Comparison of diagnostic accuracy of screening tests ALT and ultrasound for pediatric non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and ultrasound (US) are the most commonly used tools for detecting non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD). No direct comparison of these two modalities in children exists. We aimed to compare head-to-head the diagnostic accuracy of ALT and US and their combination for detecting NAFLD in children with obesity.

Lifestyle intervention for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: prospective cohort study of its efficacy and factors related to improvement.

Background: Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has a high prevalence in obese children. Lifestyle intervention is the primary treatment for NAFLD. However, limited data are available regarding the efficacy of lifestyle interventions.

Constipation and colonic transit times in children with morbid obesity.

Objectives: The aim of the study was to determine the frequency of functional constipation according to the Rome III criteria in children with morbid obesity and to evaluate by measuring colonic transit times (CTTs) whether decreased colonic motility is present in these children.

Patients And Methods: Ninety-one children with morbid obesity ages 8 to 18 years, entering a prospective, randomized controlled study evaluating the effect of an outpatient versus inpatient treatment program of obesity, participated. All of the children filled out a standardized questionnaire regarding their bowel habits, and CTTs were measured using radioopaque markers.

Fracture of a covered stent used for pseudoaneurysm exclusion in a prosthetic femoro-infrapopliteal bypass.

Purpose: To present a case of fracture in a stent-graft used for exclusion of a pseudoaneurysm in a prosthetic femoro-infrapopliteal bypass.

Case Report: A Hemobahn stent-graft was inserted into a Dacron femoro-infrapopliteal bypass to avoid repeat surgery for a recurrent distal anastomotic pseudoaneurysm that had been excluded 2 years earlier by a Dacron interposition graft in a 69-year-old woman. Three months after stent-graft implantation, the patient complained of pain around the left knee; plain radiography showed stent fractures at 2 sites coinciding with the proximal and distal anastomoses of the interposition graft, and ultrasonography detected a new pseudoaneurysm at the distal anastomosis.

Changes in bone scans after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction: a prospective study.

Background: Whether anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction retards the progression of osteoarthrosis is not established. Bone scintigraphy can be useful for monitoring the course of osteoarthrosis. Bone scan findings are abnormal in the majority of patients with anterior cruciate ligament deficiency.