage. In such patients, computed tomography can play a crucial role in the rapid identification of complications as well guidance of subsequent patient management. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate the benefit of computed tomography-assisted diagnosis of complications associated with routine procedures performed on or throughout the abdomen and pelvis, including cardiac catheterization, colonoscopy, endoscopy, percutaneous biopsy, and interventional radiology procedures