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    Radiomics in Cardiovascular Disease Imaging: from Pixels to the Heart of the Problem

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    Purpose of Review This review of the literature aims to present potential applications of radiomics in cardiovascular radiology and, in particular, in cardiac imaging. Recent Findings Radiomics and machine learning represent a technological innovation which may be used to extract and analyze quantitative features from medical images. They aid in detecting hidden pattern in medical data, possibly leading to new insights in pathophysiology of different medical conditions. In the recent literature, radiomics and machine learning have been investigated for numerous potential applications in cardiovascular imaging. They have been proposed to improve image acquisition and reconstruction, for anatomical structure automated segmentation or automated characterization of cardiologic diseases. Summary The number of applications for radiomics and machine learning is continuing to rise, even though methodological and implementation issues still limit their use in daily practice. In the long term, they may have a positive impact in patient management

    Spontaneous bronchobiliary fistula: Case report

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    : Bronchobiliary fistula (BBF) is a rare condition that results from the communication between the bile ducts and the bronchial tree. It is characterized by the presence of bile in the sputum as pathognomonic symptom, and it is often associated with suspicious pneumonia. The most common causes include infections (e.g. echinococcosis), hepatobiliary surgery, blunt torso traumas, tumors and percutaneous transhepatic procedures. Opinions about BBF treatment are still controversial as it can be treated by both conservative and surgical procedures, while pharmacological treatments are only rarely used. This case report presents a patient who had been diagnosed with chronic BBF of unknown cause, underwent several ineffective conservative procedures and was at last surgically treated

    The impact of radiomics for human papillomavirus status prediction in oropharyngeal cancer: systematic review and radiomics quality score assessment

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    Human papillomavirus (HPV) status assessment is crucial for decision making in oropharyngeal cancer patients. In last years, several articles have been published investigating the possible role of radiomics in distinguishing HPV-positive from HPV-negative neoplasms. Aim of this review was to perform a systematic quality assessment of radiomic studies published on this topic. Radiomics studies on HPV status prediction in oropharyngeal cancer patients were selected. The Radiomic Quality Score (RQS) was assessed by three readers to evaluate their methodological quality. In addition, possible correlations between RQS% and journal type, year of publication, impact factor, and journal rank were investigated. After the literature search, 19 articles were selected whose RQS median was 33% (range 0–42%). Overall, 16/19 studies included a well-documented imaging protocol, 13/19 demonstrated phenotypic differences, and all were compared with the current gold standard. No study included a public protocol, phantom study, or imaging at multiple time points. More than half (13/19) included feature selection and only 2 were comprehensive of non-radiomic features. Mean RQS was significantly higher in clinical journals. Radiomics has been proposed for oropharyngeal cancer HPV status assessment, with promising results. However, these are supported by low methodological quality investigations. Further studies with higher methodological quality, appropriate standardization, and greater attention to validation are necessary prior to clinical adoption

    Perspective - The case for zero bleeds and drug bioequivalence in the treatment of congenital hemophilia A in 2021

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    : Not all patients with severe hemophilia A (HA) respond optimally to a given dose of a given product. Within-individual variance in cross-over studies makes each patient unique in the response to each standard half-life (SHL) factor VIII (FVIII) product in pharmacokinetic (PK) terms. This hampers the prediction of efficacy when a SHL FVIII product is employed. PK data showing that half-lives of SHL rFVIII are unsatisfactory to achieve zero bleeding in individual HA patients provide the rationale for switching from SHL to extended half-life (EHL) products. However, not all subjects receiving prophylaxis with EHL products achieve zero bleeding, the most cogent objective of personalized prophylaxis. Known determinants of FVIII half-life (age, von Willebrand factor [VWF] levels, blood group) cumulatively account for one third of the total inter-individual variation in FVIII clearance in subjects with severe HA. Investigations into precision, and accuracy of laboratory measurement to be employed; newer pathways for the clearance of both free-FVIII and VWF-bound FVIII, and adequately powered studies on omics and phenotypic heterogeneity, are likely to provide additional information on the remaining two thirds of inter-individual variation in FVIII clearance in HA. Variability in the clinical response has also been documented in patients when FVIII activity is mimicked by fixed subcutaneous doses of the bispecific antibody emicizumab. National registries that collect PK data of available FVIII products and ad hoc information on the individual response to emicizumab should be encouraged, to establish newer standards of care and ease personalized clinical decisions to achieve zero bleeding

    MRI based radiomics in nasopharyngeal cancer: systematic review and perspectives using Radiomic Quality Score (RQS) assessment

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    Background MRI based radiomics has the potential to better define tumor biology compared to qualitative MRI assessment and support decisions in patients affected by nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Aim of this review was to systematically evaluate the methodological quality of studies using MRI- radiomics for nasopharyngeal cancer patient evaluation. Methods A systematic search was performed in PUBMED, WEB OF SCIENCE and SCOPUS using “MRI, magnetic resonance imaging, radiomic, texture analysis, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, nasopharyngeal cancer” in all possible combinations. The methodological quality of study included ( = 24) was evaluated according to the RQS (Radiomic quality score). Subgroup, for journal type (imaging/clinical) and biomarker (prognostic/predictive), and correlation, between RQS and journal Impact Factor, analyses were performed. Mann-Whitney U test and Spearman’s correlation were performed. P value < .05 were defined as statistically significant. Results Overall, no studies reported a phantom study or a test re-test for assessing stability in image, biological correlation or open science data. Only 8% of them included external validation. Almost half of articles (45%) performed multivariable analysis with non-radiomics features. Only 1 study was prospective (4%). The mean RQS was 7.5 ± 5.4. No significant differences were detected between articles published in clinical/imaging journal and between studies with a predictive or prognostic biomarker. No significant correlation was found between total RQS and Impact Factor of the year of publication (p always > 0.05). Conclusions Radiomic articles in nasopharyngeal cancer are mostly of low methodological quality. The greatest limitations are the lack of external validation, biological correlates, prospective design and open science

    Meningioma Radiomics: At the Nexus of Imaging, Pathology and Biomolecular Characterization

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    SIMPLE SUMMARY: Meningiomas are typically benign, common extra-axial tumors of the central nervous system. Routine clinical assessment by radiologists presents some limitations regarding long-term patient outcome prediction and risk stratification. Given the exponential growth of interest in radiomics and artificial intelligence in medical imaging, numerous studies have evaluated the potential of these tools in the setting of meningioma imaging. These were aimed at the development of reliable and reproducible models based on quantitative data. Although several limitations have yet to be overcome for their routine use in clinical practice, their innovative potential is evident. In this review, we present a wide-ranging overview of radiomics and artificial intelligence applications in meningioma imaging. ABSTRACT: Meningiomas are the most common extra-axial tumors of the central nervous system (CNS). Even though recurrence is uncommon after surgery and most meningiomas are benign, an aggressive behavior may still be exhibited in some cases. Although the diagnosis can be made by radiologists, typically with magnetic resonance imaging, qualitative analysis has some limitations in regard to outcome prediction and risk stratification. The acquisition of this information could help the referring clinician in the decision-making process and selection of the appropriate treatment. Following the increased attention and potential of radiomics and artificial intelligence in the healthcare domain, including oncological imaging, researchers have investigated their use over the years to overcome the current limitations of imaging. The aim of these new tools is the replacement of subjective and, therefore, potentially variable medical image analysis by more objective quantitative data, using computational algorithms. Although radiomics has not yet fully entered clinical practice, its potential for the detection, diagnostic, and prognostic characterization of tumors is evident. In this review, we present a wide-ranging overview of radiomics and artificial intelligence applications in meningioma imaging

    Methylation reactions, the redox balance and atherothrombosis: the search for a link with hydrogen sulfide

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    It is now clear that homocysteine (Hcy) is irreversibly degraded to hydrogen sulfide (H(2)S), an endogenous gasotransmitter that causes in vivo platelet activation via upregulation of phospholipase A2 and downstream boost of the arachidonate cascade. This mechanism involves a transsulfuration pathway. Based on these new data, clinical and experimental models on the relationships between Hcy and folate pathways in vascular disease and information on the Hcy controversy have been reanalyzed in the present review. Most interventional trials focused on Hcy lowering by folate administration did not exclude patients routinely taking the arachidonate inhibitor aspirin. This may have influenced the results of some of these trials. It is also clear that nutritional intake of folate affects several enzymatic reactions of the methionine-Hcy cycle and associated one-carbon metabolism and, thereby, both methylation reactions and redox balance. Hence, it is conceivable that the abnormally high Hcy levels seen in pathologic states reflect a poorly elucidated perturbation of such reactions and of such balance. While it is unknown whether there is an interplay between H2S, methylation reactions, and redox balance, measuring the sole reduction of blood Hcy that follows folate administration may well be an oversimplified approach to a complex biologic perturbation. The need to investigate this complex framework is thoroughly discussed in this article
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