Artificial intelligence solution to accelerate the acquisition of MRI images: Impact on the therapeutic care in oncology in radiology and radiotherapy departments.

PURPOSE: MRI is essential in the management of brain tumours. However, long waiting times reduce patient accessibility. Reducing acquisition time could improve access but at the cost of spatial resolution and diagnostic quality. A commercially available artificial intelligence (AI) solution, SubtleMR™, can increase the resolution of acquired images. The objective of this prospective study was to evaluate the impact of this algorithm that halves the acquisition time on the detectability of brain lesions in radiology and radiotherapy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The T1/T2 MRI of 33 patients with brain metastases or meningiomas were analysed. Images acquired quickly have a matrix divided by two which halves the acquisition time. The visual quality and lesion detectability of the AI images were evaluated by radiologists and radiation oncologist as well as pixel intensity and lesions size. RESULTS: The subjective quality of the image is lower for the AI images compared to the reference images. However, the analysis of lesion detectability shows a specificity of 1 and a sensitivity of 0.92 and 0.77 for radiology and radiotherapy respectively. Undetected lesions on the IA image are lesions with a diameter less than 4mm and statistically low average gadolinium-enhancement contrast. CONCLUSION: It is possible to reduce MRI acquisition times by half using the commercial algorithm to restore the characteristics of the image and obtain good specificity and sensitivity for lesions with a diameter greater than 4mm.

Symptomatic hepatic cysts: treatment with single-shot injection of minocycline hydrochloride.

PURPOSE: To assess the efficacy of percutaneous minocycline hydrochloride sclerotherapy in symptomatic hepatic cysts. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From November 1992 to June 1994, seven of eight consecutive adults with large symptomatic hepatic cysts (diameter, 55-130 mm) were treated with a single intracystic injection of minocycline hydrochloride in an ambulatory procedure. Five patients had a solitary cyst, and two had polycystic liver disease. The target cyst was punctured under ultrasound guidance and local anesthesia with a 22-gauge Chiba needle. Half of the cyst content was aspirated before injection of 100-500 mg of minocycline hydrochloride diluted in 5-25 mL of saline. The minocycline hydrochloride was left in the cyst at the end of the procedure. RESULTS: After a mean follow-up of 28 months (range, 24-42 months), all five patients with solitary cysts were asymptomatic and four had documented complete cyst regression; the two patients with multiple hepatic cysts showed only transient clinical improvement. CONCLUSION: Single-shot injection of minocycline hydrochloride is an effective treatment for symptomatic solitary hepatic cysts but is less effective in polycystic liver disease.

[Primary non-Hodgkin's lymphomas of the liver in human immunodeficiency virus infected patients. Three cases]. / Lymphomes non hodgkiniens primitifs du foie chez les malades infectés par le virus de l'immunodéficience humaine. Trois cas.

The occurrence of primary non Hodgkin's lymphoma of the liver has rarely been reported in patients with the human immunodeficiency virus infection. We report 3 cases in these patients, presenting with a single liver tumor in 2 cases and multiple tumors in one case. Diagnosis was made by guided-biopsy. Histologically, there was B diffuse large cell lymphoma in 2 cases, and immunoblastic lymphoma in one case. In one case, RNA of Epstein-Barr virus was found in the nucleus of tumor cells by in situ hybridization. No extrahepatic localization was found in any of the 3 cases. One patient died one week after diagnosis, but the 2 other patients were treated by chemotherapy and were still alive 6 and 30 months later. In patients infected by human immunodeficiency virus, primary non Hodgkin's lymphoma should be investigated in case of liver tumor in order to provide early treatment.

Value of liver biopsy for the rapid diagnosis of infection in human immunodeficiency virus-infected patients who have unexplained fever and elevated serum levels of alkaline phosphatase or gamma-glutamyl transferase.

We prospectively determined the value of liver biopsy for microbiological diagnosis of infection in patients infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) who had unexplained fever and whose serum levels of alkaline phosphatase or gamma-glutamyl transferase were at least 1.5 times the upper limit of normal. From December 1989 to December 1991, 108 HIV-infected patients were referred to the Liver Unit at Hôpital Laënnec (Paris) with liver abnormalities related to viral hepatitis (generally chronic), AIDS-related sclerosing cholangitis, or nonspecific lesions (detected on histologic examination). Twenty-four patients had unexplained fever and increased levels of alkaline phosphatase or gamma-glutamyl transferase, and none had evidence of hepatobiliary disease. All 24 patients had undergone routine microbiological tests to determine the cause of their chronic fever. The results of all microbiological tests were negative. We performed liver biopsies for these 24 patients and examined the specimens by means of standard direct microbiological techniques; in addition, the specimens were cultured, the specimens were analyzed by standard histopathologic methods, and specific histologic studies for fungi, mycobacteria, and viruses were performed. A microbiological diagnosis was made in 13 (54%) of the 24 cases within 12 hours to 3 days of the liver biopsy. In conclusion, liver biopsy is a powerful diagnostic tool for rapid diagnosis of infection in HIV-infected patients who have unexplained fever and abnormal liver function test results.

[Video thoracoscopy of pulmonary nodules. Can one avoid preoperative markers?]. / Vidéothoracoscopie des nodules pulmonaires. Peut-on se passer d'un repérage pré-opératoire?

For a period of 35 months, 50 patients presenting with a total of 61 peripheral pulmonary nodules were operated on under videothoracoscopy. As a matter of principle none of these nodules were marked radiologically pre-operatively. All the scanners were reviewed retrospectively by a radiologist and a thoracic surgeon without knowing the results of the thoracoscopic intervention: 23 of these patients on the evidence would have quite obviously required preoperative marking (group I), and 27 would have been presented for direct thoracoscopy (group II). In group I there was only one group of nodules which could not be localised and by necessity, a thoracotomy was required. In group II, two nodules could only be localised thanks to a mino-thoracotomy. The level of failure was between 4 and 7%, and was identical to that found in the literature for different techniques of pre-operative radiological marking: these techniques were often complicated by a pneumothorax and intrapulmonary haemorrhage. These techniques for marking are used extensively. Prospective studies based on precise and complete criteria should enable better definition of rare cases which might benefit.

US and CT imaging features of intrapancreatic metastases.

OBJECTIVE: Twenty-four patients with intrapancreatic metastases were retrospectively studied to identify diagnostic criteria on cross-sectional imaging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ultrasound and CT of the pancreas were reexamined by two radiologists who specified morphologic patterns. RESULTS: Metastases of the pancreas were found more often solitary (14 cases) than multiple (10 cases) and as homogeneous nodules hypoechoic on US (15 cases), hypodense on CT (11 cases), sometimes hypervascular (6 cases) or pseudocystic (4 cases). Dynamic contrast-enhanced CT demonstrated small lesions 10 mm in diameter (three cases), not seen on US, and was highly suggestive when it showed several nodules in the gland. We identified some other criteria of intrapancreatic metastatic disease: two or more locations in the pancreas, nonobliteration of the retropancreatic fat regardless of the size of the lesion, nondilated biliary tree in the case of a large tumor of the pancreatic head, and a hypervascular mass without endocrine syndrome. Percutaneous puncture assessed the diagnosis (10 cases) and differentiated metastases from a primary ductal adenocarcinoma of the pancreas. CONCLUSION: Detection and identification of suggestive features of pancreatic metastases may be obtained by examination of the pancreas with dynamic CT.