1,721,119 research outputs found
Imaging biobanks in oncology: European perspective.
No full textImaging biobanks as defined by the European Society of Radiology are "organised databases of medical images, and associated imaging biomarkers (radiology and beyond), shared among multiple researchers, linked to other biorepositories". Oncologic imaging biobanks are developed mainly for research purposes. These biobanks may be developed in academic centers, or with the support of industry. The awareness of their importance is gradually increasing in the oncologic community. It is difficult to determine which oncologic domain of research will benefit from the implementation of imaging biobanks. One of the most foreseeable applications could be the correlation between imaging phenotype and genotype. For this reason imaging biobanks should be embedded in wider biobanks networks, as for example the European-based Biobanking and BioMolecular resources Research Infrastructure
Percutaneous vertebroplasty and bone cement leakage: clinical experience with a new high-viscosity bone cement and delivery system for vertebral augmentation in benign and malignant compression fractures
No full textThe aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of and venous leakage reduction in percutaneous vertebroplasty (PV) using a new high-viscosity bone cement (PMMA). PV has been used effectively for pain relief in osteoporotic and malignant vertebral fractures. Cement extrusion is a common problem and can lead to complications. Sixty patients (52 female; mean age, 72.2 +/- 7.2) suffering from osteoporosis (46), malignancy (12), and angiomas (2), divided into two groups (A and B), underwent PV on 190 vertebrae (86 dorsal, 104 lumbar). In Group A, PV with high-viscosity PMMA (Confidence, Disc-O-Tech, Israel) was used. This PMMA was injected by a proprietary delivery system, a hydraulic saline-filled screw injector. In Group B, a standard low-viscosity PMMA was used. Postprocedural CT was carried out to detect PMMA leakages and complications. Fisher's exact test and Wilcoxon rank test were used to assess significant differences (p < 0.05) in leakages and to evaluate the clinical outcome. PV was feasible, achieving good clinical outcome (p < 0.0001) without major complications. In Group A, postprocedural CT showed an asymptomatic leak in the venous structures of 8 of 98 (8.2%) treated vertebrae; a discoidal leak occurred in 6 of 98 (6.1%). In Group B, a venous leak was seen in 38 of 92 (41.3%) and a discoidal leak in 12 of 92 (13.0%). Reduction of venous leak obtained by high-viscosity PMMA was highly significant (p < 0.0001), whereas this result was not significant (p = 0.14) related to the disc. The high-viscosity PMMA system is safe and effective for clinical use, allowing a significant reduction of extravasation rate and, thus, leakage-related complications
False negative of conventional Colonoscopy (CC) visualized by Virtual Colonoscopy (VC): our experience
No full textImaging of adverse events related to checkpoint inhibitor therapy
Full text linkImmunotherapy with checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) is becoming standard of practice for an increasing number of cancer types. ICIs enhance T-cell action against the cancer cells. By unbalancing the immune system ICIs may cause dysimmune toxicities, a series of disorders broadly defined immune-related adverse events (irAEs). IrAEs may affect any organ or apparatus and most frequently involve skin, colon, endocrine organs, liver, and lungs. Early identification and appropriate treatment of irAEs can improve patient outcome. The paper aims at reviewing mechanisms of the occurrence of irAEs, the importance of a proper diagnosis and the main pillars of therapy. To provide effective guidance to the comprehension of major irAEs imaging findings will be reviewed
Editorial on the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) and European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR) guideline on clinical indications for CT colonography in the colorectal cancer diagnosis
Full text linkEuropean Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE)-European Society of Gastrointestinal and Abdominal Radiology (ESGAR) guideline was generated jointly by a team of researchers, including gastrointestinal radiologists and endoscopists, and represents the first full collaborative effort between the two specialties after years of turf battles involving CT colonography (CTC) and colonoscopy (CS). This guideline has a main educational purpose and it represents the attempt to find a consensus about the use of CTC in clinical practice based on the best current available evidence. Thus, it should not be considered as rules for establishing a legal standard of care. Main recommendations include the use of CTC as the radiological examination of choice for the diagnosis of colorectal neoplasia, the use of CTC in the case of incomplete CS, and the possible use of CTC as an acceptable and equally sensitive alternative for patients with symptoms suggestive of colorectal cancer (CRC), when CS is contraindicated or not possible. ESGE-ESGAR guideline does not recommend CTC for population screening, but considers that CTC may be proposed as a CRC screening test on an individual basis (opportunistic screening) provided the screenee is adequately informed about test characteristics, benefits and risks. With regard to patient management, referral for endoscopic polypectomy in patients with at least one polyp ≥ 6 mm in diameter detected at CTC is recommended, considering surveillance only in case polyp removal is not possible. Knowledge about CTC is in continuous evolution and this means that a revision might be necessary in the future as new data appear
Role of CT colonography in inflammatory bowel disease.
No full textCT colonography (CTC), or virtual colonoscopy, is a non-invasive imaging method that uses CT data sets combined with specialized imaging software to examine the colon. CTC is not used routinely in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, investigating contemporarily the colon, other abdominal organs and the peritoneum with CTC is at times useful in patients with IBD, especially when other diagnostic tools fail. Furthermore, since symptoms of colorectal cancer sometimes superimpose to those of inflammatory disease, it may happen to image patients with IBD incidentally. If clinical signs are suggestive for inflammatory disease, exam technique should be modified accordingly and distinguishing radiological findings searched for
Specificity improvement of a CAD system for multiparametric MR prostate cancer using texture features and artificial neural networks
Full text linkProstate cancer (PCa) is the most common cancer afflicting men in USA. Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance imaging is recently emerging as a powerful tool for PCa diagnosis, but its analysis and interpretation is time-consuming and affected by the radiologist experience. Computer aided detection (CAD) systems have been developed to overcome this limitation and to support radiologists in the PCa diagnosis. Although several studies proposed CAD systems with very high performances in terms of sensitivity, the analysis of false positive (FP) areas is usually not clearly presented. The aim of this study is to improve the performance of a CAD system in term of reduction of FPs findings, without affecting the sensitivity. To this scope, we developed a classifier composed by 3 Artificial Neural Networks (ANN) able to distinguish between malignant and healthy areas through a voting strategy. In this method, we exploit the role of the Gray Level Co-occurrence Matrix, the Gray Level Difference Method and Gray Level Run Length Method Matrix in differentiating tumoural from healthy tissues. We first extract 64 textural features from T2-weighted (T2w) images and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps, then we discretized them to reduce the data variability. A features selection method, based on the correlation matrix, is finally applied to remove redundant variables, that are those highly correlated with others. The remaining set of features is fed into the three ANNs and a post-processing step is applied to remove very small areas. Results applied on a dataset of 58 patients showed a significant decrease of FPs (20 vs 12; p-value < 0.0001) and an increase of the precision of PCa segmentation (0.62 vs 0.71; p-value < 0.0001). Having less FPs is helpful to increase the performance of CAD systems in terms of specificity and to decrease the reporting time of radiologists. Moreover, having more precise PCa segmentation areas could be useful if a step of PCa characterization will be added to the CAD system
Results of an Italian survey on teleradiology.
No full textOBJECTIVES:
The aim of this study is to present the results of the Italian survey on teleradiology (TR).
METHODS:
Two radiologists created an online electronic survey using the Survey Monkey web-based tool. The questionnaire was then improved by suggestions from a multidisciplinary group of experts. In its final form, the survey consisted of 19 multiple-choice questions. Space was left below each question for participants to add their personal comments. Members of Italian Society of Medical Radiology (SIRM) were given 2 weeks to perform the survey.
RESULTS:
A total of 1599 radiologists, corresponding to 17 % of all SIRM radiologists, participated into the online survey. As a result, 62 % of participants have a positive opinion on teleradiology, while 80 % including 18 % with a negative opinion believe that teleradiology will have a future. 55 % of responders (n = 874) use teleradiology in their clinical practice. The majority of users adopt intra-mural teleradiology for coverage of emergencies (47 %), of night and weekend shifts (37 %) or to even out distribution workload (33 %). Most responders still show concern on the use of teleradiology. In particular, they think that teleradiology is too impersonal (40 %), and that it is responsible for insufficient communication with the referring clinician (39 %).
CONCLUSIONS:
The majority of Italian radiologists are favorable to teleradiology. However, they have concerns that teleradiology may further reduce communication with the referring clinician ad patient
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