Hepatobiliary MR contrast agent uptake as a predictive biomarker of aggressive features on pathology and reduced recurrence-free survival in resectable hepatocellular carcinoma: comparison with dual-tracer 18F-FDG and 18F-FCH PET/CT.

OBJECTIVES: To compare the performance of the quantitative analysis of the hepatobiliary phase (HBP) tumor enhancement in gadobenate dimeglumine (Gd-BOPTA)-enhanced MRI and of dual-tracer 18F-FDG and 18F-fluorocholine (FCH) PET/CT for the prediction of tumor aggressiveness and recurrence-free survival (RFS) in resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: This retrospective, IRB approved study included 32 patients with 35 surgically proven HCCs. All patients underwent Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MRI including delayed HBP images, 18F-FDG PET/CT, and (for 29/32 patients) 18F-FCH PET/CT during the 2 months prior to surgery. For each lesion, the lesion-to-liver contrast enhancement ratio (LLCER) on MRI HBP images and the SUVmax tumor-to-liver ratio (SUVT/L) for both tracers were calculated. Their predictive value for aggressive pathological features-including the histological grade and microvascular invasion (MVI)-and RFS were analyzed and compared using area under receiver operating characteristic (AUROC) curves and Cox regression models, respectively. RESULTS: The AUROCs for the identification of aggressive HCCs on pathology with LLCER, 18F-FDG SUVT/L, and 18F-FCH SUVT/L were 0.92 (95% CI 0.78, 0.98), 0.89 (95% CI 0.74, 0.97; p = 0.70), and 0.64 (95% CI 0.45, 0.80; p = 0.035). At multivariate Cox regression analysis, LLCER was identified as an independent predictor of RFS (HR (95% CI) = 0.91 (0.84, 0.99), p = 0.022). LLCER - 4.72% or less also accurately predicted moderate-poor differentiation grade (Se = 100%, Sp = 92.9%) and MVI (Se = 93.3%, Sp = 60%) and identified patients with poor RFS after surgical resection (p = 0.030). CONCLUSIONS: HBP tumor enhancement after Gd-BOPTA injection may help identify aggressive HCC pathological features, and patients with reduced recurrence-free survival after surgical resection. KEY POINTS: • In patients with resectable HCC, the quantitative analysis of the HBP tumor enhancement in Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MRI (LLCER) accurately identifies moderately-poorly differentiated and/or MVI-positive HCCs. • After surgical resection for HCC, patients with LLCER - 4.72% or less had significantly poorer recurrence-free survival than patients with LLCER superior to - 4.72%. • Gd-BOPTA-enhanced MRI with delayed HBP images may be suggested as part of pre-surgery workup in patients with resectable HCC.

B1 artifact reduction in abdominal DCE-MRI using kT -points: First clinical assessment of dynamic RF shimming at 3T.

BACKGROUND: The excitation inhomogeneity artifact occurring at 3T in the abdomen can lead to dramatic loss of signal and contrast, thereby hampering diagnosis. PURPOSE: To assess excitation homogeneity and image quality achieved by nonselective prototypical kT -points pulses, compared to tailored static RF shimming, in clinical routine on a commercial dual-transmit scanner. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective study with Institutional Review Board approval; informed consent was waived. POPULATION: Fifty consecutive patients referred for liver MRI at a single hospital. FIELD STRENGTH/SEQUENCE: 3D breath-hold dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI at 3T. ASSESSMENT: Flip angle homogeneity was estimated via numerical simulation based on measured static and RF field maps. In all, 20 of the 50 patients underwent DCE-MRI while a pulse designer was present. The effect of RF shimming and kT -point pulses could be compared by repeating the acquisition with each transmit scheme before injection and in the late phase. Signal homogeneity, T1 contrast, enhancement quality, structure details, and global image quality were assessed on a 4-level scale (0 to 3) by two radiologists. STATISTICAL TESTS: Means were compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank tests. RESULTS: Normalized root mean square flip angle error was significantly reduced with kT -points compared to static RF shimming (8.5% ± 1.5% [mean ± standard deviation, SD] vs. 20.4% ± 9.8%; P < 0.0001). The worst case (heavy ascites) led to 13.0% (kT -points) vs. 54.9% (RF shimming). Global image quality was significantly higher for kT -points (2.3 ± 0.5 vs. 1.9 ± 0.6; P = 0.008). One subject's examination was judged unusable with RF shimming by one reader, none with kT -points. 85% of kT -points acquisitions were graded at least 2/3, and only 55% for static RF shimming. DATA CONCLUSION: KT -points reduce excitation inhomogeneity quantitatively and qualitatively, especially in patients with ascites and prone to B1 shading. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 1 Technical Efficacy: Stage 1 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;47:1562-1571.

Myocardial iodine concentration measurement using dual-energy computed tomography for the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: To measure myocardium iodine concentration (MIC) in patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA) using dual-energy computed tomography (DECT). METHODS: Twenty-two patients with CA, 13 with non-amyloid hypertrophic cardiomyopathies (CH) and 10 control patients were explored with pre-contrast, arterial and 5-minute DECT acquisition (Iomeprol; 1.5 mL/kg). Inter-ventricular septum (IVS) thickness, blood pool iodine concentration (BPIC), MIC (mg/mL), iodine ratio and extra-cellular volume (ECV) were calculated. RESULTS: IVS thickness was significantly (p < 0.001) higher in CA (17 ± 4 mm) and CH (15 ± 3 mm) patients than in control patients (10 ± 1 mm). CA patients exhibited significantly (p < 0.001) higher 5-minute MIC [2.6 (2.3-3.1) mg/mL], 5-minute iodine ratio (0.88 ± 0.12) and ECV (0.56 ± 0.07) than CH [1.7 (1.4-2.2) mg/mL, 0.57 ± 0.07 and 0.36 ± 0.05, respectively] and control patients [1.9 (1.7-2.4) mg/mL, 0.58 ± 0.07 and 0.35 ± 0.04, respectively). CH and control patients exhibited similar values (p = 0.9). The area under the curve of 5-minute iodine ratio for the differential diagnosis of CA from CH patients was 0.99 (0.73-1.0; p = 0.001). With a threshold of 0.65, the sensitivity and specificity of 5-minute iodine ratio were 100% and 92%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Five-minute MIC and iodine ratio were increased in CA patients and exhibited best diagnosis performance to diagnose CA in comparison to other parameters. KEY POINT: • Dual-energy computed tomography can be used to detect cardiac amyloidosis • Five-minute myocardial iodine concentration and iodine ratio increase in cardiac amyloidosis • Among iodine parameters, 5-minute iodine ratio has the best diagnosis performance.

Quantitative correlation between uptake of Gd-BOPTA on hepatobiliary phase and tumor molecular features in patients with benign hepatocellular lesions.

PURPOSE: The purpose of our study was to correlate the quantitative analysis of benign hepatocellular tumor uptake on delayed hepatobiliary phase (HBP) imaging with the quantitative level of OATP expression. METHODS: This single-center retrospective study, which took place between September 2009 and March 2015, included 20 consecutive patients with a proven pathologic and immunohistochemical (IHC) diagnosis of FNH or HCA, including quantification of the OATP expression. The patients underwent Gd-BOPTA-enhancement MRI, including an HBP. The analysis of HBP uptake was performed using the liver-to-lesion contrast enhancement ratio (LLCER). Mean LLCER and OATP expressions were compared between FNH and HCA, and the expression of OATP was correlated with the LLCER value. RESULTS: Of the 23 benign hepatocellular tumors, 9 (39%) were FNH and 14 (61%) were HCA, including 6 inflammatory, 2 HNF1a inactivated, 3 ß-catenin-mutated and 3 unclassified HCAs. On HBP, 100% of the FNH appeared hyper- or isointense, and 79% of the adenomas appeared hypointense. The mean OATP expression of FNH (46.67 ± 26.58%) was significantly higher than that of HCA (22.14 ± 30.74%) (p = 0.0273), and the mean LLCER of FNH (10.66 ± 7.403%) was significantly higher than that of HCA (-13.5 ± 12.25%) (p < 0.0001). The mean LLCER of ß-catenin-mutated HCA was significantly higher than that of other HCAs (p = 0.011). Significant correlation was found between the OATP expression and LLCER values (r = 0.661; p = 0.001). CONCLUSION: In benign hepatocellular tumors, the quantitative analysis of hepatobiliary contrast agent uptake on HBP is correlated with the level of OATP expression and could be used as an imaging biomarker of the molecular background of HCA and FNH. KEY POINTS: • Gd-BOPTA uptake on HBP correlates with the OATP level in benign hepatocellular tumors • FNH and ß-catenin-mutated HCA showed an increased lesion-to-liver contrast enhancement ratio (LLCER) • Increased LLCER may be explained by activation of the Wnt ß-catenin pathway.

Myocardial native T2 measurement to differentiate light-chain and transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis and assess prognosis.

BACKGROUND: To assess the diagnostic and prognosis value of myocardial native T2 measurement in the distinction between Light-chain (AL) and Transthyretin (ATTR) cardiac amyloidosis (CA). METHODS: Forty-four patients with CA (24 AL; 20 ATTR) and 40 healthy subjects underwent 1.5 T cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). They all underwent T1 and T2 mapping (modified Look-Locker inversion recovery), cine and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) imaging. The Query Amyloid Late Enhancement (QALE) score, myocardial native T2, T1 and extra cellular volume fraction (ECV) were calculated for all patients. RESULTS: Of the 44 patients, 36 (82%) exhibited enhancement on LGE images. Mean QALE score of AL (7.9 ± 6) and ATTR (10.5 ± 5) patients were similar (p = 0.6). Myocardial native T2 was significantly (p < 0.0001) higher in AL (63.2 ± 4.7 ms) than in ATTR (56.2 ± 3.1 ms) patients, and both higher (p < 0.001) than healthy subjects (51.1 ± 3.1 ms). Myocardial native T2 was highly correlated with myocardial native T1 (Spearman's rho = 0.79; p < 0.001) and exhibited higher diagnostic performance than T1 to separate AL and ATTR patients: the area under curve (AUC) of T2 was 0.94 (95% CI: 0.86-1, p < 0.001) and the AUC of T1 was 0.77 (95% CI: 0.62-0.91, p = 0.03). Myocardial native T2 did not impact overall survival in patients (HR 1.03 (0.94-1.12); p = 0.53) in contrast to ECV that was the best predictor of outcome (HR 1.66 per 0.1 increase in ECV (1.24-2.22); p = 0.0006). CONCLUSIONS: Myocardial native T2 significantly is increased in CA, especially in AL patients in comparison to ATTR patients. Myocardial native T2 does not impact survival in CA patients in contrast to ECV that was the best predictor of outcome. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Trial Registration and unique number: CNIL cardio 1778041. Date of registration: 20 December 2012.

Noninvasive detection of cardiac amyloidosis using delayed enhanced MDCT: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate myocardial enhancement of patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA) using computed tomography (CT). METHODS: Thirteen patients with CA and 11 control patients were examined with first-pass and delayed CT acquisition. A qualitative and quantitative analysis of images was performed. Myocardial attenuation, myocardial signal-to-noise ratio (SNRmyoc), blood pool SNR (SNRblood), contrast-to-noise ratio between blood pool and myocardium (CNRblood-myoc) and relative attenuation index (RAI) defined as variation of myocardial attenuation between delayed and first-pass acquisitions were calculated. RESULTS: Two false negative cases (15 %) and three false positive cases (27 %) were detected on qualitative analysis. SNRmyoc of patients with CA was significantly (p < 0.05) lower on first-pass (4.08 ± 1.9) and higher on delayed acquisition (7.10 ± 2.7) than control patients (6.1 ± 2.2 and 5.03 ± 1.8, respectively). Myocardial attenuation was higher in CA (121 ± 39 HU) than control patients (81 ± 17 HU) on delayed acquisition. CNRblood-myoc was significantly (p < 0.05) lower in CA (1.51 ± 0.7) than control patients (2.85 ± 1.2) on delayed acquisition. The RAI was significantly (p < 0.05) higher in CA (0.12 ± 0.25) than in control patients (-0.56 ± 0.21). CONCLUSION: Dual phase MDCT can detect abnormal myocardial enhancement in patients with CA. KEY POINTS: • CT can detect abnormal first-pass and delayed enhancement in cardiac amyloidosis. • Measurement of relative myocardial enhancement between acquisitions helps to detect cardiac amyloidosis. • CT may provide useful data to diagnose cardiac amyloidosis.

Endovascular Treatment of Pelvic Congestion Syndrome: Visual Analog Scale Follow-Up.

Purpose: To evaluate medium-term clinical outcomes of transcatheter embolization and stenting in women with several pelvic venous disorders responsible for chronic pelvic pain and varicose veins of the lower limbs. Materials and Methods: The study population included 327 consecutively recruited patients referred to the interventional radiology unit from January 2014 to December 2019 due to chronic pelvic congestion (91; 27.83%), lower limb varices (15; 4.59%), or a combination of both the symptoms (221; 67.58%). Preprocedural pelvic, transvaginal Doppler ultrasound (US), and MRI were conducted in all the patients and revealed anatomical varicosities and incompetent pelvic veins in 312 patients. In all the patients, selective catheterization demonstrated uterine venous engorgement, ovarian plexus congestion, or pelvic vein filling. Retrograde flow was detected on catheter venography in the left ovarian vein (250; 78%), the right ovarian vein (85; 26%), the left internal iliac vein (222; 68%), and the right internal iliac vein (185; 57%). Patients were followed-up at 1, 6, and 12 months, and years thereafter systematically by the referring angiologist and the interventional radiologist of center. They were contacted by telephone in November and December 2020 to assess pain perception and quality of life by using the visual analog scales from 0 to 10 with assessments made at the baseline and last follow-up. Of the 327 patients (mean age, 42 ± 12 years), 312 patients were suffering from pelvic congestion syndrome and 236 patients was suffering from lower limb varices. All underwent embolization by using ethylene vinyl alcohol copolymer (Onyx®). Eighty-five right ovarian veins, 249 left ovarian veins, 510 tributaries of the right internal iliac vein, and 624 tributaries of the left internal iliac vein were embolized. A cohort of patients also underwent nutcracker syndrome angioplasty (6.7%) and May-Thurner syndrome angioplasty (14%) with a stent placement. Results: The initial technical success rate was 80.9% for embolization of pathological veins and 100% for stenting of stenoses. Overall, 307 patients attended 12-month follow-up visits and 288 (82%) patients completed the telephone survey at mean 39 (±18)-month postintervention. Main pelvic pain significantly improved from 6.9 (±2.4) pre- to 2.0 (±2.4) postembolization (p < 0.001), as did specific symptoms in each category. Improvement or disappearance of pain was achieved in 266/288 (92.36%) patients with improved quality of life in 276/288 (95.8%) patients. There were 16 minor and 4 major adverse events reported on the follow-up. Conclusion: Pelvic vein embolization (Onyx®) is an effective and safe procedure with high clinical success and quality of life improvement rates.

Quantification of Myocardial Enhancement on Cine-MRI: Diagnostic Value in Cardiac Amyloidosis.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis (CA) on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) can be challenging and quantitative indexes are relevant to further characterize the myocardium. We hypothesize that the relative myocardial enhancement measured from pre and post contrast cine imaging provides diagnostic information for CA in the setting of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with LVH referred to our center and control subjects with normal CMR were retrospectively included. Percentage of myocardial enhancement (percentage ME) was obtained from pre and post contrast (5 minutes) cine sequences. Post contrast myocardial T1 and LGE extent were also recorded. RESULTS: Twenty-one patients with CA, 25 patients with non-amyloid left ventricular myocardial hypertrophy (CH) and 20 controls with normal CMR were analyzed. Percentage ME was significantly higher in CA patients (200% (174-238)) than in CH patients (122% (88-151); p = 0.0001) and control patients (104% (90-149); p = 0.0001). Percentage ME was significantly correlated with the LGE extent (Rho Spearman coefficient = 0.66; p = 0.0001) and with the post contrast myocardial T1 (Rho Spearman coefficient = -0.61; p = 0.0001). With a cutoff value of 152%, the sensitivity and specificity of percentage ME for detection of CA were 90% and 80%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Percentage ME obtained from pre and post contrast cine imaging is correlated to LGE extent and myocardial T1 and may represent an additional diagnostic parameter to consider CA in patients with LVH.

Robotic Versus Laparoscopic Gastric Resection for Primary Gastrointestinal Stromal Tumors >5 cm: A Size-Matched and Location-Matched Comparison.

This study compared robotic (RR) and laparoscopic resection (LR) for primary gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) of the stomach >5 cm. Twelve consecutive patients who underwent RR from 2012 to 2015 were matched for tumor size and location with 24 patients who underwent LR from 2000 to 2012. The median tumor size was 7.1 cm (range, 5.5 to 11.5). GISTs were resected by wedge resection (91.7%) or distal gastrectomy. The median RR operative time was longer than that of LR (162.5 vs. 130 min, respectively; P=0.004). Only 1 LR patient required conversion. The time to flatus and hospital stay were similar between groups. Overall, 3 patients developed minor postoperative complications that were medically treated. Mortality was nil. All resections were R0. No difference was observed in the incidence of recurrence. RR was significantly more expensive (+21.6%) than LR. RR appears to be safe and feasible for GISTs>5 cm, but is associated with longer operative times and greater costs.