A Comparative Study of Two Radiomics-Based Blood Flow Modes with Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System in Predicting Malignancy of Thyroid Nodules and Reducing Unnecessary Fine-Needle Aspiration Rate.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: We aimed to compare superb microvascular imaging (SMI)-based radiomics methods, and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS)-based radiomics methods to the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (ACR TI-RADS) for classifying thyroid nodules (TNs) and reducing unnecessary fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) rate. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled a dataset of 472 pathologically confirmed TNs. Radiomics characteristics were extracted from B-mode ultrasound (BMUS), SMI, and CEUS images, respectively. After eliminating redundant features, four radiomics scores (Rad-scores) were constructed. Using multivariable logistic regression analysis, four radiomics prediction models incorporating Rad-score and corresponding US features were constructed and validated in terms of discrimination, calibration, decision curve analysis, and unnecessary FNAB rate. RESULTS: The diagnostic performance of the BMUS + SMI radiomics method was better than ACR TI-RADS (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.875 vs. 0.689 for the training cohort, 0.879 vs. 0.728 for the validation cohort) (P < 0.05), and comparable with BMUS + CEUS radiomics method (AUC: 0.875 vs. 0.878 for the training cohort, 0.879 vs. 0.865 for the validation cohort) (P > 0.05). Decision curve analysis showed that the BMUS+SMI radiomics method could achieve higher net benefits than the BMUS radiomics method and ACR TI-RADS when the threshold probability was between 0.13 and 0.88 in the entire cohort. When applying the BMUS+SMI radiomics method, the unnecessary FNAB rate reduced from 43.4% to 13.9% in the training cohort and from 45.6% to 18.0% in the validation cohorts in comparison to ACR TI-RADS. CONCLUSION: The dual-modal SMI-based radiomics method is convenient and economical and can be an alternative to the dual-modal CEUS-based radiomics method in helping radiologists select the optimal clinical strategy for TN management.

Dual-modal radiomics nomogram based on contrast-enhanced ultrasound to improve differential diagnostic accuracy and reduce unnecessary biopsy rate in ACR TI-RADS 4-5 thyroid nodules.

BACKGROUND: American College of Radiology (ACR) Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS, TR) 4 and 5 thyroid nodules (TNs) demonstrate much more complicated and overlapping risk characteristics than TR1-3 and have a rather wide range of malignancy possibilities (> 5%), which may cause overdiagnosis or misdiagnosis. This study was designed to establish and validate a dual-modal ultrasound (US) radiomics nomogram integrating B-mode ultrasound (BMUS) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging to improve differential diagnostic accuracy and reduce unnecessary fine needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) rates in TR 4-5 TNs. METHODS: A retrospective dataset of 312 pathologically confirmed TR4-5 TNs from 269 patients was collected for our study. Data were randomly divided into a training dataset of 219 TNs and a validation dataset of 93 TNs. Radiomics characteristics were derived from the BMUS and CEUS images. After feature reduction, the BMUS and CEUS radiomics scores (Rad-score) were built. A multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted incorporating both Rad-scores and clinical/US data, and a radiomics nomogram was subsequently developed. The performance of the radiomics nomogram was evaluated using calibration, discrimination, and clinical usefulness, and the unnecessary FNAB rate was also calculated. RESULTS: BMUS Rad-score, CEUS Rad-score, age, shape, margin, and enhancement direction were significant independent predictors associated with malignant TR4-5 TNs. The radiomics nomogram involving the six variables exhibited excellent calibration and discrimination in the training and validation cohorts, with an AUC of 0.873 (95% CI, 0.821-0.925) and 0.851 (95% CI, 0.764-0.938), respectively. The marked improvements in the net reclassification index and integrated discriminatory improvement suggested that the BMUS and CEUS Rad-scores could be valuable indicators for distinguishing benign from malignant TR4-5 TNs. Decision curve analysis demonstrated that our developed radiomics nomogram was an instrumental tool for clinical decision-making. Using the radiomics nomogram, the unnecessary FNAB rate decreased from 35.3 to 14.5% in the training cohort and from 41.5 to 17.7% in the validation cohorts compared with ACR TI-RADS. CONCLUSION: The dual-modal US radiomics nomogram revealed superior discrimination accuracy and considerably decreased unnecessary FNAB rates in benign and malignant TR4-5 TNs. It could guide further examination or treatment options.

The feasibility and satisfaction study of 5G-based robotic teleultrasound diagnostic system in health check-ups.

Objective: Regular check-up with ultrasound in underserved rural and/or remote areas is hampered due to the limited availability of sonologists and ultrasound devices. This study aimed to assess the feasibility and satisfaction of health check-ups with a 5G-based robotic teleultrasound diagnostic system. Methods: In this prospective study, sonologists from two hospitals manipulated the telerobotic ultrasound system to perform teleultrasound check-ups of the liver, gallbladder, pancreas, spleen, kidneys, bladder, prostate (male), uterus and ovaries (female) for the subjects. The feasibility and satisfaction of health check-ups with a 5G-based robotic teleultrasound diagnostic system were evaluated in terms of examination results, examination duration, and satisfaction questionnaire survey. Results: A total of 546 subjects were included with the most frequently diagnosed being abdominal disorders (n = 343) and male reproductive illnesses (n = 97), of which fatty liver (n = 204) and prostatic calcification (n = 54) were the most. The median teleultrasound examination duration (interquartile range) for men and women was 9 (9-11) min and 9 (7-11) min (p = 0.236), respectively. All the subjects were satisfied with this new type of telerobotic ultrasound check-ups and 96% reported no fear of the robotic arm during the examination. Conclusion: The 5G-based teleultrasound robotic diagnostic system in health check-ups is feasible and satisfactory, indicating that this teleultrasound robot system may have significant application value in underserved rural and/or remote areas to mitigate disparity in achieving health equity.

A narrative review on the application of artificial intelligence in renal ultrasound.

Kidney disease is a serious public health problem and various kidney diseases could progress to end-stage renal disease. The many complications of end-stage renal disease. have a significant impact on the physical and mental health of patients. Ultrasound can be the test of choice for evaluating the kidney and perirenal tissue as it is real-time, available and non-radioactive. To overcome substantial interobserver variability in renal ultrasound interpretation, artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to be a new method to help radiologists make clinical decisions. This review introduces the applications of AI in renal ultrasound, including automatic segmentation of the kidney, measurement of the renal volume, prediction of the kidney function, diagnosis of the kidney diseases. The advantages and disadvantages of the applications will also be presented clinicians to conduct research. Additionally, the challenges and future perspectives of AI are discussed.

Ultrasound-based artificial intelligence in gastroenterology and hepatology.

Artificial intelligence (AI), especially deep learning, is gaining extensive attention for its excellent performance in medical image analysis. It can automatically make a quantitative assessment of complex medical images and help doctors to make more accurate diagnoses. In recent years, AI based on ultrasound has been shown to be very helpful in diffuse liver diseases and focal liver lesions, such as analyzing the severity of nonalcoholic fatty liver and the stage of liver fibrosis, identifying benign and malignant liver lesions, predicting the microvascular invasion of hepatocellular carcinoma, curative transarterial chemoembolization effect, and prognoses after thermal ablation. Moreover, AI based on endoscopic ultrasonography has been applied in some gastrointestinal diseases, such as distinguishing gastric mesenchymal tumors, detection of pancreatic cancer and intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms, and predicting the preoperative tumor deposits in rectal cancer. This review focused on the basic technical knowledge about AI and the clinical application of AI in ultrasound of liver and gastroenterology diseases. Lastly, we discuss the challenges and future perspectives of AI.

[Studies on the hyperfine structures of I2 absorption line with third harmonic frequency stabilization in Nd:YVO4-KTP ring laser].

The experiment for research on the hyperfine structure of I2 absorption lines with third harmonic frequency stabilization in Nd: YVO4-KTP ring laser has been done. The hyperfine structures of two lines have been observed and the results are comparable with the theoretical calculations. One of the two lines is R(70) 36-1 is the transition of the excited state.

[Studies on the relation between the temperature of KTP and the secondary harmonic output].

Using the Nd:YVO4-KTP ring frequency-doubled laser designed by the lab, and controlling the laser power current and the crystals temperature accurately, the authors obtained the relation between the temperature changes of KTP crystal and the secondary harmonic output wavelength while the temperature of YVO4 was constant.