Lung Cancer Screening Penetration in an Urban Underserved County.

PURPOSE: To compare residential geography, sex, socioeconomic status (SES), and race/ethnicity of patients screened at Montefiore's Lung Cancer Screening Program with those of patients diagnosed with lung cancer, assessing whether screening efforts are appropriately focused. METHODS: This retrospective cohort study involved patients within a multisite urban medical center undergoing lung cancer screening or diagnosed with lung cancer from January 1, 2015 to December 31, 2019. Inclusion criteria were residence within the Bronx, NY and age between 55 and 80 years. Institutional review board approval was obtained. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon two-sample t test and χ2. RESULTS: The cohorts comprised 1568 (50.3%) women and 1551 (49.7%) men (mean age 65.6 ± 6.16). The Southeast Bronx had the most diagnosed lung cancers (29.96%) and screenings (31.22%). Sex did not significantly differ (p = 0.053). Cancer and screening cohorts were from impoverished neighborhoods with mean SES of - 3.11 ± 2.78 and - 3.44 ± 2.80 (p < 0.01). The lower tier SES neighborhoods demonstrated more patients in the screening cohort than cancer cohort (p = 0.01). Both cohorts included a majority of Hispanic patients, although race/ethnicity differed significantly (p = 0.01). Lower SES neighborhoods showed no significant difference in race/ethnicity between cancer and screening cohorts (p = 0.262). CONCLUSION: Though statistically significant differences were found between cohorts, likely due to sample size, few clinically meaningful differences were found, implying our lung cancer screening program was effective in reaching the desired population. Demographics-based programs should be considered in global efforts to screen vulnerable populations.

Angioleiomyoma of the Ankle: Case Report and Literature Review of a Rare Benign Soft Tissue Tumor.

Angioleiomyoma is a benign soft tissue tumor originating in the smooth muscle of blood vessels. It most frequently presents as a painful, free-moving subcutaneous nodule in the lower extremities and is most common in middle-aged women. Angioleiomyoma is rare amongst benign foot neoplasms, and a preoperative diagnosis of angioleiomyoma is rare. We present a case of angioleiomyoma involving the ankle of a 28-year-old female. To prevent patient suffering, we emphasize the importance of an early and accurate diagnosis. Furthermore, we highlight the salient features of angioleiomyoma, which help with the early detection and differentiation of similar malignant variants, including leiomyosarcoma.

Development of a natural language processing algorithm for the detection of spinal metastasis based on magnetic resonance imaging reports.

Background: Metastasis to the spinal column is a common complication of malignancy, potentially causing pain and neurologic injury. An automated system to identify and refer patients with spinal metastases can help overcome barriers to timely treatment. We describe the training, optimization and validation of a natural language processing algorithm to identify the presence of vertebral metastasis and metastatic epidural cord compression (MECC) from radiology reports of spinal MRIs. Methods: Reports from patients with spine MRI studies performed between January 1, 2008 and April 14, 2019 were reviewed by a team of radiologists to assess for the presence of cancer and generate a labeled dataset for model training. Using regular expression, impression sections were extracted from the reports and converted to all lower-case letters with all nonalphabetic characters removed. The reports were then tokenized and vectorized using the doc2vec algorithm. These were then used to train a neural network to predict the likelihood of spinal tumor or MECC. For each report, the model provided a number from 0 to 1 corresponding to its impression. We then obtained 111 MRI reports from outside the test set, 92 manually labeled negative and 19 with MECC to test the model's performance. Results: About 37,579 radiology reports were reviewed. About 36,676 were labeled negative, and 903 with MECC. We chose a cutoff of 0.02 as a positive result to optimize for a low false negative rate. At this threshold we found a 100% sensitivity rate with a low false positive rate of 2.2%. Conclusions: The NLP model described predicts the presence of spinal tumor and MECC in spine MRI reports with high accuracy. We plan to implement the algorithm into our EMR to allow for faster referral of these patients to appropriate specialists, allowing for reduced morbidity and increased survival.

Performance Anxiety in Radiology Education and Clinical Practice.

Performance anxiety is fear, anxiety, or avoidance of performative tasks, due to possible evaluation or criticism by others. Performance anxiety is well described in public speakers, musicians, and even surgeons. Its impact on radiologists and especially radiology trainees has not been explored. This article details performance anxiety, framing radiologists as performers, and highlights its potential impact on trainees and practicing radiologists. We offer strategies to manage and enhance the effects of performance anxiety that can be implemented in a training environment.

Utility of the coned-down lateral view of the lumbosacral spine.

OBJECTIVE: At certain institutions and radiology practices, a routine lumbar radiographic exam may include 3 views: AP, lateral, and coned-down lateral of the lumbosacral junction. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the third coned-down-lateral view adds significant diagnostic information regarding pathology at the L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study includes patients (n = 74) who had a 3-view radiographic exam of the lumbar spine, as well as a CT or MRI within six months. The AP and lateral views were reviewed by three radiologists, both with and without the use of the third, coned-lateral view. Subsequently, the CT and MRI performed within 6 months was reviewed, and the results compared. The primary outcome was detection of abnormal alignment and disc disease at the L4-L5 and L5-S1 levels. RESULTS: For the combined findings of alignment and disc disease at each L4-L5 and L5-S1, there was disagreement between the 2-view and 3-view exams on 18 (of 296) evaluations. Of these 18, the 2-view and the 3-view exam each made positive findings on 9. By the binomial test, there is no evidence that either the 2-view or the 3-view exam tends to make more findings than the other (p = 1). Compared to CT/MRI, the 2-view exam agrees on 74.7 % of evaluations and the 3-view exam agrees on 75.3 %. There is therefore no evidence that the 3-view exam is more accurate than the 2-view exam. CONCLUSION: Elimination of the coned-down lateral view could reduce radiation exposure and imaging-related costs while maintaining diagnostic quality.

Handoffs in Radiology: Minimizing Communication Errors and Improving Care Transitions.

Handoffs are essential to achieving safe care transitions. In radiology practice, frequent transitions of care responsibility among clinicians, radiologists, and patients occur between moments of care such as determining protocol, imaging, interpreting, and consulting. Continuity of care is maintained across these transitions with handoffs, which are the process of communicating patient information and transferring decision-making responsibility. As a leading cause of medical error, handoffs are a major communication challenge that is exceedingly common in both diagnostic and interventional radiology practice. The frequency of handoffs in radiology underscores the importance of using evidence-based strategies to improve patient safety in the radiology department. In this article, reliability science principles and handoff improvement tools are adapted to provide radiology-focused strategies at individual, team, and organizational levels with the goal of minimizing handoff errors and improving care transitions.

Meeting ACR Dose Guidelines for CT Lung Cancer Screening in an Overweight and Obese Population.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: Lung cancer screening adoption coincides with a growing obesity epidemic. Maintaining high-quality imaging at low radiation dose is challenging in obesity. We investigate the feasibility of meeting American College of Radiology (ACR) dose guidelines for lung cancer screening in a predominantly overweight and obese population. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Radiation dose (Volumetric CT dose index [CTDIvol], dose-length product), and body mass index (BMI) were collected for baseline screening CTs December, 2012-December, 2017. Dose metrics were analyzed according to BMI classification (normal <25, overweight 25-29, obese ≥30 kg/m2), using k = 0.014 mSv/mGy*cm. Results were compared to ACR dose guidelines and mean national 2017 Lung Cancer Screening Registry dose metrics. Analysis used Kruskal-Wallis (SPSS, version 24.0.0, IBM corp, Armonk, NY). RESULTS: Study population comprised 1478 patients (49.2% [727] women: mean BMI 28.1 ± 6.5 kg/m2, 26.9% [397] normal weight, 35.9% [530] overweight, 37.2% [551] obese). ACR dose requirements were met for both genders in all BMI classifications. Dose metrics were higher in men than in women; median effective dose and CTDIvol were 1.39 (0.8-1.58) mSv and 2.78 (1.41-2.80) mGy in men versus 1.16 (0.71-1.43) mSv and 2.70 (1.4-2.78) mGy in women. There were significant differences in dose metrics between men and women in the same BMI classification and between BMI classifications (p < 0.001). Mean dose metrics in our program were considerably lower than 2017 national average- mean CTDIvol and effective dose 2.45 ± 1.14 mGy and 1.26 ± 0.59 mSv versus 3.24 mGy and 1.35 mSv, respectively for our program and nationally. Mean dose metrics were also lower in our obese patients versus obese patients nationally. CONCLUSION: ACR dose metrics for lung cancer screening were met and can be appropriately tailored in a predominantly overweight and obese population clinical program.

Performance of the Vancouver Risk Calculator Compared with Lung-RADS in an Urban, Diverse Clinical Lung Cancer Screening Cohort.

Purpose: To compare the performance of the Vancouver risk calculator (VRC) with the American College of Radiology's Lung CT Screening Reporting and Data System (Lung-RADS) for a lung cancer screening cohort in an urban, diverse clinical setting. Materials and Methods: This study included a total of 486 patients with lung nodules (63 years ± 5.2 [standard deviation], 261 female patients), 448 of whom had lung nodules that were subsequently classified as benign and 38 of whom had those that were classified as malignant. The mean follow-up time was 40.0 months ± 14. Institutional review board approval was obtained for this Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant retrospective study, and a waiver of informed consent was received. All patients undergoing lung cancer screening who underwent an initial baseline screening CT between December 2012 and June 2016 that demonstrated a nodule and had at least 1 year of follow-up comprised the study population. Each examination was assigned a Lung-RADS score between 2 and 4B, with 4A and 4B considered as showing positive results. The VRC calculates the risk of cancer at different thresholds using nine variables related to patient and imaging characteristics. Analysis was performed per patient based on the largest nodule. Lung-RADS and VRC using the 5% threshold were compared to assess diagnostic performance in determining the risk of developing lung cancer in a patient with a nodule found at screening CT. The McNemar test was used to compare differences in performance between Lung-RADS and VRC. Results: Lung-RADS resulted in nine false-positive and 16 false-negative findings, whereas VRC with a 5% threshold resulted in 29 false-positive and 10 false-negative findings. Overall sensitivity and specificity for Lung-RADS was 58.0% and 98.0%, and for VRC with a 5% threshold was 73.7% and 93.5%, respectively (P = .313, P < .001, respectively). Conclusion: The VRC performs well in an urban, diverse lung cancer screening program. Further studies may be directed at determining whether its use in conjunction with Lung-RADS leads to improved lung cancer detection.Keywords: CT, Lung, Thorax© RSNA, 2020.

Effectiveness of Lung-RADS in Reducing False-Positive Results in a Diverse, Underserved, Urban Lung Cancer Screening Cohort.

PURPOSE: The Lung CT Screening Reporting and Data SystemTM (Lung-RADSTM) was created to standardize lung cancer screening CT reporting and recommendations but has not been well validated prospectively in clinical practice. The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of lung cancer screening using Lung-RADS in a diverse, underserved, academic clinical screening program, focusing on whether Lung-RADS would successfully reduce the 23.3% false-positive rate found in the National Lung Screening Trial. METHODS: Institutional review board approval was obtained to study the clinical lung cancer screening cohort. Low-dose CT results were prospectively assigned a Lung-RADS or equivalent score. The proportion of examinations in each Lung-RADS category and the corresponding lung cancer rate, subsequent imaging, interventions, mortality, and compliance were tracked. The National Death Index was queried for follow-up losses. RESULTS: The cohort comprised 1,181 patients with 2,270 person-years of follow-up from December 2012 to December 2016. The mean age was 64 ± 16.2 years, with 51% women, 63% nonwhite, 71% current smokers, 69% overweight and obese, and multiple comorbidities. The Lung-RADS false-positive rate was 10.4% (95% confidence interval, 8.8%-12.3%). Baseline CT results were negative in 87% (n = 1,031): for Lung-RADS 1, the lung cancer rate was 0.2%, and for Lung-RADS 2, the cancer rate was 0.5%. Positive baseline examinations were Lung-RADS 3 in 10% (n = 119), 4a in 1.2% (n = 14), and 4b in 1.5% (n = 18). Corresponding cancer rates were 3.4%, 43%, and 83%, respectively. Lung cancer prevalence was 2.1%. Mortality was 40% in patients with lung cancer versus 2.5% in the remaining cohort (P < .001). Fifty-four percent of patients were overdue for first annual examinations. Eighty-four percent of patients (n = 989) had follow-up verified via electronic records or personal contact, and the remainder had vital status ascertained via the National Death Index. CONCLUSIONS: Lung cancer screening using Lung-RADS was effective in reducing the false-positive rate compared with the National Lung Screening Trial in a diverse and underserved urban population.

Dual Supply of Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery on Coronary Computed Tomographic Angiography Not Recognized on Previous Cardiac Catheterizations.

A dual left anterior descending (LAD) artery is an infrequent anomaly of the coronary circulation with rare variations that may cause symptoms. We report a 60-year-old man who underwent multiple percutaneous cardiac catheterizations with stent placements and presented with recurrent angina pectoris. Coronary computed tomographic angiography demonstrated a dual LAD with the long and short LADs originating from the right coronary artery and the left main coronary artery, respectively.