Imaging of the Postoperative Patient

An expert is a person who has made all the mistakes that can be made in a very narrow field.

Niels Bohr

atomic physicist and Nobel Prize winner

1885–1962

Knowledge is good.

Emil Faber

fictitious founder of Faber College

“National Lampoon's Animal House”

(the movie)

1978

Of these two statements, the second is more accurate. The first assumes that so-called experts have learned from their mistakes. Maybe Niels did. Possibly more insidious are those mistakes that we don't know are mistakes. Or in the case of the radiologist, “misses.” It is well known that we tend not to notice things that are not there (i.e., missing items like a clavicle) or, more commonly, things that are not in our experience (i.e., things to which we have not been exposed). So it is good to expose yourself at every opportunity—to knowledge, that is. This issue of Seminars in Musculoskeletal Radiology is an exposition by some of the top experts in the field.

In honor of Dr. Bohr (who was anything but a bore), we begin at the subatomic level. Ken Buckwalter, a giant in the field, explains how to deal with the challenges inherent in imaging POPs (postoperative persons). Ken has more brains in his little toe than I have in my whole body. He is assisted by Chen Lin and Jason Ford. Next, international man of mystery Jon Jacobson teaches us cutting-edge shoulder surgery principles, along with Bruce Miller, Asheesh Bedi, and Yoav Morag. Elbow, wrist, and hand are covered by my good friend and craic (i.e., fun) supplier Eoin Kavanagh, as well as Peter MacMahon, Darra Murphy, and Adam Zoga.

Fiona Carty, her husband Jimmy Cashman, an orthopedic hip surgeon, along with Javad Parvizi, Adam Zoga, and myself authored the hip chapter with terrific (we hope) clinical insights. Adam Zoga (the “father of groin imaging”) exposes us to his postoperative pubic prowess along with William Meyers, a groin surgeon from the nether regions of Philadelphia. Tim “Colonel” Sanders has cooked up an amazing chapter on the postoperative knee. Diane Bergin, along with Emmett Cullen and surgeon Stephen Kearns, has produced an awesome iontach chapter on the postoperative ankle and foot. The denouement is provided by Laura Bancroft, who unravels the challenges of postoperative tumor imaging.

All articles are guaranteed to sharpen your skills. Herein you will find all manifestation of minor medical miracles and maybe some maleficent, medieval-type misadventures.

So, here we are, all consented, timeout completed. The surgeon is grinding her scalpel using a large rotating stone. Is that thing clean? A dim light shines through the barred windows. The anesthesiologist throws back his cape and injects you with a glowing substance. 100 . . . 99 . . . 98 . . . .