Impact of Percutaneous Cryoablation on Renal Function in Patients with Stage I Renal Cell Carcinoma: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

PURPOSE: To assess the effect of cryoablation on renal function (measured by eGFR or serum creatinine) for treating Stage I renal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the CENTRAL databases were systematically searched from inception to May 1, 2023. Cohort studies that included data on change of estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) and serum creatinine increase were included. Meta-analysis was performed by measuring the weighted mean difference and by fitting random-effect models. RESULTS: Overall, 38 studies were included, comprising of 3,202 participants. Percutaneous cryoablation was associated with an absolute eGFFR reduction of -3.06 ml/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI: -4.12 to -2.01; p-value < 0.001) and serum creatinine increase of 0.05 mg/dl (95% CI: -0.02 to 0.11; p-value> 0.05). The weighted absolute mean difference of percutaneous cryoablation for treating stage T1b renal cell carcinoma was estimated at -5.19 ml/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI: -11.1 to 0.72; p-value > 0.05). Lastly, when analyzing studies that included cohorts with solitary kidneys, the pooled weighted mean difference was estimated as -3.27 ml/min/1.73 m2 (95% CI: -6.79 to 0.25; pvalue >0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous cryoablation for Stage 1 renal cell carcinoma has minimal significant impact on renal function (measured by eGFR or serum creatinine). The same outcome was observed in patients with larger tumors (T1b) and those with solitary kidneys.

Evolving frontiers: endovascular strategies for the treatment of delayed cerebral ischemia.

Cerebral vasospasm and delayed cerebral ischemia represent a very challenging aspect of cerebrovascular pathophysiology, most commonly subarachnoid hemorrhage, with significantly high mortality if left untreated. Considerable advances have been made in medical treatment and prompt diagnosis, while newer endovascular modalities have recently been proposed for cases of resistant cerebral vasospasm. However, there is still paucity of data regarding which and whether a single endovascular technique is non inferior to the pharmacological standard of care. In this review, we aim to summarize the current funds of knowledge concerning cerebral vasospasm and the emerging role of the endovascular techniques for its treatment.

Pre-operative ultrasound mapping before arteriovenous fistula formation: an updated systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Arteriovenous fistula represents the preferred vascular access for patients with kidney failure requiring hemodialysis. Surgeons have traditionally used physical examination to identify the most suitable vessels. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate whether ultrasound mapping should be routinely performed before arteriovenous fistula creation. METHODS: Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and CENTRAL were systematically searched from inception to November 1, 2022. Randomized controlled trials and cohort studies comparing routine ultrasound mapping to physical examination in terms of arteriovenous fistula patency were included. Meta-analysis was performed by fitting random-effects models. The study protocol has been prospectively registered in PROSPERO (CRD42023402390). RESULTS: Overall, 18 studies were included, comprising 3655 participants. Routine pre-operative ultrasound mapping was associated with significantly lower rates of primary arteriovenous fistula failure (Risk Ratio-RR: 0.56, 95% confidence intervals-CI: 0.37-0.84, low certainty). A significant outcome was observed by separately pooling randomized controlled trials (RR: 0.37, 95% CI: 0.25-0.54). Routine ultrasound mapping was also associated with significantly higher rates of 1-year primary arteriovenous fistula patency (RR: 1.33, 95% CI: 1.19-1.47, moderate certainty). This effect remained significant in the analysis of randomized controlled trials (RR: 1.26, 95% CI: 1.02-1.56). CONCLUSIONS: Implementing routine pre-operative ultrasound mapping of vessels is associated with significantly better outcomes in terms of early arteriovenous fistula failure and primary patency rates at 12 months. Further research should confirm the long-term benefits of routine ultrasound examination and evaluate its cost-effectiveness in different populations.

Exploring the latest findings on endovascular treatments for giant aneurysms: a review.

Giant intracranial aneurysms represent a very challenging aspect of aneurysmal pathophysiology with very high mortality and morbidity if left untreated. Their variety in clinical presentation (subarachnoid hemorrhage, cranial nerve palsy, etc.) and pathological and imaging properties (location, anatomy, presence of collateral circulation) pose serious questions regarding the best treatment option. Admirable advances have been achieved in surgical techniques, while endovascular modalities with flow diversion techniques have become widely used. However, there is still lack of data regarding whether a single endovascular technique can be the universal treatment for such cases. In this review, we aim to summarize the current funds of knowledge concerning giant intracranial aneurysms and the role of endovascular management in their treatment.

The Role of ChatGPT in the Advancement of Diagnosis, Management, and Prognosis of Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular Disease.

Cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease incidence has risen mainly due to poor control of preventable risk factors and still constitutes a significant financial and health burden worldwide. ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence language-based model developed by OpenAI. Due to the model's unique cognitive capabilities beyond data processing and the production of high-quality text, there has been a surge of research interest concerning its role in the scientific community and contemporary clinical practice. To fully exploit ChatGPT's potential benefits and reduce its possible misuse, extreme caution must be taken to ensure its implications ethically and equitably. In this narrative review, we explore the language model's possible applications and limitations while emphasizing its potential value for diagnosing, managing, and prognosis of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease.

Tissue classification and diagnosis of colorectal cancer histopathology images using deep learning algorithms. Is the time ripe for clinical practice implementation?

Colorectal cancer is one of the most prevalent types of cancer, with histopathologic examination of biopsied tissue samples remaining the gold standard for diagnosis. During the past years, artificial intelligence (AI) has steadily found its way into the field of medicine and pathology, especially with the introduction of whole slide imaging (WSI). The main outcome of interest was the composite balanced accuracy (ACC) as well as the F1 score. The average reported ACC from the collected studies was 95.8 ±3.8%. Reported F1 scores reached as high as 0.975, with an average of 89.7 ±9.8%, indicating that existing deep learning algorithms can achieve in silico distinction between malignant and benign. Overall, the available state-of-the-art algorithms are non-inferior to pathologists for image analysis and classification tasks. However, due to their inherent uniqueness in their training and lack of widely accepted external validation datasets, their generalization potential is still limited.