Objective To evaluate the value of volume rendering technique of MSCT in the diagnosis of pediatric pectus carinatum. Methods MSCT data of 36 children with pectus carinatum were collected.Volume rendering and multiplanar reformation recon-struction techniques were adopted at a postprocessing station.Results There were 35 cases of chondrogladiolar variant and 1 case of chondromanubrial variant,27 cases were symmetric and other 9 cases were asymmetric.VR technique clearly demonstrated the abnormal changes of sternum,costae and costal cartilages.Conclusion VR technique of MSCT can fully display the three-dimension morpho-logical changes of pediatric pectus carinatum,which can supply accurate information for minimally invasive treatment procedure.

Objective To investigate the detecting ability of single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and CT in skull base invasion in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Methods Sixty three patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were examined by whole body and skull base SPECT and CT of nasopharynx and skull base before radiotherapy. The results were double blind compared and evaluated. Results The overall positive rates of skull base invasion detected by SPECT and CT were 63.5% and 25.4%. In patients with headache, cranial nerve palsy and both, they were 87.9%,93.3%,92.3% and 42.4%,46.7%,46.2%. In patients with T 1+T 2 and T 3+T 4 lesions, they were 37.5%,90.3% and 0.0%,51.6%. In patients with N 0+N 1 and N 2+N 3 lesions, they were 63.9% ,63.0% and 19.4%,33.3%. The positive rates of SPECT were higher than those of CT (McNemar Test, P