Metal artifact reduction and clinical verification in oral and maxillofacial region based on deep learning / 中华口腔医学杂志

Objective: To construct a kind of neural network for eliminating the metal artifacts in CT images by training the generative adversarial networks (GAN) model, so as to provide reference for clinical practice. Methods: The CT data of patients treated in the Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Stomatology, Sichuan University from January 2017 to June 2022 were collected. A total of 1 000 cases of artifact-free CT data and 620 cases of metal artifact CT data were obtained, including 5 types of metal restorative materials, namely, fillings, crowns, titanium plates and screws, orthodontic brackets and metal foreign bodies. Four hundred metal artifact CT data and 1 000 artifact-free CT data were utilized for simulation synthesis, and 1 000 pairs of simulated artifacts and metal images and simulated metal images (200 pairs of each type) were constructed. Under the condition that the data of the five metal artifacts were equal, the entire data set was randomly (computer random) divided into a training set (800 pairs) and a test set (200 pairs). The former was used to train the GAN model, and the latter was used to evaluate the performance of the GAN model. The test set was evaluated quantitatively and the quantitative indexes were root-mean-square error (RMSE) and structural similarity index measure (SSIM). The trained GAN model was employed to eliminate the metal artifacts from the CT data of the remaining 220 clinical cases of metal artifact CT data, and the elimination results were evaluated by two senior attending doctors using the modified LiKert scale. Results: The RMSE values for artifact elimination of fillings, crowns, titanium plates and screws, orthodontic brackets and metal foreign bodies in test set were 0.018±0.004, 0.023±0.007, 0.015±0.003, 0.019±0.004, 0.024±0.008, respectively (F=1.29, P=0.274). The SSIM values were 0.963±0.023, 0.961±0.023, 0.965±0.013, 0.958±0.022, 0.957±0.026, respectively (F=2.22, P=0.069). The intra-group correlation coefficient of 2 evaluators was 0.972. For 220 clinical cases, the overall score of the modified LiKert scale was (3.73±1.13), indicating a satisfactory performance. The scores of modified LiKert scale for fillings, crowns, titanium plates and screws, orthodontic brackets and metal foreign bodies were (3.68±1.13), (3.67±1.16), (3.97±1.03), (3.83±1.14), (3.33±1.12), respectively (F=1.44, P=0.145). Conclusions: The metal artifact reduction GAN model constructed in this study can effectively remove the interference of metal artifacts and improve the image quality.

Association between single nucleotide polymorphisms of apolipoprotein E gene and epileptic drug resistance / 中华神经科杂志

Objective To investigate the possible association between two single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) loci of apolipoprotein E (ApoE) gene and epileptic drug resistance in a central Chinese Han population.Methods A case control study was performed in 364 epileptic patients.According to the criteria of drug resistant epilepsy proposed by International League Against Epilepsy in 2010,143 patients were classified into drug resistant group and 221 patients into drug responsive group.The peripheral venous blood of each patient was collected for DNA extraction after clinical evaluation.The candidate ApoE SNPs loci,including rs7412 and rs769450,were genotyped by BeadChip Scanning and GoldenGate Assay following the Illumina protocols.The differences in allelic and genotypic frequency were compared between groups.Linkage disequilibrium was calculated through SHEsis platform.Results There was no significant difference for genotype or allele of rs7412 between groups.The GG genotype (OR =2.038,95％ CI 1.196-3.475,P=0.009) and G allele (OR =1.618,95％CI 1.193-2.193,P=0.002) of rs7412 were significantly more abundant in the drug resistant group.As for idiopathic epileptic patients,the GG genotype (OR =2.110,95％ CI 1.189-3.744,P =0.011) and G allele (OR =1.641,95％ CI 1.187-2.270,P =0.003) of rs7412 were still significantly more abundant in the drug resistant group.There was no linkage disequilibrium between the two loci with D' value of 0.072.Conclusion The GG genotype and G allele of ApoE rs769450 may be associated with epileptic drug resistance in a central Chinese Han population.