LAC+USC Medical Center

About: LAC+USC Medical Center is a healthcare organization based out in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Poison control. The organization has 1348 authors who have published 886 publications receiving 21927 citations. The organization is also known as: County/USC & Los Angeles County General.

Fiber Tracking in Traumatic Brain Injury: Comparison of 9 Tractography Algorithms

Abstract: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can cause widespread and long-lasting damage to white matter. Diffusion weighted imaging methods are uniquely sensitive to this disruption. Even so, traumatic injury often disrupts brain morphology as well, complicating the analysis of brain integrity and connectivity, which are typically evaluated with tractography methods optimized for analyzing normal healthy brains. To understand which fiber tracking methods show promise for analysis of TBI, we tested 9 different tractography algorithms for their classification accuracy and their ability to identify vulnerable areas as candidates for longitudinal follow-up in pediatric TBI participants and matched controls. Deterministic tractography models yielded the highest classification accuracies, but their limitations in areas of extensive fiber crossing suggested that they generated poor candidates for longitudinal follow-up. Probabilistic methods, including a method based on the Hough transform, yielded slightly lower accuracy, but generated follow-up candidate connections more coherent with the known neuropathology of TBI.

Computer Analysis Of Arteriograms

Abstract: A computer system has been developed to quantify the degree of atherosclerosis in the human femoral artery. The analysis involves first scanning and digitizing angiographic film, then tracking the outline of the arterial image and finally computing the relative amount of roughness or irregularity in the vessel wall. The image processing system and method are described.

Ogilvie’s Syndrome

Abstract: Ogilvie’s syndrome is acute colonic pseudo-obstruction, wherein signs and symptoms of large bowel obstruction occur along with marked dilation of the colon without a mechanical cause for the obstruction. This chapter will describe the pathophysiology, epidemiology, and risk factors for Ogilvie’s syndrome. The signs and symptoms as well as the necessary investigations (abdominal X-ray, computed tomography scan of the abdomen and pelvis, and contrast enema) will be reviewed. A stepwise approach to management, progressing from supportive therapy to decompression (pharmacologic or endoscopic) and ultimately surgery, will be presented.

Images in emergency medicine: pacemaker extrusion causing chest pain.

Abstract: A 55-year-old Hispanic male had a pacemaker placed in Mexico approximately one year prior to presenting to the Emergency Department. He noticed minor discomfort in his left chest one month earlier but did not see a physician. The discomfort steadily increased and he saw a small piece of metal poking through the skin. He assumed it was a staple or something minor related to the surgery; however, it gradually increased in size over the next few weeks until he realized it was the pacemaker itself eroding though his chest wall. A cardiology consultation was called, and an EKG showed that the pacemaker was still functioning normally. He was admitted with a plan for operative repair. Pacemaker erosion or extrusion has been reported in 0.9% of patients receiving the device.1 The two main causes are infection and pressure necrosis.1,2,3 Infection has been shown to be reduced by antibiotic treatment during the peri-placement period, and pressure necrosis appears to be influenced largely by the size of the device, complexity of the connections and technical skill with which the pocket is created.1,2 After extrusion, the pacemaker should be considered contaminated and removed.