When performing a radiological assessment for a trauma case with associated head injury, a fragment of dense tissue detected near the craniovertebral junction would rapidly be assessed as a fractured bone fragment. However, if further imaging and evaluation of the cervical spine with computerised tomography (CT) did not demonstrate an obvious fracture, then the possibility of ligament calcification would be considered. We present a case involving a previously healthy 44-yearold man who was admitted following a severe head injury from a road traffic accident. CT scans of the head showed multiple intracranial haemorrhages, while scans of the cervical spine revealed a small, well-defined, ovoid calcification in the right alar ligament. This was initially thought to be a fracture fragment. Although such calcification is uncommon, accident and emergency physicians and radiologists may find this useful as a differential diagnosis in patients presenting with neck pain or traumatic head injury.

Computed tomography (CT) is currently the diagnostic modality of choice in the evaluation of clinically stable patients with blunt abdominal trauma, including the assessment of blunt bowel and mesenteric injuries. CT signs of bowel and/or mesenteric injuries are bowel wall defect, free air, oral contrast material extravasation, extravasation of contrast material from mesenteric vessels, mesenteric vascular beading, abrupt termination of mesenteric vessels, focal bowel wall thickening, mesenteric fat stranding, mesenteric haematoma and intraperitoneal or retroperitoneal fluid. This pictorial essay illustrates CT features of bowel and/or mesenteric injuries in patients with blunt abdominal trauma. Pitfalls in interpretation of images are emphasized in proven cases.

The wide use of computed tomography (CT) scanning for patients with blunt abdominal trauma can reveal incidental findings that vary in their importance. We evaluated these findings, how it was reported by radiologists and its implication on the trauma care. In 30 out of 154 patients, 32 incidental findings were discovered (19.5%). Out of these 32 findings, only 3 cases (9.4%) were considered significant and required immediate attention from the managing team. In all these 3 cases, the findings were described in the body of the report and highlighted in the conclusion section at the end of the radiology report. However, similar reporting style was used in only 58.4% of cases with moderate clinical concern and 23.5% of cases with little clinical concern. In 41.2% of cases with little concern, the incidental findings were not mentioned in the radiology report. In conclusion, incidental findings in CT scan performed for blunt abdominal trauma were common but many were clinically insignificant. There is little consistency in radiology reporting of these findings especially those with moderate and little clinical concern.

Retrocaval ureter is a rare cause of hydronephrosis. Its rarity and non-specific presentation pose a challenge to surgeons and radiologists in making the correct diagnosis. Differentiation from other causes of urinary tract obstruction, especially the more common urolithiasis, is important for successful surgical management. Current practice has seen multislice computed tomography (MSCT) rapidly replaces intravenous urography (IVU) in the assessment of patients with hydronephrosis due to suspected urolithiasis, especially ureterolithiasis. However, MSCT, without adequate opacification of the entire ureter, may allow the physician to overlook a retrocaval ureter as the cause of hydronephrosis. High-resolution IVU images can demonstrate the typical appearance that leads to the accurate diagnosis of a retrocaval ureter. We reported a case that illustrates this scenario and highlights the importance of IVU in the assessment of a complex congenital disorder involving the urinary tract.

Introduction: Alar ligament is a paired craniocervical junction ligaments which stabilizes the atlantooccipital and atlantoaxial joints. The main purpose of the study was to compare the normal anatomy of alar ligament on MRI between male and female. The prevalence of alar ligament visualized on MRI and its characteristics were also studied apart from determining the association between the heights of respondents with alar ligament signal intensity and dimensions. Methods: Fifty healthy volunteers were studied using 3.0T MR scanner (Siemens Magnetom Spectra) by 2-mm proton density, T2 and fat-suppression sequences. Alar ligament visualization, dimensions and variability of the ligament courses, shapes and signal intensity characteristics were determined. Results: The orientation of the ligament was laterally ascending in most of the subjects (60%), predominantly oval in shaped (54%) and 67% showed inhomogenous signal. Females are 70% less likely to exhibit alar ligament signal inhomogeneity than males. There were positive correlation between height and the craniocaudal diameter of the alar ligament as well as the anteroposterior diameter, which were statistically significant (r = 0.25, n = 100, p = 0.01 and r = 0.201, n = 100, p = 0.045 respectively). Conclusion: Tremendous variability of alar ligament shows that clinical and multimodality correlation needs to be exercised, especially in evaluating alar ligament MR signal in male. Taller individuals otherwise tend to have longer and thicker ligaments. Future studies with larger samples of alar ligaments including trauma cases are also recommended to supplant a new classification system of alar ligament injury.

Alar ligament is one of the most important craniocervical junction (CCJ) ligaments; acting as stabilizer of CCJ and limiting axial rotation. It may be involved in various pathological processes including trauma. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is increasingly being used in cervical spine trauma as a supplement to conventional radiography and computed tomography (CT) to detect a wide range of severe cervical spine injuries. MR depiction of alar ligament requires special sequences despite no known established MR sequence is available. However, the role of MRI in minor or moderate trauma, including whiplash injuries, has long been debated, particularly when neurological dysfunction is absent, because no anatomical disruption other than degenerative disc disease have been reported. In this review, we provide detailed account on the current knowledge of MR visualization of normal alar ligament; outlining the variations in its signal intensity, dimension, shape and orientation.