Mamografía con contraste: nuestra experiencia / Contrast-enhanced digital mammography: our experience

Resumen La mamografía contrastada (CEDM, contrast-enhanced digital mammography) es una herramienta nueva que ha ido implementándose de forma creciente. Aparece como alternativa a la resonancia magnética (RM), y al igual que esta, tiene como principio el uso de contraste endovenoso para explorar la angiogénesis tumoral. Combina la imagen de mamografía convencional (Mx) con la técnica de sustracción con energía dual poscontraste, lo que resulta en un incremento en la detección de cáncer de mama, en un tiempo corto de estudio y a un bajo costo. Es un método prometedor en casos seleccionados y de fácil lectura, siendo útil principalmente en pacientes con diagnóstico de cáncer de mama para detectar lesiones adicionales y determinar el tamaño tumoral, ayudando en la planificación quirúrgica, así como también en la evaluación de la respuesta a la neoadyuvancia. También en el seguimiento de pacientes operadas, para caracterizar lesiones dudosas en Mx y ecografía, o como alternativa ante contraindicación de la RM. El objetivo de este trabajo es valorar la utilidad de la mamografía contrastada en la práctica diaria y determinar sus principales indicaciones. Repasamos con casos propios las utilidades y características del método.

Abstract Contrast-enhanced digital mammography (CEDM) is an emerging tool that has been increasingly implemented. It appears as an alternative to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), using intravenous contrast to explore tumor angiogenesis. It combines conventional mammography (Mx) with post-contrast dual energy subtraction technique, resulting in increased detection of breast cancer, in a short study time and at a low cost. It is a promising method in selected cases and easy to read, being useful mainly in patients with breast cancer to detect additional lesions and determine the tumor size, that helps surgical planning, as well as in the evaluation of post-neoadjuvant chemotherapy response in the follow-up of patients treated with surgery, to address inconclusive findings in screening mammogram, or as an alternative when MRI is contraindicated. The purpose of this article is to assess the usefulness of contrasted mammography in daily practice and to determine its main indications. We review with our own cases the applications and characteristics of this method.

Value for combination of T1WI star -VIBE with TWIST -VIBE dynamic contrast -enhanced MRI in distinguishing lung nodules / 中南大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVES@#With the increasing detection rate of lung nodules, the qualitative problem of lung nodules has become one of the key clinical issues. This study aims to evaluate the value of combining dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI based on time-resolved imaging with interleaved stochastic trajectories-volume interpolated breath hold examination (TWIST-VIBE) with T1 weighted free-breathing star-volumetric interpolated breath hold examination (T1WI star-VIBE) in identifying benign and malignant lung nodules.@*METHODS@#We retrospectively analyzed 79 adults with undetermined lung nodules before the operation. All nodules of patients included were classified into malignant nodules (n=58) and benign nodules (n=26) based on final diagnosis. The unenhanced T1WI-VIBE, the contrast-enhanced T1WI star-VIBE, and the DCE curve based on TWIST-VIBE were performed. The corresponding qualitative [wash-in time, wash-out time, time to peak (TTP), arrival time (AT), positive enhancement integral (PEI)] and quantitative parameters [volume transfer constant (Ktrans), interstitium-to-plasma rate constant (Kep), and fractional extracellular space volume (Ve)] were evaluated. Besides, the diagnostic efficacy (sensitivity and specificity) of enhanced CT and MRI were compared.@*RESULTS@#There were significant differences in unenhanced T1WI-VIBE hypo-intensity, and type of A, B, C DCE curve type between benign and malignant lung nodules (all P<0.001). Pulmonary malignant nodules had a shorter wash-out time than benign nodules (P=0.001), and the differences of the remaining parameters were not statistically significant (all P>0.05). After T1WI star-VIBE contrast-enhanced MRI, the image quality was further improved. Compared with enhanced CT scan, the sensitivity (82.76% vs 80.50%) and the specificity (69.23% vs 57.10%) based on MRI were higher than that of CT (both P<0.001).@*CONCLUSIONS@#T1WI star-VIBE and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI based on TWIST-VIBE were helpful to improve the image resolution and provide more information for clinical differentiation between benign and malignant lung nodules.

Diagnostic value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma / 中华肝脏病杂志

Objective: To investigate the features of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEHE) in order to improve the preoperative diagnosis rate. Methods: CEUS images of 32 pathologically-proven cases of hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma from January 2004 to August 2021 were collected. Lesions were analyzed to observe the features of enhancement mode, enhancement intensity, and distinct enhancement phases. Results: Among the 32 cases, one had a solitary lesion, 29 had multiple lesions, and two had diffuse-type lesions. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound revealed a total of 42 lesions in 32 cases. In terms of arterial phase enhancement, 18 lesions had overall enhancement, six lesions had uneven dendritic enhancement, 16 lesions had rim-like enhancement, and two lesions had just slight peripheral spot enhancement around the lesions. Among the three cases, there were multiple lesions that had overall enhancement and ring enhancement. In terms of the enhancement phase, 20 lesions showed "fast progression", 20 lesions showed "same progression", and two lesions showed "slow progression". During the late arterial or early portal venous phases with rapid washout, all lesions manifested as hypoechoic. With peaked enhanced intensity, 11 lesions had a lower enhancement intensity than the surrounding normal liver parenchyma; 11 lesions had the same enhancement degree as the surrounding normal liver parenchyma; and 20 lesions had a higher enhancement degree than the surrounding normal liver parenchyma. All 16 ring-enhancing lesions had marked hyperenhancement. In the typical enhancing lesions, four showed hyperenhancement, five showed low enhancement, and nine showed isoenhancement. In the dendrite-enhancing lesions, there were two isoenhancing and four hypoenhancing. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound delineated the boundaries of all lesions more clearly than two-dimensional ultrasound. Conclusion: Contrast-enhanced ultrasound has certain value in the diagnosis of hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma.

Value of Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound in Sentinel Lymph Node after Primary Breast Cancer Resection / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

ObjectiveTo investigate the value of percutaneous and intravenous contrast-enhanced ultrasound（P-Ⅳ-CEUS） in sentinel lymph nodes（SLNs） after resection of early-stage primary breast cancer. MethodsA retrospective analysis was done on the clinical and imaging data of 42 early breast cancer patients. Following primary tumor resection， all these patients underwent reoperation in our hospital. SLNs were examined by preoperative P-Ⅳ-CEUS and intraoperative sentinel lymph node biopsy（SLNB） was performed by using Methylene blue as a tracer. Then we analyzed the detection and false-negative rate in CEUS and SLNB respectively. By using the surgical pathological results as the gold standard， the diagnostic efficacy of CEUS for SLNs was explored. ResultsThe detection rate and false negative rate of SLNs in percutaneous contrast-enhanced ultrasound （P-CEUS） were 92.9% （39/42） and 7.1% （3/42）， respectively. The detection rate in methylene blue staining was 100% （41/41） and one patient underwent neoadjuvant therapy due to biopsy-confirmed metastasis. The sensitivity， specificity， positive predictive value， negative predictive value and accuracy of P-Ⅳ-CEUS were 66.7% （2/3）， 100% （37/37）， 100% （2/2）， 97.3% （36/37） and 97.4% （38/39）， respectively. ConclusionsP-Ⅳ-CEUS after resection of early-stage primary breast cancer can accurately detect SLNs and characterize their status， which is a reliable clinical basis for reducing invasive SLNB.

Application progress on contrast-enhanced ultrasound in acute rejection after kidney transplantation / 器官移植

Early diagnosis of acute rejection is of significance for the protection of renal allograft function. Pathological puncture biopsy is the gold standard for the diagnosis of acute rejection of renal allografts. Nevertheless, it may provoke multiple complications, such as bleeding, infection and renal parenchymal injury, which limit its widespread application. In recent years, the sensitivity of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the diagnosis of acute rejection has been constantly improved. Ultrasound-targeted microbubble technique has further enhanced the diagnostic specificity of contrast-enhanced ultrasound, making it possible to replace pathological puncture biopsy. Besides, in the field of acute rejection treatment, microbubble ultrasonic cavitation may promote local delivery of immunosuppressants by inducing sonoporation and exhibit anti-rejection effect. In this article, the application of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the diagnosis and treatment of acute rejection after kidney transplantation was reviewed, aiming to provide reference for widespread application of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in kidney transplantation.

Therapeutic Effect of Canagliflozin on Nephrotic Syndrome and Its Ultrasonic Evaluation / 中山大学学报(医学科学版)

ObjectiveTo investigate the therapeutic effect of antidiabetic drug canagliflozin （CGLZ） on adriamycin-induced nephrotic syndrome （NS） in rats， and the evaluation of contrast-enhanced ultrasound （CEUS） combined with color Doppler flow imaging （CDFI） during the treatment. MethodsA total of 56 male SD rats were randomly divided into normal group （NG）， model group （MG）， prednisone （PAT） group （PG）， low-dose single CGLZ group （LSCG）， high-dose single CGLZ group （HSCG）， low-dose CGLZ + PAT group （LUCG） and high-dose CGLZ + PAT group （HUCG）， with 8 rats in each group. The NS model in rats was induced by injecting adriamycin twice into the tail vein， and then the NS rats were treated by intragastric administration daily for 6 weeks with reference of PAT. Twenty-four hour urine total protein （24 h-UTP） was assessed one day before the start of oral administration and at the end of 2， 4 and 6 weeks after oral administration， respectively. CDFI and CEUS were performed on the right renal artery at the end of 6 weeks after oral administration， and the blood of abdominal aorta was taken for serological test the next day. ResultsCompared with those detection index of NG rats， the 24-hour UTP of MG rats increased （P＜0.01）， the serum ALB decreased and TG， TC， LDL increased （P＜0.01）， and CDFI shows that RRCT was thinner （P＜0.01） and the renal artery blood flow indicators RA-PI， RA-RI， RA-S/D all increased （P＜0.05）， and CEUS image shows that the TIC curve parameters TTP， AT， AUC all increased and DPI decrease in MG rats （P＜0.01）. After drug treatment， compared with those detection index of MG rats， 24 h-UTP decrease in LSCG after 2 weeks （P＜0.01）， and decrease significantly in all drug groups after 6 weeks （P＜0.01）； the serological test results show that the serum ALB in all CGLZ groups increased （P＜0.05）， TG decrease in LSCG （P＜0.01）， TC and LDL also decrease in LUCG after 6 weeks （P＜0.05）； CDFI shows that the RRCT thinning degree in all CGLZ is reduced （P＜0.01）， and the RA-PI in LSCG， RA-RI in PG， and RA-S/D in PG， LSCG， HSCG and LUCG rats all decreased （P＜0.05）； CEUS shows that the TTP， AT and AUC of renal TIC curve in drug treatment groups all decreased （P＜0.01）， and the DPI in PG， HSCG， LUCG and HUCG rats increased （P＜0.01）. ConclusionsCGLZ has the effect of treating NS， and the small dose is the best. CEUS combined with CDFI can be used to evaluate the renal morphology and hemodynamic changes of NS model rats before and after drug treatment， which is helpful to guide clinical application.

Intraoperative contrast-enhanced ultrasound guided surgery for isoechoic completely endogenous renal tumor: a case report / 中华泌尿外科杂志

Intraoperative ultrasound assisted localization is routinely used in the surgical treatment of completely endogenous renal cell tumor, however the localization and guidance ability of conventional ultrasound will decline to a certain extent for isoechoic renal tumor. A 62 years old female patient with right renal tumor was reported. The tumor diameter was about 2.3 cm× 1.7 cm, equivalent to the isoechoic of kidney. Laparoscopic partial nephrectomy was performed under the real-time guidance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound. The tumor was found to be lack of blood supply during the operation, and the tumor contour was clearly developed by contrast agent.The operation was successfully completed, and the pathological diagnosis was polycystic renal tumor with low malignant potential.The incisional margin was negative.The patient recovered well after operation without complications.No recurrence or metastasis was found after 6 months of follow-up.The renal function was good.

Quality analysis of non-contrast-enhanced CT images synthesized from contrast-enhanced CT images by deep learning model / 中华放射医学与防护杂志

Objective:To synthesize non-contrast-enhanced CT images from enhanced CT images using deep learning method based on convolutional neural network, and to evaluate the similarity between synthesized non-contrast-enhanced CT images by deep learning(DL-SNCT) and plain CT images considered as gold standard subjectively and objectively, as well as to explore their potential clinical value.Methods:Thirty-four patients who underwent conventional plain scan and enhanced CT scan at the same time were enrolled. Using deep learning model, DL-SNCT images were generated from the enhanced CT images for each patient. With plain CT images as gold standard, the image quality of DL-SNCT images was evaluated subjectively. The evaluation indices included anatomical structure clarity, artifacts, noise level, image structure integrity and image deformation using a 4-point system). Paired t-test was used to compare the difference in CT values of different anatomical parts with different hemodynamics (aorta, kidney, liver parenchyma, gluteus maximus) and different liver diseases with distinct enhancement patterns (liver cancer, liver hemangioma, liver metastasis and liver cyst) between DL-SNCT images and plain CT images. Results:In subjective evaluation, the average scores of DL-SNCT images in artifact, noise, image structure integrity and image distortion were all 4 points, which were consistent with those of plain CT images ( P>0.05). However, the average score of anatomical clarity was slightly lower than that of plain CT images (3.59±0.70 vs. 4) with significant difference ( Z = -2.89, P<0.05). For different anatomical parts, the CT values of aorta and kidney in DL-SNCT images were significantly higher than those in plain CT images ( t=-12.89, -9.58, P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in the CT values of liver parenchyma and gluteus maximus between DL-SNCT images and plain CT images ( P>0.05). For liver lesions with different enhancement patterns, the CT values of liver cancer, liver hemangioma and liver metastasis in DL-SNCT images were significantly higher than those in plain CT images( t=-10.84, -3.42, -3.98, P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in the CT values of liver cysts between DL-SNCT iamges and plain CT images ( P>0.05). Conclusions:The DL-SNCT image quality as well as the CT values of some anatomical structures with simple enhancement patterns is comparable to those of plain CT images considered as gold-standard. For those anatomical structures with variable enhancement and those liver lesions with complex enhancement patterns, there is still vast space for DL-SNCT images to be improved before it can be readily used in clinical practice.

Value of multiparametric ultrasonography in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant testicular lesions / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To explore the value of multiparametric ultrasonography consisting of gray-scale ultrasound(US), color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), real-time strain elastography(RTE), and contrast-enhanced ultrasound(CEUS) in the differential diagnosis of testicular lesions.Methods:Forty patients (40 lesions) detected by ultrasonography examination at the Ultrasound Medical Center of Lanzhou University Second Hospital from June 2020 to June 2022 were retrospectively analyzed, and further the CDFI, CEUS and RTE were performed. The presence of vascularization in the lesion was determined by CDFI and CEUS, avascular lesions were defined as benign, vascularization lesions were defined as malignant. The lesion tissue elasticity was assessed by real-time strain elastography, tissue stiffness was encoded as red(soft), green(intermediate), and blue(hard), and the hard lesions were defined as malignant, soft lesions were defined as benign. All lesions were subjected to pathological histologic examination after surgical resection or puncture biopsy as a reference standard. The correct classification rate, sensitivity, specificity and likelihood ratio of the multiparametric ultrasonography imaging for the diagnosis of benign and malignant testicular lesions were analyzed by ROC.Results:Of 40 testicular lesions, 24 (60.0%) were benign and 16 (40.0%) were malignant. The sensitivity of CDFI, CEUS and RTE in the diagnosis of testicular lesions was 0.875, 1.000 and 1.000, and the specificity was 0.833, 0.750 and 0.708, respectively. The correct classification rate was 85.0%, 85.0% and 82.5%, and the positive likelihood ratio was 5.24, 4.00 and 4.42, respectively. AUC was 0.781, 0.802, 0.771, respectively. By combining RTE and CDFI, a sensitivity of 1.000 and specificity of 0.875 and correct classification rate of 92.8% and positive likelihood ratio of 8.00 and AUC of 0.915 ( P<0.001) were achieved in differentiating testicular lesions. And combining RTE and CEUS, achieved sensitivity of 1.000 and specificity of 0.917 and correct classification rate of 95.0% and positive likelihood ratio of 12.0 and AUC of 0.958( P<0.001). Conclusions:Multiparametric US is of great value in the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant testicular lesions.

Qualitative characteristics of contrast-enhanced ultrasound and VueBox quantitative perfusion analysis of the molecular classification of breast cancer / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To investigate the value of qualitative characteristics of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and VueBox quantitative parameters in the evaluation of pathological molecular typing of breast cancer.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on 133 patients with pathologically confirmed breast cancer who underwent CEUS examination in the People′s Hospital of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region from January 2020 to July 2022. The patients were divided into Luminal A type, Luminal B type, human epidermal growth factor receptor-2(HER-2) type and triple negative type according to the results of immunohistochemistry. The differences of qualitative characteristics and quantitative parameters of CEUS in different molecular subtypes of breast cancer were analyzed. The ROC curve was used to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of CEUS in the differentiation of molecular subtypes of breast cancer.Results:There were significant differences in enhancement intensity, post-enhancement boundary, filling defect and peripheral radial convergence among different molecular subtypes of breast cancer(all P<0.05), while there was no significant difference in enhancement uniformity ( P>0.05). Peak enhancement (PE), wash-in and wash-out areas under the curve (WiWoAUC), and wash-in ratio (WiR) of HER-2 type and triple-negative type breast cancer were higher than Luminal A type and Luminal B type (all P<0.05). ROC curve analysis showed that PE and radial convergence had reasonable diagnostic efficiency in Luminal A type, and the areas under the curve were 0.849 and 0.780, sensitivity was 0.711 and 0.889, specificity was 0.909 and 0.671, accuracy was 0.842 and 0.744, respectively. The areas under the curve of PE in diagnosing Luminal B type was 0.852, the sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 0.825, 0.763 and 0.782, respectively. The area under the curve of WiWoAUC and filling defect in diagnosing HER-2 type were 0.912 and 0.898, the sensitivity was 0.903 and 0.903, the specificity was 0.853 and 0.892, and the accuracy was 0.865 and 0.895, respectively. The area under the curve of clear boundary after enhancement in diagnosing triple negative type was 0.919, and the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were 0.941, 0.897 and 0.902, respectively. Conclusions:There are differences in the qualitative characteristics and quantitative parameters of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in different molecular types of breast cancer. CEUS is suggested as a noninvasive modality for preoperative prediction of molecular subtypes of breast cancer.

Application value of S-Detect combined with contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System 4 breast lesions / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To assess the value of S-Detect and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the differential diagnosis of Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System(BI-RADS) 4 breast lesions.Methods:A total of 104 breast lesions in 100 patients diagnosed as BI-RADS category 4 by conventional ultrasound were prospectively enrolled, and all of them were received S-Detect and CEUS examination at the same time. Taking pathology as the gold standard, ROC curve was constructed to compare the diagnostic efficacy of conventional ultrasound, S-Detect, CEUS and their combination.Results:Among the 104 BI-RADS category 4 breast lesions, 63 were benign and 41 were malignant. The sensitivities of conventional ultrasound, S-Detect, CEUS and S-Detect combined with CEUS were 73.17%, 87.80%, 87.80%, 90.24%; the specificities were 57.14%, 60.32%, 68.25%, 77.78%; the positive predictive values were 52.63%, 59.02%, 64.29% and 72.55%; the negative predictive values were 76.60%, 88.37%, 89.59% and 92.45%; the accuracies were 63.46%, 71.15%, 75.96% and 82.69%; and the areas under the ROC curve (AUC) were 0.652, 0.741, 0.780 and 0.840. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value and accuracy of S-Detect and CEUS diagnosis were improved compared with conventional ultrasound. The AUC of combined diagnosis was higher than that of S-Detect, CEUS alone, and the differences were statistically significant(all P<0.05). The AUC of CEUS was higher than that of conventional ultrasound, and the difference was statistically significant ( P<0.05). There were no significant differences in AUC between any two of other groups (all P>0.05). Conclusions:The combined application of S-Detect and CEUS could achieve complementary advantages, which is of great significance for the differential diagnosis of benign and malignant in BI-RADS 4 breast lesions.

Correlation analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasound Liver Imaging Reporting and Data System classification with hepatocellular carcinoma differentiation and Ki-67 index / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To investigate the correlation of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) classified by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) Liver Imaging Data and Report System (LI-RADS) with differentiation degree and Ki-67 index.Methods:A multicenter, retrospective study was conducted.The clinical and CEUS imaging data of 208 patients with 208 HCC lesions from December 2017 to December 2020 in China CEUS database were included and analyzed. According to the CEUS LI-RADS version 2017 proposed by the American College of Radiology, the HCC was classified. The diagnosis and pathological information of all lesions were confirmed by pathology. The differentiation degree of HCC and the distribution of Ki-67 index in different LI-RADS categories were evaluated, and their correlation was analyzed.Results:The degree of differentiation and Ki-67 index among HCC of different CEUS LI-RADS were statistically significant ( P<0.001, P=0.009). LI-RADS M HCC was more likely to be poorly differentiated and showed a higher Ki-67 index. The category of LI-RADS was positively correlated with the degree of tumor differentiation (tau-b=-0.250, P<0.001) and the Ki-67 index (tau-b=0.178, P=0.002), that is, the higher the category of LI-RADS, the lower differentiation degree and the higher the Ki-67. Conclusions:The CEUS LI-RADS classification of HCC is correlating with the degree of differentiation and Ki-67 index.

Preoperative prediction of Ki-67 level in hepatocellular carcinoma based on radiomics signatures during Kupffer phase of Sonazoid contrast enhanced ultrasound / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the value of Sonazoid contrast enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in preoperative prediction of proliferating cell nuclear antigen 67 (Ki-67) level of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by establishing predictive model based on radiomics features of Kupffer phase.Methods:From October 2020 to August 2021, patients with histologically confirmed HCC lesion and who underwent Sonazoid CEUS examination 1 week before surgery were prospectively enrolled. The radiomics signatures were extracted from the whole tumor region on gray scale images and Kupffer phase images. Two predictive radiomics models were constructed using radiomic method. The predictive performance of 2 models was compared.Results:A total of 50 patients with histologically confirmed single HCC lesions were prospectively enrolled in this study. Among them, histological results revealed 24 HCC lesions with high level representation of Ki-67 (>20%) and 26 HCC lesions with low level representation of Ki-67 (≤20%). Two radiomics predictive models were established based on gray scale images and Kupffer phase images respectively. While compared with model based on B-mode ultrasound images, model based on Kupffer phase images showed significantly higher area under receiver operating characteristic curve (0.753 vs 0.535, P=0.017), accuracy (0.720 vs 0.580, P=0.023) and sensitivity (0.458 vs 0.250, P=0.043). Calibration plot indicated that Kupffer phase model showed better consistency with the actual Ki-67 level than gray scale model. Conclusions:The radiomics model based on Kupffer phase features of Sonazoid CEUS is a preoperative and noninvasive prediction the presentation level of Ki-67 in HCC lesions.

Construction of predictive model for renal allograft rejection based on clinical multimodal ultrasound features / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To construct a nomogram for predicting the occurrence of renal allograft rejection based on the combination of multimodal ultrasound features and clinical data.Methods:The ultrasound findings and clinical characteristics of 102 patients with transplanted kidneys who underwent renal biopsy in the General Hospital of Eastern Theater Command from January 2021 to March 2022 were analyzed retrospectively. Patients were divided into rejection group and nephropathy group according to Banff transplant kidney pathological diagnostic criteria (2017 edition). Multivariate Logistic regression was used to screen independent predictors related to the status of rejection, and nomograms were drawn based on the independent predictors. The internal validation of the nomogram was carried out by Bootstrap method, and the ROC curve and calibration curve were utilized to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of the nomogram.Results:Blood urea nitrogen concentration, renal aortic resistance index, absolute time to peak and cortical echo were independent predictors of rejection( OR=1.073, 1.078, 0.843, 0.205; all P<0.05). Incorporating blood urea nitrogen concentration, renal aortic resistance index, absolute peak time and cortical echo, the nomogram was constructed. The AUC of the predictive model was 0.814(95% CI=0.722-0.905) and the cutoff value was 0.67(corresponding to a total score of about 157 points). Both internal verification (AUC=0.788) and calibration curve demonstrated the clinical usefulness of the nomogram. Conclusions:The nomogram for predicting the occurrence of rejection in renal allograft patients based on multimodal ultrasound features and clinical data can guide the individualized treatment of patients with renal dysfunction.

Analysis of the efficacy of differential diagnosis of atypical adenomyosis and uterine fibroids through contrast-enhanced ultrasound by decision tree model / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in the differential diagnosis of atypical adenomyosis and fibroids using a decision tree model.Methods:The data of cases with difficulty in differentiating atypical adenomyosis from fibroids on conventional ultrasound examination at Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University from April 2021 to April 2022 were selected and analyzed. Ninety-five patients with contrast-enhanced ultrasound examination were finally selected, including 64 patients in the pathologically confirmed adenomyosis group and 31 patients in the fibroids group. The data from the qualitative analysis and the quantitative analysis of the time-intensity curve (TIC) curve were collected separately, including the temporal variability of contrast entry into the lesion, i.e.the difference between the time when the contrast agent started to enter the lesion and the time when the contrast agent finally filled the lesion completely. Indicators were first screened for inclusion in the decision tree model by univariate and multifactorial analyses, and decision tree models based on qualitative analysis indicators, and qualitative and TIC-based analyses were developed to further assess the diagnostic efficacy of both models.Results:Through the univariate analysis, it showed that the qualitative analysis indicators of lesion onset enhancement pattern, enhancement intensity, intra-lesion contrast distribution, and post-contrast lesion border were of statistical significance (all P<0.05) between the two groups. The differences in contrast arrive time (AT), contrast time to peak (TTP), |ΔAT|, and |ΔTTP| in the TIC curve analysis indexes were statistically significant between the two groups (all P<0.05). The difference in lesion temporal phase variability was statistically significant between the two groups ( P<0.05). After further screening by multifactorial analysis, the accuracy and misdiagnosis rates were 87.40% and (17.90±3.90)% in the qualitative analysis-based decision tree model respectively, and 90.50% and (21.10±4.20) % in the qualitative and TIC curve-based analysis decision tree model respectively. The ROC curves were plotted according to the two groups of models, and the areas under the curves were 0.915 and 0.931 respectively. Conclusions:A decision tree model based on ultrasonographic image analysis has diagnostic value for the differential diagnosis of atypical adenomyosis and uterine fibroids.

Prediction of Ki-67 expression level in mass breast cancers using multi-modal ultrasound features / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To predict the Ki-67 expression grading in patients with mass breast cancer based on multimodal ultrasound features to aid clinical diagnosis and treatment.Methods:Ninety-three female patients (93 masses in total) with breast cancers confirmed by pathological examination were retrospectively included in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University from September 2017 to September 2020. According to the immunohistochemical results, the patients were divided into Ki-67 high expression group (55 cases) and Ki-67 low expression group (38 cases). The qualitative and quantitative features from two-dimensional gray-scale ultrasound, color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI), shear wave elastography (SWE) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) images of all breast masses were retrospectively analyzed, differential features were analyzed based on logistic regression algorithm. ROC curves and Kappa test were used for the evaluation of diagnosis.Results:The univariate analysis revealed statistically significant differences between the two groups for conventional ultrasound features (size, shape, margins), SWE features (stiff rim sign, Eratio), and CEUS features (perfusion defect, IMAX) (all P<0.05). In the multiple logistic regression analysis, the margins, stiff rim sign, and perfusion defect were the independent factors for predicting the Ki-67 expression (all P<0.05). The performance of the predictive model was 0.882 (95%confidence interval of 0.798-0.940, P<0.05) with the sensitivity of 0.818 and specificity of 0.790. Conclusions:A preliminary analysis of the relationship between multi-modal ultrasound features and Ki-67 expression grading in mass breast cancers was performed based on logistic regression algorithm to provide more imaging information for clinical treatment and prognosis assessment.

Establishment of a machine learning model for the diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer based on transrectal contrast-enhanced ultrasound parameters and clinical data / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To establish a machine learning model for the diagnosis of clinically significant prostate cancer based on transrectal contrast-enhanced ultrasound parameters and clinically relevant data.Methods:A retrospective analysis was performed on 151 patients in Chongqing University Cancer Hospital who underwent transrectal contrast-enhanced ultrasonography and transrectal ultrasound-guided needle biopsy from November 2018 to September 2021. The time intensity curve was drawn using VueBox software and 12 parameters such as rise time, peak time, average transit time, peak intensity, and rising slope were quantitatively analyzed. Age, total prostate-specific antigen, free prostate-specific antigen, free prostate-specific antigen ratio, volume, prostate-specific antigen density, and transrectal contrast-enhanced ultrasonography parameters, a total of 18 characteristic parameters, were analyzed and screened through relevant attribute values and information gain attribute values. The screening features were trained and tested by the machine learning single algorithm and integrated algorithm, and then the model was evaluated by the F1 value and the area under the ROC curve(AUC).Results:Using the related attribute value and the information gain attribute value, 12 variables and 5 variables were screened out respectively to establish a machine learning model. The model established by the ensemble algorithm was better than the single algorithm. For the two variable selection methods, the AUC (0.810 vs 0.789) and F1 values (0.748 vs 0.742) of the Bagging ensemble algorithm model, which basic algorithm was decision tree, were the highest, followed by Logistic regression and support vector machine(SVM) in order of AUC and F1 values.Conclusions:Based on transrectal contrast-enhanced ultrasound parameters and clinical data, the Bagging ensemble model based on decision tree has the best performance in diagnosing clinically significant prostate cancer.

The predictive model of microvascular invasion in hepatocellular carcinoma established based on multimodality imaging / 中华超声影像学杂志

Objective:To explore the risk factors of microvascular invasion (MVI) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and to predict MVI preoperatively, non-invasively and accurately.Methods:A total of 150 HCC patients (183 HCC lesions) were retrospectively collected in the First Affiliated Hospital of Xi′an Jiaotong University from January 2016 to June 2022.The clinical data and hematological data, gray-scale ultrasonography (US), contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS), enhanced magnetic resonance imaging with gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (EOB-MRI) and pathological data of these patients were recorded. According to the pathological diagnosis of MVI, the lesions were divided into MVI (+ ) group and MVI (-) group. The indicators between the two groups were compared. All 183 lesions were put into the training set, and the prediction model with nomogram was constructed according to the risk factors of MVI selected by multivariate Logistic regression. The internal verification was carried out by ten-fold cross-validation method.Results:There were significant statistical differences in the following parameters between MVI (+ ) group ( n=109) and MVI (-) group ( n=74) (all P<0.05). These were cirrhosis, serological parameters (alpha-fetoprotein, albumin, total bilirubin), qualitative indexes of US (size, boundary, internal echo), qualitative indexes of CEUS (hyper/iso/hypovascularity of lesions in arterial phase, portal phase, and delayed phase compared with hepatic parenchyma), and quantitative indexes of EOB-MRI [post enhancement rate (post ratio) and gadolinium disodium rate (EOB ratio)] calculated mainly in terms of lesions and surrounding liver parenchyma in hepatobiliary phase and unenhanced T1 images). Finally, cirrhosis of patients, the size, boundary, internal echo of lesions in US; arterial phase (AP), portal phase (PP), post-vascular phase (PVP) features in CEUS; the EOB rate and post rate of EOB-MRI entered the prediction model of MVI. The training set exhibited good calibration and net gain rate. The areas under the ROC curve for the training set and the validation set were 0.981 and 0.961, respectively, while the diagnostic accuracy were 92.9% and 85.8%, respectively. Conclusions:The model constructed mainly by multimodality imaging methods can achieve favorable predictive performance for MVI, which provides valuable ideas for noninvasively predicting the incidence of MVI and optimizing the MVI-related treatment of MVI in HCC patients.

Application of multimodal ultrasound in large craniotomy for patients with severe traumatic brain injury: research progress / 中华创伤杂志

With the progression of primary and secondary brain injury, as well as the increase of the intracranial pressure, severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI) patients, if not timely and effective treated, will lead to brain hernia or even central failure. Therefore, sTBI patients often require emergency surgical intervention, including large craniotomy or even decompression. However, postural changes, brain tissue pulling and loss of cerebrospinal fluid can cause "brain drift" in sTBI patients. Meanwhile, improper rapid decompression will result in brain tissue displacement or delayed hematoma, which makes the intracranial condition deviated from the preoperative image data, even leads to deterioration. The application of multimodal intraoperative ultrasound can simply, intuitively visualize the intracranial lesion, blood flow and microperfusion in a real-time manner, guiding the surgeon to preserve the normal brain tissue to the maximum extent and improving the prognosis of the patients with the appropriate operation plan. Over the last few decades, the application of multimodal ultrasound in large craniotomy in patients with sTBI was mainly to identify intracranial lesions while there were few studies on the evaluation of cerebral hemodynamic heterogeneity of sTBI. To this end, the authors reviewed the imaging characteristics of various examination techniques of multimodal ultrasound and the progress of its application in sTBI surgery, hoping to provide evidences for accurate intraoperative evaluation and adjustment of treatment plan.

Application and new progress of transrectal ultrasound in the diagnosis of prostate cancer / 中国医师杂志

Prostate cancer is the most common malignant tumor in the male urogenital system. Transrectal ultrasound has become a commonly used method for the diagnosis and biopsy of prostate cancer due to its simplicity, economy, and non radiation. This article will discuss the current application status and progress of traditional transrectal ultrasound, color doppler ultrasound, ultrasound imaging, elastic ultrasound, micro ultrasound, tissue scanning, and multimodal ultrasound in the diagnosis of prostate cancer.