Articles: postoperative.
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Acta Anaesthesiol Scand · May 2014
Evaluation of anatomic landmarks for axillary nerve block in the quadrilateral space.
Axillary nerve block (ANB) was recently introduced along with suprascapular nerve block as an alternative to inter-scalene brachial plexus block for post-operative pain control. However, the methods for performing ANB are variable. We studied the relationship between surface anatomy and the location of the axillary nerve in the quadrilateral space to ensure a technically safe and simple ANB. ⋯ Knowledge of the relationship between surface anatomy and AN, as well as estimated AN depth may aid in locating the axillary nerve in the quadrilateral space.
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To assess whether CT attenuation values help in differentiating benign from malignant etiology of focal (18) F-FDG avid breast lesions detected on whole-body PET/CT exam in postoperative breast cancer patients. Institutional review board approval and waived informed consent were obtained for this HIPAA-compliant retrospective study. Between January 2009 and July 2011, a total of 85 patients had 97 focal (18) F-FDG avid breast lesions on whole-body PET/CT. ⋯ ICC with regard to interobserver agreement in measuring the mean HU of the benign lesions was 0.84 (95% confidence interval 0.64-0.93) and for the malignant lesions was 0.88 (95% confidence interval 0.77-0.94). A CT attenuation threshold value of less than 17 HU suggests benign etiology of focal (18) FDG avid breast lesions in postoperative breast cancer patients. If confirmed by additional studies, these findings may provide additional information to guide the treating physician regarding decisions for supplementary imaging or the need to biopsy.