Congenital Lung Malformations: A Pictorial Review of Imaging Findings and a Practical Guide for Diagnosis.

The term congenital lung malformation (CLM) is used to describe a wide range of pathological conditions with different imaging and clinical manifestations. These anomalies stem from abnormal embryological lung development, potentially occurring across various stages of prenatal life. Their natural history can be variable, presenting in a wide range of severity levels and encompassing asymptomatic individuals who remain so until adulthood, as well as those who experience respiratory distress in the neonatal period. Through the PubMed database, we performed an extensive review of the literature in the fields of congenital lung abnormalities, including their diagnostic approach and findings. From our RIS-PACS database, we have selected cases with a final diagnosis of congenital lung malformation. Different diagnostic approaches have been selected, including clinical cases studied using plain radiograph, CT scan, prenatal ultrasound, and MR images. The most encountered anomalies can be classified into three categories: bronchopulmonary anomalies (congenital pulmonary airway malformations (CPAMs), congenital lobar hyperinflation, bronchial atresia, and bronchogenic cysts), vascular anomalies (arteriovenous malformation), and combined lung and vascular anomalies (scimitar syndrome and bronchopulmonary sequestration). CLM causes significant morbidity and mortality; therefore, the recognition of these abnormalities is necessary for optimal prenatal counseling and early peri- and postnatal management. This pictorial review aims to report relevant imaging findings in order to offer some clues for differential diagnosis both for radiologists and pediatric consultants.

Congenital and acquired anomalies of the basilar artery: A pictorial essay.

INTRODUCTION: The basilar artery is one of the two cases in our body where an arterial vessel is formed by the union of two others - the vertebral arteries. It provides vascular supply to essential structures for the main vital functions; the posterior cerebral arteries originate from it as terminal branches, and form part of the anastomotic circle of Willis. IMAGING FINDINGS: Congenital and acquired anomalies of the basilar trunk are described. We provide a schematic and detailed representation of normal anatomical variants - mainly represented by the fenestrated basilar artery or the persistence of carotid-basilar anastomosis; course anomalies are also illustrated, with reference to neuro-vascular conflicts and dolichoectasia. Among congenital anomalies, this pictorial review also shows the variants of the basilar origin, such as in the case of basilar trunk arising from only one of the two vertebral arteries, and the calibre changes - which are represented by aneurysm and hypoplasia. The latter appears to be a risk factor for posterior circulation stroke, when associated with a bilateral posterior foetal variant.Among the acquired forms, this pictorial essay describes some clinical cases of dissections, non-congenital aneurysms, thrombosis and tumour with vascular encasing or compression of basilar artery. CONCLUSION: CT angiography and MRI allow us to study the posterior intracranial circulation in detail, providing useful pre-treatment information. Therefore, knowledge of congenital or acquired anomalies of the basilar artery is essential for radiologists, neuroradiologists and neurosurgeons.

Quantitative assessment of lung involvement on chest CT at admission: Impact on hypoxia and outcome in COVID-19 patients.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to quantify COVID-19 pneumonia features using CT performed at time of admission to emergency department in order to predict patients' hypoxia during the hospitalization and outcome. METHODS: Consecutive chest CT performed in the emergency department between March 1st and April 7th 2020 for COVID-19 pneumonia were analyzed. The three features of pneumonia (GGO, semi-consolidation and consolidation) and the percentage of well-aerated lung were quantified using a HU threshold based software. ROC curves identified the optimal cut-off values of CT parameters to predict hypoxia worsening and hospital discharge. Multiple Cox proportional hazards regression was used to analyze the capability of CT quantitative features, demographic and clinical variables to predict the time to hospital discharge. RESULTS: Seventy-seven patients (median age 56-years-old, 51 men) with COVID-19 pneumonia at CT were enrolled. The quantitative features of COVID-19 pneumonia were not associated to age, sex and time-from-symptoms onset, whereas higher number of comorbidities was correlated to lower well-aerated parenchyma ratio (rho = -0.234, p = 0.04) and increased semi-consolidation ratio (rho = -0.303, p = 0.008). Well-aerated lung (≤57%), semi-consolidation (≥17%) and consolidation (≥9%) predicted worst hypoxemia during hospitalization, with moderate areas under curves (AUC 0.76, 0.75, 0.77, respectively). Multiple Cox regression identified younger age (p < 0.01), female sex (p < 0.001), longer time-from-symptoms onset (p = 0.049), semi-consolidation ≤17% (p < 0.01) and consolidation ≤13% (p = 0.03) as independent predictors of shorter time to hospital discharge. CONCLUSION: Quantification of pneumonia features on admitting chest CT predicted hypoxia worsening during hospitalization and time to hospital discharge in COVID-19 patients.

Interreader variability in prostate MRI reporting using Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2.1.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the agreement among readers with different expertise in detecting suspicious lesions at prostate multiparametric MRI using Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) version 2.1. METHODS: We evaluated 200 consecutive biopsy-naïve or previously negative biopsy men who underwent MRI for clinically suspected prostate cancer (PCa) between May and September 2017. Of them, 132 patients underwent prostate biopsy. Seven radiologists (four dedicated uro-radiologists and three non-dedicated abdominal radiologists) reviewed and scored all MRI examinations according to PI-RADS v2.1. Agreement on index lesion detection was evaluated with Conger's k coefficient, agreement coefficient 1 (AC1), percentage of agreement (PA), and indexes of specific positive and negative agreement. Clinical and radiological features that may influence variability were evaluated. RESULTS: Agreement in index lesion detection among all readers was substantial (AC1 0.738; 95% CI 0.695-0.782); dedicated radiologists showed higher agreement compared with non-dedicated readers. Clinical and radiological parameters that positively influenced agreement were PSA density ≥ 0.15 ng/mL/cc, pre-MRI high risk for PCa, positivity threshold of PI-RADS score 4 + 5, PZ lesions, homogeneous signal intensity of the PZ, and subjectively easy interpretation of MRI. Positive specific agreement was significantly higher among dedicated readers, up to 93.4% (95% CI 90.7-95.4) in patients harboring csPCa. Agreement on absence of lesions was excellent for both dedicated and non-dedicated readers (respectively 85.1% [95% CI 78.4-92.3] and 82.0% [95% CI 77.2-90.1]). CONCLUSIONS: Agreement on index lesion detection among radiologists of various experiences is substantial to excellent using PI-RADS v2.1. Concordance on absence of lesions is excellent across readers' experience. KEY POINTS: • Agreement on index lesion detection among radiologists of various experiences is substantial to excellent using PI-RADS v2.1. • Concordance between experienced readers is higher than between less-experienced readers. • Concordance on absence of lesions is excellent across readers' experience.

Eribulin efficacy based on type of metastatic site: a real-life study in heavily pretreated metastatic breast cancer.

AIM: The halichondrin B analog, eribulin, exerts an anticancer effect, as reported by several clinical and real-life studies on metastatic breast cancer patients. Here, we evaluated efficacy and safety of eribulin, focusing on response to treatment per metastasis type. PATIENTS & METHODS: This monocentric, real-life study was conducted on 31 heavily pretreated patients with metastatic breast cancer. RESULTS: The median progression-free survival and overall survival were 2.0 and 5.5 months, respectively. All patients (12.9%) responding to eribulin were treated in fourth-line setting. Considering response per metastasis type, bone lesions (13.6%) responded more frequently than other metastases to eribulin. CONCLUSION: Eribulin exhibited a good overall response rate, with the highest response observed for bone metastases.