Scimitar Syndrome

Variations and Abnormalities of Major Thoracic Vascular Structures

Purpose: To determine the variations and abnormalities of major thoracic vascular structures in patients exposed to thoracic examination via computerized tomography with 64 detectors.

Materials and Methods: In this retrospective study, 2,479 patients who underwent thoracic computed tomography between May 2006 and October 2007 in the Radiation Department at Dicle University’s School of Medicine were examined. Of these patients, 1,389 were male and 1,090 were female. No variations or abnormalities were detected in 1,588 of the patients.

Results: In 1,588 out of 2,479 patients (64.1%), no abnormalities or variations were detected. The most frequently detected variations occurred in the brachiocephalic trunk and the sole root point of the carotid artery from the aorta; these variations were detected in 838 (33.8%) patients.

In 74 of the 2,479 patients (3.0%) examined, it was found that the left vertebral artery directly initiated from the arch of the aorta. In addition, in 33 patients, the right brachiocephalic trunk and left major carotid artery initiated from the aorta as a single root.

Conclusion: Via multi-slice CT, it is possible to detect variations and abnormalities of major thoracic vascular structures; therefore, there is no need for extra diagnostic invasive digital subtraction angiography.

Raman Spectroscopy and Imaging: Promising Optical Diagnostic Tools in Pediatrics

This review focuses on the use of Raman spectroscopy, an analytical technique based on the inelastic scattering of harmless laser light with biological tissues, as an innovative diagnostic tool in pediatrics. After a brief introduction to explain the fundamental concepts behind Raman spectroscopy and imaging, a short summary is given of the most important and common issues arising when handling spectral data with multivariate statistics. Then, the most relevant papers in which Raman spectroscopy or imaging has been applied with diagnostic purposes to pediatric patients are reviewed, and grouped according to the type of pathology: neoplastic, inflammatory, allergic, malformative as well as other kinds. Raman spectroscopy has been used both in vivo, mostly using optical fibers for tissue illumination, as well as on ex vivo tissue sections in a microscopic imaging approach defined as “spectral histopathology”. According to the results reported so far, this technique showed a huge potential for mini- or non-invasive real-time, bedside and intra-operatory diagnosis, as well as for an ex vivo imaging tool in support to pathologists. Despite many studies are limited by the small sample size, this technique is extremely promising in terms of sensitivity and specificity.

A Sensitive Voltammetric Sensor for Detecting Betamethasone in Biological Fluids

A rapid and sensitive voltammetric sensor based on reduction of betamethasone has been developed using single wall carbon nanotube modified edge plane pyrolytic graphite electrode (SWNT/EPPGE). The reduction of betamethasone occurred in a well-defined, pH dependent peak. Linear calibration curve was obtained in the range 1 to 25 nM in 1.0 M phosphate buffer solution (PBS) of pH 7.2 with the limit of detection (3/slope) as 0.50 nM. The analytical utility of the developed method has been demonstarted by sensing the drug in human body fluids and for the determination of betamethasone content in several commercially available pharmaceutical preparations. Interfering effect of some common metabolites including ascorbic acid, uric acid, albumin and hypoxanthine has also been evaluated. A comparison of the observed results of proposed method with HPLC clearly indicates that the results of both methods are essentially similar.