Research Publications

October 2024

Cao T, Hu Z, Mao X, Chen Z, Kwan AC, Xie Y, Berman DS, Li D, Christodoulou AG.

PURPOSE: To develop a novel low-rank tensor reconstruction approach leveraging the complete acquired data set to improve precision and repeatability of multiparametric mapping within the cardiovascular MR Multitasking framework. METHODS: A novel approach that alternated between estimation of temporal components and spatial components using the entire data set acquired (i.e., including navigator data and imaging data) was developed to improve reconstruction. The precision and repeatability of the proposed approach were evaluated on numerical simulations, 10 healthy subjects, and 10 cardiomyopathy patients at multiple scan times for 2D myocardial T₁/T₂ mapping with MR Multitasking and were compared with those of the previous navigator-derived fixed-basis approach.

October 2024

Capiro N, Sayre J, Fischer C, Sadigh G.

OBJECTIVE: Identify the proportion of patients presenting for diagnostic breast imaging with clinically insignificant breast pain who are eligible for screening mammography and analyze the impact of routing these patients to screening on resource utilization, healthcare spending and cancer detection. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 100 consecutive women ≥40 years old without a history of breast cancer who underwent diagnostic mammogram and breast ultrasound for clinically in-significant breast pain from 1/2022 to 4/2022. Patients were screen-eligible if their last bilateral mammogram was over 12 months prior to presentation. Patients with only screening views during diagnostic mammography were assumed to have a negative/benign screening mammogram. Costs were calculated using the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Physician Fee Schedule.

October 2024

Cho NS, Le VL, Sanvito F, Oshima S, Harper J, Chun S, Raymond C, Lai A, Nghiemphu PL, Yao J, Everson R, Salamon N, Cloughesy TF, Ellingson BM.

Typical longitudinal radiographic assessment of brain tumors relies on side-by-side qualitative visualization of serial magnetic resonance images (MRIs) aided by quantitative measurements of tumor size. However, when assessing slowly growing tumors and/or complex tumors, side-by-side visualization and quantification may be difficult or unreliable. Whole-brain, patient-specific "digital flipbooks" of longitudinal scans are a potential method to augment radiographic side-by-side reads in clinical settings by enhancing the visual perception of changes in tumor size, mass effect, and infiltration across multiple slices over time. In this approach, co-registered, con-secutive MRI scans are displayed in a slide deck, where one slide displays multiple brain slices of a single timepoint in an array (eg, 3 x 5 "mosaic" view of slices). The flipbooks are viewed similarly to an animated flipbook of cartoons/photos so that subtle radiographic changes are visualized via perceived motion when scrolling through the slides. Importantly, flipbooks can be created easily with free, open-source software. This article describes the step-by-step methodology for creating flipbooks and discusses clinical scenarios for which flipbooks are particularly useful. Example flipbooks are provided in Supplementary Material.

October 2024

Cho NS, Wang C, Van Dyk K, Sanvito F, Oshima S, Yao J, Lai A, Salamon N, Cloughesy TF, Nghiemphu PL, Ellingson BM.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) can be used to estimate functional connectivity (FC) between different brain regions, which may be of value for identifying cognitive impairment in patients with brain tumors. Unfortunately, neither rs-fMRI nor neurocognitive assessments are routinely assessed clinically, mostly due to limitations in examination time and cost. Since DSC perfusion MRI is often used clinically to assess tumor vascularity and similarly uses a gradient-echo-EPI sequence for T2*-sensitivity, we theorized a "pseudo-rs-fMRI" signal could be derived from DSC perfusion to simultaneously quantify FC and perfusion metrics, and these metrics can be used to estimate cognitive impairment in patients with brain tumors. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-four consecutive patients with gliomas were enrolled in a prospective study that included DSC perfusion MRI, resting-sate functional MRI (rs-fMRI), and neurocognitive assessment. Voxelwise modeling of contrast bolus dynamics during DSC acquisition was performed and then subtracted from the original signal to generate a residual "pseudo-rs-fMRI" signal. Following the preprocessing of pseudo-rs-fMRI, full rs-fMRI, and a truncated version of the full rs-fMRI (first 100 timepoints) data, the default mode, motor, and language network maps were generated with atlas-based ROIs, Dice scores were calculated for the resting-state network maps from pseudo-rs-fMRI and truncated rs-fMRI using the full rs-fMRI maps as reference. Seed-to-voxel and ROI-to-ROI analyses were performed to assess FC differences between cognitively impaired and non-impaired patients.

October 2024

Goronzy IN, Yearwood A, Drews E, Brundage T, Ranade M, Moriarty JM.

AIMS: Iliocaval venous tumor thrombus is a morbid condition associated with chronic venous stasis, lower extremity edema/pain, extensive thrombus burden and high mortality secondary to critical flow obstruction, intracardiac thrombus extension and tumor embolization. Typically resistant to medical therapy, management is primarily surgical, presenting challenges for medically complex patients with widespread or end-stage disease. Mechanical or aspiration thrombectomy represents an appealing treatment strategy but data are lacking. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We performed a single-center, 10-year, retrospective review of patients with pathology-confirmed, iliocaval tumor thrombus who underwent thrombectomy. 14 patients met inclusion criteria and were managed by 18 procedures over this period.

October 2024

Johnson SF, Tabatabaei SMH, Kim GHJ, Villegas BE, Brown M, Genshaft S, Suh RD, Barjaktarevic I, Wallace WD, Abtin F.

OBJECTIVES: To differentiate invasive lepidic pre-dominant adenocarcinoma (iLPA) from adenocarcinoma in situ (AIS)/minimally invasive adenocarcinoma (MIA) of lung utilizing visual semantic and computer-aided detection (CAD)-based texture features on subjects initially diagnosed as AIS or MIA with CT-guided biopsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 2011 to 2017, all patients with CT-guided biopsy results of AIS or MIA who subsequently underwent resection were identified. CT scan before the biopsy was used to assess visual semantic and CAD texture features, totaling 23 semantic and 95 CAD-based quantitative texture variables. The least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method or forward selection was used to select the most predictive feature and combination of semantic and texture features for detection of invasive lung adenocarcinoma.

October 2024

Le L, Narula N, Zhou F, Smereka P, Ordner J, Theise N, Moore WH, Girvin F, Azour L, Moreira AL, Naidich DP, Ko JP.

TOPIC IMPORTANCE: Chest CT imaging holds a major role in the diagnosis of lung diseases, many of which affect the peribronchovascular region. Identification and categorization of peribronchovascular abnormalities on CT imaging can assist in formulating a differential diagnosis and directing further diagnostic evaluation. REVIEW FINDINGS: The peribronchovascular region of the lung encompasses the pulmonary arteries, airways, and lung interstitium. Understanding disease processes associated with structures of the peribronchovascular region and their appearances on CT imaging aids in prompt diagnosis. This article reviews current knowledge in anatomic and pathologic features of the lung inter-stitium composed of intercommunicating prelymphatic spaces, lymphatics, collagen bundles, lymph nodes, and bronchial arteries; diffuse lung diseases that present in a peribronchovascular distribution; and an approach to classifying diseases according to patterns of imaging presentations. Lung peribronchovascular diseases can appear on CT imaging as diffuse thickening, fibrosis, masses or masslike consolidation, ground-glass or air space consolidation, and cysts, acknowledging that some diseases may have multiple presentations. SUMMARY: A category approach to peribronchovascular diseases on CT imaging can be integrated with clinical features as part of a multidisciplinary approach for disease diagnosis.

October 2024

Milch HS, Haramati LB.

Imaging-based screening is an important public health focus and a fundamental part of Diagnostic Radiology. Hence, radiologists should be familiar with the concepts that drive imaging-based screening practice including goals, risks, biases and clinical trials. This review article discusses an array of imaging-based screening exams including the key epidemiology and evidence that drive screening guidelines for abdominal aortic aneurysm, breast cancer, carotid artery disease, colorectal cancer, coronary artery disease, lung cancer, osteoporosis, and thyroid cancer. We will provide an overview on societal interests in screening, screening-related inequities, and opportunities to address them. Emerging evidence for opportunistic screening and the role of AI in imaging-based screening will be explored. In-depth knowledge and formalized training in imaging-based screening strengthens radiologists as clinician scientists and has the potential to broaden our public health leadership opportunities. SUMMARY SENTENCE: An overview of key screening concepts, the evidence that drives today's imaging-based screening practices, and the need for radiologist leadership in screening policies and evidence development.

October 2024

Nikitas J, Gafita A, Benz MR, Djaïleb L, Farolfi A, Hotta M, Sonni I, Alano R, Rettig M, Shen J, Armstrong W, Grogan T, Liu S, Czernin J, Calais J.

For prostate cancer patients who experience biochemical progression during androgen deprivation therapy (ADT), prostate-specific membrane antigen positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PSMA PET/CT) has not been prospectively compared to planar bone scan plus CT. This was a single-arm, head-to-head, prospective phase II trial (NCT04928820) designed to enroll 102 men with prostate cancer who experienced biochemical progression (rising prostate-specific antigen [PSA] ≥ 1 ng/mL) during ADT. All patients received 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 99mTc-MDP planar bone scans. Each scan was interpreted by three central independent readers. The primary endpoint was the per-patient bone metastasis detection rate of PSMA PET/CT versus planar bone scan and CT. Secondary endpoints compared the number of bone metastases detected per patient and the inter-reader agreement of each imaging modality. Twenty-two men were enrolled between July 2021 and June 2022. Due to slow accrual following approval of PSMA PET radiotracers in the U.S. and a lack of a statistical signal between the two imaging modalities on interim analysis, this trial was closed early on October 2022. Median PSA was 8.5 ng/mL (interquartile range: 1.6-77.6). There was 100% agreement between the two scans. Six patients (27%) had negative findings and 16 patients (73%) had positive findings on both scans. PSMA PET/CT and bone scan plus CT detected an equal number of bone lesions for 14 patients (64%), PSMA PET/CT detected more bone lesions for six patients (27%), and bone scan plus CT detected more bone lesions for two patients (9.1%) (p = 0.092). The inter-reader agreement rates of PSMA PET/CT and bone scan plus CT were 96% and 82%, respectively (p = 0.25). In men with biochemical progression during ADT, 68Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT and 99mTc-MDP planar bone scan plus CT had identical bone metastasis detection rates. Bone scan plus CT can continue to serve as a cost-effective and readily accessible restaging modality in patients with biochemical progression.

October 2024

van den Bent MJ, French PJ, Brat D, Tonn JC, Touat M, Ellingson BM, Young RJ, Pallud J, von Deimling A, Sahm F, Figarella Branger D, Huang RY, Weller M, Mellinghoff IK, Cloughsey TF, Huse JT, Aldape K, Reifenberger G, Youssef G, Karschnia P, Noushmehr H, Peters KB, Ducray F, Preusser M, Wen PY.

The 2016 and 2021 World Health Organization 2021 Classification of central nervous system tumors have resulted in a major improvement in the classification of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant gliomas. With more effective treatments many patients experience prolonged survival. However, treatment guidelines are often still based on information from historical series comprising both patients with IDH wild-type and IDH-mutant tumors. They provide recommendations for radiotherapy and chemotherapy for so-called high-risk patients, usually based on residual tumor after surgery and age over 40. More up-to-date studies give a better insight into clinical, radiological, and molecular factors associated with the outcome of patients with IDH-mutant glioma. These insights should be used today for risk stratification and for treatment decisions. In many patients with IDH-mutant grades 2 and 3 glioma, if carefully monitored postponing radiotherapy and chemotherapy is safe, and will not jeopardize the overall outcome of patients. With the INDIGO trial showing patient benefit from the IDH inhibitor vorasidenib, there is a sizable population in which it seems reasonable to try this class of agents before recommending radio-chemotherapy with its delayed adverse event profile affecting quality of survival. Ongoing trials should help to further identify the patients that are benefiting from this treatment.

October 2024

Washer SL, Moore WH, O'Donnell T, Ko JP, Bhattacharji P, Azour L.

PURPOSE: To determine the performance of volumetric dual energy low kV and iodine radiomic features for the differentiation of intrathoracic lymph node histo-pathology, and influence of contrast protocol. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Intrathoracic lymph nodes with histo-pathologic correlation (neoplastic, granulomatous sarcoid, benign) within 90 days of DECT chest imaging were volumetrically segmented. 1691 volumetric radiomic features were extracted from iodine maps and low-kV images, totaling 3382 features. Univariate analysis was performed using 2-sample t-test and filtered for false discoveries. Multivariable analysis was used to compute AUCs for lymph node classification tasks.

October 2024

Weiss SA, Sperling MR, Engel J, Liu A, Fried I, Wu C, Doyle W, Mikell C, Mofakham S, Salamon N, Sim MS, Bragin A, Staba R.

In medication-resistant epilepsy, the goal of epilepsy surgery is to make a patient seizure free with a resection/ablation that is as small as possible to minimize morbidity. The standard of care in planning the margins of epilepsy surgery involves electroclinical delineation of the seizure-onset zone and incorporation of neuroimaging findings from MRI, PET, single-photon emission CT and magnetoencephalography modalities. Resecting cortical tissue generating high-frequency oscillations has been investigated as a more efficacious alternative to targeting the seizure-onset zone. In this study, we used a support vector machine (SVM), with four distinct fast ripple (FR: 350-600 Hz on oscillations, 200-600 Hz on spikes) metrics as factors. These metrics included the FR resection ratio, a spatial FR network measure and two temporal FR network measures. The SVM was trained by the value of these four factors with respect to the actual resection boundaries and actual seizure-free labels of 18 patients with medically refractory focal epilepsy. Leave-one-out cross-validation of the trained SVM in this training set had an accuracy of 0.78. We next used a simulated iterative virtual resection targeting the FR sites that were of highest rate and showed most temporal autonomy. The trained SVM utilized the four virtual FR metrics to predict virtual seizure freedom. In all but one of the nine patients who were seizure free after surgery, we found that the virtual resections sufficient for virtual seizure freedom were larger in volume (P < 0.05). In nine patients who were not seizure free, a larger virtual resection made five virtually seizure free. We also examined 10 medically refractory focal epilepsy patients implanted with the responsive neurostimulator system and virtually targeted the responsive neurostimulator system stimulation contacts proximal to sites generating FR at highest rates to determine if the simulated value of the stimulated seizure-onset zone and stimulated FR metrics would trend towards those patients with a better seizure outcome. Our results suggest the following: (i) FR measures can accurately predict whether a resection, defined by the standard of care, will result in seizure freedom; (ii) utilizing FR alone for planning an efficacious surgery can be associated with larger resections; (iii) when FR metrics predict the standard-of-care resection will fail, amending the boundaries of the planned resection with certain FR-generating sites may improve outcome and (iv) more work is required to determine whether targeting responsive neurostimulator system stimulation contact proximal to FR generating sites will improve seizure outcome.

October 2024

Yan R, Murakami W, Mortazavi S, Yu T, Chu FI, Lee-Felker S, Sung K.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the quantitative background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) in women with different lifetime risks and BRCA mutation status of breast cancer using screening MRI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included screening MRI of 535 women divided into three groups based on lifetime risk: nonhigh-risk women, high-risk women without BRCA mutation, and BRCA1/2 mutation carriers. Six quantitative BPE measurements, including percent enhancement (PE) and signal enhancement ratio (SER), were calculated on DCE-MRI after segmentation of the whole breast and fibroglandular tissue (FGT). The associations between lifetime risk factors and BPE were analyzed via linear regression analysis. We adjusted for risk factors influencing BPE using propensity score matching (PSM) and compared the BPE between different groups. A two-sided Mann-Whitney U-test was used to compare the BPE with a threshold of 0.1 for multiple testing issue-adjusted p values.

October 2024

Yedavalli V, Salim HA, Mei J, Lakhani DA, Balar A, Musmar B, Adeeb N, Hoseinyazdi M, Luna L, Deng F, Hyson NZ, Dmytriw AA, Guenego A, Faizy TD, Heit JJ, Albers GW, Lu H, Urrutia VC, Nael K, Marsh EB, Hillis AE, Llinas R.

BACKGROUND: Recent large core trials have highlighted the effectiveness of mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in acute ischemic stroke with large vessel occlusion. Variable perfusion-imaging thresholds and poor Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score reliability underline the need for more standardized, quantitative ischemia measures for MT patient selection. We aimed to identify the computed tomography perfusion parameter most strongly associated with poor outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke-large vessel occlusion with significant ischemic cores. METHODS: In this study from 2 comprehensive stroke centers from 2 comprehensive stroke centers within the Johns Hopkins Medical Enterprise (Johns Hopkins Hospita-East Baltimore and Bayview Medical Campus) from July 29, 2019 to January 29, 2023 in a continuously maintained database, we included patients with acute ischemic stroke-large vessel occlusion with ischemic core volumes defined as relative cerebral blood flow <30% and ≥50 mL on computed tomography perfusion or Alberta Stroke Program Early Computed Tomography Score <6. We used receiver operating characteristics to find the optimal cutoff for parameters like cerebral blood volume (CBV) <34%, 38%, 42%, and relative cerebral blood flow >20%, 30%, 34%, 38%, and time-to-maximum >4, 6, 8, and 10 seconds. The primary outcome was unfavorable outcomes (90-day modified Rankin Scale score 4-6). Multivariable models were adjusted for age, sex, diabetes, baseline National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, intravenous thrombolysis, and MT.

September 2024

Bobholz SA, Lowman AK, Connelly JM, Duenweg SR, Winiarz A, Nath B, Kyereme F, Brehler M, Bukowy J, Coss D, Lupo JM, Phillips JJ, Ellingson BM, Krucoff MO, Mueller WM, Banerjee A, LaViolette PS.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: This study identified a clinically significant subset of patients with glioma with tumor outside of contrast enhancement present at autopsy and subsequently developed a method for detecting nonenhancing tumor using radio-pathomic mapping. We tested the hypothesis that autopsy-based radio-pathomic tumor probability maps would be able to noninvasively identify areas of infiltrative tumor beyond traditional imaging signatures. METHODS: A total of 159 tissue samples from 65 subjects were aligned to MRI acquired nearest to death for this retrospective study. Demographic and survival characteristics for patients with and without tumor beyond the contrast-enhancing margin were computed. An ensemble algorithm was used to predict pixelwise tumor presence from pathological annotations using segmented cellularity (Cell), extracellular fluid, and cytoplasm density as input (6 train/3 test subjects). A second level of ensemble algorithms was used to predict voxelwise Cell, extracellular fluid, and cytoplasm on the full data set (43 train/22 test subjects) using 5-by-5 voxel tiles from T1, T1 + C, fluid-attenuated inversion recovery, and apparent diffusion coefficient as input. The models were then combined to generate noninvasive whole brain maps of tumor probability.

September 2024

Chen H, Kim AW, Hsin M, Shrager JB, Prosper AE, Wahidi MM, Wigle DA, Wu CC, Huang J, Yasufuku K, Henschke CI, Suzuki K, Tailor TD, Jones DR, Yanagawa J.

OBJECTIVE: Lung cancers that present as radiographic subsolid nodules represent a subtype with distinct biological behavior and outcomes. The objective of this document is to review the existing literature and report consensus among a group of multidisciplinary experts, providing specific recommendations for the clinical management of subsolid nodules. METHODS: The American Association for Thoracic Surgery Clinical Practice Standards Committee assembled an international, multidisciplinary expert panel composed of radiologists, pulmonologists, and thoracic surgeons with established expertise in the management of subsolid nodules. A focused literature review was performed with the assistance of a medical librarian. Expert consensus statements were developed with class of recommendation and level of evidence for each of 4 main topics: (1) definitions of subsolid nodules (radiology and pathology), (2) surveillance and diagnosis, (3) surgical interventions, and (4) management of multiple subsolid nodules. Using a modified Delphi method, the statements were evaluated and refined by the entire panel.

September 2024

Ding JY, Li L, Fu XR, Xu L, Ding PX, Lee EW.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of a stepwise interventional strategy for the removal of adherent totally implanted central venous access port catheters, consisting of a guidewire support, antegrade coaxial separation, and retrograde coaxial separation with increasing technical complexity. METHODS: This study has a retrospective design. Thirty-two patients who had failed routine removal of the port catheter and were then transferred to interventional radiology between November 2017 and December 2023 were reviewed. The technical success and complication rates were recorded.

September 2024

Fat M, Andersen T, Fazio JC, Park SC, Abtin F, Buhr RG, Phillips JE, Belperio J, Tashkin DP, Cooper CB, Barjaktarevic I.

INTRODUCTION: Chronic Bronchitis (CB) represents a phenotype of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). While several definitions have been used for diagnosis, the relationship between clinical definitions and radiologic assessment of bronchial disease (BD) has not been well studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between three clinical definitions of CB and radiographic findings of BD in spirometry-defined COPD patients. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis was performed from a COPD phenotyping study. It was a prospective observational cohort. Participants had spirometry-defined COPD and available chest CT imaging. Comparison between CB definitions, Medical Research Council (CBMRC), St. George's Respiratory Questionnaire (CBSGRQ), COPD Assessment Test (CBCAT) and CT findings were performed using Cohen's Kappa, univariate and multivariate logistic regressions.

September 2024

Ghezzi C, Ellingson BM, Lai A, Liu J, Barrio JR, Wright EM.

PURPOSE: SGLT2, the sodium glucose cotransporter two, is expressed in human pancreatic, prostate and brain tumors, and in a mouse cancer model SGLT2 inhibitors reduce tumor glucose uptake and growth. In this study we have measured the effect of a specific SGLT2 inhibitor, Jardiance® (Empagliflozin), on glucose uptake into astrocytomas in patients. METHODS: We have used a specific SGLT glucose tracer, α-methyl-4-[¹⁸F]fluoro-4-deoxy-α-D-glucopyranoside (Me4FDG), and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to measure glucose uptake. Four of five patients enrolled had WHO grade IV glioblastomas, and one had a low grade WHO Grade II astrocytoma. Two dynamic brain PET scans were conducted on each patient, one before and one after treatment with a single oral dose of Jardiance, a specific SGLT2 inhibitor. As a control, we also determined the effect of oral Jardiance on renal SGLT2 activity.

September 2024

Maliha PG, Hotta M, Farolfi A, Grogan T, Alano R, Limon A, Lam E, Carlucci G, Bahri S, Salavati A, Benz M, Silverman D, Gupta P, Quon A, Allen-Auerbach M, Czernin J, Calais J.

Purpose: Fibroblast activation protein (FAP)-inhibitor (FAPI)-PET tracers allow imaging of the FAP-expressing cancer associated fibroblasts (CAF) and also the normal activated fibroblasts (NAF) involved in inflammation/fibrosis that may be present after invasive medical interventions. We evaluated [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-46 uptake patterns post-medical/invasive non-systemic interventions. Methods: This single-center retrospective analysis was conducted in 79 consecutive patients who underwent [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-46 PET/CT. Investigators reviewed prior patient medical/invasive interventions (surgery, endoscopy, biopsy, radiotherapy, foreign body placement (FBP) defined as implanted medical/surgical material present at time of scan) and characterized the anatomically corresponding FAPI uptake intensity both visually (positive if above surrounding background) and quantitatively (SUVmax). Interventions with missing data/images or confounders of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-46 uptake (partial volume effect, other cause of increased uptake) were excluded. Available correlative FDG, DOTATATE and PSMA PET/CTs were analyzed when available.

September 2024

Milch HS, Luhar A, Manning B, Aberle DR, Sayre J, Moriarty JM.

Mentorship plays a critical role in shaping the careers and personal growth of radiologists. Quality mentorship can lead to more successful academic careers, stronger clinical programs, and increased authorship and federal funding. In fact, research shows that mentorship programs help both mentees and mentors achieve promotion, higher salary, and increased job satisfaction and retention [1]. The endeavor to improve mentoring is a crucial investment for mentors, mentees, and the field at large.

September 2024

Nabipoorashrafi SA, Firoozeh N, Azhideh A, Zadeh FS, Mahdavi A, Pooyan A, Alipour E, Bedayat A, Chalian M, Chalian H.

BACKGROUND: To assess changes in bone density and vertebral body height of patients undergoing lung transplant surgery using computed tomography (CT). METHODS: This institutional review board (IRB) approved retrospective observational study enrolled patients with a history of lung transplant who had at least two chest CT scans. Vertebral body bone density (superior, middle, and inferior sections) and height (anterior, middle, and posterior sections) were measured at T1-T12 at baseline and follow up CT scans. Changes in the mean bone density, mean vertebral height, vertebral compression ratio (VBCR), percentage of anterior height compression (PAHC), and percentage of middle height compression (PMHC) were calculated and analyzed.

September 2024

Rink JS, Froelich MF, Nour M, Saver JL, Szabo K, Hoyer C, Fassbender KC, Schoenberg SO, Tollens F.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: To simulate patient-level costs, analyze the economic potential of telemedicine-based mobile stroke units for acute prehospital stroke care, and identify major determinants of cost-effectiveness, based on two recent prospective trials from the United States and Germany. METHODS: A Markov decision model was developed to simulate lifetime costs and outcomes of mobile stroke unit. The model compares diagnostic and therapeutic pathways of ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, and stroke mimic patients by conventional care or by mobile stroke units. The treatment outcomes were derived from the B_PROUD and the BEST-mobile stroke unit trials and further input parameters were derived from recent literature. Uncertainty was addressed by deterministic and probabilistic sensitivity analyses. A lifetime horizon based on the US healthcare system was adopted to evaluate different cost thresholds for mobile stroke unit and the resulting cost-effectiveness. Willingness-to-pay thresholds were set at 1x and 3x gross domestic product per capita, as recommended by the World Health Organization.

September 2024

Stewart JK, Myers E, Petrozza J, Kaufman C, Golzarian J, Kohi MP, Chiang A, Carlos R, Spies J, Abi-Jaoudeh N, Salazar G.

Reproductive outcomes after uterine artery embolization (UAE) for the treatment of uterine fibroids are challenging to study, leaving several unanswered questions surrounding the future fertility of patients undergoing the procedure. Subject matter experts from interventional radiology, diagnostic radiology, obstetrics and gynecology, and reproductive medicine participated in a Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) Foundation Research Consensus Panel to discuss and prioritize critical research topics focusing on fertility and reproductive outcomes in patients undergoing UAE for symptomatic uterine fibroids. After presentations and discussion of research ideas, the panelists prioritized the following topics for further investigation: (a) a prospective study of factors that influence implantation and gene expression in patients undergoing UAE or myomectomy over 1 year; (b) refinement of a classification system for uterine fibroids that can allow for more focused study design, which may include burden of fibroid disease; and (c) conjoint analysis/discrete choice experiments to better characterize those patients for whom fertility preservation is a high priority.

September 2024

Streiff MB, Holmstrom B, Angelini D, Ashrani A, Buckner T, Diep R, Fertrin KY, Fogerty AE, Crestani NG, Gangaraju R, Rojas-Hernandez C, Goldhaber SZ, Ibrahim I, Kubal T, Leavitt AD, Lim M, Mann J, Mantha S, Morton C, Nester A, O'Brien A, Ortel TL, Pine A, Pishko A, Ranade M, Salmasi A, Schaefer J, Williams E, Wool G, Wun T, Montgomery S, Nguyen J, Freedman-Cass D, Sliker B.

The NCCN Guidelines for Cancer-Associated Venous Thromboembolic Disease provide strategies for the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in adult patients with cancer. VTE is a common and life-threatening condition in patients with cancer, and its management often requires multidisciplinary efforts. The NCCN panel is comprised of specialists spanning various fields, including cardiology, hematology, medical oncology, internal medicine, interventional radiology, and pharmacology. The content featured in this issue specifically addresses the evaluation and recommended treatment options outlined in the NCCN Guidelines for the diverse subtypes of cancer-associated VTE.

September 2024

Tariq MB, Kaneko N, Prochilo G, Hinman JD, Liebeskind DS.

Intracranial atherosclerosis is a leading cause of stroke with a high recurrence rate despite treatment. Numerous factors are proposed to influence stroke recurrence due to intracranial atherosclerosis including lesion eccentricity, plaque characteristics, and computational fluid dynamic metrics, such as wall shear stress. An overlooked variable that intrinsically relates to intracranial atherosclerosis is the location of the arterial segment where the lesion occurs. Variations in cerebral blood flow, arterial anatomy, and flow dynamics are likely drivers of initial lesion development and thus likely to influence stroke recurrence. To date, treatment trials of intracranial atherosclerosis have not considered arterial segment lesion location as an independent variable, failing to account for variations in flow dynamics between each artery. There are limited available data on differences between arterial segments, confined to only post hoc analyses. In this review, we summarize available data on such differences between arterial segments. With the limited arterial segment data available, multiple differences in recurrence of stroke in territory of lesion were identified across trials.

September 2024

Wu YL, Christodoulou AG, Beumer JH, Rigatti LH, Fisher R, Ross M, Watkins S, Cortes DRE, Ruck C, Manzoor S, Wyman SK, Stapleton MC, Goetzman E, Bharathi S, Wipf P, Wang H, Tan T, Christner SM, Guo J, Lo CWY, Epperly MW, Greenberger JS.

Victims of a radiation terrorist event will include pregnant women and unborn fetuses. Mitochondrial dysfunction and oxidative stress are key pathogenic factors of fetal radiation injury. The goal of this preclinical study is to investigate the efficacy of mitigating fetal radiation injury by maternal administration of the mitochondrial-targeted gramicidin S (GS)-nitroxide radiation mitigator JP4-039. Pregnant female C57BL/6NTac mice received 3 Gy total-body irradiation (TBI) at mid-gestation embryonic day 13.5 (E13.5). Using novel time-and-motion-resolved 4D in utero magnetic resonance imaging (4D-uMRI), we found TBI caused extensive injury to the fetal brain that included cerebral hemorrhage, loss of cerebral tissue, and hydrocephalus with excessive accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Histopathology of the fetal mouse brain showed broken cerebral vessels and elevated apoptosis. Further use of novel 4D Oxy-wavelet MRI capable of probing in vivo mitochondrial function in intact brain revealed a significant reduction of mitochondrial function in the fetal brain after 3 Gy TBI. This was validated by ex vivo Oroboros mitochondrial respirometry. One day after TBI (E14.5) maternal administration of JP4-039, which passes through the placenta, significantly reduced fetal brain radiation injury and improved fetal brain mitochondrial respiration. Treatment also preserved cerebral brain tissue integrity and reduced cerebral hemorrhage and cell death. JP4-039 administration following irradiation resulted in increased survival of pups. These findings indicate that JP4-039 can be deployed as a safe and effective mitigator of fetal radiation injury from mid-gestational in utero ionizing radiation exposure.

August 2024

Ahn S, Edmonds B, Rajaraman RR, Rao LM, Hussain SA, Matsumoto JH, Sankar R, Salamon N, Fallah A, Nariai H.

Neuromodulation therapies offer an efficacious treatment alternative for patients with drug-resistant epilepsy (DRE), particularly those unlikely to benefit from surgical resection. Here we present our retrospective single-center case series of patients with pediatric-onset DRE who underwent responsive neurostimulation (RNS) depth electrode implantation targeting the bilateral centromedian nucleus (CM) of the thalamus between October 2020 and October 2022. Sixteen patients were identified; seizure outcomes, programming parameters, and complications at follow-up were reviewed. The median age at implantation was 13 years (range 3.6-22). Six patients (38%) were younger than 12 years of age at the time of implantation. Ictal electroencephalography (EEG) patterns during patients' most disabling seizures were reliably detected. Ten patients (62%) achieved 50% or greater reduction in seizure frequency at a median 1.3 years (range 0.6-2.6) of follow-up. Eight patients (50%) experienced sensorimotor side effects, and three patients (19%) had superficial pocket infection, prompting the removal of the RNS device. Side effects of stimulation were experienced mostly in monopolar-cathodal configuration and alleviated with programming change to bipolar configuration or low-frequency stimulation. Closed-loop neurostimulation using RNS targeting bilateral CM is a feasible and useful therapy for patients with pediatric-onset DRE.

August 2024

Azour L, Chandarana H, Maier C, Babb J, Moore W.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: To determine factors influencing low-field MRI lung opacity severity 6-24 months after acute Covid-19 pneumonia. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 104 post-acute Covid-19 patients with 167 MRI exams were included. 32 patients had more than one exam, and 63 exams were serial exams. Pulmonary findings were graded on a scale of 0-4 by quadrant, total score ranging from 0 (no opacity) to 16 (opacity > 75%), and score >8 considered moderate and >12 severe opacity. Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney, and Spearman rank correlation was used to assess the association of clinical and demographic factors with MR opacity severity at time intervals from acute infection. Random coefficients regression was used to assess whether opacity score changed over time.

August 2024

Bagatell R, Park JR, Acharya S, Aldrink J, Allison J, Alva E, Arndt C, Benedetti D, Brown E, Cho S, Church A, Davidoff A, Desai AV, DuBois S, Fair D, Farinhas J, Harrison D, Huang F, Iskander P, Kreissman S, Macy M, Na B, Pashankar F, Pendyala P, Pinto N, Polites S, Rabah R, Shimada H, Slatnick L, Sokol E, Twist C, Vo K, Watt T, Wolden S, Zage P, Schonfeld R, Hang L.

Neuroblastoma is the most common extracranial solid tumor diagnosed in children. This inaugural version of the NCCN Guidelines for Neuroblastoma provides recommendations for the diagnosis, risk classification, and treatment of neuroblastoma. The information in these guidelines was developed by the NCCN Neuroblastoma Panel, a multidisciplinary group of representatives with expertise in neuroblastoma, consisting of pediatric oncologists, radiologists, pathologists, surgeons, and radiation oncologists from NCCN Member Institutions. The evidence-based and consensus recommendations contained in the NCCN Guidelines are intended to guide clinicians in selecting the most appropriate treatments for their patients with this clinically heterogeneous disease.

August 2024

Chen MY, Pahwa A, Beckett KR

Angiosarcoma (AS) of the breast is a rare malignancy arising from the vascular endothelium. It can develop as a primary tumor or as a secondary tumor, the latter of which is most commonly associated with prior radiation therapy. AS may present in the breast as a palpable mass, unilateral diffuse breast enlargement, skin thickening, erythema, plaque-like violaceous discoloration, or painful nodules. The imaging features of AS vary across imaging modalities. Because AS of the breast is aggressive and prone to early metastasis, prompt detection is crucial to the improvement of generally low five-year survival rates. In this paper, we share one case of AS of the breast and one of a common mimic, hemangioma, with associated imaging and key clinical details that can aid radiologists in the timely identification and diagnosis of AS of the breast.

August 2024

Coccarelli A, Van Loon R, Chien A.

Changes in cerebral blood flow are often associated with the initiation and development of different life-threatening medical conditions including aneurysm rupture and ischemic stroke. Nevertheless, it is not fully clear how haemodynamic changes in time across the Circle of Willis (CoW) are related with intracranial aneurysm (IA) growth. In this work, we introduced a novel reduced-order modelling strategy for the systematic quantification of longitudinal blood flow changes across the whole CoW in patients with stable and unstable/growing aneurysm. Magnetic Resonance Angiography (MRA) images were converted into one-dimensional (1-D) vessel networks through a semi-automated procedure, with a level of geometric reconstruction accuracy controlled by user-dependent parameters. The proposed pipeline was used to systematically analyse longitudinal haemodynamic changes in seven different clinical cases. Our preliminary simulation results indicate that growing aneurysms are not necessarily associated with significant changes in mean flow over time. A concise sensitivity analysis also shed light on which modelling aspects need to be further characterized to have reliable patient-specific predictions. This study poses the basis for investigating how time-dependent changes in the vasculature affect the haemodynamics across the whole CoW in patients with stable and growing aneurysms.

August 2024

Inuzuka N, Shobayashi Y, Tateshima S, Sato Y, Ohba Y, Ishihara K, Teramura Y.

The advent of intracranial stents has revolutionized the endovascular treatment of cerebral aneurysms. The utilization of stents has rendered numerous cerebral aneurysm amenable to endovascular treatment, thereby obviating the need for otherwise invasive open surgical options. Stent placement has become a mainstream approach because of its safety and efficacy. However, further improvements are required for clinically approved devices to avoid the frequent occurrence of thrombotic complications. Therefore, controlling the thrombotic complications associated with the use of devices is of significant importance. Our group has developed a unique stent coated with a 2-methacryloyloxyethyl phosphorylcholine (MPC)-based polymer. In this study, the surface characteristics of the polymer coating were verified using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and atomic force microscopy. Subsequently, the antithrombotic properties of the coating were evaluated by measuring platelet count and thrombin-antithrombin complex levels of whole human blood after 3 h of incubation in a Chandler loop model. Scanning electron microscopy was utilized to examine thrombus formation on the stent surface. We observed that MPC polymer-coated stents significantly reduced thrombus formation as compared to bare stents and several clinically approved devices. Finally, the coated stents were further analyzed by implanting them in the internal thoracic arteries of pigs. Angiographic imaging and histopathological examinations that were performed one week after implantation revealed that the vascular lumen was well maintained and coated stents were integrated within the vascular endothelium without inducing adverse effects. Thus, we demonstrated the efficacy of MPC polymer coating as a viable strategy for avoiding the thrombotic risks associated with neurovascular stents.

August 2024

Ju C, Widder J, Pham N

Bitemporal hemianopia typically results from compression of the optic chiasm by sellar, suprasellar, or chiasmal lesions. Most of the cases of bitemporal hemianopia are secondary to pituitary masses. Defects in the temporal half of the visual field that mimic those that are caused by such pituitary or chiasmal lesions are known as bitemporal "pseudohemianopia" and involve orbital pathology. Tilted disc syndrome is an eye anomaly that may result in bitemporal visual field deficits similar to those that are caused by extrinsic or intrinsic mass effect on the optic chiasm. We report an incidentally found tilted disc syndrome in a patient with a history of surgically treated high myopia and the symptoms of bilateral, gradual vision loss.

August 2024

Kim DH, Lamba A, Lee S, Sayre J, Abtin F, Genshaft S, Quirk M, Suh RD.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of track cauterization for lung cryoablation through comparison of postprocedural adverse event (AE) rates. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty-nine patients who underwent 164 percutaneous lung cryoablation procedures between 2013 and 2018 were included in this retrospective study. The study cohort was subdivided by whether track cauterization was conducted or not at the end of the procedure. The study cohort was also subdivided by the number of probes (1-2 probes vs 3-4 probes). Postablation AE rates were assessed by immediate and delayed (at 1 month or later) AEs, pneumothorax, hemothorax, pleural effusion, and whether intervention was required. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were used to compare differences in AE rates.

August 2024

Moriarty JM, Dohad SY, Schiro BJ, Tamaddon H, Heithaus RE, Iliadis EA, Dexter DJ 2nd, Shavelle DM, Leal SRN, Attallah AS, West FM, Keeling WB, Sharp ASP, Weinberg I.

PURPOSE: To report the first interim analysis of the STRIKE-PE study, evaluating the safety and effectiveness of computer assisted vaccum thrombectomy (CAVT) for the treatment of acute pulmonary embolism (PE). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This prospective, international, multicenter study will enroll 600 adult patients with acute PE of ≤14 days and a right ventricle (RV)-to-left ventricle (LV) ratio of ≥0.9 who receive first-line endovascular treatment with CAVT using the Indigo Aspiration System (Penumbra, Alameda, California). Primary endpoints are change in RV/LV ratio and incidence of composite major adverse events (MAEs) within 48 hours. Secondary endpoints include functional and quality-of-life (QoL) assessments.

August 2024

Peshkar-Kulkarni S, Hoyt AC, Chow L

Angiosarcoma (AS) of the breast is a rare malignancy arising from the vascular endothelium. It can develop as a primary tumor or as a secondary tumor, the latter of which is most commonly associated with prior radiation therapy. AS may present in the breast as a palpable mass, unilateral diffuse breast enlargement, skin thickening, erythema, plaque-like violaceous discoloration, or painful nodules. The imaging features of AS vary across imaging modalities. Because AS of the breast is aggressive and prone to early metastasis, prompt detection is crucial to the improvement of generally low five-year survival rates. In this paper, we share one case of AS of the breast and one of a common mimic, hemangioma, with associated imaging and key clinical details that can aid radiologists in the timely identification and diagnosis of AS of the breast.

August 2024

Sohn A, Turner AM, Speier W, Fonarow GC, Ong MK, Arnold CW.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure is a complex clinical syndrome noted on approximately one in eight death certificates in the United States. Vital to reducing complications of heart failure and preventing hospital readmissions is adherence to heart failure self-care routines. Mobile health offers promising opportunities for enhancing self-care behaviors by facilitating tracking and timely reminders. OBJECTIVES: We sought to investigate three characteristics of heart failure patients with respect to their heart failure self-care behaviors: (1) internet use to search for heart failure information; (2) familiarity with mobile health apps and devices; and (3) perceptions of using activity trackers or smartwatches to aid in their heart failure self-care. METHODS: Forty-nine heart failure patients were asked about their internet and mobile health usage. The structured interview included questions adapted from the Health Information National Trends Survey.

August 2024

Sparks H, Rink JS, Ramakrishnan A, Sung K, Ni J, Lu DSK, Raman SS, Lee EW, Chiang J.

PURPOSE: To characterize the relationship between ablation zone volume (AZV) and microwave ablation (MWA) energy in an in vivo porcine liver model following arterial embolization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: With Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval, 11 female swine underwent either right (n = 5) or left (n = 6) hepatic artery embolization under fluoroscopic guidance. Subsequently, ultrasound (US)-guided MWA was performed in each liver segment (left lateral, left medial, right medial, and right lateral) at either 30 W (n = 4 lobes), 60 W (n = 4), 65 W (n = 20), 90 W (n = 8), 120 W (n = 4), or 140 W (n = 4) continuously for 5 minutes. Postprocedural volumetric segmentation was performed on standardized multiphase T1 magnetic resonance (MR) imaging sequences.

August 2024

Yoo SJ, Valverde I, Perens GS, Nguyen KL, Finn JP.

Open heart surgery requires a proper understanding of the endocardial surface of the heart and vascular structures. While modern four-dimensional (4D) imaging enables excellent dynamic visualization of the blood pool, endocardial surface anatomy has not routinely been assessed. 4D image data were post-processed using commercially available virtual reality (VR) software. Using thresholding, the blood pool was segmented dynamically across the imaging volume. The segmented blood pool was further edited for correction of errors due to artifacts or inhomogeneous signal intensity. Then, a surface shell of an even thickness was added to the edited blood pool. When the cardiac valve leaflets and chordae were visualized, they were segmented separately using a different range of signal intensity for thresholding. Using an interactive cutting plane, the endocardial surface anatomy was reviewed from multiple perspectives by interactively applying a cutting plane, rotating and moving the model. In conclusions, dynamic three-dimensional (3D) endocardial surface imaging is feasible and provides realistic simulated views of the intraoperative scenes at open heart surgery. As VR is based on the use of all fingers of both hands, the efficiency and speed of postprocessing are markedly enhanced. Although it is limited, visualization of the cardiac valve leaflets and chordae is also possible.

August 2024

Zhang H, Polson JS, Wang Z, Nael K, Rao NM, Speier WF, Arnold CW.

BACKground AND PURPOSE: Following endovascular thrombectomy in patients with large-vessel occlusion stroke, successful recanalization from 1 attempt, known as the first-pass effect, has correlated favorably with long-term outcomes. Pretreatment imaging may contain information that can be used to predict the first-pass effect. Recently, applications of machine learning models have shown promising results in predicting recanalization outcomes, albeit requiring manual segmentation. In this study, we sought to construct completely automated methods using deep learning to predict the first-pass effect from pretreatment CT and MR imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our models were developed and evaluated using a cohort of 326 patients who underwent endovascular thrombectomy at UCLA Ronald Reagan Medical Center from 2014 to 2021. We designed a hybrid transformer model with nonlocal and cross-attention modules to predict the first-pass effect on MR imaging and CT series.

July 2024

Beaman C, Gautam A, Peterson C, Kaneko N, Ponce L, Saber H, Khatibi K, Morales J, Kimball D, Lipovac JR, Narsinh KH, Baker A, Caton MT, Smith ER, Nour M, Szeder V, Jahan R, Colby GP, Cord BJ, Cooke DL, Tateshima S, Duckwiler G, Waldau B; Robotics Working Group; Robotic Working Group.

BACKGROUND: Neurointerventional robotic systems have potential to reduce occupational radiation, improve procedural precision, and allow for future remote teleoperation. A limited number of single institution case reports and series have been published outlining the safety and feasibility of robot-assisted diagnostic cerebral angiography. METHODS: This is a multicenter, retrospective case series of patients undergoing diagnostic cerebral angiography at three separate institutions - University of California, Davis (UCD); University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA); and University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The equipment used was the CorPath GRX Robotic System (Corindus, Waltham, MA).

July 2024

Chen MY, Pahwa A, Beckett KR

July 2024

Inuzuka N, Shobayashi Y, Tateshima S, Sato Y, Ohba Y, Ekdahl KN, Nilsson B, Teramura Y.

The evolution of endovascular therapies, particularly in the field of intracranial aneurysm treatment, has been truly remarkable and is characterized by the development of various stents. However, ischemic complications related to thrombosis or downstream emboli pose a challenge for the broader clinical application of such stents. Despite advancements in surface modification technologies, an ideal coating that fulfills all the desired requirements, including anti-thrombogenicity and swift endothelialization, has not been available. To address these issues, we investigated a new coating comprising 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES) with both anti-thrombogenic and cell-adhesion properties. We assessed the anti-thrombogenic property of the coating using an in vitro blood loop model by evaluating the platelet count and the level of the thrombin-antithrombin (TAT) complex, and investigating thrombus formation on the surface using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We then assessed endothelial cell adhesion on the metal surfaces. In vitro blood tests revealed that, compared to a bare stent, the coating significantly inhibited platelet reduction and thrombus formation; more human serum albumin spontaneously adhered to the coated surface to block thrombogenic activation in the blood. Cell adhesion tests also indicated a significant increase in the number of cells adhering to the APTES-coated surfaces compared to the numbers adhering to either the bare stent or the stent coated with an anti-fouling phospholipid polymer. Finally, we performed an in vivo safety test by implanting coated stents into the internal thoracic arteries and ascending pharyngeal arteries of minipigs, and subsequently assessing the health status and vessel patency of the arteries by angiography over the course of 1 week. We found that there were no adverse effects on the pigs and the vascular lumens of their vessels were well maintained in the group with APTES-coated stents. Therefore, our new coating exhibited both high anti-thrombogenicity and cell-adhesion properties, which fulfill the requirements of an implantable stent.

July 2024

Keshavarz P, Bagherieh S, Nabipoorashrafi SA, Chalian H, Rahsepar AA, Kim GHJ, Hassani C, Raman SS, Bedayat A.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to systematically review the reported performances of ChatGPT, identify potential limitations, and explore future directions for its integration, optimization, and ethical considerations in radiology applications. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After a comprehensive review of PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, and Google Scholar databases, a cohort of published studies was identified up to January 1, 2024, utilizing ChatGPT for clinical radiology applications.

July 2024

Oughourlian TC, Rizvi S, Wang C, Kostiuk A, Salamon N, Holly LT, Ellingson BM.

Patients with degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) experience structural and functional brain reorganization. However, few studies have investigated the influence of sex on cerebral alterations. The present study investigates the role of sex on brain functional connectivity (FC) and global network topology in DCM and healthy controls (HCs). The resting-state functional MRI data was acquired for 100 patients (58 males vs. 42 females). ROI-to-ROI FC and network topological features were characterized for each patient and HC. Group differences in FC and network topological features were examined. Compared to healthy counterparts, DCM males exhibited higher FC between vision-related brain regions, and cerebellum, brainstem, and thalamus, but lower FC between the intracalcarine cortex and frontal and somatosensory cortices, while DCM females demonstrated higher FC between the thalamus and cerebellar and sensorimotor regions, but lower FC between sensorimotor and visual regions. DCM males displayed higher FC within the cerebellum and between the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and vision-related regions, while DCM females displayed higher FC between frontal regions and the PCC, cerebellum, and visual regions. Additionally, DCM males displayed significantly greater intra-network connectivity and efficiency compared to healthy counterparts. Results from the present study imply sex-specific supraspinal functional alterations occur in patients with DCM.

July 2024

Panchavati S, Daida A, Edmonds B, Miyakoshi M, Oana S, Ahn SS, Arnold C, Salamon N, Sankar R, Fallah A, Speier W, Nariai H.

OBJECTIVE: Although the clinical efficacy of deep brain stimulation targeting the anterior nucleus (AN) and centromedian nucleus (CM) of the thalamus has been actively investigated for the treatment of medication-resistant epilepsy, few studies have investigated dynamic ictal changes in corticothalamic connectivity in human electroencephalographic (EEG) recording. This study aims to establish the complex spatiotemporal dynamics of the ictal corticothalamic network associated with various seizure foci. METHODS: We analyzed 10 patients (aged 2.7-28.1 years) with medication-resistant focal epilepsy who underwent stereotactic EEG evaluation with thalamic sampling. We examined both undirected and directed connectivity, incorporating coherence and spectral Granger causality analysis (GCA) between the diverse seizure foci and thalamic nuclei (AN and CM) at ictal onset.

July 2024

Peshkar-Kulkarni S, Hoyt AC, Chow L

July 2024

Sant VR, Radhachandran A, Ivezic V, Lee DT, Livhits MJ, Wu JX, Masamed R, Arnold CW, Yeh MW, Speier W.

CONTEXT: Use of artificial intelligence (AI) to predict clinical outcomes in thyroid nodule diagnostics has grown exponentially over the past decade. The greatest challenge is in understanding the best model to apply to one's own patient population, and how to operationalize such a model in practice. EVIDENCE ACQUISITION: A literature search of PubMed and IEEE Xplore was conducted for English-language publications between January 1, 2015 and January 1, 2023, studying diagnostic tests on suspected thyroid nodules that used AI. We excluded articles without prospective or external validation, nonprimary literature, duplicates, focused on nonnodular thyroid conditions, not using AI, and those incidentally using AI in support of an experimental diagnostic outside standard clinical practice. Quality was graded by Oxford level of evidence.

June 2024

Azour L, Oh AS, Prosper AE, Toussie D, Villasana-Gomez G, Pourzand L.

Subsolid nodules are heterogeneously appearing and behaving entities, commonly encountered incidentally and in high-risk populations. Accurate characterization of subsolid nodules, and application of evolving surveillance guidelines, facilitates evidence-based and multidisciplinary patient-centered management.

June 2024

Chien A, Lall A, Patel M, Cusumano L, McWilliams J.

Kidney failure is particularly common in the United States, where it affects over 700,000 individuals. It is typically treated through repeated sessions of hemodialysis to filter and clean the blood. Hemodialysis requires vascular access, in about 70% of cases through an arteriovenous fistula (AVF) surgically created by connecting an artery and vein. AVF take 6 weeks or more to mature. Mature fistulae often require intervention, most often percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), also known as fistulaplasty, to maintain the patency of the fistula. PTA is also the first-line intervention to restore blood flow and prolong the use of an AVF, and many patients undergo the procedure multiple times. Although PTA is important for AVF maturation and maintenance, research into predictive models of AVF function following PTA has been limited. Therefore, in this paper we hypothesize that based on patient-specific information collected during PTA, a predictive model can be created to help improve treatment planning. We test a set of rich, multimodal data from 28 patients that includes medical history, AVF blood flow, and interventional angiographic imaging (specifically excluding any post-PTA measurements) and build deep hybrid neural networks. A hybrid model combining a 3D convolutional neural network with a multi-layer perceptron to classify AVF was established. We found using this model that we were able to identify the association between different factors and evaluate whether the PTA procedure can maintain primary patency for more than 3 months. The testing accuracy achieved was 0.75 with a weighted F1-score of 0.75, and AUROC of 0.75. These results indicate that evaluating multimodal clinical data using artificial neural networks can predict the outcome of PTA. These initial findings suggest that the hybrid model combining clinical data, imaging and hemodynamic analysis can be useful to treatment planning for hemodialysis. Further study based on a large cohort is needed to refine the accuracy and model efficiency.

June 2024

Expert Panel on Neurological Imaging; Wang LL, Thompson TA, Shih RY, Ajam AA, Bulsara K, Burns J, Davis MA, Ivanidze J, Kalnins A, Kuo PH, Ledbetter LN, Pannell JS, Pollock JM, Shakkottai VG, Shih RD, Soares BP, Soderlund KA, Utukuri PS, Woolsey S, Policeni B.

Diagnostic evaluation of a patient with dizziness or vertigo is complicated by a lack of standardized nomenclature, significant overlap in symptom descriptions, and the subjective nature of the patient's symptoms. Although dizziness is an imprecise term often used by patients to describe a feeling of being off-balance, in many cases dizziness can be subcategorized based on symptomatology as vertigo (false sense of motion or spinning), disequilibrium (imbalance with gait instability), presyncope (nearly fainting or blacking out), or lightheadedness (nonspecific). As such, current diagnostic paradigms focus on timing, triggers, and associated symptoms rather than subjective descriptions of dizziness type. Regardless, these factors complicate the selection of appropriate diagnostic imaging in patients presenting with dizziness or vertigo. This document serves to aid providers in this selection by using a framework of definable clinical variants. The American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria are evidence-based guidelines for specific clinical conditions that are reviewed annually by a multidisciplinary expert panel. The guideline development and revision process support the systematic analysis of the medical literature from peer reviewed journals. Established methodology principles such as Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development, and Evaluation or GRADE are adapted to evaluate the evidence. The RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method User Manual provides the methodology to determine the appropriateness of imaging and treatment procedures for specific clinical scenarios. In those instances where peer reviewed literature is lacking or equivocal, experts may be the primary evidentiary source available to formulate a recommendation.

June 2024

Gafita A, Djaileb L, Rauscher I, Fendler WP, Hadaschik B, Rowe SP, Herrmann K, Solnes LB, Calais J, Rettig MB, Weber M, Farolfi A, Benz MR, Eiber M.

Response Evaluation Criteria in Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen Imaging (RECIP) 1.0 is an evidence-based framework to evaluate therapeutic efficacy in metastatic prostate cancer using prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET/CT. This study aimed to evaluate the associations of interim PSMA PET/CT by RECIP 1.0 with short-term outcome after radiopharmaceutical treatment. Methods: This multicenter retrospective study included patients with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer who underwent [¹⁷⁷Lu]Lu-PSMA radiopharmaceutical therapy at 3 academic centers and received PSMA PET/CT at baseline and at 12 wk. Pairs of PSMA PET/CT images were assessed by 5 readers for visual RECIP 1.0. The primary outcome was the association of RECIP with prostate-specific antigen progression-free survival (PSA-PFS) by Kaplan-Meier analysis.

June 2024

Lee J, Boas FE, Duran-Struuck R, Gaba RC, Schachtschneider KM, Comin-Anduix B, Galic Z, Haile S, Bassir A, Chiang J.

Traditionally, rodent cancer models have driven preclinical oncology research. However, they do not fully recapitulate characteristics of human cancers, and their size poses challenges when evaluating tools in the interventional oncologists' armamentarium. Pig models, however, have been the gold standard for validating surgical procedures. Their size enables the study of image-guided interventions using human ultrasound (US), computed tomography (CT), and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging platforms. Furthermore, pigs have immunologic features that are similar to those of humans, which can potentially be leveraged for studying immunotherapy. Novel pig models of cancer are being developed, but additional research is required to better understand both the pig immune system and malignancy to enhance the potential for pig models in interventional oncology research. This review aims to address the main advantages and disadvantages of using a pig model for interventional oncology and outline the specific characteristics of pig models that make them more suitable for investigation of locoregional therapies.

June 2024

Moffatt C, Maldonado ST, Evans LK, Azizyan A, Blackwell KE.

OBJECTIVE: This scoping review seeks to understand the existing research in otolaryngological mucosal emphysematous infections and to elucidate gaps in knowledge in the field. We also present a case of bilateral necrotizing tonsillitis in an immunocompromised patient with the first reported imaging findings of emphysematous abscess of the tonsils. DATA SOURCES: PubMed, Embase, Web of Science. REVIEW METHODS: We conducted our review according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews extension for Scoping Reviews. Patient presentation, management, and outcomes were summarized. We also describe the case of a patient with aplastic anemia found to have emphysematous tonsillitis, managed with intubation, broad spectrum intravenous antibiotics and bilateral tonsillectomy.

June 2024

Mohr K, Keeling B, Kaier K, Neusius T, Rosovsky RP, Moriarty JM, Rosenfield K, Abele C, Farmakis IT, Keller K, Barco S, Channick RN, Giri JS, Lookstein RA, Todoran TM, Christodoulou KC, Hobohm L, Lanno M, Reed J, Binder H, Konstantinides SV, Valerio L, Secemsky EA.

AIMS: Catheter-directed treatment (CDT) of acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is entering a growth phase in Europe following a steady increase in the USA in the past decade, but the potential economic impact on European healthcare systems remains unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: We built two statistical models for the monthly trend of proportion of CDT among patients with severe (intermediate- or high-risk) PE in the USA. The conservative model was based on admission data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) 2016-20 and the model reflecting increasing access to advanced treatment from the PERT™ national quality assurance database registry 2018-21. By applying these models to the forecast of annual PE-related hospitalizations in Germany, we calculated the annual number of severe PE cases and the expected increase in CDT use for the period 2025-30. The NIS-based model yielded a slow increase, reaching 3.1% (95% confidence interval 3.0-3.2%) among all hospitalizations with PE in 2030; in the PERT-based model, increase would be steeper, reaching 8.7% (8.3-9.2%). Based on current reimbursement rates, we estimated an increase of annual costs for PE-related hospitalizations in Germany ranging from 15.3 to 49.8 million euros by 2030. This calculation does not account for potential cost savings, including those from reduced length of hospital stay.

June 2024

Toussie D, Ginocchio LA, Cooper BT, Azour L, Moore WH, Villasana-Gomez G, Ko JP.

Radiation therapy is part of a multimodality treatment approach to lung cancer. The radiologist must be aware of both the expected and the unexpected imaging findings of the post-radiation therapy patient, including the time course for development of post- radiation therapy pneumonitis and fibrosis. In this review, a brief discussion of radiation therapy techniques and indications is presented, followed by an image-heavy differential diagnostic approach. The review focuses on computed tomography imaging examples to help distinguish normal postradiation pneumonitis and fibrosis from alternative complications, such as infection, local recurrence, or radiation-induced malignancy.

June 2024

Yedavalli V, Koneru M, Hamam O, Hoseinyazdi M, Marsh EB, Llinas R, Urrutia V, Leigh R, Gonzalez F, Xu R, Caplan J, Huang J, Lu H, Wintermark M, Heit J, Guenego A, Albers G, Nael K, Hillis A.

BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Distal medium vessel occlusions (DMVOs) account for a large percentage of vessel occlusions resulting in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) with disabling symptoms. We aim to assess whether pretreatment quantitative CTP collateral status (CS) parameters can serve as imaging biomarkers for good clinical outcomes prediction in successfully recanalized middle cerebral artery (MCA) DMVOs. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients with AIS secondary to primary MCA-DMVOs who were successfully recanalized by mechanical thrombectomy (MT) defined as modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction (mTICI) 2b, 2c, or 3. We evaluated the association between the CBV index and HIR independently with good clinical outcomes (modified Rankin score 0-2) using Spearman rank correlation, logistic regression, and ROC analyses.

June 2024

Zhang Y, Liu L, Ding Y, Chen X, Monsoor T, Daida A, Oana S, Hussain S, Sankar R, Fallah A, Santana-Gomez C, Engel J, Staba RJ, Speier W, Zhang J, Nariai H, Roychowdhury V.

OBJECTIVE: This study aims to develop and validate an end-to-end software platform, PyHFO, that streamlines the application of deep learning (DL) methodologies in detecting neurophysiological biomarkers for epileptogenic zones from EEG recordings. APPROACH: We introduced PyHFO, which enables time-efficient high-frequency oscillation (HFO) detection algorithms like short-term energy and Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital detectors. It incorporates DL models for artifact and HFO with spike classification, designed to operate efficiently on standard computer hardware.

June 2024

Zamanzadeh D, Feng J, Petousis P, Vepa A, Sarrafzadeh M, Karumanchi SA, Bui AAT, Kurtz I.

Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is a form of dialysis prescribed to severely ill patients who cannot tolerate regular hemodialysis. However, as the patients are typically very ill to begin with, there is always uncertainty whether they will survive during or after CRRT treatment. Because of outcome uncertainty, a large percentage of patients treated with CRRT do not survive, utilizing scarce resources and raising false hope in patients and their families. To address these issues, we present a machine learning-based algorithm to predict short-term survival in patients being initiated on CRRT. We use information extracted from electronic health records from patients who were placed on CRRT at multiple institutions to train a model that predicts CRRT survival outcome; on a held-out test set, the model achieves an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.848 (CI = 0.822-0.870). Feature importance, error, and subgroup analyses provide insight into bias and relevant features for model prediction. Overall, we demonstrate the potential for predictive machine learning models to assist clinicians in alleviating the uncertainty of CRRT patient survival outcomes, with opportunities for future improvement through further data collection and advanced modeling.

May 2024

Everson RG, Hugo W, Sun L, Antonios J, Lee A, Ding L, Bu M, Khattab S, Chavez C, Billingslea-Yoon E, Salazar A, Ellingson BM, Cloughesy TF, Liau LM, Prins RM.

In this randomized phase II clinical trial, we evaluated the effectiveness of adding the TLR agonists, poly-ICLC or resiquimod, to autologous tumor lysate-pulsed dendritic cell (ATL-DC) vaccination in patients with newly-diagnosed or recurrent WHO Grade III-IV malignant gliomas. The primary endpoints were to assess the most effective combination of vaccine and adjuvant in order to enhance the immune potency, along with safety. The combination of ATL-DC vaccination and TLR agonist was safe and found to enhance systemic immune responses, as indicated by increased interferon gene expression and changes in immune cell activation. Specifically, PD-1 expression increases on CD4+ T-cells, while CD38 and CD39 expression are reduced on CD8+ T cells, alongside an increase in monocytes. Poly-ICLC treatment amplifies the induction of interferon-induced genes in monocytes and T lymphocytes. Patients that exhibit higher interferon response gene expression demonstrate prolonged survival and delayed disease progression. These findings suggest that combining ATL-DC with poly-ICLC can induce a polarized interferon response in circulating monocytes and CD8+ T cells, which may represent an important blood biomarker for immunotherapy in this patient population.Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01204684.

May 2024

Greene AJE, Davis J, Moon J, Dubin I, Cruz A, Gupta M, Moazzez A, Ozao-Choy J, Gupta E, Manchandia T, Kalantari BN, Rahbar G, Dauphine C.

BACKGROUND: Excision is routinely recommended for atypical ductal hyperplasia (ADH) found on core biopsy given cancer upstage rates of near 20%. Identifying a cohort at low-risk for upstage may avoid low-value surgery. Objectives were to elucidate factors predictive of upstage in ADH, specifically near-complete core sampling, to potentially define a group at low upstage risk. PATIENTS & METHODS: This retrospective, cross-sectional, multi-institutional study from 2015 to 2019 of 221 ADH lesions in 216 patients who underwent excision or active observation (≥ 12 months imaging surveillance, mean follow-up 32.6 months) evaluated clinical, radiologic, pathologic, and procedural factors for association with upstage. Radiologists prospectively examined imaging for lesional size and sampling proportion.

May 2024

Lai TS, Francoeur A, Manrriquez E, Venkat P, Chang A, Douek M, Bahrami S, Raman SS, Memarzadeh S.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment of recurrent oligometastatic gynecologic malignancy may involve targeted surgery, thermal ablation, or CT-guided high-dose-rate interstitial brachytherapy ablation (CT-HDR-IBTA). The purpose of this study was to describe the safety and efficacy of CT-HDR-IBTA for oligometastatic gynecologic malignancies. METHODS: With institutional review board approval (IRB) approval and compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) compliance, we searched our database to assemble a single-arm study cohort of all patients with oligometastatic gynecologic cancers who underwent CT-HDR-IBTA from 2012-2022 with follow-up. The electronic record was reviewed to determine relevant clinicopathological variables including patient demographics, prior treatments, clinical course, local control, and local and distant recurrence with follow-up imaging.

May 2024

Lee EW, Liang JJ, McNamara GP.

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a clinically severe and devastating complication of decompensated liver disease affecting mortality, quality of life for patients and families, hospital admission rates, and overall health-care costs globally. Depending on the cause of HE, several medical treatment options have been developed and become available. In some refractory HE, such as spontaneous portosystemic shunt-related HE (SPSS-HE) or posttransjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt HE (post-TIPS HE), advanced interventional radiology (IR) procedures have been used, and shown to be effective in these conditions. This review presents 2 effective IR procedures for managing SPSS-HE and post-TIPS HE.

May 2024

Lee EW, Shim DJ, Kim D, Baek SH.

We read with great interest the recent article by Moon et al. [1] regarding thoracic duct embolization (TDE) after neck dissection and would like to share a similar case resolved via a different route of access. A 69-year-old female presented with chyle leakage. She had undergone total thyroidectomy with central neck dissection due to papillary thyroid carcinoma 10 years ago and wedge lung resection by video-assisted thoracic surgery due to metastasis. Additionally, she received right neck node dissection and radioactive iodine therapy 2 years ago due to recurrence. However, another recurrence of metastatic lymph nodes led to repeated left neck node dissection. After surgery, she suffered from left neck swelling, and subsequent evaluation revealed chyle leakage and lymphocele. Conservative management with multiple sessions of aspiration and a non-fat diet did not improve the patient's symptoms. Ultimately, she was admitted to the hospital, and a Jackson-Pratt (JP) drain was inserted. A large amount of chyle (high-output chyle leakage, up to 990 mL/day) was drained, and the interventional radiology department was consulted for lymphatic embolization.

May 2024

Lin Y, Hoyt AC, Manuel VG, Inkelas M, Hsu W.

The process of patients waiting for diagnostic examinations after an abnormal screening mammogram is inefficient and anxiety-inducing. Artificial intelligence (AI)-aided interpretation of screening mammography could reduce the number of recalls after screening. We proposed a same-day diagnostic workup to alleviate patient anxiety by employing an AI-aided interpretation to reduce unnecessary diagnostic testing after an abnormal screening mammogram. However, the potential unintended consequences of introducing this workflow in a high-volume breast imaging center are unknown. Using discrete event simulation, we observed that implementing the AI-aided screening mammogram interpretation and same-day diagnostic workflow would reduce daily patient volume by 4%, increase the time a patient would be at the clinic by 24%, and increase waiting times by 13-31%. We discuss how changing the hours of operation and introducing new imaging equipment and personnel may alleviate these negative impacts.

May 2024

Murakami W, Mortazavi S, Yu T, Kathuria-Prakash N, Yan R, Fischer C, McCann KE, Lee-Felker S, Sung K.

BACKGROUND: Background parenchymal enhancement (BPE) is an established breast cancer risk factor. However, the relationship between BPE levels and breast cancer risk stratification remains unclear. PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical relationship between BPE levels and breast cancer risk with covariate adjustments for age, ethnicity, and hormonal status. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective. POPULATION: 954 screening breast MRI datasets representing 721 women divided into four cohorts: women with pathogenic germline breast cancer (BRCA) mutations (Group 1, N = 211), women with non-BRCA germline mutations (Group 2, N = 60), women without high-risk germline mutations but with a lifetime breast cancer risk of ≥20% using the Tyrer-Cuzick model (Group 3, N = 362), and women with <20% lifetime risk (Group 4, N = 88). FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3 T/axial non-fat-saturated T1, short tau inversion recovery, fat-saturated pre-contrast, and post-contrast T1-weighted images. ASSESSMENT: Data on age, body mass index, ethnicity, menopausal status, genetic predisposition, and hormonal therapy use were collected. BPE levels were evaluated by two breast fellowship-trained radiologists independently in accordance with BI-RADS, with a third breast fellowship-trained radiologist resolving any discordance. STATISTICAL TESTS: Propensity score matching (PSM) was utilized to adjust covariates, including age, ethnicity, menopausal status, hormonal treatments, and prior bilateral oophorectomy. The Mann-Whitney U test, chi-squared test, and univariate and multiple logistic regression analysis were performed, with an odds ratio (OR) and corresponding 95% confidence interval. Weighted Kappa statistic was used to assess inter-reader variation. A P value <0.05 indicated a significant result.

May 2024

Nakayama M, Hope TA, Salavati A.

Fibroblast activation protein inhibitor positron emission tomography (PET) has gained interest for its ability to demonstrate uptake in a diverse range of tumors. Its molecular target, fibroblast activation protein, is expressed in cancer-associated fibroblasts, a major cell type in tumor microenvironment that surrounds various types of cancers. Although existing literature on FAPI PET is largely from single-center studies and case reports, initial findings show promise for some cancer types demonstrating improved imaging when compared with the widely used 18F-fludeoxyglucose PET for oncologic imaging. As we expand our knowledge of the utility of FAPI PET, accurate understanding of noncancerous uptake seen on FAPI PET is crucial for accurate evaluation. In this review, we summarize potential diagnostic and therapeutic applications of radiolabeled FAP inhibitors in oncological and nononcological disease processes.

May 2024

Sakuta K, Imahori T, Molaie A, Ghovvati M, Rao N, Tateshima S, Kaneko N.

BACKGROUND: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) has become the gold standard care for treating acute ischemic stroke (AIS) due to large vessel occlusion. Emerging evidence suggests that understanding the composition of clots prior to intervention could be useful for the selection of neuroendovascular techniques, potentially improving the efficacy of treatments. However, current imaging modalities lack the ability to distinguish clot composition accurately and reliably. Since water content can influence signal intensity on CT and MRI scans, its assessment may provide indirect clues about clot composition. This study aimed to elucidate the correlation between water content and clot composition using human clots retrieved from stroke patients and experimentally generated ovine clots. MATERIALS & METHODS: This study involved an analysis of ten clots retrieved from patients with AIS undergoing MT. Additionally, we created ten red blood cells (RBC)-rich and ten fibrin-rich ovine blood clots, which were placed in a human intracranial vascular model under realistic flow conditions. The water content and compositions of these clots were evaluated, and linear regression analyses were performed to determine the relationship between clot composition and water content.

May 2024

Samaniego EA, Dabus G, Meyers PM, Kan PT, Frösen J, Lanzino G, Welch BG, Volovici V, Gonzalez F, Fifi J, Charbel FT, Hoh BL, Khalessi A, Marks MP, Berenstein A, Pereira VM, Bain M, Colby GP, Narayanan S, Tateshima S, Siddiqui AH, Wakhloo AK, Arthur AS, Lawton MT; ARISE I Consortium.

Brain arteriovenous malformations (bAVMs) are complex, and rare arteriovenous shunts that present with a wide range of signs and symptoms, with intracerebral hemorrhage being the most severe. Despite prior societal position statements, there is no consensus on the management of these lesions. ARISE (Aneurysm/bAVM/cSDH Roundtable Discussion With Industry and Stroke Experts) was convened to discuss evidence-based approaches and enhance our understanding of these complex lesions. ARISE identified the need to develop scales to predict the risk of rupture of bAVMs, and the use of common data elements to perform prospective registries and clinical studies. Additionally, the group underscored the need for comprehensive patient management with specialized centers with expertise in cranial and spinal microsurgery, neurological endovascular surgery, and stereotactic radiosurgery. The collection of prospective multicenter data and gross specimens was deemed essential for improving bAVM characterization, genetic evaluation, and phenotyping. Finally, bAVMs should be managed within a multidisciplinary framework, with clinical studies and research conducted collaboratively across multiple centers, harnessing the collective expertise and centralization of resources.

May 2024

Sanvito F, Raymond C, Cho NS, Yao J, Hagiwara A, Orpilla J, Liau LM, Everson RG, Nghiemphu PL, Lai A, Prins R, Salamon N, Cloughesy TF, Ellingson BM.

Objective: To determine the feasibility and biologic correlations of dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC), dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE), and quantitative maps derived from contrast leakage effects obtained simultaneously in gliomas using dynamic spin-and-gradient-echo echoplanar imaging (dynamic SAGE-EPI) during a single contrast injection. Materials and methods: Thirty-eight patients with enhancing brain gliomas were prospectively imaged with dynamic SAGE-EPI, which was processed to compute traditional DSC metrics (normalized relative cerebral blood flow [nrCBV], percentage of signal recovery [PSR]), DCE metrics (volume transfer constant [K^trans], extravascular compartment [v_e]), and leakage effect metrics: ∆R_2,ss* (reflecting T₂*-leakage effects), ∆R_1,ss (reflecting T₁-leakage effects), and the transverse relaxivity at tracer equilibrium (TRATE, reflecting the balance between ∆R_2,ss* and ∆R_1,ss). These metrics were compared between patient subgroups (treatment-naÏve [TN] vs recurrent [R]) and biological features (IDH status, Ki67 expression).

May 2024

Schreck KC, Strowd RE, Nabors LB, Ellingson BM, Chang M, Tan SK, Abdullaev Z, Turakulov R, Aldape K, Danda N, Desideri S, Fisher J, Iacoboni M, Surakus T, Rudek MA, Bettegowda C, Grossman SA, Ye X.

PURPOSE: Although fewer than 5% of high-grade gliomas (HGG) are BRAF-V600E mutated, these tumors are notable as BRAF-targeted therapy shows efficacy for some populations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate response to the combination of encorafenib with binimetinib in adults with recurrent BRAF-V600-mutated HGG. PATIENTS & METHODS: In this phase 2, open-label, Adult Brain Tumor Consortium (ABTC) trial (NCT03973918), encorafenib and binimetinib were administered at their FDA-approved doses continuously in 28-day cycles. Eligible patients were required to have HGG or glioblastoma with a BRAF-V600E alteration that was recurrent following at least one line of therapy, including radiotherapy.

May 2024

Tada DK, Teng P, Vyapari K, Banola A, Foster G, Diaz E, Kim GHJ, Goldin JG, Abtin F, McNitt-Gray M, Brown MS.

PURPOSE: Evaluation of lung fissure integrity is required to determine whether emphysema patients have complete fissures and are candidates for endobronchial valve (EBV) therapy. We propose a deep learning (DL) approach to segment fissures using a three-dimensional patch-based convolutional neural network (CNN) and quantitatively assess fissure integrity on CT to evaluate it in subjects with severe emphysema. APPROACH: From an anonymized image database of patients with severe emphysema, 129 CT scans were used. Lung lobe segmentations were performed to identify lobar regions, and the boundaries among these regions were used to construct approximate interlobar regions of interest (ROIs). The interlobar ROIs were annotated by expert image analysts to identify voxels where the fissure was present and create a reference ROI that excluded non-fissure voxels (where the fissure is incomplete). A CNN configured by nnU-Net was trained using 86 CT scans and their corresponding reference ROIs to segment the ROIs of left oblique fissure (LOF), right oblique fissure (ROF), and right horizontal fissure (RHF). For an independent test set of 43 cases, fissure integrity was quantified by mapping the segmented fissure ROI along the interlobar ROI. A fissure integrity score (FIS) was then calculated as the percentage of labeled fissure voxels divided by total voxels in the interlobar ROI. Predicted FIS (p-FIS) was quantified from the CNN output, and statistical analyses were performed comparing p-FIS and reference FIS (r-FIS).

May 2024

Unterrainer LM, Memarzadeh S, Moatamed NA, Benz MR, Czernin J, Calais J.

Borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs) count for approximately 15% of all epithelial tumors of the ovaries and show malignant and nonmalignant aspects (1,2). They present with nuclear abnormalities and cellular proliferation but usually not an infiltrative growth pattern. Thus, with a 5-y survival rate of 95%-97%, they have a better prognosis than malignant ovarian tumors (MOTs) even if BOTs can spread to the peritoneum and to lymph nodes (1,2). Applying to BOTs surgical procedures that are normally used for MOTs might cause overtreatment. In many instances, surgeons rely on intraoperative frozen-section evaluation to help guide decision-making about the radicality of the surgery and the feasibility of surgical approaches to preserve fertility or the ovaries. But intraoperative frozen sections have limitations (3); as a result, in some cases second staging operations may be needed.

May 2024

Unterrainer LM, Ruchalski K, Allen-Auerbach MS, Calais J, Benz MR.

Few publications have investigated the diagnostic value of dual-time-point prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET/CT imaging with a standard whole-body (WB) acquisition at 60 min after injection and an additional late acquisition at 160-180 min (1-3). Implementing a late PET/CT acquisition such as at 180 min after injection faces clinical challenges, including patient compliance, scheduling, and PET/CT workflows. Therefore, since 2019, the standard protocol for staging, assessment of biochemical recurrence, and treatment response monitoring at our institution has been a dual-time-point acquisition with postvoid WB [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT 60 min after injection and additional late postvoid pelvic PET/CT 90 min after injection without forced diuresis using furosemide (Fig. 1). In our experience, postvoid pelvic imaging at 90 min after injection is feasible and improves lesion detection and characterization for several reasons: increased tumor [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 uptake on late PET/CT acquisitions, with an improved target-to-background ratio; decreased radiotracer uptake on late PET images in nontumoral lesions in the setting of nonspecific uptake on standard WB [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT; and a CT urographic phase with optimal contrast medium enhancement of the collecting system, ureter, and urinary bladder. Typical clinical scenarios include the detection of local recurrence after radical prostatectomy, differentiation between a postinterventional defect and residual or recurrent tumor after high-intensity focused ultrasound or radiofrequency ablation, confirmation of pelvic lymph node metastases with low PSMA uptake on standard WB [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT, and specification of nonspecific PSMA uptake on standard WB [⁶⁸Ga]Ga-PSMA-11 PET/CT as false-positive.

May 2024

Yoon L, Desser T, Jokerst C, Snyder E, Kennedy T, Korngold E, Azour L.

Formal physician-wellness programs have come into vogue in professional organizations in recent years. Wellness programs in academic centers vary from institution to institution but foundational to all is their aim to reduce burnout and increase professional fulfillment. As radiologists in charge of wellness program implementation in different academic institutions, we describe existing academic radiology wellness programs with two detailed examples. Physician well-being programs need to be both leadership-driven (i.e., "top down") and receptive to feedback ("bottom up").

April 2024

Clark K, Linden OE, Sullivan PS, Hoyt AC

Tubular adenomas are rare, benign breast tumors primarily found in postmenarchal, premenopausal women. We report a case of tubular adenoma in a 56-year-old man with a history of alcoholic cirrhosis. The breast mass was incidentally discovered on computed tomography imaging performed as part of a patient liver transplant evaluation. Dedicated breast imaging and ultrasound-guided biopsy confirmed the diagnosis of tubular adenoma.

April 2024

Koneru M, Hoseinyazdi M, Wang R, Ozkara BB, Hyson NZ, Marsh EB, Llinas RH, Urrutia VC, Leigh R, Gonzalez LF, Xu R, Caplan JM, Huang J, Lu H, Luna L, Wintermark M, Dmytriw AA, Guenego A, Albers GW, Heit JJ, Nael K, Hillis AE, Yedavalli VS.

Although pretreatment radiographic biomarkers are well established for hemorrhagic transformation (HT) following successful mechanical thrombectomy (MT) in large vessel occlusion (LVO) strokes, they are yet to be explored for medium vessel occlusion (MeVO) acute ischemic strokes. We aim to investigate pretreatment imaging biomarkers representative of collateral status, namely the hypoperfusion intensity ratio (HIR) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) index, and their association with HT in successfully recanalized MeVOs. A prospectively collected registry of acute ischemic stroke patients with MeVOs successfully recanalized with MT between 2019 and 2023 was retrospectively reviewed. A multivariate logistic regression for HT of any subtype was derived by combining significant univariate predictors into a forward stepwise regression with minimization of Akaike information criterion. Of 60 MeVO patients successfully recanalized with MT, HT occurred in 28.3% of patients. Independent factors for HT included: diabetes mellitus history (p = 0.0005), CBV index (p = 0.0071), and proximal versus distal occlusion location (p = 0.0062). A multivariate model with these factors had strong diagnostic performance for predicting HT (area under curve [AUC] 0.93, p < 0.001). Lower CBV indexes, distal occlusion location, and diabetes history are significantly associated with HT in MeVOs successfully recanalized with MT. Of note, HIR was not found to be significantly associated with HT.

April 2024

Lauria M, Miller C, Singhrao K, Lewis J, Lin W, O'Connell D, Naumann L, Stiehl B, Santhanam A, Boyle P, Raldow AC, Goldin J, Barjaktarevic I, Low DA.

Objective. To combat the motion artifacts present in traditional 4D-CBCT reconstruction, an iterative technique known as the motion-compensated simultaneous algebraic reconstruction technique (MC-SART) was previously developed. MC-SART employs a 4D-CBCT reconstruction to obtain an initial model, which suffers from a lack of sufficient projections in each bin. The purpose of this study is to demonstrate the feasibility of introducing a motion model acquired during CT simulation to MC-SART, coined model-based CBCT (MB-CBCT).Approach. For each of 5 patients, we acquired 5DCTs during simulation and pre-treatment CBCTs with a simultaneous breathing surrogate. We cross-calibrated the 5DCT and CBCT breathing waveforms by matching the diaphragms and employed the 5DCT motion model parameters for MC-SART. We introduced the Amplitude Reassignment Motion Modeling technique, which measures the ability of the model to control diaphragm sharpness by reassigning projection amplitudes with varying resolution. We evaluated the sharpness of tumors and compared them between MB-CBCT and 4D-CBCT. We quantified sharpness by fitting an error function across anatomical boundaries. Furthermore, we compared our MB-CBCT approach to the traditional MC-SART approach. We evaluated MB-CBCT's robustness over time by reconstructing multiple fractions for each patient and measuring consistency in tumor centroid locations between 4D-CBCT and MB-CBCT.

April 2024

Lin J, Salibian R

Osteoid osteoma is a benign bone-forming tumor with characteristic clinical and imaging features. Clinically, patients present with pain at the site of the tumor, worsening at night and relieved by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. The typical imaging features of osteoid osteoma include a round or oval intracortical radiolucent lesion with surrounding cortical thickening and reactive sclerosis. However, intra-articular osteoid osteoma often has imaging and clinical features that deviate from those of osteoid osteoma, which may result in delayed diagnosis. We report a case of intra-articular osteoid osteoma in a 20-year-old woman with a history of ankle pain. The variant clinical and imaging characteristics of intra-articular osteoid osteoma and the important considerations for the treatment of patients with this condition are briefly discussed.

April 2024

Ming Z, Pogosyan A, Gao C, Colbert CM, Wu HH, Finn JP, Ruan D, Hu P, Christodoulou AG, Nguyen KL.

BACKGROUND: Despite the widespread use of cine MRI for evaluation of cardiac function, existing real-time methods do not easily enable quantification of ventricular function. Moreover, segmented cine MRI assumes periodicity of cardiac motion. We aim to develop a self-gated, cine MRI acquisition scheme with data-driven cluster-based binning of cardiac motion. METHODS: A Cartesian golden-step balanced steady-state free precession sequence with sorted k-space ordering was designed. Image data were acquired with breath-holding. Principal component analysis and k-means clustering were used for binning of cardiac phases. Cluster compactness in the time dimension was assessed using temporal variability, and dispersion in the spatial dimension was assessed using the Caliński-Harabasz index. The proposed and the reference electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated cine methods were compared using a four-point image quality score, SNR and CNR values, and Bland-Altman analyses of ventricular function.

April 2024

Mizandari M, Gotsiridze E, Keshavarz P, Nezami N, Azrumelashvili T, Nejati SF, Habib N, Chiang J, Raman SS.

BACKGROUND: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the most common type of liver cancer, with 10-40% of cases involving portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT), leading to poor outcomes and a short survival. The effectiveness of PVTT treatment in patients with HCC is still controversial. METHODS: This prospective dual-center study cohort comprised 60 patients with HCC and PVTT who underwent PVR-EPRFA-ST using a novel intravascular radiofrequency system followed by vascular stent placement across the PVTT stenosed segment under fluoroscopy guidance.

April 2024

Petousis P, Wilson JM, Gelvezon AV, Alam S, Jain A, Prichard L, Elashoff DA, Raja N, Bui AAT.

OBJECTIVES: In the United States, end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) is responsible for high mortality and significant healthcare costs, with the number of cases sharply increasing in the past 2 decades. In this study, we aimed to reduce these impacts by developing an ESKD model for predicting its occurrence in a 2-year period. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We developed a machine learning (ML) pipeline to test different models for the prediction of ESKD. The electronic health record was used to capture several kidney disease-related variables. Various imputation methods, feature selection, and sampling approaches were tested. We compared the performance of multiple ML models using area under the ROC curve (AUCROC), area under the Precision-Recall curve (PR-AUC), and Brier scores for discrimination, precision, and calibration, respectively. Explainability methods were applied to the final model.

April 2024

Zaccagnino E, Depetris J

Tarlov cysts are cystic structures of neurogenic origin that arise most commonly in the roots of the sacrococcygeal nerves. Prompt and correct identification can prevent unnecessary biopsy of the cysts, a procedure which can cause significant pain because they contain nerve fibers and ganglion cells. We report two cases of Tarlov cysts mimicking adnexal masses on ultrasound evaluation. The first case was misidentified on an ultrasound before being diagnosed as a Tarlov cyst during follow-up magnetic resonance imaging. The second case was initially identified by the sonographer as an ovarian cyst but was properly identified through correlation with prior computed tomography imaging. In this case series, we discuss the pathologic and radiographic features, etiology, clinical considerations, and treatment of Tarlov cysts.

March 2024

Capiro N, Gomez D, Reyes A, Won J, Hoyt A, Chirra A.

Appropriate ordering of breast imaging studies is complex due to the variety of clinical indications and available imaging modalities. Incorrect ordering affects radiology resource allocation due to the different workflows and personnel requirements of screening and diagnostic breast imaging. Through the collaborative efforts of stakeholders in Primary Care, Radiology, and Information Services & Solutions, we developed and implemented a breast imaging order panel in the electronic health record with integrated clinical decision support to facilitate correct order selection for screening patients at average-risk and high-risk of breast cancer and for diagnostic breast imaging of symptomatic patients.

March 2024

Christensen J, Prosper AE, Wu CC, Chung J, Lee E, Elicker B, Hunsaker AR, Petranovic M, Sandler KL, Stiles B, Mazzone P, Yankelevitz D, Aberle D, Chiles C, Kazerooni E.

The American College of Radiology created the Lung CT Screening Reporting and Data System (Lung-RADS) in 2014 to standardize the reporting and management of screen-detected pulmonary nodules. Lung-RADS was updated to version 1.1 in 2019 and revised size thresholds for nonsolid nodules, added classification criteria for perifissural nodules, and allowed for short-interval follow-up of rapidly enlarging nodules that may be infectious in etiology. Lung-RADS v2022, released in November 2022, provides several updates including guidance on the classification and management of atypical pulmonary cysts, juxtapleural nodules, airway-centered nodules, and potentially infectious findings. This new release also provides clarification for determining nodule growth and introduces stepped management for nodules that are stable or decreasing in size. This article summarizes the current evidence and expert consensus supporting Lung-RADS v2022.

March 2024

Christensen J, Prosper AE, Wu CC, Chung J, Lee E, Elicker B, Hunsaker AR, Petranovic M, Sandler KL, Stiles B, Mazzone P, Yankelevitz D, Aberle D, Chiles C, Kazerooni E.

The ACR created the Lung CT Screening Reporting and Data System (Lung-RADS) in 2014 to standardize the reporting and management of screen-detected pulmonary nodules. Lung-RADS was updated to version 1.1 in 2019 and revised size thresholds for nonsolid nodules, added classification criteria for perifissural nodules, and allowed for short-interval follow-up of rapidly enlarging nodules that may be infectious in etiology. Lung-RADS v2022, released in November 2022, provides several updates including guidance on the classification and management of atypical pulmonary cysts, juxtapleural nodules, airway-centered nodules, and potentially infectious findings. This new release also provides clarification for determining nodule growth and introduces stepped management for nodules that are stable or decreasing in size. This article summarizes the current evidence and expert consensus supporting Lung-RADS v2022.

March 2024

Dodelzon K, Milch HS, Mullen LA, Dialani V, Jacobs S, Parikh JR, Grimm LJ.

hysician burnout continues to increase in prevalence and disproportionately affects women physicians. Breast imaging is a woman-dominated subspeciality, and therefore, worsening burnout among women physicians may have significant repercussions on the future of the breast imaging profession. Systemic and organizational factors have been shown to be the greatest contributors to burnout beyond individual factors. Based on the Mayo Model, we review the evidence regarding the 7 major organizational contributors to physician burnout and their potential disproportionate impacts on women breast radiologists. The major organizational factors discussed are work-life integration, control and flexibility, workload and job demands, efficiency and resources, finding meaning in work, social support and community at work, and organizational culture and values. We also propose potential strategies for institutions and practices to mitigate burnout in women breast imaging radiologists. Many of these strategies could also benefit men breast imaging radiologists, who are at risk for burnout as well.

March 2024

Farolfi A, Armstrong WR, Djaileb L, Gafita A, Hotta M, Allen-Auerbach M, Unterrainer LM, Fendler WP, Rettig M, Eiber M, Hofman MS, Hadaschik B, Herrmann K, Czernin J, Calais J, Benz MR.

¹⁷⁷Lu-labeled prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) radioligand therapy effectively treats metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. Patients requiring treatment, and consequently the number of theranostic centers, are expected to increase significantly after Food and Drug Administration and European Medicines Agency approval. This requires standardization or harmonization among theranostic centers. The aim of this study was to assess operational differences and similarities among ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA treatment centers. Methods: A questionnaire comprising 62 items, designed by a core team of 5 physicians and externally reviewed by international experts, was developed. Study participants were asked to provide answers about their center, patient selection, radiopharmaceuticals, clinical assessment before and after ¹⁷⁷Lu-PSMA treatments, laboratory values, treatment discontinuation, posttreatment imaging, and general information. An invitation e-mail to participate in the study was sent in June 2022. Duplicates were removed to allow for only one valid response per center.

March 2024

Goldfarb JW, Mossa-Basha M, Nguyen KL, Hecht EM, Finn JP.

PURPOSE: To evaluate relative and absolute utilization trends and practice patterns in the United States for MRA and CTA. METHODS: Using Medicare Part B physician payment databases (2013-2020), MRA and CTA interpreting physicians and exams were identified using the unique MRA and CTA Healthcare Common Procedure Coding System codes. The number of exams, physicians, demographics, use of contrast, and payments were summarized annually and analyzed to evaluate trends before and during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic.

March 2024

Greben S, Ledbetter L.

Major birth defects happen in about 3% to 4% and minor birth defects in about 7% to 10% of the population. Ultrasound is the primary imaging method used to identify birth defects. For initial second- and third-trimester screening for fetal anomaly in low-risk pregnancies, transabdominal ultrasound of the pregnant uterus for fetal anatomy is usually appropriate. For initial imaging for high-risk pregnancies (including maternal age, use of in vitro fertilization, drug dependence, infection, family history of genetic disease or abnormality, pregnancies with more than one fetus, and teen pregnancies), detailed transabdominal ultrasound of the pregnant uterus transabdominal is usually appropriate. Fetal ultrasound echocardiography (ultrasound to evaluate the fetal heart) may be appropriate.

March 2024

Koneru M, Hoseinyazdi M, Lakhani DA, Greene C, Copeland K, Wang R, Xu R, Luna L, Caplan JM, Dmytriw AA, Guenego A, Heit JJ, Albers GW, Wintermark M, Gonzalez LF, Urrutia VC, Huang J, Nael K, Leigh R, Marsh EB, Hillis AE, Llinas RH, Yedavalli VS.

Background and purpose: In large vessel occlusion (LVO) stroke patients, relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF)<30% volume thresholds are commonly used in treatment decisions. In the early time window, nearly infarcted but salvageable tissue volumes may lead to pretreatment overestimates of infarct volume, and thus potentially exclude patients who may otherwise benefit from intervention. Our multisite analysis aims to explore the strength of relationships between widely used pretreatment CT parameters and clinical outcomes for early window stroke patients. Methods: Patients from two sites in a prospective registry were analyzed. Patients with LVOs, presenting within 3 hours of last known well, and who were successfully reperfused were included. Primary short-term neurological outcome was percent National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) change from admission to discharge. Secondary long-term outcome was 90-day modified Rankin score. Spearman's correlations were performed. Significance was attributed to p-value ≤.05.

March 2024

Radhachandran A, Kinzel A, Chen J, Sant V, Patel M, Masamed R, Arnold CW, Speier W.

An increase in the incidence and diagnosis of thyroid nodules and thyroid cancer underscores the need for a better approach to nodule detection and risk stratification in ultrasound (US) images that can reduce healthcare costs, patient discomfort, and unnecessary invasive procedures. However, variability in ultrasound technique and interpretation makes the diagnostic process partially subjective. Therefore, an automated approach that detects and segments nodules could improve performance on downstream tasks, such as risk stratification. Ultrasound studies were acquired from 280 patients at UCLA Health, totaling 9888 images, and annotated by collaborating radiologists. Current deep learning architectures for segmentation are typically semi-automated because they are evaluated solely on images known to have nodules and do not assess ability to identify suspicious images. However, the proposed multitask approach both detects suspicious images and segments potential nodules; this allows for a clinically translatable model that aptly parallels the workflow for thyroid nodule assessment. The multitask approach is centered on an anomaly detection (AD) module that can be integrated with any UNet architecture variant to improve image-level nodule detection. Of the evaluated multitask models, a UNet with a ImageNet pretrained encoder and AD achieved the highest F1 score of 0.839 and image-wide Dice similarity coefficient of 0.808 on the hold-out test set. Furthermore, models were evaluated on two external validations datasets to demonstrate generalizability and robustness to data variability. Ultimately, the proposed architecture is an automated multitask method that expands on previous methods by successfully both detecting and segmenting nodules in ultrasound.

March 2024

Tsukahara Y, Forster BB, Plotkin BE, Torii S.

A female collegiate pole vaulter competing at the national level presented with constant pain in her non-dominant right lower leg. Initially, the assessing physician informed her that there were no signs of fracture or bone stress injury on the plain radiograph and told her to come back for an MRI if the pain in her non-take-off leg persisted. She continued to train without any improvement in symptoms. Relevant medical history included menstrual cycles that were regular, no indications of relative energy deficiency in sport (REDs),¹ no history of injuries including bone stress injuries and a recent dual X-ray absorptiometry scan that indicated bone mineral density was above the normal range.

March 2024

Zheng H, Hung ALY, Miao Q, Song W, Scalzo F, Raman SS, Zhao K, Sung K.

Multi-parametric MRI (mpMRI) is widely used for prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis. Deep learning models show good performance in detecting PCa on mpMRI, but domain-specific PCa-related anatomical information is sometimes overlooked and not fully explored even by state-of-the-art deep learning models, causing potential suboptimal performances in PCa detection. Symmetric-related anatomical information is commonly used when distinguishing PCa lesions from other visually similar but benign prostate tissue. In addition, different combinations of mpMRI findings are used for evaluating the aggressiveness of PCa for abnormal findings allocated in different prostate zones. In this study, we investigate these domain-specific anatomical properties in PCa diagnosis and how we can adopt them into the deep learning framework to improve the model's detection performance. We propose an anatomical-aware PCa detection Network (AtPCa-Net) for PCa detection on mpMRI. Experiments show that the AtPCa-Net can better utilize the anatomical-related information, and the proposed anatomical-aware designs help improve the overall model performance on both PCa detection and patient-level classification.

February 2024

Chien A, Tang H, Jagessar B, Chang KW, Peng N, Nael K, Salamon N.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The review of clinical reports is an essential part of monitoring disease progression. Synthesizing multiple imaging reports is also important for clinical decisions. It is critical to aggregate information quickly and accurately. Machine learning natural language processing (NLP) models hold promise to address an unmet need for report summarization. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated NLP methods to summarize longitudinal aneurysm reports. A total of 137 clinical reports and 100 PubMed case reports were used in this study. Models were 1) compared against expert-generated summary using longitudinal imaging notes collected in our institute and 2) compared using publicly accessible PubMed case reports. Five AI models were used to summarize the clinical reports, and a sixth model, the online GPT3davinci NLP large language model (LLM), was added for the summarization of PubMed case reports. We assessed the summary quality through comparison with expert summaries using quantitative metrics and quality reviews by experts.

February 2024

Cho NS, Sanvito F, Le VL, Oshima S, Teraishi A, Yao J, Telesca D, Raymond C, Pope WB, Nghiemphu PL, Lai A, Cloughesy TF, Salamon N, Ellingson BM.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The T2-FLAIR mismatch sign on MR imaging is a highly specific imaging biomarker of isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH)-mutant astrocytomas, which lack 1p/19q codeletion. However, most studies using the T2-FLAIR mismatch sign have used visual assessment. This study quantified the degree of T2-FLAIR mismatch using digital subtraction of fluid-nulled T2-weighted FLAIR images from non-fluid-nulled T2-weighted images in human nonenhancing diffuse gliomas and then used this information to assess improvements in diagnostic performance and investigate subregion characteristics within these lesions. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two cohorts of treatment-naïve, nonenhancing gliomas with known IDH and 1p/19q status were studied (n = 71 from The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA) and n = 34 in the institutional cohort). 3D volumes of interest corresponding to the tumor were segmented, and digital subtraction maps of T2-weighted MR imaging minus T2-weighted FLAIR MR imaging were used to partition each volume of interest into a T2-FLAIR mismatched subregion (T2-FLAIR mismatch, corresponding to voxels with positive values on the subtraction maps) and nonmismatched subregion (T2-FLAIR nonmismatch corresponding to voxels with negative values on the subtraction maps). Tumor subregion volumes, percentage of T2-FLAIR mismatch volume, and T2-FLAIR nonmismatch subregion thickness were calculated, and 2 radiologists assessed the T2-FLAIR mismatch sign with and without the aid of T2-FLAIR subtraction maps.

February 2024

Enzmann DR.

urnout has been described as a psychological syndrome driven by chronic work stressors. Radiologists fall into the upper third of physician specialties experiencing "burnout" 1, 2, 3. Its causation and treatment have focused on the individual level: personal exhaustion, depersonalization, and low personal achievement (2). COVID-related physical and mental stresses, and large mismatches between high volumes of imaging work and limited radiologist's time have exacerbated burnout. This stress-related characterization is conceptually based on Hans Selye's General Adaptation Syndrome (GAS), in which burnout features appear between phase 2, "resistance by coping with the stressors," and phase 3, "exhaustion" (4). Under GAS, burnout is addressed individually, often with mental health services and physical stress relief used by 48% of physicians (2). Under this individual-based paradigm, healthcare system management responses have been transactional like decreasing administrative tasks, providing scribes to reduce electronic health record tasks, or offering counseling to radiologists. Some management approaches may unfortunately end in frustration because it has misread what physicians actually need or want (5). In particular, a pivotal need is for affirmation of their professionalism, expressed as autonomy and respect. These two key features are derived from the concept of cultural authority (CA), the loss of which is a hidden cause of burnout 5, 6, 7(Fig 1).

February 2024

Goodman-Meza D, Goto M, Salimian A, Shoptaw S, Bui AAT, Gordon AJ, Goetz MB.

INTRODUCTION: Initiation of medications for opioid use disorder (MOUD) within the hospital setting may improve outcomes for people who inject drugs (PWID) hospitalized because of an infection. Many studies used International Classification of Diseases (ICD) codes to identify PWID, although these may be misclassified and thus, inaccurate. We hypothesized that bias from misclassification of PWID using ICD codes may impact analyses of MOUD outcomes. METHODS: We analyzed a cohort of 36 868 cases of patients diagnosed with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia at 124 US Veterans Health Administration hospitals between 2003 and 2014. To identify PWID, we implemented an ICD code-based algorithm and a natural language processing (NLP) algorithm for classification of admission notes. We analyzed outcomes of prescribing MOUD as an inpatient using both approaches. Our primary outcome was 365-day all-cause mortality. We fit mixed-effects Cox regression models with receipt or not of MOUD during the index hospitalization as the primary predictor and 365-day mortality as the outcome.

February 2024

Khalil C, Almario CV, Dupuy T, Arnold C, Chen YJ, Spiegel BMR.

INTRODUCTION: There is limited research examining the biopsychosocial impact of cyclic vomiting syndrome (CVS) on patients. This study aims to assess individuals' experiences, fears, and concerns associated with CVS and the impact of CVS on their daily lives. METHODS: We employed social netnography to analyze publicly available posts related to CVS that were identified from six US online forums and Twitter. A randomly selected sub-cohort of posts per pre-defined criteria was first qualitatively analyzed using an inductive thematic approach. Then, machine learning topic modeling was applied to explore themes in an unsupervised manner for the entire corpus of posts. Afterward, findings from the qualitative and quantitative approaches were integrated to generate a thematic network.

February 2024

Kurokawa R, Hagiwara A, Kurokawa M, Ellingson BM, Baba A, Moritani T.

OBJECTIVES: In the latest World Health Organization classification 2021, grade 4 adult diffuse gliomas can be diagnosed with several molecular features even without histological evidence of necrosis or microvascular proliferation. We aimed to explore whole tumor histogram-derived apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) histogram profiles for differentiating between the presence (Mol-4) and absence (Mol-2/3) of grade 4 molecular features in histologically lower-grade gliomas. METHODS: Between June 2019 and October 2022, 184 adult patients with diffuse gliomas underwent MRI. After excluding 121 patients, 18 (median age, 64.5 [range, 37-84 years]) Mol-4 and 45 (median 40 [range, 18-73] years) Mol-2/3 patients with histologically lower-grade gliomas were enrolled. Whole tumor volume-of-interest-derived ADC histogram profiles were calculated and compared between the two groups. Stepwise logistic regression analysis with Akaike's information criterion using the ADC histogram profiles with p values < 0.01 and age at diagnosis was used to identify independent variables for predicting the Mol-4 group.

February 2024

Mathevosian S, Sparks HD, Cusumano LR, Roberts DG, Majumdar S, McWilliams JP.

Embolization of de novo pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (PAVMs) using high-volume detachable non-fibered (HVDNF) coils was compared to traditional non-HVDNF coils. Persistent-occlusion rates were evaluated. A total of 272 de novo (previously untreated) PAVM treatments were retrospectively stratified into those treated with non-HVDNF coils only (n = 192) and those treated with HVDNF coils with or without other coils (n = 80). Propensity score matching, followed by survival analysis and cost analysis, was performed. The overall persistent-occlusion rate was 86.0% (234/272). Persistent occlusion was achieved in 81.8% of PAVMs using non-HVDNF coils, compared with 96.3% using HVDNF coils (p = 0.0017). The mean follow-up was 30.7 ± 31.9 months versus 14.7 ± 13.4 months, respectively (p < 0.0001). Propensity-matched survival analysis demonstrated PAVMs treated with HVDNF coils recurred significantly less frequently than PAVMs treated with non-HVNDF coils (p = 0.023). The use of HVDNF coils was more expensive than standard coils, however not significantly different for the treatment of complex PAVMs. The use of high-volume detachable non-fibered coils was associated with higher persistent-occlusion rates when compared with non-HVDNF coils. HVDNF coils were more expensive on average; however, cost was similar between groups for the treatment of complex PAVMs.

February 2024

Oh JH, Kim GHJ, Song JW.

BACKGROUND: Despite the importance of recognizing interstitial lung abnormalities, screening methods using computer-based quantitative analysis are not well developed, and studies on the subject with an Asian population are rare. We aimed to identify the prevalence and progression rate of interstitial lung abnormality evaluated by an automated quantification system in the Korean population. METHODS: A total of 2,890 healthy participants in a health screening program (mean age: 49 years, men: 79.5%) with serial chest computed tomography images obtained at least 5 years apart were included. Quantitative lung fibrosis scores were measured on the chest images by an automated quantification system. Interstitial lung abnormalities were defined as a score ≥ 3, and progression as any score increased above baseline.

February 2024

Rifi Z, Harary M, Walshaw PD, Frew AJ, Everson RG, Fallah A, Salamon N, Kim W.

LITT is a minimally-invasive laser ablation technique used to treat a wide variety of intracranial lesions. Difficulties performing intraoperative mapping have limited its adoption for lesions in/near eloquent regions. In this institutional case series, we demonstrate the utility of fMRI-adjunct planning for LITT near language or motor areas. Six out of 7 patients proceeded with LITT after fMRI-based tractography determined adequate safety margins for ablation. All underwent successful ablation without new or worsening postoperative symptoms requiring adjuvant corticosteroids, including those with preexisting deficits. fMRI is an easily accessible adjunct which may potentially reduce chances of complications in LITT near eloquent structures.

February 2024

Sanvito F, Telesca D, Cho NS, Sayari JT, Nagaraj R, Raymond C, Rana S, Patel K, Mozaffari K, Unterberger AA, Khanlou N, Magaki S, Pouratian N, Everson RG, Yang I, Kim W, Ellingson BM.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to identify baseline clinical and radiological characteristics of brain metastases (BMs) associated with a higher probability of lesion-specific progression-free survival (PFS-L) after laser interstitial thermal therapy (LITT). METHODS: A total of 47 lesions in 42 patients with BMs treated with LITT were retrospectively examined, including newly diagnosed BM, suspected recurrent BM, and suspected radiation necrosis. The association of baseline clinical and radiological features with PFS-L was assessed using survival analyses. Radiological features included lesion size measurements, diffusion and perfusion metrics, and sphericity, which is a radiomic feature ranging from 1 (perfect sphere) to 0.

February 2024

Weiner AB, Agrawal R, Valle LF, Sonni I, Kishan AU, Rettig MB, Raman SS, Calais J, Boutros PC, Reiter RE.

PSMA-PET has been a practice-changing imaging biomarker for the management of men with PCa. Research suggests improved accuracy over conventional imaging and other PET radiotracers in many contexts. With multiple approved PSMA-targeting radiotracers, PSMA PET will become even more available in clinical practice. Its increased use requires an understanding of the prospective data available and caution when extrapolating from prior trial data that utilized other imaging modalities. Future trials leveraging PSMA PET for treatment optimization and management decision-making will ultimately drive its clinical utility.

January 2024

Albert NL, Galldiks N, Ellingson BM, van den Bent MJ, Chang SM, Cicone F, de Groot J, Koh ES, Law I, Le Rhun E, Mair MJ, Minniti G, Rudà R, Scott AM, Short SC, Smits M, Suchorska B, Tolboom N, Traub-Weidinger T, Tonn JC, Verger A, Weller M, Wen PY, Preusser M.

Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) response criteria have been established and were updated in 2023 for MRI-based response evaluation of diffuse gliomas in clinical trials. In addition, PET-based imaging with amino acid tracers is increasingly considered for disease monitoring in both clinical practice and clinical trials. So far, a standardised framework defining timepoints for baseline and follow-up investigations and response evaluation criteria for PET imaging of diffuse gliomas has not been established. Therefore, in this Policy Review, we propose a set of criteria for response assessment based on amino acid PET imaging in clinical trials enrolling participants with diffuse gliomas as defined in the 2021 WHO classification of tumours of the central nervous system. These proposed PET RANO criteria provide a conceptual framework that facilitates the structured implementation of PET imaging into clinical research and, ultimately, clinical routine. To this end, the PET RANO 1.0 criteria are intended to encourage specific investigations of amino acid PET imaging of gliomas.

January 2024

Azour L, Goldin JG, Kruskal JB.

In April 2023, the first American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) Wellness Summit was held in Honolulu, Hawaii. The Summit was a communal call to action bringing together professionals from the field of radiology to critically review our current state of wellness and reimagine the role of radiology and radiologists to further wellbeing. The in-person and virtual Summit was available free-of-cost to all meeting registrants and included 12 sessions with 44 invited moderators and panelists. The Summit aimed to move beyond simply rehashing the repeated issues and offering theoretical solutions, and instead focus on intentional practice evolution, identifying implementable strategies so that we as a field can start to walk our wellness talk. Here, we first summarize the thematic discussions from the 2023 ARRS Wellness Summit, and second, share several strategic action items that emerged.

January 2024

Bilhim T, McWilliams JP, Bagla S.

We have read with great interest the updated American Urological Association (AUA) guidelines for the management of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH), which now include prostatic artery embolization (PAE) as a treatment alternative for symptomatic patients [1]. This is the culmination of a 15-year effort, beginning with animal studies and early human trials of PAE from 2008 to 2011 [2, 3], further informed by Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiological Society of Europe (CIRSE) and Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) consensus statements in 2014 and 2019 [4, 5], and ultimately driven by consistently positive results in large cohort studies, randomized controlled trials, and sham studies of PAE [6,7,8,9].

January 2024

Goel K, Phillips HW, Chen JS, Ngo J, Edmonds B, Ha PX, Wang A, Weil A, Russell BE, Salamon N, Nariai H, Fallah A.

OBJECTIVES: Hemimegalencephaly (HME) is a rare congenital brain malformation presenting predominantly with drug-resistant epilepsy. Hemispheric disconnective surgery is the mainstay of treatment; however, little is known about how postoperative outcomes compare across techniques. Thus we present the largest single-center cohort of patients with HME who underwent epilepsy surgery and characterize outcomes. METHODS: This observational study included patients with HME at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) from 1984 to 2021. Patients were stratified by surgical intervention: anatomic hemispherectomy (AH), functional hemispherectomy (FH), or less-than-hemispheric resection (LTH). Seizure freedom, functional outcomes, and operative complications were compared across surgical approaches. Regression analysis identified clinical and intraoperative variables that predict seizure outcomes.

January 2024

Huang A, Middleton JJ, Motamedi K.

Overuse or structural bony abnormalities of the scapulothoracic “articulation” make it susceptible to chronic friction, which can lead to bursitis and soft tissue changes. Clinically, scapulothoracic bursitis is associated with pain, crepitus, and scapular snapping. On physical examination, a firm, large subscapular mass may be present, sometimes with rapid growth. Asymptomatic cases without scapular snapping can be clinically indistinguishable from soft tissue tumors of the chest wall. Characteristic imaging findings of scapulothoracic bursitis include a well-circumscribed cystic mass, internal debris, and intralesional hemorrhage. Recognition of these characteristic findings is essential to avoid misinterpretation and unnecessary treatments. Here, we describe a case of an incidentally discovered, asymptomatic, fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-avid subscapular mass with typical imaging features of scapulothoracic bursitis. Additional imaging and histopathologic examination of sampled tissue confirmed the diagnosis. To our knowledge, this incidental...

January 2024

Lee EW, Eghtesad B, Garcia-Tsao G, Haskal ZJ, Hernandez-Gea V, Jalaeian H, Kalva SP, Mohanty A, Thabut D, Abraldes JG.

This is a comprehensive guidance on the use of interventional radiology endovascular techniques in the management of variceal hemorrhage from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD). This guidance document is complementary to the AASLD “Risk Stratification and Management of Portal Hypertension and Varices in Cirrhosis” guidance1 and addresses the recent advancements in these invasive procedures. Although the use of TIPS dates back to the 1980s, several new technical refinements in TIPS stents have occurred in the last few years. The other major addition to the management of gastric variceal hemorrhage in North America has been the introduction of retrograde transvenous obliteration (RTO) in its different forms. The present document aims to equip care providers with an in-depth understanding of the use of TIPS and/or variceal embolization/obliteration in the management of variceal hemorrhage. The goal is to facilitate multidisciplinary discussions between hepatologists, gastroenterologists, interventional radiologists, and surgeons in the selection of endovascular treatments for patients with variceal hemorrhage.

January 2024

McNulty CA. Narasimhalu T, Ghahremani Koureh S.

Primary synovial chondromatosis is an uncommon, benign synovial proliferative disorder rarely seen in children. The most commonly affected joint is the knee, followed by the hip. The symptoms of this condition are progressive and insidious and may include pain, joint stiffness, and swelling. Radiography is an appropriate first imaging modality that typically shows multiple calcified loose bodies within the affected joint space. Magnetic resonance imaging should then be performed to evaluate for the presence of noncalcified cartilaginous loose bodies and soft tissue involvement prior to surgical treatment that is necessary to prevent permanent joint damage. The recurrence of primary synovial chondromatosis is common, especially in cases of incomplete surgical excision. We report a case of primary synovial chondromatosis in a child. The diagnostic and the treatment considerations of the case are briefly discussed.

January 2024

Meng Q, Del Rosario I, Sung K, Janzen C, Devaskar SU, Carpenter CL, Ritz B.

INTRODUCTION: Epidemiological studies have linked prenatal maternal diet to fetal growth, but whether diet affects placental outcomes is poorly understood. METHODS: We collected past month dietary intake from 148 women in mid-pregnancy enrolled at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) antenatal clinics from 2016 to 2019. We employed the food frequency Diet History Questionnaire II and generated the Healthy Eating Index-2015 (HEI-2015), the Alternate Healthy Eating Index for Pregnancy (AHEI-P), and the Alternate Mediterranean Diet (aMED). We conducted T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in mid-pregnancy (1st during 14-17 and 2nd during 19-24 gestational weeks) to evaluate placental volume (cm3) and we measured placenta weight (g) at delivery. We estimated change and 95 % confidence interval (CI) in placental volume and associations of placenta weight with all dietary index scores and diet items using linear regression models.

January 2024

Patel KS, Yao J, Cho NS, Sanvito F, Tessema K, Alvarado A, Dudley L, Rodriguez F, Everson R, Cloughesy TF, Salamon N, Liau LM, Kornblum HI, Ellingson BM.

BACKGROUND: Given the invasive nature of glioblastoma, tumor cells exist beyond the contrast-enhancing (CE) region targeted during treatment. However, areas of non-enhancing (NE) tumors are difficult to visualize and delineate from edematous tissue. Amine chemical exchange saturation transfer echo planar imaging (CEST-EPI) is a pH-sensitive molecular magnetic resonance imaging technique that was evaluated in its ability to identify infiltrating NE tumors and prognosticate survival. METHODS: In this prospective study, CEST-EPI was obtained in 30 patients and areas with elevated CEST contrast ("CEST+" based on the asymmetry in magnetization transfer ratio: MTRasym at 3 ppm) within NE regions were quantitated. Median MTRasym at 3 ppm and volume of CEST + NE regions were correlated with progression-free survival (PFS). In 20 samples from 14 patients, image-guided biopsies of these areas were obtained to correlate MTRasym at 3 ppm to tumor and non-tumor cell burden using immunohistochemistry.

January 2024

Peeters SF, Colby GP, Kim WJ, Bae WI, Sparks H, Reitz K, Tateshima S, Jahan R, Szeder V, Nour M, Duckwiler GR, Vinuela F, Martin NA, Wang AC.

OBJECTIVE: Complex middle cerebral artery (MCA) aneurysms incorporating parent or branching vessels are often not amenable to standard microsurgical clipping or endovascular embolization treatments. We aim to discuss the treatment of such aneurysms via a combination of surgical revascularization and aneurysm exclusion based on our institutional experience. METHODS: Thirty-four patients with complex MCA aneurysms were treated with bypass and aneurysm occlusion, 5 with surgical clipping or wrapping only, and 1 with aneurysm excision and primary reanastomosis. Bypasses included superficial temporal artery (STA)-MCA, double-barrel STA-MCA, occipital artery-MCA, and external carotid artery-MCA. After bypass, aneurysms were treated by surgical clipping, Hunterian ligation, trapping, or coil embolization.

January 2024

Rahrooh A, Garlid AO, Bartlett K, Coons W, Petousis P, Hsu W, Bui AAT.

The development and deployment of machine learning (ML) models for biomedical research and healthcare currently lacks standard methodologies. Although tools for model replication are numerous, without a unifying blueprint it remains difficult to scientifically reproduce predictive ML models for any number of reasons (e.g., assumptions regarding data distributions and preprocessing, unclear test metrics, etc.) and ultimately, questions around generalizability and transportability are not readily answered. To facilitate scientific reproducibility, we built upon the Predictive Model Markup Language (PMML) to capture essential information. As a key component of the PREdictive Model Index and Exchange REpository (PREMIERE) platform, we present the Automated Metadata Pipeline (AMP) for conversion of a given predictive ML model into an extended PMML file that autocompletes an ML-based checklist, assessing model elements for interoperability and reproducibility. We demonstrate this pipeline on multiple test cases with three different ML algorithms and health-related datasets, providing a foundation for future predictive model reproducibility, sharing, and comparison.

January 2024

Winchester Z, Zhang A, Hathout G.

Fenestration of the internal carotid artery (ICA) is an extremely rare congenital abnormality thought to be secondary to incomplete segmental fusion of vessels at the early stages of their development. Fenestration is usually asymptomatic and often misdiagnosed as arterial dissection. Distinction between the two can be challenging on both magnetic resonance angiography and computed tomography angiography, and digital subtraction angiography must often be utilized for precise characterization of the abnormalities. Certain imaging features, namely the length of the involved arterial segment, the regularity of luminal contour, the symmetry of arterial limbs, and the absence/presence of fusiform dilatation of either limb, produced by noninvasive angiography have the potential to help distinguish between an ICA fenestration and dissection. We report a case of an asymptomatic, true fenestration of a short segment of ICA and discuss its imaging characteristics.

January 2024

Winkler MA, Spencer TR, Siddiqi N, Wallace JE, Gallien JZ, Elbalasi H, Issa M, Yu Q, Raissi D.

INTRODUCTION: This study evaluated a chlorhexidine-coated peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) and the incidence of associated complications within both inpatient and outpatient populations. METHODS: This IRB-approved, multicenter, prospective observational study was performed at three large teaching hospitals in the US. All adults who required a PICC for ≥14 days were considered. Patients were monitored throughout entire catheter dwell. Duplex venous ultrasounds were performed before insertion, after 10 to 14 days of dwell time, and upon removal. Data was collected from the hospital, outpatient clinic, and patient PICC diary records.