Utilization of Milk as an Oral Contrast Agent in CT Scan of the Abdomen

The present study aimed to evaluate using the whole milk as alternative oral contrast for the as-sessment of gastrointestinal CT enterography. Fifty patients undergo (18 female and 32 male) aged from 21 to 79 years (mean 45 years) undergo abdominal CT at the department of diagnostic radiology of King Abdulaziz University Hospital. They receive 1 - 1.5 liter whole milk. Siemens SOMATOM definition CT Scan Machine with 64 slices and dual source was utilized to image all pa-tients in research population group where iodinated oral contrast media was replaced by a whole milk available in the local market. Patients were scanned as per the routine protocol used for CT Abdomen at KAUH-CT Unit: Helical Mode with 0.7 Pitch was performed on all paints in supine po-sition using a 16-detector row scanner (Bright Speed S, General Electric-Milwaukee Wisconsin, USA). The following parameters were applied: collimation of 16 × 0.625 (1.25 - 3.75) mm, pitch of 3, Slice thickness: 5 mm, gantry rotation time of 400 mAs, tube voltage of 120 KV and scan time 11.05 second. The images of all cases were reviewed by two qualified radiologists. Conclusion: The present study suggested that whole milk was found to be an effective alternative negative contrast for the assessment of the jejunum, ileum and terminal ileum in CT enterography. It was excellent for gastric imaging and we recommended replacing milk as negative oral contrast since it is available and cost effective. Further research to be conducted with modified milk drinking timing for better large bowel distention.

CT Brain in Children: Evaluation of the Clinical and Radiological Findings

This study was done to the review and documentation of brain CT investigations in King Abdulaziz University Hospital (KAUH), Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in 2012 including CT findings for brain based on justifications for scan. The purpose of the study is to evaluate the situation of requesting CT brain versus the reporting findings. A retrospective study was carried out in the Department of Radiology, KAUH between 1 January and 31 December 2012. There were 417 children scanned by CT for brain, their data were reviewed and analyzed from radiology records to form the sample of the study. The study revealed that high percentages of radiological findings for CT brain did not confirm the clinical diagnosis. The percentages of such cases which observed in the three departments of emergency, inpatient and outpatient were 68.4%, 53.6% and 49.4% respectively. This result shows that a percentage of children were given unnecessary exposure to radiation among those who received CT brain from the radiology department in KAUH. From the study, it is concluded that most brain CT done for children were not justification as well as there were more brain CT findings not confirmed the clinical diagnosis, although the brain CT may be significant in most of the cases. Hence, there is a big concern about the increasing requests for unnecessary brain CT. Therefore, the paediatricians should be more careful in requesting of brain CT unless it is indispensible.