Current Issue : April - June Volume : 2021 Issue Number : 2 Articles : 5 Articles
Background: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) allows for dynamic analysis of vascularization patterns of unclear hepatic lesions. Our study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of CEUS for further characterizing suspicious liver lesions by comparing findings from CEUS examinations with corresponding histopathology. Methods: Between 2005 and 2016, 160 patients with unclear liver lesions underwent CEUS followed by liver biopsy. All examinations were performed by an experienced consultant radiologist (EFSUMB Level 3) and included native B-mode ultrasound, Color Doppler, and CEUS. A second-generation blood pool contrast agent was applied for CEUS. Results: CEUS was successfully performed in all patients without occurrence of any adverse side effects. CEUS showed a sensitivity of 94.5%, a specificity of 70.6%, a true positive rate of 87.3%, and a true negative rate of 85.7% compared to histopathological results as the reference standard. Conclusions: CEUS represents a safe imaging modality with a high diagnostic accuracy in assessing both—benign and malignant—liver lesions compared to corresponding histopathological results....
Background: Blunt thoracic and abdominal traumas are frequent and have a poor prognosis in the absence of prompt diagnosis and adequate management. An ultrasound performed in the emergency room allows a precise diagnosis and a better orientation of the victims. Objective: To assess the contribution of EFAST ultrasound in the management of blunt thoracic and abdominal traumas. Patients and method: Cross-sectional descriptive and analytical study with prospective data collection carried out from February 20th to August 20th, 2017 in the emergency and intensive care units of the Parakou University Hospital Centre. An ultrasound machine fitted with a 3.5 MHz convex probe was used to search for post-traumatic effusion by the EFAST technique on admission and then as needed over 24 hours and after surgery. Results: Sixty-three patients were collected with an 85.71% male predominance. The average age was 31.36 ± 13.29 years. The time to perform the EFAST ultrasound was 7 ± 3 min. EFAST was positive in 50.79% of patients. Five patients (7.93%) received emergency treatment for hemodynamic instability and positive EFAST within an average of 3.46 ± 2 hours. Eighteen patients (27.58%) received after monitoring by EFAST, surgery within 9 hours 12 minutes (hemoperitoneum) and 27 hours 58 minutes (hemothorax). Two patients were tested positively for EFAST after surgery. Conclusion: The introduction of an EFAST ultrasound as a sorting tool in an environment with limited resources is desirable and feasible....
Introduction: Sonography is the most universally used imaging technique for planning and performing thermal ablation in Hepatocellular carcinoma patients due to its efficiency and safety. However, the presence of HCC nodules that are hardly visible on traditional sonography is a major drawback to its use during thermal ablation. Real-time image fusion (fusion imaging) or realtime virtual sonography is a new technology that has been developed. Aim: To determine the value of fusion/navigation guided percutaneous thermal ablation in the management of hepatocellular carcinoma that has poor conspicuity at conventional sonography. Subjects and Methods: This study included 70 HCC patients (BCLC A and B). Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation was done via real-time image fusion for 14 patients with poorly visible HCC nodules (study group), while Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation was done via traditional sonography for 56 patients with HCC nodules (control group). Results: The median time to reach the tumor was significantly shorter by using fusion navigation technique (P = 0.034). By using fusion navigation technique 92% of the lesions were completely ablated while 55% only were completely ablated by using ultrasonography (P = 0.014). One year after the procedure , by using fusion navigation technique 92% of the patients had complete response and only 55% of the patients had complete response by using conventional ultrasonography (P = 0.011). The survival distributions for both interventions were statistically significantly different, χ 2 = 10.12, P = 0.001. Conclusion: Fusion imaging-guided percutaneous RFA is a reasonable and efficient treatment of patients with HCC undetectable by traditional ultrasonography....
Purpose: Computed tomography is a leading imaging technique for head & neck and brain and most of these imaging protocols iodine-based contrast media are utilised. The chief aim of this research is to utilize the effects of the contrast media “CM” used in computed tomography “CT” which is used to enhance subject contrast on the delivered CT via its inclusion into the CT dose index “CTDI”, and to introduce a simple method to determine this effect via the available CT numbers at the imaged targets. Method: The CT dose increase is estimated theoretically and measured experimentally and then related to the average CT number in the volume of CM uptake. A factor dependent on CM concentration and beam energy is added to the CTDI equation to represent the increased dose burden. A simple holed Perspex phantom was built to measure the variation of imaged CT number. CT Gafchromic type film was alternately imaged in a reservoir of CM and water. The relative difference in the dose burden as obtained by scanning the two films represents the dose difference and hence the CM dependent increase. Results: Measured dose effects due to the inclusion of the CM varied depending on the concentration. The increase in dose is estimated to be about 17% for 20% contrast media in the target while that for 10% by volume is around 6.6%. These are estimated from the CT numbers. Patients’ data also shows influence of the CM on the CTDI values. Conclusion: The dosimetric effects of the contrast media are included into the CTDI and can be estimated by using the CT numbers obtained....
Background: This study aims to compare proton density weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) zero echo time (ZTE) and head atlas attenuation correction (AC) to the reference standard computed tomography (CT) based AC for 11C-methionine positron emission tomography (PET)/MRI. Methods: A retrospective cohort of 14 patients with suspected or confirmed brain tumour and 11C-Methionine PET/ MRI was included in the study. For each scan, three AC maps were generated: ZTE–AC, atlas-AC and reference standard CT-AC. Maximum and mean standardised uptake values (SUV) were measured in the hotspot, mirror region and frontal cortex. In postoperative patients (n = 8), SUV values were additionally obtained adjacent to the metal implant and mirror region. Standardised uptake ratios (SUR) hotspot/mirror, hotspot/cortex and metal/mirror were then calculated and analysed with Bland–Altman, Pearson correlation and intraclass correlation reliability in the overall group and subgroups. Results: ZTE–AC demonstrated narrower SD and 95% CI (Bland–Altman) than atlas-AC in the hotspot analysis for all groups (ZTE overall ≤ 2.84, − 1.41 to 1.70; metal ≤ 1.67, − 3.00 to 2.20; non-metal ≤ 3.04, − 0.96 to 3.38; Atlas overall ≤ 4.56, − 1.05 to 3.83; metal ≤ 3.87, − 3.81 to 4.64; non-metal ≤ 4.90, − 1.68 to 5.86). The mean bias for both ZTE– AC and atlas-AC was ≤ 2.4% compared to CT-AC. In the metal region analysis, ZTE–AC demonstrated a narrower mean bias range—closer to zero—and narrower SD and 95% CI (ZTE 0.21–0.48, ≤ 2.50, − 1.70 to 2.57; Atlas 0.56–1.54, ≤ 4.01, − 1.81 to 4.89). The mean bias for both ZTE–AC and atlas-AC was within 1.6%. A perfect correlation (Pearson correlation) was found for both ZTE–AC and atlas-AC compared to CT-AC in the hotspot and metal analysis (ZTE ρ 1.00, p < 0.0001; atlas ρ 1.00, p < 0.0001). An almost perfect intraclass correlation coefficient for absolute agreement was found between Atlas-, ZTE and CT maps for maxSUR and meanSUR values in all the analyses (ICC > 0.99). Conclusions: Both ZTE and atlas-AC showed a good performance against CT-AC in patients with brain tumour....
Loading....