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ABSTRACT Objective This study aimed to assess diagnostic radiology training and exposure during medical school, from the perspective of medical students in Brazil. Methods In this multicenter study approved by the Institutional Review Board, medical students from multiple universities in Brazil filled out an online questionnaire regarding their perception about diagnostic radiology training during medical school, including knowledge and use of the American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria and their confidence level in interpreting common radiological findings. Medical students from different regions of Brazil were sent invitations to participate in the anonymous survey through radiology group emails initiated by radiology professors and a group of ambassadors representing different institutions. Informed consent was obtained electronically at the beginning of the survey. Results The survey demonstrated diagnostic radiology is frequently included in preclinical exams; however, radiology training during medical school was considered inadequate from the medical students´ perspective. Overall, radiological imaging teaching was provided by radiologists for more than half of the survey respondents; however, radiological imaging is frequently shown to students by non-radiologist physicians during case discussion rounds. Moreover, few respondents had a mandatory radiology training rotation during medical school. Conclusion This Brazilian medical student survey demonstrated that from the medical students' perspective, diagnostic radiology is an important subject in clinical practice; however, their radiology training and exposure are overall heterogeneous.
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OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether quantitative textural features, extracted from pretreatment MRI, can predict sustained complete response to radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: In this IRB-approved study, patients were selected from a maintained six-year database of consecutive patients who underwent both pretreatment MRI imaging with a probable or definitive imaging diagnosis of HCC (LI-RADS 4 or 5) and loco-regional treatment with RFA. An experienced radiologist manually segmented the hepatic nodules in MRI arterial and equilibrium phases to obtain the volume of interest (VOI) for extraction of 107 quantitative textural features, including shape and first- and second-order features. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate associations between textural features and complete response. RESULTS: The study consisted of 34 patients with 51 treated hepatic nodules. Sustained complete response was achieved by 6 patients (4 with single nodule and 2 with multiple nodules). Of the 107 features from the arterial and equilibrium phases, 20 (18%) and 25 (23%) achieved AUC >0.7, respectively. The three best performing features were found in the equilibrium phase: Dependence Non-Uniformity Normalized and Dependence Variance (both GLDM class, with AUC of 0.78 and 0.76, respectively) and Maximum Probability (GLCM class, AUC of 0.76). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrates that a radiomic analysis of pre-treatment MRI might be useful in identifying patients with HCC who are most likely to have a sustained complete response to RFA. Second-order features (GLDM and GLCM) extracted from equilibrium phase obtained highest discriminatory performance.