How to Improve the Management of Acute Ischemic Stroke by Modern Technologies, Artificial Intelligence, and New Treatment Methods.

Stroke remains one of the leading causes of death and disability in Europe. The European Stroke Action Plan (ESAP) defines four main targets for the years 2018 to 2030. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the use of innovative technologies and created pressure to improve internet networks. Moreover, 5G internet network will be helpful for the transfer and collecting of extremely big databases. Nowadays, the speed of internet connection is a limiting factor for robotic systems, which can be controlled and commanded potentially from various places in the world. Innovative technologies can be implemented for acute stroke patient management soon. Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics are used increasingly often without the exception of medicine. Their implementation can be achieved in every level of stroke care. In this article, all steps of stroke health care processes are discussed in terms of how to improve them (including prehospital diagnosis, consultation, transfer of the patient, diagnosis, techniques of the treatment as well as rehabilitation and usage of AI). New ethical problems have also been discovered. Everything must be aligned to the concept of "time is brain".

Percutaneous Computed Tomography-Guided Thermal Ablation of Pulmonary Osteosarcoma Metastases in Children.

INTRODUCTION: The role of percutaneous thermal ablation as a minimally-invasive treatment has not been evaluated in children under 18 years of age with pulmonary osteosarcoma metastases. METHODS: This was a retrospective review of children treated with percutaneous thermal ablation for pulmonary osteosarcoma metastasis after prior surgical metastasectomy and chemotherapy. Selection criteria included number of pulmonary nodules <5 and nodule size smaller than 2 cm. Indications were discussed at multidisciplinary meetings. The goal was to achieve complete remission using percutaneous thermal ablation, thereby avoiding additional thoracotomies. RESULTS: A total of 26 pulmonary nodules (mean size 6.7 mm, range 2-16 mm) were successfully treated by percutaneous computed tomography (CT)-guided thermal ablation in 11 children with osteosarcoma between the ages of 7 and 17 years (median 12.5). Patients denied post-procedure pain. Complications were limited to three pneumothoraxes (two minor, one major), and median hospitalization duration was 2.0 days. One patient died of rapidly progressive lumbar metastasis discovered 20 days post-ablation. Of the remaining 10 patients, local control at the ablation site was achieved, with median follow up of 16.7 months (range 4.1-41.8). Five patients remained in complete remission after median follow-up of 37.5 months, and five patients developed new metastases (one osseous, four pulmonary), of which two are in remission after subsequent treatment. CONCLUSION: Percutaneous thermal ablation is a safe and effective minimally-invasive curative local treatment alternative for children with oligometastatic pulmonary osteosarcoma in whom surgical intervention is clinically contraindicated or unappealing.

Percutaneous osteosynthesis in the pelvis in cancer patients.

PURPOSE: Screw fixation (osteosynthesis) can be performed percutaneously by interventional radiologists. We report our experience in cancer patients. MATERIAL/METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed all cases of percutaneous osteosynthesis (PO) of the pelvic ring and proximal femur performed in our hospital. PO were performed for fracture palliation or for osteolytic metastases consolidation. Screws were inserted under CT- or cone-beam CT- guidance and general anaesthesia. Patients were followed-up with pelvic-CT and medical consultation at 1 month, then every 3 months. For fractures, the goal was pain palliation and for osteolytic metastases, pathologic fracture prevention. RESULTS: Between February 2010 and August 2014, 64 cancer patients were treated with PO. Twenty-one patients had PO alone for 33 painful fractures (13 bone-insufficiency, 20 pathologic fractures). The pain was significantly improved at 1 month (VAS score = 20/100 vs. 80/100). In addition, 43 cancer patients were preventively consolidated using PO plus cementoplasty for 45 impending pathologic fractures (10 iliac crests, 35 proximal femurs). For the iliac crests, no fracture occurred (median-FU = 75 days). For the proximal femurs, 2 pathological fractures occurred (fracture rate = 5.7 %, median-FU = 205 days). CONCLUSION: PO is a new tool in the therapeutic arsenal of interventional radiologists for bone pain management. KEY POINTS: • Screw fixation (osteosynthesis) can be performed percutaneously by interventional radiologists. • CT- or CBCT-guidance results in high technical success rates for screw placement. • This minimally invasive technique avoids extensive surgical exposure in bone cancer patients. • Osteosynthesis provides pain relief for bone-insufficiency fractures and for pathologic fractures. • Osteosynthesis plus cementoplasty provide prophylactic consolidation of impending pathological fractures.

GEP-NETS update: Interventional radiology: role in the treatment of liver metastases from GEP-NETs.

Neuroendocrine tumors from gastro-pancreatic origin (GEP-NET) can be responsible for liver metastases. Such metastases can be the dominant part of the disease as well due to the tumor burden itself or the symptoms related to such liver metastases. Intra-arterial therapies are commonly used in liver only or liver-dominant disease and encompass trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE), trans-arterial embolization (TAE), and radioembolization (RE). TACE performed with drug emulsified in Lipiodol has been used for the past 20 years with reported overall survival in the range of 3-4 years, with objective response up to 75%. Response to TACE is higher when treatment is used as a first-line therapy and degree of liver involvement is lower. Benefit of TACE over TAE is unproven in randomized study, but reported in retrospective studies namely in pancreatic NETs. RE provides early interesting results that need to be further evaluated in terms of benefit and toxicity. Radiofrequency ablation allows control of small size and numbered liver metastases, with low invasiveness. Ideal metastases to target are one metastasis <5 cm, or three metastases <3 cm, or a sum of diameter of all metastases below 8 cm. Ablation therapies can be applied in the lung or in the bones when needed, and more invasive surgery should be probably saved for large-size metastases. Even if the indication of image-guided therapy in the treatment of GEP-NET liver metastases needs to be refined, such therapies allow for manageable invasive set of treatments able to address oligometastatic patients in liver, lung, and bones. These treatments applied locally will save the benefit and the toxicity of systemic therapy for more advanced stage of the disease.

Value of spontaneous hyperdensity of cerebral venous thrombosis on helical CT.

BACKGROUND: Excluding a cerebral venous thrombosis (CVT) through imaging is a frequent request in the emergency setting. This assessment often starts by an unenhanced brain computed tomography (CT). PURPOSE: Re-evaluate the value of spontaneous hyperdensity of CVT on helical unenhanced brain CT. METHODS: Multicentric retrospective study on CVT probability based on visual assessment of spontaneous hyperdensity of cerebral venous system, performed by four blinded radiologists, individually then collectively, on a population including 14 helical unenhanced brain CTs with CVT and 102 unenhanced brain CTs without CVT (all confirmed by CT or magnetic resonance [MR] venography). Exclusion criteria: no DICOM image, symptoms >15 days, CVT indirect signs on unenhanced CT. A fifth radiologist set 768 regions of interest to measure and to compare the density within the normal venous sinuses and the CVTs. RESULTS: After consensus reading, sensitivity of this sign for CVT diagnosis was 100%, specificity 95.1%, and negative predictive value (NPV) 100%, with high individual NPV (99-100%). Area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.992 after consensus (0.976-0.986 individually). The spontaneous density was significantly different (P <0.05) between normal sinuses and CVTs, with a density >70 HU reported only within the CVTs, except for the horizontal part of the superior sagittal sinus (hSSS). CONCLUSION: The dense triangle sign on helical unenhanced brain CT has an excellent NPV to exclude a sinus thrombosis during the first 2 weeks. However, we believe that visual assessment of spontaneous hyperdensity is not sufficient for the diagnosis of CVT, with possible false-positive of the hSSS on unenhanced CT.