Automatic detection of new tumors and tumor burden evaluation in longitudinal liver CT scan studies.

PURPOSE: Radiological longitudinal follow-up of liver tumors in CT scans is the standard of care for disease progression assessment and for liver tumor therapy. Finding new tumors in the follow-up scan is essential to determine malignancy, to evaluate the total tumor burden, and to determine treatment efficacy. Since new tumors are typically small, they may be missed by examining radiologists. METHODS: We describe a new method for the automatic detection and segmentation of new tumors in longitudinal liver CT studies and for liver tumors burden quantification. Its inputs are the baseline and follow-up CT scans, the baseline tumors delineation, and a tumor appearance prior model. Its outputs are the new tumors segmentations in the follow-up scan, the tumor burden quantification in both scans, and the tumor burden change. Our method is the first comprehensive method that is explicitly designed to find new liver tumors. It integrates information from the scans, the baseline known tumors delineations, and a tumor appearance prior model in the form of a global convolutional neural network classifier. Unlike other deep learning-based methods, it does not require large tagged training sets. RESULTS: Our experimental results on 246 tumors, of which 97 were new tumors, from 37 longitudinal liver CT studies with radiologist approved ground-truth segmentations, yields a true positive new tumors detection rate of 86 versus 72% with stand-alone detection, and a tumor burden volume overlap error of 16%. CONCLUSIONS: New tumors detection and tumor burden volumetry are important for diagnosis and treatment. Our new method enables a simplified radiologist-friendly workflow that is potentially more accurate and reliable than the existing one by automatically and accurately following known tumors and detecting new tumors in the follow-up scan.

Automatic lung tumor segmentation with leaks removal in follow-up CT studies.

PURPOSE: In modern oncology, disease progression and response to treatment are routinely evaluated with a series of volumetric scans. The number of tumors and their volume (mass) over time provides a quantitative measure for the evaluation. Thus, many of the scans are follow-up scans. We present a new, fully automatic algorithm for lung tumors segmentation in follow-up CT studies that takes advantage of the baseline delineation. METHODS: The inputs are a baseline CT scan and a delineation of the tumors in it and a follow-up scan; the output is the tumor delineations in the follow-up CT scan; the output is the tumor delineations in the follow-up CT scan. The algorithm consists of four steps: (1) deformable registration of the baseline scan and tumor's delineations to the follow-up CT scan; (2) segmentation of these tumors in the follow-up CT scan with the baseline CT and the tumor's delineations as priors; (3) detection and correction of follow-up tumors segmentation leaks based on the geometry of both the foreground and the background; and (4) tumor boundary regularization to account for the partial volume effects. RESULTS: Our experimental results on 80 pairs of CT scans from 40 patients with ground-truth segmentations by a radiologist yield an average DICE overlap error of 14.5 % ([Formula: see text]), a significant improvement from the 30 % ([Formula: see text]) result of stand-alone level-set segmentation. CONCLUSION: The key advantage of our method is that it automatically builds a patient-specific prior to the tumor. Using this prior in the segmentation process, we developed an algorithm that increases segmentation accuracy and robustness and reduces observer variability.

The role of mycoplasmas in sexually transmitted vaginitis.

Mycoplasmas were isolated from 325 female subjects who came to a gynaecological out-patient clinic for many different reasons. Micro-organisms can also be isolated in a high percentage from apparently healthy subjects. Our data indicate that mycoplasma can be either simple commensals in the uro-genital apparatus or saprophytes. In vulvo-vaginitis mycoplasma can cause a type of pathology which is always associated with the presence of other pathogens.

[Bacteriological study at the vaginal level in sexually active women]. / Ricerca batteriologica a livello vaginale in donne sessualmente attive.

We have studied the microbiological environment of the vagina in 202 sexually active women when they came into an outpatient gynecological hospital. By some specific bacterioscopic and cultural examinations we have tried to understand the pathological role of some microrganism in sexually transmitted diseases. An elevated incidence of mycoplasm in asymptomatic subjects has shed light on the probable saprophytic behaviour of these microrganisms.

[Standardization and stability of reagents for the titration of anti-tetanus antibodies by means of the passive hemagglutination technic]. / Standardizzazione e stabilità di reagenti per la titolazione di anticorpi antitetanici mediante la tecnica di emoagglutinazione passiva.

The evaluation of the antitetanus immunity in human sera is of primary importance for the carrying out of an adequate prophylaxis and treatment of tetanus. Tetan Test is a diagnostic kit for the titration of the antitetanus antibodies, by means of the passive hemagglutination technique. Tetan Test is examined under the point of view of the preparation techniques and the process and final controls which warrant the quality and the standardization of the product itself. The stability of Tetan Test, after storage at the temperatures: 67 degrees C, 52 degrees C, 37 degrees C, 22 degrees C is evaluated. The excellent results obtained allow the use of the product also in hot climates, in developing countries, where the storage at the advised temperatures is not possible.