a 49-year-old man with cervical osteomyelitis and right hemiparesis treated surgically was presented. mri at 2 weeks after the onset revealed a disc bulging at c5/6, whereas those at 4 weeks showed spinal cord compression and surrounding abscess formation. drastic destructive features progressed between 2 and 4 weeks after the onset. repeated mri investigation using fat suppression technique or gadolinium enhancement will be necessary for a difficult diagnostic vertebral osteomyelitis.

tuberculous epididymo-orchitis is a condition rarely encountered in countries where tuberculosis is uncommon. patients with scrotal symptoms are likely to be referred for ultrasound examination where an erroneous diagnosis of testicular tumour or non-specific epididymitis may be suggested unless the ultrasound practitioner is aware of the sonographic features of this condition. we report the ultrasound features in a patient with tuberculous epididymo-orchitis.

The following study sought to investigate the level of SNR performance obtainable from a particular MR system (1.5 T GE Signa Horizon™) using the system's quadrature head coil only. The method used for identifying the level of SNR performance of the particular system's quadrature head coil was the same method employed by MagNET (the subdivision of Medical Devices Agency which is responsible for MR technology) in order to produce the official evaluation reports for all MR systems currently available. The SNR test method is based on the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) standard for SNR measurements. Therefore, a comparison of the results from this study with the results available in the MDA evaluation report for this particular MR system would ultimately reveal the true SNR performance at the time of testing. SNR measurements in all three imaging planes were obtained and despite the insignificant deviation in the axial plane which was 2.9%, the SNR performance in the sagittal and coronal planes was found to be below the expected, and were 15.2% and 11.6% respectively. This deviation can be related to a number of factors which will be presented.

in 1997 the teleradiology facilities at princess margaret hospital swindon were upgraded to a modern dicom compliant system. we describe the practicalities rather than the technical issues of setting up and running a teleradiology system that can send images to the radiologists' homes on call obviating the need for them in many cases to attend the hospital. we list the initial doubts and concerns voiced by both radiologists and radiographers and describe the means of overcoming the problems that arose. from these reflections we have obtained a deeper insight into the use of teleradiology in a district general hospital (dgh) setting. our conclusions are described.