Diagnosis of prostate cancer with magnetic resonance imaging in men treated with 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors.

PURPOSE: The primary aim of this study was to evaluate if exposure to 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) modifies the effect of MRI for the diagnosis of clinically significant Prostate Cancer (csPCa) (ISUP Gleason grade ≥ 2). METHODS: This study is a multicenter cohort study including patients undergoing prostate biopsy and MRI at 24 institutions between 2013 and 2022. Multivariable analysis predicting csPCa with an interaction term between 5-ARIs and PIRADS score was performed. Sensitivity, specificity, and negative (NPV) and positive (PPV) predictive values of MRI were compared in treated and untreated patients. RESULTS: 705 patients (9%) were treated with 5-ARIs [median age 69 years, Interquartile range (IQR): 65, 73; median PSA 6.3 ng/ml, IQR 4.0, 9.0; median prostate volume 53 ml, IQR 40, 72] and 6913 were 5-ARIs naïve (age 66 years, IQR 60, 71; PSA 6.5 ng/ml, IQR 4.8, 9.0; prostate volume 50 ml, IQR 37, 65). MRI showed PIRADS 1-2, 3, 4, and 5 lesions in 141 (20%), 158 (22%), 258 (37%), and 148 (21%) patients treated with 5-ARIs, and 878 (13%), 1764 (25%), 2948 (43%), and 1323 (19%) of untreated patients (p < 0.0001). No difference was found in csPCa detection rates, but diagnosis of high-grade PCa (ISUP GG ≥ 3) was higher in treated patients (23% vs 19%, p = 0.013). We did not find any evidence of interaction between PIRADS score and 5-ARIs exposure in predicting csPCa. Sensitivity, specificity, PPV, and NPV of PIRADS ≥ 3 were 94%, 29%, 46%, and 88% in treated patients and 96%, 18%, 43%, and 88% in untreated patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Exposure to 5-ARIs does not affect the association of PIRADS score with csPCa. Higher rates of high-grade PCa were detected in treated patients, but most were clearly visible on MRI as PIRADS 4 and 5 lesions. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The present study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov number: NCT05078359.

Accuracy of elastic fusion biopsy: Comparing prostate cancer detection between targeted and systematic biopsy.

INTRODUCTION: When performing targeted biopsy (TBx), the need to add systematic biopsies (SBx) is often debated. Aim of the study is to evaluate the added value of SBx in addition to TBx in terms of prostate cancer (PCa) detection rates (CDR), and to test the concordance between multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) findings and fusion biopsy results in terms of cancer location. METHODS: We performed a retrospective, multicentric study that gathered data on 1992 consecutive patients who underwent elastic fusion biopsy between 2011 and 2020. A standardized approach was used, with TBx (2-4 cores per target) followed by SBx (12-14 cores). We assessed CDR of TBx, of SBx, and TBx+SBx for all cancers and clinically significant PCa (csPCa), defined as ISUP score ≥2. CDR was evaluated according to radiological and clinical parameters, with a particular focus on PI-RADS 3 lesions. In a subgroup of 1254 patients we tested the discordance between mpMRI findings and fusion biopsy results in terms of cancer location. Uni- and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify predictors of CDR. RESULTS: CDR of TBx+SBx was 63.0% for all cancers and 38.8% of csPCa. Per-patient analysis showed that SBx in addition to TBx improved CDR by 4.5% for all cancers and 3.4% for csPCa. Patients with lesions scored as PI-RADS 3, 4, and 5 were diagnosed with PCa in 27.9%, 72.8%, and 92.3%, and csPCa in 10.7%, 43.6%, and 69.3%, respectively. When positive, PI-RADS 3 lesions were ISUP grade 1 in 61.1% of cases. Per-lesion analysis showed that discordance between mpMRI and biopsy was found in 56.6% of cases, with 710 patients having positive SBx outside mpMRI targets, of which 414 (58.0%) were clinically significant. PSA density ≥0.15 was a strong predictor of CDR. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of systematic mapping to TBx contributes to a minority of per-patient diagnoses but detects a high number of PCa foci outside mpMRI targets, increasing biopsy accuracy for the assessment of cancer burden within the prostate. High PSA-density significantly increases the risk of PCa, both in the whole cohort and in PI-RADS 3 cases.

Internal herniation of small bowel through the minimizer ring after banded one anastomosis gastric bypass: Case report with diagnosis and management of a rare complication.

INTRODUCTION: One Anastomosis Gastric Bypass has been increasingly performed in the setting of bariatric surgery. The addition of gastric pouch banding (BOAGB) may reduce weight regain in the long term. BOAGB may rarely be complicated by MiniMizer ring-related affections. This article reports for the first time a case of bowel obstruction due to internal hernia (IH) through the ring itself, occurring 15 months after BOAGB. CASE REPORT: A 55 years-old woman presented with unspecific symptoms of sub-acute bowel obstruction 15 months after BOAGB. Work-up revealed IH through the MiniMizer ring and its erosion into the liver. Successful management included laparoscopic ring removal and adhesion-lysis. Postoperative course was uneventful. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: IH through MiniMizer ring is a rare complication of BOAGB and awareness of this possibility may help diagnosis and prevention. Diagnosis requires high index of suspicion and per-oral contrast CT. Successful management entails laparoscopic device removal. Prevention includes non re-absorbable suture fixation and adequate gastric pouch encirclement.

Cardiac Computed Tomography Radiomics-Based Approach for the Detection of Left Ventricular Remodeling in Patients with Arterial Hypertension.

The aim of the study is to verify the feasibility of a radiomics based approach for the detection of LV remodeling in patients with arterial hypertension. Cardiac Computed Tomography (CCT) and clinical data of patients with and without history of arterial hypertension were collected. In one image per patient, on a 4-chamber view, left ventricle (LV) was segmented using a polygonal region of interest by two radiologists in consensus. A total of 377 radiomics features per region of interest were extracted. After dataset splitting (70:30 ratio), eleven classification models were tested for the discrimination of patients with and without arterial hypertension based on radiomics data. An Ensemble Machine Learning (EML) score was calculated from models with an accuracy >60%. Boruta algorithm was used to extract radiomic features discriminating between patients with and without history of hypertension. Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess correlation between EML score and septum width in patients included in the test set. EML showed an accuracy, sensitivity and specificity of 0.7. Correlation between EML score and LV septum width was 0.53 (p-value < 0.0001). We considered LV septum width as a surrogate of myocardial remodeling in our population, and this is the reason why we can consider the EML score as a possible tool to evaluate myocardial remodeling. A CCT-based radiomic approach for the identification of LV remodeling is possible in patients with past medical history of arterial hypertension.

Texture Analysis in the Evaluation of COVID-19 Pneumonia in Chest X-Ray Images: A Proof of Concept Study.

BACKGROUND: One of the most challenging aspects related to Covid-19 is to establish the presence of infection in an early phase of the disease. Texture analysis might be an additional tool for the evaluation of Chest X-ray in patients with clinical suspicion of Covid-19 related pneumonia. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of texture analysis and machine learning models for the diagnosis of Covid-19 interstitial pneumonia in Chest X-ray images. METHODS: Chest X-ray images were accessed from a publicly available repository(https://www.kaggle. com/tawsifurrahman/covid19-radiography-database). Lung areas were manually segmented using a polygonal region of interest covering both lung areas, using MaZda, a freely available software for texture analysis. A total of 308 features per ROI was extracted. One hundred-ten Covid-19 Chest X-ray images were selected for the final analysis. RESULTS: Six models, namely NB, GLM, DL, GBT, ANN, and PLS-DA were selected and ensembled. According to Youden's index, the Covid-19 Ensemble Machine Learning Score showing the highest area under the curve (0.971±0.015) was 132.57. Assuming this cut-off the Ensemble model performance was estimated by evaluating both true and false positive/negative, resulting in 91.8% accuracy with 93% sensitivity and 90% specificity. Moving the cut-off value to -100, although the accuracy resulted lower (90.6%), the Ensemble Machine Learning showed 100% sensitivity, with 80% specificity. CONCLUSION: Texture analysis of Chest X-ray images and machine learning algorithms may help in differentiating patients with Covid-19 pneumonia. Despite several limitations, this study can lay the ground for future research works in this field and help to develop more rapid and accurate screening tools for these patients.

MRI ultrasound fusion biopsy in prostate cancer detection: Are randomized clinical trials reproducible in everyday clinical practice?

INTRODUCTION:: The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI)-ultrasound (US) fusion-targeted biopsies (TB) in men with primary and repeated biopsies comparing the cancer detection rate (CDR) of random biopsies (RB) + TB versus only TB. METHODS:: The present study is a real-life study on patients with primary and prior negative prostate biopsies with suspicious PCa. A total of 130 men with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) value >2.5 ng/dL and/or abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) were included in the study and subjected to mpMRI. Patients with >2 previous biopsies and/or with ⩾3 suspected lesions on MRI and/or prostate imaging-reporting and data system (PIRADS) value ⩾4 (n:30 pts) were subjected only to TB on the areas indicated by mpMRI. All the other patients (n:70 pts) were subjected to standard random laterally directed 10-core plus TB on the areas indicated by mpMRI. RESULTS:: The overall CDR was 53% (53/100). In relation to PIRADS score, the overall CDR was 0, 40% (12/30), 56.83% (29/51), and 84% (11/13) for PIRADS 2, 3, 4, and 5, respectively. According to biopsy modality, CDR for RB + TB was 50% (35/70) and CDR for TB was 60% (18/30) with a p-value of 0.3632. DISCUSSION:: MRI-US fusion biopsy is associated with a high CDR of clinically significant PCa (csPCa). MRI-US fusion biopsy could be a reasonable approach in patients with previous negative biopsy and high PIRADS score on MRI, to ensure a high CDR of csPCa and to reduce the diagnosis of clinically insignificant tumors.

Accuracy of elastic fusion biopsy in daily practice: Results of a multicenter study of 2115 patients.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the accuracy of Koelis fusion biopsy for the detection of prostate cancer and clinically significant prostate cancer in the everyday practice. METHODS: We retrospectively enrolled 2115 patients from 15 institutions in four European countries undergoing transrectal Koelis fusion biopsy from 2010 to 2017. A variable number of target (usually 2-4) and random cores (usually 10-14) were carried out, depending on the clinical case and institution habits. The overall and clinically significant prostate cancer detection rates were assessed, evaluating the diagnostic role of additional random biopsies. The cancer detection rate was correlated to multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging features and clinical variables. RESULTS: The mean number of targeted and random cores taken were 3.9 (standard deviation 2.1) and 10.5 (standard deviation 5.0), respectively. The cancer detection rate of Koelis biopsies was 58% for all cancers and 43% for clinically significant prostate cancer. The performance of additional, random cores improved the cancer detection rate of 13% for all cancers (P < 0.001) and 9% for clinically significant prostate cancer (P < 0.001). Prostate cancer was detected in 31%, 66% and 89% of patients with lesions scored as Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System 3, 4 and 5, respectively. Clinical stage and Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System score were predictors of prostate cancer detection in multivariate analyses. Prostate-specific antigen was associated with prostate cancer detection only for clinically significant prostate cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Koelis fusion biopsy offers a good cancer detection rate, which is increased in patients with a high Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System score and clinical stage. The performance of additional, random cores seems unavoidable for correct sampling. In our experience, the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System score and clinical stage are predictors of prostate cancer and clinically significant prostate cancer detection; prostate-specific antigen is associated only with clinically significant prostate cancer detection, and a higher number of biopsy cores are not associated with a higher cancer detection rate.

Multiparametric ultrasonography and ultrasound elastography in the differentiation of parathyroid lesions from ectopic thyroid lesions or lymphadenopathies.

To evaluate the accuracy of ultrasound elastography with ElastoscanTM Core Index in the differential diagnosis of parathyroid lesions from ectopic thyroid nodules and lymph nodes. Seventy nine patients with repeatedly high levels of circulating intact parathyroid hormone, normal vitamin D and renal function tests, with an ultrasound scan showing a neck lesion, sharply demarcated from the thyroid lobules, were consecutively enrolled. Ultrasound with and without Color Doppler and ultrasound elastography were performed before histological examination. All ultrasound features, vascularization and ultrasound elastography diagnostic performance were assessed using ROC curves. Histological examination confirmed 47 parathyroid lesions, 18 thyroid ectopic nodules and 14 reactive lymph nodes. In distinguishing parathyroid from thyroid nodules, shape had a 100 % sensitivity (95 % CI 92.4-100) and 50 % specificity (95 % CI 37.2-64.7), cleavage had a 85.1 % sensitivity (95 % CI 72.3-92.6) and 77.8 % specificity (95 % CI 65.1-88) while peripheral vascularization had a sensitivity of 91.5 (95 % CI 79.6-97.6) and specificity of 72.2 (95 % CI 46.5-90.3). An ElastoscanTM Core Indexof 1.28 was 46 % sensitive (95 % CI 33.4-58.7) and 77 % specific (95 % CI 66.2-89.1) in discriminating parathyroid lesions from thyroid nodules. An ElastoscanTM Core Index of 1.0 was 78 % sensitive (95 % CI 65.1-88) and 71 % specific (95 % CI 56-81.3) in discriminating parathyroid lesions from lymph nodes (p = 0.045). An ElastoscanTM Core Index greater than 2.58 had a 100 % sensitivity (95 % CI 43.8-100) and 95.4 % specificity (95 % CI 38.3-99.7) in discriminating malignant from benign parathyroid nodules. ElastoscanTM Core Index was significantly higher in thyroid nodules than in reactive lymph nodes (1.18 ± 0.62, p = 0.008). The ultrasound features of cleavage and peripheral vascularization help to differentiate parathyroid from thyroid nodules. ElastoscanTM Core Index can improve ultrasound discrimination of parathyroid lesions from lymph nodes. The ElastoscanTM Core Index is significantly higher in malignant than in benign parathyroid lesions.

Metabolic atrophy and 3-T 1H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy correlation after radiation therapy for prostate cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To correlate 3-T magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels in patients with prostate cancer treated with external beam radiation therapy to assess the potential advantages of MRSI. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 50 patients (age range 65-83 years) underwent PSA and MRSI surveillance before and at 3, 6, 12, 18 and 24 months after radiotherapy. RESULTS: Of the 50 patients examined, 13 patients completely responded to therapy showing metabolic atrophy (MA), defined as a choline-plus-creatine/citrate (CC/C) ratio <0.2, at 3 months; in this group none had biochemical relapse (PSA nadir + 2 ng/mL) by the end of the follow-up. Of the 50 patients, 35 showed a partial response to therapy (CC/C ratio between 0.2 and 0.8) at 3 and 6 months and, of these 35 patients, 30 reached MA at 12 months, while five developed a recurrence (CC/C ratio >0.8). Three of those patients with recurrence had a biochemical relapse at 18 months and the other two at 24 months. Two of the 50 patients did not respond to the treatment, showing persistent disease from the 3rd month (CC/C ratio >0.8); one patient had biochemical relapse at 6 and the other at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: MRSI was shown to have a greater potential than PSA level in monitoring patients after radiotherapy, because it anticipates PSA nadir, and biochemical relapse in particular.

Dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging in the early evaluation of anti-angiogenic therapy in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance (DCE-MR) in the response to anti-angiogenic-targeted agents in patients with metastatic renal cell cancer (mRCC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-eight consecutive patients with sub-diaphragmatic metastases from mRCC were included in the protocol after signed informed consent. Baseline characteristics were collected and patients were first evaluated with a baseline computed tomography (CT) and DCE-MR, subsequently with a new DCE-MRI after 28 days of therapy and followed-up with CT until progression. Treatments were administered at standard doses. The changes of peak enhancement (ΔPE) and of the sum of longest tumor diameters (ΔLTD) were related to progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS). RESULTS: The median PFS was 11.4 months [95% Confidence Interval (CI): 7.9-14.7 months) and the parametric two-tailed Pearson's test showed a positive correlation between the median ΔPE and the median PFS (rp=0.809; p=0.015); no significant correlation was found between the median ΔLTD and the median PFS (rp=-0.446; p=0.27). The median OS was 23.3 months (95% CI: 13.6-33.0 months) and no significant correlation was found with the median ΔPE (rp=0.218; p=0.60) or with the median ΔLTD (rp=0.012; p=0.98). CONCLUSION: The ΔPE but not the ΔLTD was found to be significantly related to PFS; these preliminary results suggest extending the number of patients and investigating the possible relationship with other tumor characteristics and MRI parameters.

Prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy: the role of 3-T diffusion imaging in multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging.

OBJECTIVES: To validate the role of 3-T diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the detection of local prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy (RP). METHODS: T2-weighted imaging, DWI and dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) were performed with a 3-T magnet in 262 patients after RP. Twenty out of 262 patients evaluated were excluded. MRI results were validated by prostate-specific antigen (PSA) reduction after external beam radiotherapy in group A (126 patients, local recurrence size range 4-8 mm) and by transrectal ultrasound biopsy in group B (116 patients, local recurrence size range 9-15 mm). RESULTS: In group A combined T2-weighted and DCE-MRI (T2+DCE) shows 98 % sensitivity, 94 % specificity and 93 % accuracy in identifying local recurrence; combined T2-weighted and DWI with a b value of 3,000 s/mm(2) (T2+DW3) displays 97 % sensitivity, 95 % specificity and 92 % accuracy, while with a b value of 1,000 s/mm(2) (T2+DW1) affords 93 % sensitivity, 89 % specificity and 88 % accuracy. In group B T2+DCE shows 100 % sensitivity, 97 % specificity and 91 % accuracy in detecting local cancer recurrence; T2+DW3 displays 98 % sensitivity, 96 % specificity and 89 % accuracy; T2+DW1 has 94 % sensitivity, 92 % specificity and 86 % accuracy. CONCLUSION: DCE-MRI is the most reliable technique in detecting local prostate cancer recurrence after RP, though DWI can be proposed as a reliable alternative. KEY POINTS: • Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI-MRI) is being increasingly used in oncology. • PSA analysis does not distinguish prostate cancer recurrence from distant metastasis. • DWI-MR can diagnose local prostate cancer recurrence after radical prostatectomy. • DWI-MR is almost comparable to DCE-MRI in detecting local recurrence.