Utilization of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging for resumption of athletic activities following COVID-19 infection: an expert consensus document on behalf of the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention (CVRI) Leadership and endorsed by the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR).

The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by infection with severe acute respiratory suyndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is now entering its 4th year with little evidence of abatement. As of December 2022, the World Health Organization Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard reported 643 million cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide and 98 million in the United States alone as the country with the highest number of cases. While pneumonia with lung injury has been the manifestation of COVID-19 principally responsible for morbidity and mortality, myocardial inflammation and systolic dysfunction though uncommon are well-recognized features that also associate with adverse prognosis. Given the broad swath of the population infected with COVID-19, the large number of affected professional, collegiate, and amateur athletes raises concern regarding the safe resumption of athletic activity (return to play, RTP) following resolution of infection. A variety of different testing combinations that leverage the electrocardiogram, echocardiography, circulating cardiac biomarkers, and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging have been proposed and implemented to mitigate risk. CMR in particular affords high sensitivity for myocarditis but has been employed and interpreted non-uniformly in the context of COVID-19 thereby raising uncertainty as to the generalizability and clinical relevance of findings with respect to RTP. This consensus document synthesizes available evidence to contextualize the appropriate utilization of CMR in the RTP assessment of athletes with prior COVID-19 infection to facilitate informed, evidence-based decisions, while identifying knowledge gaps that merit further investigation.

Modeling the Hepatology Workforce in the United States: A Predicted Critical Shortage.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Liver disease is prevalent in the United States, and as the population ages, an increasing number of patients are anticipated to present for care. The state of the current hepatology workforce and future demand for hepatology providers is not known. The aim of this study was to model future projections for hepatology workforce demand. APPROACH AND RESULTS: A workforce study of hepatology providers in the United States was completed using primary and secondary data sources. An integrated workforce framework model was used that combined socioeconomic factors that drive economic demand, epidemiological factors that drive need, and utilization rates of health care services. Supply and demand projections were calculated for adult and pediatric hepatology professionals. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to cover the feasible range of these assumptions. An electronic survey of American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD) members whose practice included 50% or more hepatology was conducted. In 2018, the adult and pediatric workforce included 7,296 and 824 hepatology providers, respectively, composed of hepatologists, gastroenterologists, and advanced practice providers whose practice was ≥50% hepatology. The modeling analysis projects that in 2023, 2028, and 2033, there will be shortages of 10%, 23%, and 35% adult hepatology providers, respectively, and 19%, 20%, and 16% pediatric hepatology providers, respectively. In sensitivity analyses, a shortage of hepatology providers is predicted even under optimistic assumptions. Among the respondents to the survey, the median age was higher among gastroenterologists and general hepatologists compared with transplant hepatologists. The most common category treated by transplant hepatologists was general hepatology. CONCLUSIONS: There is an impending critical shortage of adult and pediatric hepatology providers. Strategies are needed to encourage clinicians to pursue hepatology, especially in areas outside of transplant centers.

Imaging of Heart Disease in Women.

Ischemic heart disease is the number one cause of death of women in the United States, accounting for over a quarter of a million annual female deaths. Evidence within the last several decades supports sex-specific differences in the prevalence, symptoms, and prognosis of ischemic heart disease between men and women. Despite women having a lower burden of obstructive coronary artery disease compared with men, the prevalence of angina and mortality from ischemic heart disease is higher for women than men. In addition to ischemic heart disease, certain nonischemic conditions may also have sex-specific differences in clinical presentation and occurrence. With the rising utilization of noninvasive modalities for the diagnosis and management of ischemic heart disease, it is important for radiologists to be familiar with the unique considerations for imaging women with heart disease. The purpose of this review is to discuss challenges for detection of heart disease in women, examine performance of noninvasive modalities in the detection of ischemic heart disease, and discuss nonischemic cardiomyopathies unique to or prevalent in women. Considerations for cardiac imaging in pregnancy are also discussed. © RSNA, 2017.

Multi-Institutional Evaluation of Digital Tomosynthesis, Dual-Energy Radiography, and Conventional Chest Radiography for the Detection and Management of Pulmonary Nodules.

Purpose To conduct a multi-institutional, multireader study to compare the performance of digital tomosynthesis, dual-energy (DE) imaging, and conventional chest radiography for pulmonary nodule detection and management. Materials and Methods In this binational, institutional review board-approved, HIPAA-compliant prospective study, 158 subjects (43 subjects with normal findings) were enrolled at four institutions. Informed consent was obtained prior to enrollment. Subjects underwent chest computed tomography (CT) and imaging with conventional chest radiography (posteroanterior and lateral), DE imaging, and tomosynthesis with a flat-panel imaging device. Three experienced thoracic radiologists identified true locations of nodules (n = 516, 3-20-mm diameters) with CT and recommended case management by using Fleischner Society guidelines. Five other radiologists marked nodules and indicated case management by using images from conventional chest radiography, conventional chest radiography plus DE imaging, tomosynthesis, and tomosynthesis plus DE imaging. Sensitivity, specificity, and overall accuracy were measured by using the free-response receiver operating characteristic method and the receiver operating characteristic method for nodule detection and case management, respectively. Results were further analyzed according to nodule diameter categories (3-4 mm, >4 mm to 6 mm, >6 mm to 8 mm, and >8 mm to 20 mm). Results Maximum lesion localization fraction was higher for tomosynthesis than for conventional chest radiography in all nodule size categories (3.55-fold for all nodules, P < .001; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.96, 4.15). Case-level sensitivity was higher with tomosynthesis than with conventional chest radiography for all nodules (1.49-fold, P < .001; 95% CI: 1.25, 1.73). Case management decisions showed better overall accuracy with tomosynthesis than with conventional chest radiography, as given by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (1.23-fold, P < .001; 95% CI: 1.15, 1.32). There were no differences in any specificity measures. DE imaging did not significantly affect nodule detection when paired with either conventional chest radiography or tomosynthesis. Conclusion Tomosynthesis outperformed conventional chest radiography for lung nodule detection and determination of case management; DE imaging did not show significant differences over conventional chest radiography or tomosynthesis alone. These findings indicate performance likely achievable with a range of reader expertise. © RSNA, 2016 Online supplemental material is available for this article.

The benefit of paracentesis on hospitalized adults with cirrhosis and ascites.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: The aim of this study is to assess paracentesis utilization and outcomes in hospitalized adults with cirrhosis and ascites. METHODS: The 2011 Nationwide Inpatient Sample was used to identify adults, non-electively admitted with diagnoses of cirrhosis and ascites. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Variables included patient and hospital demographics, early (Day 0 or 1) or late (Day 2 or later) paracentesis, hepatic decompensation, and spontaneous bacterial peritonitis. RESULTS: Out of 8 023 590 admissions, 31 614 met inclusion criteria. Among these hospitalizations, approximately 51% (16 133) underwent paracentesis. The overall in-hospital mortality rate was 7.6%. There was a significantly increased mortality among patients who did not undergo paracentesis (8.9% vs 6.3%, P < 0.001). Patients who did not receive paracentesis died 1.83 times more often in the hospital than those patients who did receive paracentesis (95% confidence interval 1.66-2.02). Patients undergoing early paracentesis showed a trend towards reduction in mortality (5.5% vs 7.5%) compared with those undergoing late paracentesis. Patients admitted on a weekend demonstrated less frequent use of early paracentesis (50% weekend vs 62% weekday) and demonstrated increased mortality (adjusted odds ratio 1.12 95% confidence interval 1.01-1.25). Among patients diagnosed with spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, early paracentesis was associated with shorter length of stay (7.55 vs 11.45 days, P < 0.001) and decreased hospitalization cost ($61 624 vs $107 484, P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Paracentesis is under-utilized among cirrhotic patients presenting with ascites and is associated with decreased in-hospital mortality. These data support the use of paracentesis as a key inpatient quality measure among hospitalized adults with cirrhosis. Future studies are needed to investigate the barriers to paracentesis use on admission.

Digital tomosynthesis of the chest: current and emerging applications.

Digital tomosynthesis (DTS) of the chest is a technique whose basic components are similar to those of digital radiography, but that also provides some of the benefits of computed tomography (CT). The major advantages of DTS over conventional chest radiography are improved visibility of the pulmonary parenchyma and depiction of abnormalities such as pulmonary nodules. Calcifications, vessels, airways, and chest wall abnormalities are also much more readily visualized at DTS than at chest radiography. DTS could potentially be combined with chest radiography to follow up known nodules, confirm or rule out suspected nodules seen at radiography, or evaluate individuals who are at high risk for lung cancer or pulmonary metastases. DTS generates coronal "slices" through the chest whose resolution is superior to that of coronal reconstructed CT images, but it is limited by its suboptimal depth resolution and susceptibility to motion; consequently, potential pitfalls in recognizing lesions adjacent to the pleura, diaphragm, central vessels, and mediastinum can occur. However, the radiation dose and projected cost of chest DTS are lower than those of standard chest CT. Besides pulmonary nodule detection, specific applications of DTS that are under investigation include evaluation of pulmonary tuberculous and nontuberculous mycobacterial disease, cystic fibrosis, interstitial lung disease, and asbestos-related thoracic diseases. A basic understanding of chest DTS and of the emerging applications of this technique can prove useful to the radiologist. Online supplemental material is available for this article.

Tumors and tumorlike conditions of the large airways.

OBJECTIVE: Large-airway tumors and tumorlike conditions are uncommon, but a systematic approach aids in narrowing the differential diagnosis. In this article, we describe an approach to dealing with large-airway lesions and discuss their imaging characteristics and clinical presentations. CONCLUSION: We have found it useful to separate these entities into groups on the basis of the distribution pattern (focal vs diffuse) and location (trachea vs bronchi).

Cardiac complications of oncologic therapy.

As survival rates continue to increase for patients with childhood and adult malignancies, imaging utilization in these patients will likely increase substantially. It is important to detect disease recurrence and to recognize the potential complications that occur after treatment with oncologic medications and therapeutic radiation. The most common cardiotoxic side effect of the anthracycline drug class is a dose-dependent decline in ejection fraction, which may result in dilated cardiomyopathy. Multiple-uptake gated acquisition (MUGA) scanning plays an important role in diagnosis of this subclinical cardiac dysfunction. Other less common cardiotoxic side effects of chemotherapeutic medications include arrhythmia, myocarditis, coronary artery disease, tamponade, pericarditis, and pericardial effusion. Radiation therapy can also lead to cardiotoxicity when the heart or pericardium is included in the radiation portal. Radiation-induced conditions include pericardial disease, coronary artery disease, valvular disease, and cardiomyopathy. Many of these side effects are asymptomatic until late in the course of the disease. With imaging, these pathologic conditions can often be diagnosed before symptom onset, which may allow early intervention. Radiologists should be familiar with the current knowledge and pathophysiology regarding cardiac complications related to chemotherapy and radiation therapy of malignant neoplasms and the appearances of treatment-related cardiotoxicity that can be found at radiography, nuclear medicine examinations, and cross-sectional imaging. Supplemental material available at http://radiographics.rsna.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10.1148/rg.336125005/-/DC1.

Cardiovascular MR imaging after surgical correction of tetralogy of Fallot: approach based on understanding of surgical procedures.

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is one of the most common congenital heart diseases for which patients are referred for postoperative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging evaluation. The most common surgical procedures for TOF repair include infundibulectomy, transannular pulmonary artery patch repair, and right ventricle-pulmonary artery conduit placement. In the past few decades, surgery has proved successful, but most patients require repeat imaging throughout their lives. MR imaging is now frequently used for morphologic and functional evaluation after TOF repair. The most common late postoperative sequelae and residual lesions include right ventricular outflow tract aneurysm and dyskinesis, conduit failure, pulmonary regurgitation, tricuspid regurgitation, right ventricular failure, residual main and branch pulmonary artery stenosis, branch pulmonary artery aneurysm, left pulmonary artery kinking, and residual or recurrent ventricular septal defect. The imaging approach for the evaluation of patients with repaired TOF should be guided by the surgical procedure used and the complications that are expected. Knowledge of the most common postoperative problems and their cardiovascular MR imaging appearances is essential for good radiology practice in this clinical setting.

Utilization of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Resumption of Athletic Activities Following COVID-19 Infection: An Expert Consensus Document on Behalf of the American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention Leadership and Endorsed by the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance.

The global pandemic of COVID-19 caused by infection with SARS-CoV-2 is now entering its fourth year with little evidence of abatement. As of December 2022, the World Health Organization Coronavirus (COVID-19) Dashboard reported 643 million cumulative confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide and 98 million in the United States alone as the country with the highest number of cases. Although pneumonia with lung injury has been the manifestation of COVID-19 principally responsible for morbidity and mortality, myocardial inflammation and systolic dysfunction though uncommon are well-recognized features that also associate with adverse prognosis. Given the broad swath of the population infected with COVID-19, the large number of affected professional, collegiate, and amateur athletes raises concern regarding the safe resumption of athletic activity (return to play) following resolution of infection. A variety of different testing combinations that leverage ECG, echocardiography, circulating cardiac biomarkers, and cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging have been proposed and implemented to mitigate risk. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance in particular affords high sensitivity for myocarditis but has been employed and interpreted nonuniformly in the context of COVID-19 thereby raising uncertainty as to the generalizability and clinical relevance of findings with respect to return to play. This consensus document synthesizes available evidence to contextualize the appropriate utilization of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in the return to play assessment of athletes with prior COVID-19 infection to facilitate informed, evidence-based decisions, while identifying knowledge gaps that merit further investigation.

Tumorlike conditions of the pleura.

Tumorlike conditions of the pleura are rare, but diagnosis is facilitated by recognizing certain imaging patterns and interpreting them in the clinical context. A tumorlike condition of the pleura is any nonneoplastic lesion of the pleura itself, or within the pleural space, that resembles a tumor. An approach to diagnosis of the tumorlike conditions of the pleura is provided, and these conditions are grouped into focal or diffuse conditions, with an emphasis on specific imaging features. Focal tumorlike conditions of the pleura include pleural plaque, thoracic splenosis, thoracic endometriosis causing catamenial pneumothorax, and pseudotumor caused by pleural effusion. Thoracic splenosis should be considered in a patient who has a healed left lower rib fracture, an absent spleen, and left lower pleural nodules. Thoracic endometriosis with catamenial pneumothorax should be considered in a woman of childbearing age who presents with right scapular pain and recurrent pneumothorax occurring at or around the onset of menses. Extrapleural hematoma is a nonpleural mimic of pleural tumor and shares some imaging features with focal tumorlike conditions of the pleura, despite residing in the extrapleural space. Diffuse tumorlike conditions of the pleura include diffuse pleural thickening and rare conditions such as Erdheim-Chester disease and diffuse pulmonary lymphangiomatosis. Erdheim-Chester disease should be considered when diffuse pleural thickening occurs with a perirenal soft-tissue halo or distal femoral sclerosis. Diffuse pulmonary lymphangiomatosis should be considered when findings include diffuse pleural thickening, interlobular septal and peribronchovascular interstitial thickening, and mediastinal fat infiltration limited to the thorax and when these findings persist despite diuretic therapy.

Radiographic Findings and Association With Clinical Severity and Outcomes in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19.

PURPOSE: To describe evolution and severity of radiographic findings and assess association with disease severity and outcomes in critically ill COVID-19 patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 62 COVID-19 patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). Clinical data was obtained from electronic medical records. A total of 270 chest radiographs were reviewed and qualitatively scored (CXR score) using a severity scale of 0-30. Radiographic findings were correlated with clinical severity and outcome. RESULTS: The CXR score increases from a median initial score of 10 at hospital presentation to the median peak CXR score of 18 within a median time of 4 days after hospitalization, and then slowly decreases to a median last CXR score of 15 in a median time of 12 days after hospitalization. The initial and peak CXR score was independently associated with invasive MV after adjusting for age, gender, body mass index, smoking, and comorbidities (Initial, odds ratio [OR]: 2.11 per 5-point increase, confidence interval [CI] 1.35-3.32, P= 0.001; Peak, OR: 2.50 per 5-point increase, CI 1.48-4.22, P= 0.001). Peak CXR scores were also independently associated with vasopressor usage (OR: 2.28 per 5-point increase, CI 1.30-3.98, P= 0.004). Peak CXR scores strongly correlated with the duration of invasive MV (Rho = 0.62, P< 0.001), while the initial CXR score (Rho = 0.26) and the peak CXR score (Rho = 0.27) correlated weakly with the sequential organ failure assessment score. No statistically significant associations were found between radiographic findings and mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Evolution of radiographic features indicates rapid disease progression and correlate with requirement for invasive MV or vasopressors but not mortality, which suggests potential nonpulmonary pathways to death in COVID-19.

Evaluation of early null response to pegylated interferon and ribavirin as a predictor of therapeutic nonresponse in patients undergoing treatment for chronic hepatitis C.

OBJECTIVES: Early viral kinetics accurately predicts sustained virological response (SVR) in genotype 1 patients with hepatitis C virus (HCV) undergoing therapy with pegylated interferon (PEG) and ribavirin (RBV). No baseline factor has a stronger predictive role. Early identification of patients unlikely to respond is equally important, allowing early treatment modification or discontinuation. The aim of this study was to determine whether 4-week null response (eNR) correlates directly with 12-week null response and inversely with SVR. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of HCV patients treated at our institution was done. Patients were classified based on a 4-week viral log decline compared with baseline: <1 log, ≥ 1 log, <2 log, ≥ 2 log, <3 log, ≥ 3 log without rapid virological response (RVR) and with RVR. eNR was defined as less than a 1 log change from baseline. RESULTS: A total of 159 patients had quantitative HCV-RNA PCR at treatment week 4, of whom 24% (38) experienced eNR. In all, 22 (58%) of the eNR patients were African American, 58% male, 32% cirrhotic, average age 53 years (range 36-71), 89% (33) genotype 1, and average baseline viral load was 5.9261 log (range 3.1492-7.3025). On-treatment response demonstrated failure to attain early virological response (EVR; 2-log decline at week 12) in 50% (19) and partial EVR (pEVR) in 39% (15). Three (8%) patients with eNR achieved SVR. In our patient population, eNR had 92% negative predictive value (confidence interval 83.5-100%) for SVR and was the strongest single predictor for treatment failure, including the baseline factors genotype and viral load. CONCLUSIONS: eNR is strongly associated with null response or pEVR and accurately predicts failure to attain SVR. Consideration should be made to discontinue or modify therapy in patients with eNR who receive the appropriate weight-based PEG/RBV.

Mandatory Hepatology Education for Internal Medicine Residents: Long-Term Effects and Implications for Workforce Needs.

We previously created a mandatory, inpatient, hepatology resident curriculum that immediately improved comfort, knowledge, and career interest in chronic liver disease (CLD). The durability of these effects needs to be known to use this intervention to address the hepatologist shortage. Thus, we aimed to assess this curriculum's long-term outcomes on internal medicine (IM) residents' CLD comfort, knowledge, and career interest. From 2015 to 2019 at a single institution, one IM resident was always assigned to the rotation. Similar anonymous assessments were administered to incoming postgraduate year (PGY)-1 residents and graduating PGY-3 residents, including a historic control cohort that graduated in June 2015. At residency completion, the intervention cohort (n = 61) had significantly higher comfort (1, not at all comfortable/strongly disagree; 5, very comfortable/strongly agree) with both hepatology (e.g., hepatitis C, 2.5 vs. 3.3, P < 0.001) and common IM topics (e.g., heart failure, 3.6 vs. 4.8, P < 0.001) but not specialty topics lacking curricula (e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, 2.8 vs. 2.7, P = 0.54). Compared to the historic cohort (n = 27), the intervention cohort was more comfortable in several CLD topics (e.g., cirrhosis, 3.2 vs. 3.8; P = 0.005) and answered more questions correctly (65% vs. 55%; P = 0.04), but career interest was unchanged (1.9 vs. 1.8; P = 0.45). Many residents (33%) would consider a hepatology career if training were separated from gastroenterology. Conclusion: With the completion of a mandatory hepatology curriculum, residents' CLD comfort and knowledge durably improved and exceeded that of historic counterparts. Initial career interest was not sustained, perhaps due to prerequisite gastroenterology training. These findings suggest IM educational initiatives may better address hepatology workforce needs by generating comanagers than by recruiting trainees.

Clinical evaluation of aortic coarctation with 4D flow MR imaging.

PURPOSE: To show that 4D Flow is a clinically viable tool for evaluation of collateral blood flow and demonstration of distorted blood flow patterns in patients with treated and untreated aortic coarctation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Time-resolved, 3D phase contrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (4D Flow) was used to assess blood flow in the thoracic aorta of 34 individuals: 26 patients with coarctation (22 after surgery or stent placement) and eight healthy volunteers. RESULTS: Direct comparison of blood flow calculated with 2D and 4D phase contrast data at standard levels for analysis in coarctation patients showed good correlation and agreement (correlation coefficient r = 0.99, limits of agreement = -20% to 20% for collateral blood flow calculations). Abnormal blood flow patterns were demonstrated at peak systole with 4D Flow visualization techniques in the descending thoracic aorta of patients but not volunteers. Marked helical flow was seen in 9 of 13 patients with angulated aortic arch geometries after coarctation repair. Vortical flow was seen in regions of poststenotic dilation. CONCLUSION: 4D Flow is a fast and reliable means of evaluating collateral blood flow in patients with aortic coarctation in order to establish hemodynamic significance. It also can detect distorted blood flow patterns in the descending aorta after coarctation repair.