Current Medical Imaging - Volume 18, Issue 1, 2022

Background: Breast cancer has become a global problem. Though concerns regarding early detection and accurate diagnosis have been raised, continued efforts are required for the development of precision medicine. In the past years, the area of medicinal imaging has seen an unprecedented growth that has led to an advancement of radiomics, which provides countless quantitative biomarkers extracted from modern diagnostic images, including a detailed tumor characterization of breast malignancy. Discussion: In this review, we have presented the methodology and implementation of radiomics together with its future trends and challenges on the basis of published papers. Radiomics could distinguish malignant from benign tumors, predict prognostic factors, molecular subtypes of breast carcinoma, treatment response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), and recurrence survival. The incorporation of quantitative knowledge with clinical, histopathological, and genomic information will enable physicians to afford customized care of treatment for patients with breast cancer. Conclusion: This review was intended to help physicians and radiologists gain fundamental knowledge regarding radiomics, and also to work collaboratively with researchers to explore evidence for its further usage in clinical practice.

Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease, which has been declared as a global health issue by the World Health Organization in 1993. Due to the complex pathophysiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, it remains a global threat. This article reviews the conventional diagnostic modalities for tuberculosis, their limitations to detect latent TB, multiple drug resistant-TB, human immunodeficiency virus co-infected TB lesions, and TB in children. Moreover, this review illustrates the importance of nuclear medicine imaging for early, non-invasive diagnosis of TB, to detect disease stages and to monitor therapy response. Single-photon emission computed tomography and positron emission tomography with their particular radionuclides are now extensively being used for a thorough assessment of TB.

Background: Imaging measurement of distal femur and proximal tibia has been the hot point in the research of total knee arthroplasty and prosthesis development, which is an important treatment for patients with advanced knee joint disease. This study retrospectively investigated the digital imaging measurement of normal knee parameters in southeast China and evaluated their clinical value. Methods: From February 2010 to May 2014, and in accordance with the inclusion criteria, a total of 677 knees (334 female knees and 343 male knees) were categorized into 3 age groups. Clinical and digital imaging data, including the distal Femoral Condyle Diameter (FCD), Tibial Plateau Diameter (TPD), the distance between the medial tibial plateau and fibular head (DPF), tibiofemoral valgus angle, distal femoral valgus angle, Proximal Tibia (PT) varus angle and the angle from femoral condyle to tibial perpendicular (FT), were measured by using AutoCAD 10.0 software. All measured variables were statistically analyzed by SPSS statistical software (version 18.0). Results: Data are presented as the mean ± standard deviation. The normal female and male femoral condyle diameter was (7.69 ± 0.46) cm and (8.68 ± 0.55) cm, while the normal female and male tibial plateau diameter was (7.66 ± 0.46) cm and (8.60 ± 0.55) cm, respectively. The normal female and male DPF was (0.76 ± 0.36) cm and (0.79 ± 0.36) cm. For females and males, the tibiofemoral valgus angle and distal femoral valgus angle were (3.89 ± 2.20) ° and (3.29 ± 2.12) °, (9.03 ± 2.18) ° and (8.25 ± 2.20) °. As the two methods to measure tibial plateau varus angle, PT angle of normal female and male was (4.29 ± 1.86) ° and (4.84 ± 2.23) °, while the normal female and male FT angle was (5.34 ± 1.95) ° and (5.52 ± 2.07) °. Based on the data obtained, we found significant differences between the two genders in terms of the femoral condyle diameter and tibial plateau diameter in all age groups (P < 0.01). The DPF parameter showed an obvious difference between the young group and the middle-aged group (P < 0.05), and no significant difference was observed between the sides and genders (P > 0.05). The distal femoral valgus angle showed statistical differences between genders in the left side of the young group and middle-aged group (P < 0.05), while angle PT and FT showed no significant difference (P > 0.05). Conclusion: A large number of knee measurements was obtained, and a local knee database was developed in this study. Imaging measurement prior to total knee arthroplasty is clinically important for increasing the accuracy and long-term efficacy of total knee arthroplasty. These data can also provide useful information for knee surgery and sports medicine as well as prosthesis development.

Objective: This study aimed to investigate the feasibility of low-dose chest CT acquisition protocol for the imaging of COVID 19 disease or suspects of this disease in adults. Methods: In this retrospective case-control study, the study group consisted of 141 patients who were imaged with low dose chest CT acquisition protocol. The control group consisted of 92 patients who were imaged with standard protocol. Anteroposterior and lateral diameters of chest, effective diameter and scan length, qualitative and quantitative noise levels, volumetric CT dose index (CTDIvol), dose length product (DLP), and size-specific dose estimations were compared between groups. Results: Radiation dose reduction by nearly 90% (CTDIvol and DLP values 1.06 mGy and 40.3 mGy.cm vs. 8.07 mGy and 330 mGy.cm, respectively; p < 0.001) was achieved with the use of low-dose acquisition chest CT protocol. Despite higher image noise with low-dose acquisition protocol, no significant effect on diagnostic confidence was encountered. Cardiac and diaphragm movement-related artifacts were similar in both groups (p=0.275). Interobserver agreement was very good in terms of diagnostic confidence assessment. Conclusion: For the imaging of COVID-19 pneumonia or suspects of this disease in adults, lowdose chest CT acquisition protocol provides remarkable radiation dose reduction without adversely affecting image quality and diagnostic confidence.

Background: Chronic Pelvic Pain (CPP) is a common complaint in women, and is the key factor in the diagnosis of Pelvic Congestion Syndrome (PCS). Introduction: Consecutive abdominal and pelvic Computed Tomography (CT) scans in adult female patients not diagnosed with PCS and collected over a period of 3 years were evaluated retrospectively to determine the prevalence of underestimated Pelvic Congestion (PC). Methods: 500 consecutive abdominal and pelvic CT scans collected from female patients aged 18-80 years were retrospectively analyzed for the presence of PC. Results: 90 of the CT scans examined showed the presence of PC (18%). These patients were divided into two groups: Group I had 52 scans with unilateral PC, while Group II had 38 scans with the bilateral enlarged Ovarian Vein (OV). Left and right OV diameters were measured as 7.14±2.15 and 5.56±1.87 mm, respectively. Co-occurrence of additional vascular anomalies, such as nutcracker- type compression of the left renal vein, and May Thurner, was significantly higher in Group I than Group II (p<0.001). The diameter of the OV remained wide irrespective of age in Group I, but showed a decrease with increasing age in Group II. The most common complaint was abdominal pain; these patients required an average of six referrals to two different clinics (primarily general surgery and internal medicine) before being diagnosed with PC. Conclusion: The diagnosis of PCS remains to be an important problem for patients because of insufficient perception of physicians. PCS should be considered in female patients with complaints of chronic abdominal and pelvic pain and CT may be a valuable examination tool for diagnosis.

Background: Takayasu’s Arteritis (TA) is a large vessel vasculitis with diverse clinical presentations and arterial vascular bed involvement.It is characterized by chronic, nonspecific inflammation of all layers of the vessel wall which results in stenosis, occlusion, dilatation, or aneurysm formation in the involved blood vessels. Methods: The study included 36 patients of TA. All patients fulfilled the modified Ishikawa’s diagnostic criteria for TA. All patients were evaluated for clinical presentation, angiographic findings, and severity of the disease. The disease activity was assessed based on Erythrocyte Sedimentation Rate (ESR) and C-Reactive Protein (CRP) and also by CT Angiography (CTA)/Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) imaging. The angiographic types were classified based on the International TA Conference in Tokyo 1994 angiographic classification. Results: A total of 36 patients were included in the study, 86% were females and a mean age of 21.6 years. Hypertension (78%) was the most common clinical presentation. Type V was the most common angiographic type (42%) followed by type III (25%), type IV (14%), type IIb (11%), type I (5%) and type IIa (3%). Among the aortic arch branches the left subclavian artery (50%), right subclavian artery (38.8%), left vertebral artery (33.3%) and left common carotid artery (27.7%) were the most commonly involved arteries. Disease activity based on CT / MR imaging showed a significant statistical correlation with elevated ESR and positive CRP (p < 0.0001). Mediastinal lymphadenopathy was seen in 21 patients out of which 11 had active disease. However, no significant correlation was found between mediastinal lymphadenopathy and disease activity. Conclusion: TA presents with varied symptomatology and differing vascular involvement. CT/MR angiography is effective in diagnosis and accurately predicted the active stage of the disease.

Background: Early diagnosis of liver cancer may increase life expectancy. Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) play a vital role in diagnosing liver cancer. Together, both modalities offer significant individual and specific diagnosis data to physicians; however, they lack the integration of both types of information. To address this concern, a registration process has to be utilized for the purpose, as multimodal details are crucial in providing the physician with complete information. Objective: The aim was to present a model of CT-MRI registration used to diagnose liver cancer, specifically for improving the quality of the liver images and provide all the required information for earlier detection of the tumors. This method should concurrently address the issues of imaging procedures for liver cancer to fasten the detection of the tumor from both modalities. Methods: In this work, a registration scheme for fusing the CT and MRI liver images is studied. A feature point-based method with normalized cross-correlation has been utilized to aid in the diagnosis of liver cancer and provide multimodal information to physicians. Data on ten patients from an online database were obtained. For each dataset, three planar views from both modalities were interpolated and registered using feature point-based methods. The registration of algorithms was carried out by MATLAB (vR2019b, Mathworks, Natick, USA) on an Intel (R) Core (TM) i5-5200U CPU @ 2.20 GHz computer. The accuracy of the registered image is being validated qualitatively and quantitatively. Results: The results show that an accurate registration is obtained with minimal distance errors by which CT and MRI were accurately registered based on the validation of the experts. The RMSE ranges from 0.02 to 1.01 for translation, which is equivalent in magnitude to approximately 0 to 5 pixels for CT and registered image resolution. Conclusion: The CT-MRI registration scheme can provide complementary information on liver cancer to physicians, thus improving the diagnosis and treatment planning process.

Background: Dynamic Contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (DCE-MRI) technique could not only quantify blood-retinal barrier (BRB) breakdown leading to macular edema associated with diabetes, but also provide a two-dimensional imaging method that is not interfered by refracting media. Objective: The current study was aimed to evaluate the macular change in the patients with diabetic retinopathy using DCE-MRI technique. Methods: Twenty patients with Diabetic Retinopathy (DR) and 20 Normal Controls (NC) were included. The fast spoiled gradient echo sequence was used to perform dynamic contrast T1WI enhancement on 3.0T MR system. The macular region, optic papila and nasal retina were performed with quantitative DCE-MRI evaluation using Omni-Kinetics software. Results: The maximal concentration, the area under the concentration-time curve (AUCconcentration-time) and maximal slope of macular region were significantly higher in DR [0.270(0.03,1.20)mmol/ 100ml, 2.71(0.04,9.91) mmol*min and 0.38(0.06,3.18) mmol/min, respectively] than that [0.169(0.03,0.72) mmol/1.25(0.13,10.41) mmol*min and 0.245(0.06,1.34) mmol/min] in NC (U value = 515.00 and P value = 0.080, U value = 433.00 and P value = 0.000, and U value = 563.00 and P value = 0.023, respectively). The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis demonstrated that the area under AUCconcentration-time was 0.729±0.058 with the cut-off value 1.479 mmol*min (sensitivity 80.00% and specificity 62.50%) for macular region. Conclusion: The quantitative DCE-MRI technique could be used to evaluate the maculopathy associated with diabetic retinopathy.

Background: Castleman Disease (CD) of the kidney is extremely rare. In this study, we have presented a case of CD of the left kidney and comprehensively described the findings of computed tomography urography. Case Presentation: The case involved unusual imaging characteristics of the focal central cystic area. Conclusion: The small and regular cyst-like structures and the hyperdense mass relative to the renal parenchyma in plain scans might help distinguish the CD of the kidney from other hypervascular tumors.

Introduction: Zinner syndrome is a rare congenital abnormality defined by a clinical triad of unilateral renal agenesis, ipsilateral seminal vesicle cyst, and ipsilateral ejaculatory duct obstruction. Case Presentation: Most patients are asymptomatic, but if the cystic dilatation of the seminal vesicle becomes significant, it can result in urinary symptoms such as dysuria and urinary retention. This rare developmental anomaly related to mesonephric duct can also present with other abnormalities. Conclusion: Here, we report our experience of Zinner syndrome with bladder outlet obstruction and an ectopic ureter remnant.

Background: Vaginal adenosis is a rare clinicopathological entity which refers to the presence of glandular endometrial tissue in the vaginal wall. Case Report: A gravida 2 para 0 46-year-old woman presented to the gynecology department with symptoms of chronic pelvic pain. Maternal Diethylstilbestrol (DES) usage has been proven to be effective in the development of vaginal adenosis. It can also be idiopathic. Its sonographic or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) findings have not been described in English literature previously. Conclusion: Here, we report the clinical, transperineal ultrasonographic (US) and MRI findings of a pathologically proven case of vaginal adenosis.

Background: Lipomas are benign fatty tumors made of fat tissue. Bladder lipomas are extremely rare. For this reason, it is necessary to be aware of the imaging features when incidentally detected in imaging. Case Report: In the abdominal Computed Tomography (CT) performed as part of the follow-up examination of a 43-year-old patient, who had undergone surgery for adrenal adenoma five years earlier, a 14x9x8 mm smoothly marginated, ovoid-shaped, hypodense mass lesion with a homogeneous internal structure was detected in the anterior bladder wall. The pre-contrast density of the lesion was measured as -105 HU. The magnetic resonance imaging performed one year after the CT examination revealed a 14x9x8 intramural mass in the bladder wall, showing protrusion toward the lumen. The mass was observed to be markedly hypointense on fat-suppressed T1 and T2-weighted images and considered to be consistent with a bladder lipoma. Discussion: Bladder lipomas are benign lesions that can vary in clinical presentations but usually cause hematuria. In imaging, bladder lipomas are present as homogeneous lesions containing macroscopic fat. The differential diagnosis of bladder lipomas includes other mesenchymal rare benign tumors that can arise from the submucosal layer of the urinary bladder including leiomyoma, hemangioma, plasmacytoma, fibroma, and neurofibroma. Only the liposarcoma and pelvic lipomatosis could show similar features. The less differentiated liposarcomas tend to present more heterogeneous enhancement, irregular-shaped margins, and infiltrative behaviour. Also, appropriate multiplanar reconstructions may allow the radiologist to determine if it is an extravesical pelvic lipomatosis. Conclusion: Using CT and MRI, the lesions that are rich in adipose tissue can be distinguished from other lesions, and their diagnosis can be made to a great extent. However, a histopathological examination is required for a definitive diagnosis.

Background: Intracranial lipomas are very rare congenital malformations. Previous studies have shown various brain anomalies related to intracranial lipomas, most of which are agenesis or dysgenesis of the adjacent structures. To the best of our knowledge, cortical dysplasia related to intracranial lipoma has yet to be reported. Case Report: We present a rare case of intracranial lipoma in the quadrigeminal and superior cerebellar cisterns with combined cerebellar cortical dysplasia. A 43-year-old female underwent brain MRI to identify possible cause of headache. We made a confident diagnosis based on MR findings using Dixon technique, which is a fat-water separation method based on chemical shift. We also identified unique combined abnormalities of the right cerebellar hemisphere near the cisternal lipoma that showed an abnormal vertical orientation of the cerebellar folia and disorganized parenchymal Conclusion: This case exhibits the rareness of the intracranial lipoma related cerebellar cortical dysplasia by reviewing relevant literature and also highlights the usefulness of Dixon techniques in daily clinical practice.

Introduction: Gangliocytic paraganglioma is an extremely rare tumor that is composed of epithelioid, ganglion, and spindle cells. It has a predilection site in the duodenum, especially the periampullary region. The clinical course is usually benign, but a few cases of metastasis to lymph nodes or distant sites have been noted. Several case reports or small series reviews of gangliocytic paraganglioma have been published, but so far, cecal gangliocytic paraganglioma has not been described. Case Description: A 61-year-old man underwent an abdominal Computed Tomography (CT) scan for known GB stones, which revealed an incidental cecal mass. The patient underwent wedge resection of the cecum for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes. Histopathological examination of the cecal mass identified a gangliocytic paraganglioma. There was no evidence of metastasis in the dissected regional lymph nodes. No additional treatment, such as adjuvant chemotherapy or radiotherapy, was administered, and the patient underwent regular follow-up without any complications. Conclusion: The most common radiologic finding in gangliocytic paraganglioma is a circumscribed, enhancing subepithelial mass. Herein, we report an uncommon case of cecal-origin gangliocytic paraganglioma. With knowledge of the radiologic and histologic characteristics of gangliocytic paraganglioma, appropriate management can be provided without unnecessary radical resection.

Introduction: True thymic hyperplasia following chemotherapy has been described mostly in children. There are a few cases of thymus hyperplasia that have been reported in breast cancer patients. Diagnosis of this unusual entity is very crucial to pretend unnecessary surgery or interventional diagnostic procedures. Case Presentation: We report a case of thymus hyperplasia in a patient who was operated and treated with adjuvant chemotherapy for stage 2 breast cancer two years ago. In the follow-up CT scans, an anterior mediastinal mass was noted. Radiologic evaluation and follow-up revealed thymus enlargement. Discussion: Thymic hyperplasia following chemotherapy has been described in both children and adults, but occurs mostly in children and adolescents treated for lymphoma and several other types of tumors. Few cases are reported in literature describing thymus hyperplasia following chemotherapy in a breast cancer patient. The imaging findings of thymic hyperplasia on CT, MRI and PET CT are discussed. Conclusion: Radiologists must be aware of this unusual finding in breast cancer patients treated with chemotherapy to guide the clinicians appropriately in order to avoid unnecessary surgical intervention, additional invasive diagnostic procedures, or chemotherapy.