Morphological and radiological features of congenital muscular hypertrophy of the upper limb: experience from a tertiary institution.

Congenital muscular hypertrophy is a rare overgrowth disorder in the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase related spectrum. In the past 3 years, ten patients with 11 limbs involved were treated in our centre. The aim of the study was to describe the clinical and radiological deformities of these patients. We documented the characteristic clinical morphological changes, such as hypertrophy, loss of wrist flexion, thumb hyperabduction, finger deviation and skin crease changes in the palm. Radiologically, the mean first metacarpal radial deviation angle of the affected side measured 55° (range 34 to 67) compared to the normal contralateral side 42° (range 32 to 53). The mean intermetacarpal space ratio was 1.2 (range 1.1 to 1.4) and the mean palm width ratio was 1.2 (range 1.1 to 1.3). In this study, we were able to further characterize the radiological and morphological changes of congenital muscular hypertrophy of upper limbs, which would be helpful for establishing the diagnosis and monitor treatment of this rare condition.Level of evidence: IV.

Immune-Mediated Hypertrophic Pachymeningitis and its Mimickers: Magnetic Resonance Imaging Findings.

Hypertrophic pachymeningitis (HP) is a rare and chronic inflammatory disorder presenting as localized or diffuse thickening of the dura mater. It can be idiopathic or an unusual manifestation of immune-mediated, infectious, and neoplastic conditions. Although some cases may remain asymptomatic, HP can lead to progressive headaches, cranial nerve palsies, hydrocephalus, and other neurological complications, which makes its recognition a fundamental step for prompt treatment. Regarding the diagnosis workup, enhanced MRI is the most useful imaging method to evaluate dural thickening. This article addresses the MR imaging patterns of immune-mediated HP, including immunoglobulin G4-related disease, neurosarcoidosis, granulomatosis with polyangiitis, rheumatoid pachymeningitis, and idiopathic HP. The main infectious and neoplastic mimicking entities are also discussed with reference to conventional and advanced MR sequences.

A cone-beam computed tomography study of hyoid bone position and airway volume in subjects with obstructive and nonobstructive adenotonsillar hypertrophy.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate hyoid bone position and airway volume in subjects with adenoid hypertrophy, tonsillar hypertrophy, and adenotonsillar hypertrophy compared to subjects with nonobstructive adenoids or tonsils and to assess the correlation between hyoid bone and airway parameters. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 121 subjects were grouped based on adenoid or tonsillar hypertrophy into four groups, as follows: (1) control group (C-group), (2) adenoid hypertrophy group (AH-group), (3) adenotonsillar hypertrophy group (ATH-group), and (4) tonsillar hypertrophy group (TH-group). Hyoid bone position and airway volumes were measured. The Kruskal-Wallis test was used for intergroup comparison, followed by pairwise comparison using the Mann-Whitney U-test. Bivariate correlation was conducted using Spearman correlation coefficients. Multiple linear regression was performed to create a model for airway volume based on hyoid bone predictive variables. RESULTS: No significant difference was found between subjects with isolated adenoid or tonsillar hypertrophy compared to the C-group. However, the ATH-group exhibited a significantly decreased hyoid bone vertical distance (HV), total airway volume (TA volume), and retroglossal airway volume (RG volume) compared to the C-group. HV and age had a high potential in terms of explaining the RG volume, whereas the TA volume and retropalatal airway volume (RP volume) models were not as successful as the RG volume counterpart. CONCLUSIONS: Subjects in ATH-group were characterized by an elevated hyoid bone position and constricted TA volume and RG volume compared to those in the C-group. HV and age were predictor variables that best explained retroglossal airway volume.

Automatic detection of adenoid hypertrophy on cone-beam computed tomography based on deep learning.

INTRODUCTION: This study proposed an automatic diagnosis method based on deep learning for adenoid hypertrophy detection on cone-beam computed tomography. METHODS: The hierarchical masks self-attention U-net (HMSAU-Net) for segmentation of the upper airway and the 3-dimensional (3D)-ResNet for diagnosing adenoid hypertrophy were constructed on the basis of 87 cone-beam computed tomography samples. A self-attention encoder module was added to the SAU-Net to optimize upper airway segmentation precision. The hierarchical masks were introduced to ensure that the HMSAU-Net captured sufficient local semantic information. RESULTS: We used Dice to evaluate the performance of HMSAU-Net and used diagnostic method indicators to test the performance of 3D-ResNet. The average Dice value of our proposed model was 0.960, which was superior to the 3DU-Net and SAU-Net models. In the diagnostic models, 3D-ResNet10 had an excellent ability to diagnose adenoid hypertrophy automatically with a mean accuracy of 0.912, a mean sensitivity of 0.976, a mean specificity of 0.867, a mean positive predictive value of 0.837, a mean negative predictive value of 0.981, and a F1 score of 0.901. CONCLUSIONS: The value of this diagnostic system lies in that it provides a new method for the rapid and accurate early clinical diagnosis of adenoid hypertrophy in children, allows us to look at the upper airway obstruction in three-dimensional space and relieves the work pressure of imaging doctors.

Role of neck radiography in assessing recurrent/residual adenoid hypertrophy in children with OSA and history of adenotonsillectomy: a sleep physician perspective.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: Recurrent/residual adenoid hypertrophy after adenotonsillectomy in children can result in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). We aimed to assess the role of soft tissue neck X-ray (STN-XR) in evaluating recurrent/residual adenoid tissue hypertrophy. METHODS: This was a single-center retrospective study that included children with sleep study-confirmed OSA and a known history of adenotonsillectomy who underwent STN-XR to evaluate for recurrent/residual adenoid tissue hypertrophy. STN-XR nasopharyngeal obliteration and baseline polysomnographic data were analyzed. Multiple linear regression was used to assess the independent relationship between the results of STN-XR and the total apnea-hypopnea index, while controlling for relevant characteristics. RESULTS: The study included 160 participants with a median age of 10 years (quartile [Q] 1 = 7, Q3 = 12.25). More than half of the children were male (59.4%) and the median body mass index z-score was 2.11 (Q1 = 1.23, Q3 = 2.54). STN-XR was normal in 39.4%, and it showed mild, moderate, and complete nasopharyngeal obliteration in 20.6%, 32.5%, and 7.5% of the participants, respectively. Multiple regression analysis showed that moderate and complete nasopharyngeal obliteration was associated with an increase in the mean total apnea-hypopnea index by 109% (P = .0002) and 185% (P = .001), respectively, when compared with children without nasopharyngeal obliteration. However, mild nasopharyngeal obliteration, body mass index z-score, age, sex, and race were not significantly associated with an increase in the total apnea-hypopnea index. CONCLUSIONS: STN-XR was useful in assessing recurrent/residual adenoid tissue hypertrophy in children with OSA and a history of adenotonsillectomy. Moderate and complete nasopharyngeal obliteration were associated with significantly increased apnea-hypopnea index. Pediatric sleep physicians may consider STN-XR in the evaluation of children with OSA and previous history of adenotonsillectomy. CITATION: Senthilvel E, Nguyen QL, Gunaratnam B, Feygin YB, Palani R, El-Kersh K. Role of neck radiography in assessing recurrent/residual adenoid hypertrophy in children with OSA and history of adenotonsillectomy: a sleep physician perspective. J Clin Sleep Med. 2023;19(6):1027-1033.

Increased 18F-PSMA and 18F-FDG Uptake in Lipomatous Hypertrophy of the Interatrial Septum.

ABSTRACT: Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum (LHIS) is a benign anomaly with low prevalence. Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum is asymptomatic in most of the cases and rarely leads to atrial arrhythmias, obstructive flow symptoms, or sudden death. It is mostly diagnosed as an incidental finding in cross-sectional imaging and echocardiography, and increased 18F-FDG uptake on LHIS has been described. We present a case of repeated increased 18F-PSMA uptake in LHIS. Although very rare, familiarity with the typical features and prevalence of LHIS in PET/CT can avoid misinterpretation for metastatic disease.

Evaluation of the associations between maxillary sinus dimensions and adenoid hypertrophy using multislice computed tomography.

INTRODUCTION: Adenoid hypertrophy is especially common in childhood, raising the concern that such growth might affect maxillary sinus volumes during the developmental period. This study evaluated the developmental relationships between maxillary sinus volumes and adenoid hypertrophy via computed tomography. MATERIALS AND METHODS: It was examined computed tomographic images of 118 individuals: 61 boys and 57 girls. The participants were divided into a healthy control group (n = 59) and an experimental group (with adenoid hypertrophy) (n = 59). Raw data were recorded in DICOM format and analysed using the ITK-SNA algorithm; it was measured the right, left, and total maxillary sinus volumes and adenoid tissue sizes. RESULTS: It was found significant between-group differences in the three maxillary sinus volumes and adenoid tissue dimensions (linear maximum anterior and posterior depth; maximum upper and lower height, and maximum width to the right and left) (all p<0.001). On the contrary, there was no significant difference according to sex in terms of either maxillary sinus volumes or linear adenoid tissue measurements. Maxillary sinus volumes increased significantly according to age in both groups. CONCLUSION: Adenoid hypertrophy decreases the maxillary sinus volumes, regardless of sex. The impacts of adenoid growth on maxillary sinus aeration and sinus disease should be further investigated.

Age-Related Changes in the Submandibular Gland: An Imaging Study of Gland Ptosis Versus Volume.

BACKGROUND: Debate surrounding the morphological evolution of the submandibular gland (SMG) with aging, and the uncertain influence of patient demographics, has led to hesitancy about incorporating targeted interventions of the SMG into clinical practice. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether SMG ptosis, hypertrophy, or both is the primary etiology behind the increase in submandibular volume with age. METHODS: MRI segmentation was used to calculate the total and inframandibular (IM) volume and height of the SMG. Adult subjects with previous MRIs of the head and neck were used for analysis. Those with pathology or artifact compromising the SMG were excluded. Subjects were divided into 4 age-defined cohorts, for clinical applicability. RESULTS: The study included 129 patients (65 females; 64 males) with a mean age of 52.3 years (range, 20-85 years). No significant change in total SMG volume was observed between the reference group and all cohorts. The IM-SMG volume of the reference cohort was 5.77 cm3. All 3 cohorts had a greater IM-SMG volume than the reference group. The 45- to 54-year cohort had a mean volume of 6.7 cm3 (P = 0.4), the 55- to 64-year cohort, 7.5 cm3 (P = 0.01), and the ≥65-year cohort, 7.2 cm3 (P = 0.01). Male sex and overweight or obese BMI were associated with significantly larger total and IM-SMG volumes. CONCLUSIONS: The novel finding of a significantly larger IM-SMG volume with no change in total volume provides evidence for SMG ptosis rather than hypertrophy as a significant contributor to age-related submandibular fullness. The lack of any significant difference in total volume or height with aging emphasizes the role of glandular descent.

Evaluation of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion-weighted imaging for predicting muscular hyperplasia/hypertrophy in Crohn's disease.

OBJECTIVES: The existence of smooth muscle alteration in Crohn's disease (CD) is often neglected. It has been found that muscular hyperplasia/hypertrophy rather than fibrosis was the primary component of bowel wall thickening. This study aimed to assess the value of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) and diffusion weighted imaging for the characterization of histopathologic tissue composition of CD, particularly smooth muscle hypertrophy, as well as inflammation and fibrosis. METHODS: The study included patients diagnosed with CD who received MRI examination 30 days before resection from August 2016 to December 2020. A semiquantitative histological grading scheme was employed to evaluate the pathological tissues. Resected sections were matched with MRI according to pathological marks. Parameters evaluated included: mural thickness, T2 ratio, apparent diffusion coefficient value; and maximum enhancement, initial slope of increase, perfusion parameters of DCE-MRI and enhancement pattern. These parameters were compared with location-matched histopathological grade. RESULTS: Ninety-one sections were enrolled in this retrospective study. When active inflammation is moderate or severe, volume transfer coefficient (Ktrans), maximum enhancement (ME) and initial slope of increase (ISI) are lower, mural thickness is higher when a certain degree of smooth muscle alteration is present. When active inflammation is absent or mild, ME, mural thickness and ISI can differentiate the presence of predominant muscular alteration. By combining ME and thickness comparisons against their cutoff values to create a combined ordinal parameter, the area under the curve value for whether significant muscular alteration coexists with moderate or severe active inflammation was found to be 0.953. CONCLUSIONS: MRI predicts the degree of inflammation, and can distinguish the degree of muscular alteration coexists with moderate or severe active inflammation with reasonable accuracy.

Factors Associated with Thickening of the Ligamentum Flavum on Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Patients with Lumbar Spinal Canal Stenosis.

STUDY DESIGN: Experimental study of the ligamentum flavum (LF) thickness among patients with lumbar spinal canal stenosis (LSCS). OBJECTIVES: To elucidate the factors associated with thickening of the LF on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Thickening of the LF is a major contributor to LSCS. This thickening is attributed to tissue hypertrophy or buckling of the ligament, and there may be several associated factors on MRI; however, these factors remain unclear. METHODS: We studied the LF in 56 patients (a total of 106 ligaments) with LSCS, who underwent decompressive surgery; among them, 23 were receiving haemodialysis. The Pearson correlation coefficient was used to assess relationships between the thickness of the LF on MRI and the thickness of the LF tissue, age, disc height, disc degeneration, and disc level. Patients were also categorised into 2 groups based on whether they were undergoing haemodialysis, and the relationships were assessed similarly. RESULTS: Among patients with LSCS, the thickness of the LF on MRI showed a significant positive linear relationship with the thickness of the LF tissue, and no association with disc height. Except for in those receiving haemodialysis, the thickness of the LF on MRI showed a significant positive relationship with age, disc degeneration, and disc level among patients with LSCS. CONCLUSION: In patients with LSCS, thickening of the LF on MRI appears to represent tissue hypertrophy. The association between the thickness of the LF on MRI and age, disc degeneration, and disc level may indicate simultaneous alterations of spine components along with aging that was cancelled by the effects of haemodialysis.

The importance of preoperative imaging methods in reduction mammoplasty.

Breast reduction surgery is a common procedure in plastic surgery clinics, and there are varying practices regarding preoperative mammography and breast ultrasound in patients who have no history of cancer and no symptoms other than those caused by macromastia. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the imaging findings of patients who presented to the plastic surgery outpatient clinic due to macromastia between January 1, 2006 and June 1, 2020 and underwent mammography and/or breast ultrasound for preoperative screening and breast magnetic resonance imaging for further examination. Patients with a history of breast cancer diagnosed prior to preoperative screening or any other breast disease were excluded. Radiologically suspicious findings were significantly more common in patients over 40 years of age and significantly less frequent in the group under 50 years of age. When the patients were grouped by the decade of life, the frequency of radiologically suspicious findings was significantly lower in the 20-29 group and significantly higher in the 40-49 and 50-59 groups. Malignancy was not detected by histopathological examination in any patient. Proliferative lesions were detected in 10 reduction mammoplasty specimens (2.4%) of 7 patients (3.1%). The correlation between radiological and histopathological findings may be weak in macromastia patients. Most suspicious radiological findings appear to be the population between 40 and 59 years of age .

Ultrasound-guided five-point injection of botulinum toxin for patients with trapezius hypertrophy.

OBJECTIVES: Our study aimed to explore the clinical therapeutic effects of ultrasound-guided five-point injection of botulinum toxin type A for patients with trapezius hypertrophy. METHODS: Twenty female patients diagnosed with trapezius hypertrophy were enrolled in this study. The thicknesses of the trapezius muscle were measured by using the ultrasound scanner to locate the thickest point of trapezius, followed by labelling the other four points around the first point. Botulinum toxin type A was injected bilaterally (50 IU/side, 5 points/side) in the trapezius muscle of these patients. The surgery effects were evaluated by thicknesses of the trapezius muscle, intramuscular needle electromyographic and electroneurographic examinations, appearance changes and patients' satisfactions. RESULTS: Statistically significant differences in thicknesses of the trapezius muscle were observed at 4 weeks (p < 0.001), 12 weeks (p < 0.001), 20 weeks (p < 0.001), 28 weeks (p = 0.011), 36 weeks (p = 0.022), and 44 weeks (p = 0.032) after surgery. The latencies of trapezius muscle became longer at 12 weeks after surgery (left: 2.40 ms, right: 2.53 ms vs. left: 1.75 ms, right: 2.00 ms). Electroneurographic results showed amplitude reduction of compound muscle action potentials (CMAPs) at 12 weeks after surgery (left: 1.91 uV, right: 3.10 uV vs. left: 15.00 uV, right: 15.40 uV). Obvious appearance changes were revealed at 12 weeks after surgery. All of 80% patients were very satisfied, 15% patients were relatively satisfied, and 5% patients were not satisfied with the surgery. CONCLUSION: Ultrasound-guided five-point injection of botulinum toxin type A might be effective for patients with trapezius hypertrophy.

Combined assessment of pulmonary arterial enlargement and coronary calcification predicts the prognosis of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

INTRODUCTION: In chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), chest computed tomography (CT) provides clinically important cardiovascular findings, which include diameter of pulmonary artery (PA), its ratio to the diameter of the aorta (PA:A ratio), and coronary artery calcium score (CACS). The clinical importance of these cardiovascular findings has not been fully assessed in Japan, where cardiovascular morbidity and/or mortality is reported to be much less compared with Western counterparts. METHODS: PA diameter and PA:A ratio were measured in 172 and 130 patients with COPD who enrolled in the Hokkaido COPD cohort study and the Kyoto University cohort, respectively. CACS was measured in 131 and 128 patients in each cohort. RESULTS: While the highest quartile group in PA diameter was associated with higher all-cause mortality compared to the lowest quartile group in both cohorts, individual assessments of PA:A ratio and CACS were not associated with the long-term clinical outcomes. When PA diameter and CACS were combined, patients with PA enlargement (diameter >29.5 mm) and/or coronary calcification (score >440.8) were associated with higher all-cause mortality in both cohorts. CONCLUSION: Combined assessment of PA enlargement and CACS was associated with poor prognosis, which provides a clinical advantage in management of patients with COPD even in geographical regions with lower risk of cardiovascular diseases.

Novel maxillary enlargement technique in congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis: a case report and literature review.

Congenital nasal pyriform aperture stenosis (CNPAS) is a rare cause of neonate nasal obstruction. Because newborns are natural nasal breathers, urgent treatment may be needed. CNPAS is diagnosed by clinical symptoms and signs, and CT. In severe cases, surgical approach is needed. The most often used approach is widening of pyriform aperture via sublabial incision with nasal tubing. We report a novel surgical approach as a curative treatment for CNPAS by immediate transverse enlargement of the maxilla. We also review current literature of the condition focusing on surgical management of the disease.

Automated Radiographic Evaluation of Adenoid Hypertrophy Based on VGG-Lite.

Adenoid hypertrophy is a pathological hyperplasia of the adenoids, which may cause snoring and apnea, as well as impede breathing during sleep. The lateral cephalogram is commonly used by dentists to screen for adenoid hypertrophy, but it is tedious and time-consuming to measure the ratio of adenoid width to nasopharyngeal width for adenoid assessment. The purpose of this study was to develop a screening tool to automatically evaluate adenoid hypertrophy from lateral cephalograms using deep learning. We proposed the deep learning model VGG-Lite, using the largest data set (1,023 X-ray images) yet described to support the automatic detection of adenoid hypertrophy. We demonstrated that our model was able to automatically evaluate adenoid hypertrophy with a sensitivity of 0.898, a specificity of 0.882, positive predictive value of 0.880, negative predictive value of 0.900, and F1 score of 0.889. The comparison of model-only and expert-only detection performance showed that the fully automatic method (0.07 min) was about 522 times faster than the human expert (36.6 min). Comparison of human experts with or without deep learning assistance showed that model-assisted human experts spent an average of 23.3 min to evaluate adenoid hypertrophy using 100 radiographs, compared to an average of 36.6 min using an entirely manual procedure. We therefore concluded that deep learning could improve the accuracy, speed, and efficiency of evaluating adenoid hypertrophy from lateral cephalograms.

Inclination of the small laminar slope angle leads to lumbar spinal stenosis due to hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum.

OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to investigate the relationship between the laminar slope angle (LSA) and the lumbar disc degenerative grade, the cross-section area (CSA) of multifidus muscle, the muscle-fat index, and the thickness of the ligamentum flavum. METHODS: Retrospective analysis of 122 patients who were scheduled to undergo a lumbar operation for diagnoses associated with degenerative lumbar disease between January and December 2017. The L4-L5 disc grade was evaluated from preoperative sagittal T2-weighed magnetic resonance imaging of the lumber region; the CSA of the multifidus and muscle-fat index were measured at the L4 level, while the thickness of the ligamentum flavum was measured at the L4-L5 facet level from axis T2-weighed magnetic resonance imaging. The slope of the laminar was evaluated from preoperative three-dimensional computer tomography at the tip level of the facet joints and selected by the axis plane. Independent-sample T-tests were used to assess the association between age and measurement indices. RESULTS: Our results showed that age was positively connected with the LSA of L4 and L5 in different patients, although there was no significant difference between age and the difference of the two segment LSA. Partial correlation analysis, excluding the interference of age, revealed a strong negative relationship between the LSA of L4 and the thickness of the ligamentum flavum, irrespective of whether we considered the left or right. However, there was no correlation with lumbar disc degenerative grade, the CSA of the multifidus, and the muscle-fat index. CONCLUSION: The thickness of the ligamentum flavum showed changes with anatomical differences in the LSA, but not the lumbar disc degenerative grade, the CSA of the multifidus, and the muscle-fat index. A small change in LSA may cause large mechanical stress; this may be one of the causative factors responsible for lumbar spinal stenosis.

Efficacy and Safety of a Novel Botulinum Toxin A for Masseter Reduction: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled, Optimal Dose-Finding Study.

BACKGROUND: A wide lower face and a square jaw are considered esthetic problems, particularly in Asia. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the optimal dose of a novel botulinum toxin (prabotulinum toxin A) for treating masseteric hypertrophy. METHODS: Ninety subjects with masseteric hypertrophy were randomly divided into 5 groups and treated with placebo (A, normal saline) or prabotulinum toxin A (B: 24, C: 48, D: 72, and E: 96 units). Photography, ultrasonography, and 3-dimensional imaging were performed before and after injection at baseline and at 4, 8, 12, and 16 weeks after treatment. The participants also rated their satisfaction. RESULTS: Masseter thickness significantly reduced in all groups at 12 weeks, compared with that in the placebo group. A dose-dependent reduction in masseter thickness was observed at the resting and maximal clenching positions. Sonography and 3-dimensional imaging revealed a gradual reduction in masseter thickness and volume, respectively, during the first 12 weeks. Despite being slightly effective, a dose of 24 units might be insufficient for resolving square face problems. Patients in Group E reported discomfort during jaw movement. CONCLUSION: Prabotulinum toxin A could effectively improve lower face contour without major complications, with an optimal dose of 48 to 72 units, followed by reinjection after 12 weeks.