The impact of deep learning on diagnostic performance in the differentiation of benign and malignant thyroid nodules.

AIMS: This study aims to use deep learning (DL) to classify thyroid nodules as benign and malignant with ultrasonography (US). In addition, this study investigates the impact of DL on the diagnostic success of radiologists with different experiences. Material and methods: This study included 576 US images of thyroid nodules. The dataset was divided into 80% training and 20% test sets. Four radiologists with different levels of experience classified the images in the test set as benign-malignant. A DL model was then trained with the train set and predicted benign-malignant for the test set. Then, the output of the DL model for each nodule in the test set was presented to 4 radiologists, who were asked to make a benign-malignant classification again considering these DL results. RESULTS: The accuracy of the DL model was 0.9391. The accuracy for junior resident (JR) 1, JR 2, senior resident (SR), and senior radiologist (Srad) before DL-assisting were 0.7043, 0.7826, 0.8435, and 0.8522 respectively. The accuracy in DL-assisted classifications was 0.9130, 0.8696, 0.9304, and 0.9043 for JR 1, JR2, SR, and Srad, respectively. DL assistance changed the decisions of less experienced radiologists more than more experienced radiologists. Conclusion: The DL model has superior accuracy in classifying thyroid nodules as benign-malignant with US images than radiologists with different levels of experience. Additionally, all radiologists, and most notably less experienced radiology residents, increased their accuracy in DL-assisted predictions.

Radiomics-based machine learning in the differentiation of benign and malignant bowel wall thickening radiomics in bowel wall thickening.

PURPOSE: To distinguish malignant and benign bowel wall thickening (BWT) by using computed tomography (CT) texture features based on machine learning (ML) models and to compare its success with the clinical model and combined model. METHODS: One hundred twenty-two patients with BWT identified on contrast-enhanced abdominal CT and underwent colonoscopy were included in this retrospective study. Texture features were extracted from CT images using LifeX software. Feature selection and reduction were performed using the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator (LASSO). Six radiomic features were selected with LASSO. In the clinical model, six features (age, gender, thickness, fat stranding, symmetry, and lymph node) were included. Six radiomic and six clinical features were used in the combined model. Classification was done using two machine learning algorithms: Support Vector Machine (SVM) and Logistic Regression (LR). The data sets were divided into 80% training set and 20% test set. Then, training took place with all three datasets. The model's success was tested with the test set consisting of features not used during training. RESULTS: In the training set, the combined model had the best performance with the area under the curve (AUC) value of 0.99 for SVM and 0.95 for LR. In the radiomic-derived model, the AUC value is 0.87 in SVM and 0.79 in LR. In the clinical model, SVM made this distinction with 0.95 AUC and LR with 0.92 AUC value. In the test set, the classifier with the highest success distinguishing malignant wall thickening is SVM in the radiomic-derived model with an AUC value of 0.90. In other models, the AUC value is in the range of 0.75-0.86, and the accuracy values are in the range of 0.72-0.84. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, radiomic-based machine learning has shown high success in distinguishing malignant and benign BWT and may improve diagnostic accuracy compared to clinical features only. The results of our study may help ensure early diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancers by facilitating the recognition of malignant BWT.

Deep Network-Based Comprehensive Parotid Gland Tumor Detection.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Salivary gland tumors constitute 2%-6% of all head and neck tumors and are most common in the parotid gland. Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging is the most sensitive imaging modality for diagnosis. Tumor type, localization, and relationship with surrounding structures are important factors for treatment. Therefore, parotid gland tumor segmentation is important. Specialists widely use manual segmentation in diagnosis and treatment. However, considering the development of artificial intelligence-based models today, it is seen that artificial intelligence-based automatic segmentation models can be used instead of manual segmentation, which is a time-consuming technique. Therefore, we segmented parotid gland tumor (PGT) using deep learning-based architectures in the paper. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The dataset used in the study includes 102 T1-w, 102 contrast-enhanced T1-w (T1C-w), and 102 T2-w MR images. After cropping the raw and manually segmented images by experts, we obtained the masks of these images. After standardizing the image sizes, we split these images into approximately 80% training set and 20% test set. Hereabouts, we trained six models for these images using ResNet18 and Xception-based DeepLab v3+. We prepared a user-friendly Graphical User Interface application that includes each of these models. RESULTS: From the results, the accuracy and weighted Intersection over Union values of the ResNet18-based DeepLab v3+ architecture trained for T1C-w, which is the most successful model in the study, are equal to 0.96153 and 0.92601, respectively. Regarding the results and the literature, it can be seen that the proposed system is competitive in terms of both using MR images and training the models independently for T1-w, T1C-w, and T2-w. Expressing that PGT is usually segmented manually in the literature, we predict that our study can contribute significantly to the literature. CONCLUSION: In this study, we prepared and presented a software application that can be easily used by users for automatic PGT segmentation. In addition to predicting the reduction of costs and workload through the study, we developed models with meaningful performance metrics according to the literature.

Spontaneous Thyroid Parenchymal Hemorrhage Causing Acute Airway Obstruction and Its Endovascular Treatment: A Case Report and Literature Review.

INTRODUCTION: Massive parenchymal hemorrhage of the thyroid gland is very rare. Some of these can reach a life-threatening level. CASE PRESENTATION: A 70-year-old female patient approached the emergency department with swelling and redness on her neck after a routine dialysis session. In the neck computed tomography obtained, there was a massive hematoma originating from the thyroid gland parenchyma. The hematoma was causing airway compression. We performed thyroid artery embolization and within days, hematoma dimensions and compression effect disappeared without surgical treatment. CONCLUSION: Massive hemorrhage of the thyroid gland parenchyma is very rare and can reach life-threatening dimensions. Effective and rapid treatment should be done. As an alternative to surgery, endovascular treatment can be life-saving.

Predicting COVID-19 Outcomes: Machine Learning Predictions Across Diverse Datasets.

Background The COVID-19 infection has spread rapidly since its emergence and has affected a large part of the global population. With the increasing number of cases, researchers are trying to predict the prognosis of patients by using different data with artificial intelligence methods such as machine learning (ML). In this study, we aimed to predict mortality risk in COVID-19 patients using ML algorithms with different datasets. Methodology In this retrospective study, we evaluated the fever, oxygen saturation, laboratory results, thorax computed tomography (CT) findings, and comorbid diseases at admission to the hospital of 404 patients whose diagnosis was confirmed by the reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction test. Different datasets were created by combining the data. The Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique was used to reduce the imbalance in the dataset. K-nearest neighbors, support vector machine, stochastic gradient descent, random forest, neural network, naive Bayes, logistic regression, gradient boosting, XGBoost, and AdaBoost models were used to create the ML algorithm, and the accuracy rates of mortality prediction were compared. Results When the dataset was created with CT parenchyma score, pulmonary artery and inferior vena cava diameters, and laboratory results, mortality was predicted with an accuracy of 98.4% with the gradient boosting model. Conclusions The study demonstrates that patient prognosis can be accurately predicted using simple measurements from thorax CT scans and laboratory findings.