The experience of the COMRE group (REctal COMmittee): can magnetic resonance imaging and endosonography really help the clinical pathway after NCRT in rectal cancer?

BACKGROUND: MRI and rectal endosonography (EUS) are routinely used for preoperative tumor staging and assessment of response to therapy in patients with rectal cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy of the two techniques in predicting the pathological response compared to the resected specimen and the agreement between MRI and EUS and to define the factors that could affect the ability of EUS and MRI to predict pathological responses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study included 151 adult patients with middle or low rectal adenocarcinoma treated with neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy, followed by curative intent elective surgery in the Oncologic Surgical Unit of a hospital in the north of Italy between January 2010 and November 2020. All patients underwent MRI and rectal EUS. RESULTS: The accuracy of EUS to evaluate the T stage was 67.48%, and for the N stage was 75.61%; the accuracy of MRI to evaluate the T stage was 75.97%, and that for the N stage was 51.94%. The agreement in detecting the T stage between EUS and MRI was 65.14% with a Cohen's kappa of 0.4070 and that for the evaluation of the lymph nodes between EUS and MRI was 47.71% with a Cohen's kappa of 0.2680. Risk factors that affect the ability of each method to predict pathological response were also investigated using logistic regression. CONCLUSIONS: EUS and MRI are accurate tools for rectal cancer staging. However, after Radiotherapy - Chemotherapy RT-CT, neither method is reliable for establishing the T stage. EUS seems significantly better than MRI for assessing the N stage. Both methods can be used as complementary tools in the preoperative assessment and management of rectal cancer, but their role in the assessment of residual rectal tumors cannot predict the complete clinical response.

Myeloma Spine and Bone Damage Score (MSBDS) on Whole-Body Computed Tomography (WBCT): Multiple Reader Agreement in a Multicenter Reliability Study.

Objective: To assess the reliability of the myeloma spine and bone damage score (MSBDS) across multiple readers with different levels of expertise and from different institutions. Methods: A reliability exercise, including 104 data sets of static images and complete CT examinations of patients affected by multiple myeloma (MM), was performed. A complementary imaging atlas provided detailed examples of the MSBDS scores, including low-risk and high-risk lesions. A total of 15 readers testing the MSBDS were evaluated. ICC estimates and their 95% confidence intervals were calculated based on mean rating (k = 15), absolute agreement, a two-way random-effects model and Cronbach's alpha. Results: Overall, the ICC correlation coefficient was 0.87 (95% confidence interval: 0.79-0.92), and the Cronbach's alpha was 0.93 (95% confidence interval: 0.94-0.97). Global inter- and intra-observer agreement among the 15 readers with scores below or equal to 6 points and scores above 6 points were 0.81 (95% C.I.: 0.72-0.86) and 0.94 (95% C.I.:0.91-0.98), respectively. Conclusion: We present a consensus-based semiquantitative scoring systems for CT in MM with a complementary CT imaging atlas including detailed examples of relevant scoring techniques. We found substantial agreement among readers with different levels of experience, thereby supporting the role of the MSBDS for possible large-scale applications. Significance and Innovations • Based on previous work and definitions of the MSBDS, we present real-life reliability data for quantitative bone damage assessment in multiple myeloma (MM) patients on CT. • In this study, reliability for the MSBDS, which was tested on 15 readers with different levels of expertise and from different institutions, was shown to be moderate to excellent. • The complementary CT imaging atlas is expected to enhance unified interpretations of the MSBDS between different professionals dealing with MM patients in their routine clinical practice.

How embryology knowledge can help radiologists in the differential diagnosis of canal of Nuck pathologies.

The Canal of Nuck (CN) is an anatomical structure which is often forgotten. It is the female equivalent of the male processus vaginalis and corresponds to a protrusion of parietal peritoneum that extends from the inguinal canal to labia majora. Radiologists rarely encounter patients with pathology of CN, especially in adult population. It is well known that CN diseases can occur in paediatric patient (especially younger than 5 years of age) and they are associated to high morbidity (for example ovarian hernia with high risk of incarceration and torsion). The aim of our work is to review embryology, anatomy and pathologies of the CN thanks to a multi modal approach-ultrasound (US), Computed Tomography (CT) and Magnetic Resonance imaging (MRI)-to make radiologists more aware of such conditions and guarantee a prompt and correct diagnosis not only in paediatric patients but also in the adult population.

Sonographic appearances of the postoperative testis.

PURPOSE: To describe the sonographic findings observed in the testis in patients who have undergone testicle-sparing surgery and surgical biopsies. METHODS: We reviewed the color Doppler sonographic findings from 14 patients after testicular interventions: 2 open biopsy procedures for infertility and 12 testicle-sparing surgical procedures (1 for spontaneous intratesticular hemorrhage and 11 for small tumors). Ten patients had benign tumors; one had a malignancy. Three patients were symptomatic; all others were studied as follow-up. RESULTS: Hypoechoic and hypovascular lesions at site of surgery were seen in 10 of the 11 patients after tumorectomy; no changes were observed in one patient. The lesions were either linear or an irregularly triangular shape, located at the surgical site, and interpreted as scars. Retraction of the testicular surface was detected in two cases. In the eight patients who underwent follow-up, lesions disappeared in one case, became smaller in two, and remained stable in five. Of the two patients who underwent biopsy, one developed peritesticular hematoma, and both had late hypoechoic scars in the testis. CONCLUSIONS: Hypoechoic and hypovascular scars are a "normal" postoperative pattern after testicle-sparing surgery. They are either linear or triangular, with rectilinear margins. Such findings need to be correctly interpreted and not misinterpreted as recurrences.