Clinical Radiology (2006) 61, 390392

SUBSPECIALTY WEB REVIEW

Gastrointestinal and hepatobiliary radiology

R.N.J. Graham, R.W. Perriss, A.F. Scarsbrook*
Department of Radiology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headington, Oxford, UK
Received 4 January 2006; accepted 6 January 2006

This is the fth in the series of short reviews of internet-based radiological learning resources and will focus on gastrointestinal (GI) and hepatobiliary radiology. Below are details of a few of the higher quality resources currently available. Most of the sites cater for medical students and trainee or non-specialist radiologists, but may be also be of interest to specialists, especially for use in teaching. Hyperlinks are available in the electronic version of this article and were all active at the time of going to press (May 2006). Q 2006 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

University of Toronto GI and hepatobiliary radiology resources

The University of Toronto have developed two websites dedicated to GI and hepatobiliary radiology. The rst, Techniques for gastrointestinal examinations http://icarus.med.utoronto.ca/imaging/residents/gi%5Fimaging/index.htm, is a presentation giving a thorough overview of contrast agents used in GI studies, techniques for preparing contrast agents, and a description of the standard techniques for most GI contrast studies. In addition there are detailed sections on specialized studies required after particular surgical operations. The site also has a list of sample patient information leaets for the common GI contrast investigations. The second, concentrates on focal liver lesions, http://icarus.med.utoronto.ca/imaging/ residents/focalliverlesions/index.htm. This interactive tutorial demonstrates the use of ultrasound, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for characterization of focal liver lesions. The website is well referenced with hyperlinks to PubMed abstracts. A teaching le with 17 cases (which can be viewed as unknowns) is included to test comprehension.
* Guarantor and correspondent: A. Scarsbrook, Department of Radiology, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Headington, Oxford OX3 9DU, UK. Tel.: C44 1865220815; fax: C44 1865220801. E-mail address: andyscarsbrook1@aol.com (A.F. Scarsbrook).

University of Virginia radiology resources

The University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Virginia, have developed a number of excellent tutorials on aspects of GI and hepatobiliary radiology. The rst covers emergency ultrasound: http://www.med-ed.virginia.edu/courses/rad/ edus/index.html. The presentation covers the basics of ultrasound physics and probe selection. The tutorial is sub-divided into anatomical sections, e.g. RUQ pain, RLQ pain, and testicular pain. Within each section there are details of how to perform examinations to investigate a particular problem, e.g. within the RUQ section there are presentations on gallstones, acute cholecystitis and biliary dilatation. The site may be particularly useful to trainees learning ultrasound for the rst time. The second useful resource provides an introduction to GI radiology: http://www.med-ed.virginia. edu/courses/rad/gi/index.html. The website is divided by intra-abdominal organ and in each section there is information concerning normal radiological anatomy, radiological techniques used to investigate different pathologies and an illustration of the spectrum of disease. Finally, another presentation provides a basic introduction to emergency abdominal CT: http://www.med-ed. virginia.edu/courses/rad/abdtrauma/.

0009-9260/$ - see front matter Q 2006 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Learning radiologyGI radiology resources

http://www.learningradiology.com/toc/tocorgansystems/tocgi.htm Dr William Herring, a radiologist from the Albert Einstein Medical Centre in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has developed a venerable website for medical students which contains an informative GI radiology section. There are short note sections on the major GI diagnoses and their radiological features. In addition, there are several lectures on GI radiology, including plain abdominal lm reporting, small bowel imaging, and GI differential diagnoses. Trainees preparing for nal FRCR exams may benet from a brief visit to this website.

CTisus.com
http://www.ctisus.com We have previously commended this excellent, comprehensive website developed by Dr Elliot Fishman and colleagues from the Department of Radiology at John Hopkins Institutions in Baltimore, Maryland. Their site deserves another mention because it contains a multitude of GI and hepatobiliary radiological resources primarily from the eld of multi-section CT but there is also a subsection on CT-positron emission tomography (PET). There are numerous teaching les categorized by organ and several PowerPoint lectures on CT evaluation of the intra-abdominal organs. CT imaging protocols are also listed. This site is highly recommended to all grades of radiologist.

University of Baylor teaching les Radionuclide imaging of the gastrointestinal system

http://www.vh.org/adult/provider/radiology/ ElectricGiNucs/GINucs.html This slightly dated, but otherwise useful resource, from the impressive Virtual Hospital website developed by the University of Iowa, discusses radionuclide imaging of the gastrointestinal system. There are only limited images provided. http://ercweb.bcm.tmc.edu/rad_elect/Gastrointestinal/gastrointestinal.htm The radiologists at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas, have developed a radiological digital teaching le that contains approximately 50 gastrointestinal radiology cases including contrast studies and cross-sectional imaging. Cases can be viewed as unknowns where a short history and images are available for review to test knowledge. A reasonable spectrum of pathologies are represented.

eMedicine: gastrointestinal radiology

http://www.emedicine.com/radio/GASTROINTESTINAL.htm Mentioned before in this series, the eMedicine database contains an exhaustive number of articles on GI pathology ranging from achalasia to Zollinger Ellison syndrome. Each article has a detailed discussion of the topic and good quality radiological images. The site is particularly useful for trainees preparing for FRCR 2A exams.

RSNA 2005 annual conference GI presentations

http://rsna2005.rsna.org/rsna2005/V2005/conference/track.cvn?idZ6&p_navidZ272&grouperZ GASTROINTESTINAL&GROUPDISPLAYZ 999#linkGASTROINTESTINAL There are over 100 digital presentations on a wide variety of GI and hepatobiliary radiological topics which were originally presented at the Radiological Society of North America Annual Meeting in 2005. All of the presentations are freely available for viewing via a link on the RSNA website and are generally of high quality and contemporaneous.

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uhrad.comBody teaching les

http://www.uhrad.com/ctarc.htm This good quality online teaching le provided by the Department of Radiology at the Cleveland University Hospitals in Ohio contains over 200 GI radiological cases. Various CT, ultrasound, MRI, angiographic and plain radiographic imaging features of a cross-spectrum of GI pathology are represented. Each case contains clinical history, image ndings, differential and actual diagnosis and a discussion section with appropriate references. The only criticism of the site is the inability to view cases as unknowns, instead cases are listed by diagnosis. This does not signicantly detract from the overall education value to trainee radiologists and medical students.

Normal upper abdominal radiological anatomy

http://www.med.wayne.edu/diagRadiology/Anatomy_Modules/Abdomen.html The Department of Radiology at the Wayne State University in Detroit, Michigan, have developed a website that contains a small teaching le database along with a useful section on radiological anatomy. Cross-sectional anatomy of the upper abdomen is well represented and this consists of a detailed description and annotated images of the normal CT appearances of the abdomen. This is a useful starting point for junior radiology trainees and medical students.