Telemedicine for diabetes management during COVID-19: what we have learnt, what and how to implement.

The past two decades have witnessed telemedicine becoming a crucial part of health care as a method to facilitate doctor-patient interaction. Due to technological developments and the incremental acquisition of experience in its use, telemedicine's advantages and cost-effectiveness has led to it being recognised as specifically relevant to diabetology. However, the pandemic created new challenges for healthcare systems and the rate of development of digital services started to grow exponentially. It was soon discovered that COVID-19-infected patients with diabetes had an increased risk of both mortality and debilitating sequelae. In addition, it was observed that this higher risk could be attenuated primarily by maintaining optimal control of the patient's glucose metabolism. As opportunities for actual physical doctor-patient visits became restricted, telemedicine provided the most convenient opportunity to communicate with patients and maintain delivery of care. The wide range of experiences of health care provision during the pandemic has led to the development of several excellent strategies regarding the applicability of telemedicine across the whole spectrum of diabetes care. The continuation of these strategies is likely to benefit clinical practice even after the pandemic crisis is over.

Technical development in cardiac CT: current standards and future improvements-a narrative review.

Non-invasive depiction of coronary arteries has been a great challenge for imaging specialists since the introduction of computed tomography (CT). Technological development together with improvements in spatial, temporal, and contrast resolution, progressively allowed implementation of the current clinical role of the CT assessment of coronary arteries. Several technological evolutions including hardware and software solutions of CT scanners have been developed to improve spatial and temporal resolution. The main challenges of cardiac computed tomography (CCT) are currently plaque characterization, functional assessment of stenosis and radiation dose reduction. In this review, we will discuss current standards and future improvements in CCT.

Whole-body diffusion-weighted MR and FDG-PET/CT in Hodgkin Lymphoma: Predictive role before treatment and early assessment after two courses of ABVD.

PURPOSE: To evaluate whether imaging features of pathologic lymph nodes on whole-body diffusion-weighted MR have a predictive role before treatment and may assess the response after two courses of chemotherapy in comparison to FDG-PET/CT in Hodgkin Lymphoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We reviewed the whole-body MR and FDG-PET/CT performed on 41 patients with Hodgkin Lymphoma before and after two Doxorubicin-Bleomycin-Vinblastine-Dacarbazine (ABVD). Responder and non-responder lesions were identified on interim-FDG-PET/CT performed after two ABVD. We used Multivariate Generalized Estimating Equations model to assess statistical association between being-responder and baseline-Maximum Standard Uptake Value (SUVmax), baseline and interim-Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) and size, ADC and size changes during chemotherapy, site of disease, bulky, and stage. RESULTS: 10/41 (24%) patients were positive on interim-FDG-PET/CT. The interim-FDG-PET/CT positivity was associated with worse cumulative survival rate at 24 months in comparison to interim-FDG-PET/CT negativity (P < .05); 3/10 patients with positive interim-FDG-PET/CT and 1/31 with negative interim-FDG-PET/CT experienced disease progression. Baseline-SUVmax was 11.18 ±â€¯5.58 (3.1-28.0) and baseline-ADC was 0.70 ±â€¯0.14 × 10-3 mm2/s (0.39-0.98). There was a significant difference between responder and non-responder lesions based on interim-ADC (1.83 ±â€¯0.34 × 10-3 mm2/s vs. 1.01 ±â€¯0.27 × 10-3 mm2/s;p <.001), interim-size (3.1 cm2 vs. 9.4 cm2;p = .009), and bulky (8.2% vs. 66.7%;p = .002). There was no significant difference between responder and non-responder lesions based on baseline-SUVmax (p = .713), baseline-ADC (p = .253), ADC changes (p = .058), size changes (p = .085), site (p = .209), stage (p = .290), baseline-size (p = .064). CONCLUSIONS: Interim-ADC is helpful for identifying non-responder lesions, while size changes are not useful. Baseline-SUVmax and ADC have no predictive role. Bulky is the most useful imaging parameter to predict suboptimal response to chemotherapy.

Whole-body MRI, FDG-PET/CT, and bone marrow biopsy, for the assessment of bone marrow involvement in patients with newly diagnosed lymphoma.

PURPOSE: To compare whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) with diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), FDG-PET/CT, and bone marrow biopsy (BMB), for the evaluation of bone marrow involvement (BMI) in patients with newly diagnosed lymphoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study was approved by our Institutional Review Board. Two independent radiologists and one nuclear medicine specialist reviewed all WB-MRI and FDG-PET/CT scans prospectively performed on 104 patients with newly diagnosed lymphoma (53 males; 47 Hodgkin; mean age: 44 years; range, 15-86 years) between 2013 and 2015. The delay between imaging scans and BMBs was up to 10 days. The diagnostic accuracy of WB-MRI (1.5 Tesla MR scanner, with T1w, T2w-STIR, and DWI sequences) was evaluated using BMB and FDG-PET/CT as the reference standard. We applied Cohen's kappa coefficient to assess the inter-observer agreement in WB-MRI interpretation and to compare WB-MRI, FDG-PET/CT and BMB. The Student's t test was done to compare pelvic marrow ADC values of patients with positive and negative BMB. A P-value of < 0.01 was considered significant. RESULTS: Inter-observer agreement was excellent (k = 0.937). Agreement between WB-MRI and FDG-PET/CT was excellent, with a k = 0.935. Agreement between WB-MRI and BMB was moderate (k = 0.489), and fair between FDG-PET/CT and BMB (k = 0.370). WB-MRI and FDG-PET/CT were falsely negative in four indolent non-Hodgkin lymphomas with BMI < 30% of marrow cellularity. Conversely, WB-MRI and FDG-PET/CT detected all cases with a BMI>30% of marrow cellularity. Mean ADC values in patients with positive and negative BMB were not significantly different (P = 0.049). CONCLUSION: WB-MRI and FDG-PET/CT are valuable tools for the assessment of BMI. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 3 J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2017;45:1082-1089.

Whole-body magnetic resonance for staging and response assessment of lymphoma in a pregnant woman treated with antenatal chemotherapy.

A 32-year-old pregnant female presented with bilateral supraclavicular swelling, diffuse itching and right shoulder pain. After lymph nodal biopsy, a diagnosis of nodular sclerosis Hodgkin's lymphoma was obtained. A multidisciplinary team decided to start chemotherapy before the delivery, and whole-body MRI was used to stage the disease and evaluate the response after antenatal chemotherapy. This case shows that whole-body MRI is an attractive procedure that avoids radiation exposure and contrast administration, and enables staging and follow-up of a pregnant patient without risk to the fetus.

Value of serial magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of brain metastases volume control during stereotactic radiosurgery.

AIM: To evaluate brain metastases volume control capabilities of stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) through serial magnetic resonance (MR) imaging follow-up. METHODS: MR examinations of 54 brain metastases in 31 patients before and after SRS were reviewed. Patients were included in this study if they had a pre-treatment MR examination and serial follow-up MR examinations at 6 wk, 9 wk, 12 wk, and 12 mo after SRS. The metastasis volume change was categorized at each follow-up as increased (> 20% of the initial volume), stable (± 20% of the initial volume) or decreased (< 20% of the initial volume). RESULTS: A local tumor control with a significant (P < 0.05) volume decrease was observed in 25 metastases at 6-wk follow-up. Not significant volume change was observed in 23 metastases and a significant volume increase was observed in 6 metastases. At 9-wk follow-up, 15 out of 25 metastases that decreased in size at 6 wk had a transient tumor volume increase, followed by tumor regression at 12 wk. At 12-wk follow-up there was a significant reduction in volume in 45 metastases, and a significant volume increase in 4 metastases. At 12-mo follow-up, 19 metastases increased significantly in size (up to 41% of the initial volume). Volume tumor reduction was correlated to histopathologic subtype. CONCLUSION: SRS provided an effective local brain metastases volume control that was demonstrated at follow-up MR imaging.

Assessment of atrial diastolic function in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy by cine magnetic resonance imaging.

PURPOSE: This study was conducted to assess the role of atrial function by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) for the evaluation of diastolic physiology in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) compared to healthy controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We enrolled 23 consecutive patients affected by HCM and 43 healthy subjects as age-matched control cases (CC). CMR was performed through acquisition of cine steady-state free precession sequences using a 1.5-T scanner. Image postprocessing was carried out using Tracking Tool software. RESULTS: Atrial volumes were significantly higher in patients with HCM compared to CC: maximum atrial volume (p = 0.007) and minimum atrial volume (p = 0.01). A statistically significant difference was also observed in atrial ejection fraction in patients with HCM (p < 0.0001). The atrial volume curves defined as cavity volume over time (dV/t) showed significant differences: early atrial peak emptying rate (PERE) (maximum rate of emptying independent of atrial contraction) in HCM was -146 ± 53 ml/s versus -227 ± 86 ml/s in CC (p < 0.0001); active atrial peak emptying rate (PERA) (maximum rate of emptying secondary to atrial contraction) in HCM was -256 ± 80 ml/s versus -216 ± 104 ml/s in CC (p = 0.05); the atrial PER E/A ratio in HCM was 0.6 ± 0.2 versus 1.05 ± 0.5 in CC (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that in HCM patients with early diastolic dysfunction the parameters of left atrial function assessed by CMR are impaired before the ventricular diastolic indexes such as the early peak filling rate and the active peak filling rate.

Image assessment with multislice CT coronary angiography.

AIM: To investigate the diagnostic accuracy of two different protocols for image evaluation used in multislice computed tomography coronary angiography (MSCT-CA). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty patients with suspected coronary artery disease undergoing conventional coronary angiography (CA) were enrolled for MSCT-CA. All patients underwent 16-row MSCT (Sensation 16, Siemens, Germany) with the following parameters: detector rows 16, collimation 0.75 mm, gantry rotation time 375 ms. Two independent observers assessed the images for significant stenosis using a a protocol with standard projections and a three-dimensional protocol. The diagnostic accuracy for both methods was calculated using quantitative CA as a reference standard. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value and positive predictive value obtained with the conventional projection protocol and with three-dimensional protocol were: 54% and 93%, 97% and 97%, 76% and 86%, 92% and 99%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Conventional projections in the assessment of MSCT-CA provide insufficient diagnostic accuracy compared with three-dimensional processing.