Colour Doppler ultrasound of temporal arteries for the diagnosis of giant cell arteritis: a multicentre deep learning study.

OBJECTIVES: Giant cell arteritis (GCA) is the most common systemic vasculitis in adults. In recent years, colour Doppler ultrasound of the temporal arteries (CDU) has proven to be a powerful non-invasive diagnostic tool, but its place in the diagnosis of GCA remains to be defined. A limitation of the CDU is the inter-operator reproducibility. Image analysis from a different perspective is now possible with the development of artificial intelligence algorithms. We propose to assess this technology for the detection of the halo sign on CDU images. METHODS: Three public hospitals retrospectively collected data from 137 patients suspected of having GCA between January 2017 and April 2019. CDU images (n=1,311) were labelled with the VIA software. Three sets (training, validation and test) were created and analysed with a semantic segmentation technique using a U-Net convolutional neural network. RESULTS: The area under the curve (AUC) was 0.931 and 0.835 on the validation and test set, respectively. An image positivity threshold was determined by focusing on the specificity. With this threshold, a specificity of 95% and a sensitivity of 60% were obtained for the test set. The analysis of the false interpretation showed that the acquisition modalities and the presence of thrombus caused confusion for the algorithm. CONCLUSIONS: We propose an automated image analysis tool for GCA diagnosis. The 2018 EULAR guidelines for image acquisition must be respected before generalising this algorithm. After external validation, this tool could be used as an aid for diagnosis, staff training and student education.

Prevalence of post-thrombotic syndrome in a cohort of upper extremity vein thrombosis.

OBJECTIVE: Post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) is one of the main complications that occurs after venous thrombosis. There are few data on the proportion of patients that will develop upper extremity PTS (UE-PTS) after upper extremity venous thrombosis (UEVT). The main objective of the study was to assess the prevalence of PTS in a UEVT cohort and to identify predictive factors of UE-PTS. METHODS: This study included patients with a history of proximal or arm UEVT, diagnosed on duplex ultrasound examination, between January 1, 2015, and December 31, 2017, in a university hospital. After UEVT, each patient was evaluated by a prospective standardized recording of clinical manifestations and duplex ultrasound examination in case of upper limb symptoms. UE-PTS was defined as a modified Villalta score of 4 or higher. RESULTS: Ninety-two patients were included; 68 (73.9%) had deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and 24 (19.2%) arm superficial vein thrombosis. Thirteen patients had PTS (14.1%), 12 (17.6%) in the DVT group and 1 (4.2%) in the superficial vein thrombosis group. There was a history of DVT in 92.3% of the cases of PTS. PTS was more frequent in patients with strokes with limb movement reduction (P = .01). On multivariate Cox analysis, a history of stroke (hazard ratio, 5.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.46-20.22; P = .01) was predictive of UE-PTS. CONCLUSIONS: UE-PTS occurred in 14.1% of cases after UEVT. Stroke with a decrease in limb movement was a predictor of developing PTS. Diagnostic criteria should be established for UE-PTS and prospective studies are needed to improve the description and management of UE-PTS.

Pharmaco-mechanical catheter-directed thrombolysis versus recanalization and stenting for post thrombotic syndrome after lower limb deep vein thrombosis: a comparative study.

Background: Endovenous interventional procedures can be used in addition to therapeutic anticoagulation to treat deep vein thrombosis in selected patients with proximal vein involvement (vena cava, iliac and/or common femoral). The aim of this study was to compare venous patency and the post-thrombotic syndrome (PTS) in patients treated with pharmaco-mechanical catheter-directed thrombolysis (PMT) versus recanalization-stenting for PTS after a proximal lower limb deep vein thrombosis. Methods: Between January 2014 and December 2020, this retrospective and monocentric study included patients with very symptomatic acute iliofemoral deep vein thrombosis treated with PMT within 21 days after diagnosis (PMT group) and patients with PTS caused by chronic venous obstruction treated with recanalization and stenting (CRS group). Results: A total of 116 patients were included (26 PMT, 90 CRS). The rate of primary patency was 81.8% (18/22 patients) in the PMT group and 78.4% (69/88) in the CRS group (P>0.99). The rate of venous patency at the last follow-up was 76.9% (20/26) in the PMT group and 82.2% (74/90) in the CRS group (P=0.57). The median number of stents was 2 (range, 0-5) in the PMT group and 3 (range, 0-7) in the CRS group (P<0.001). The median stent length was 150 mm (range, 60-390 mm) and 280 mm (range, 120-820 mm), respectively (P<0.001). The median last Villalta score was 2 (range, 0-10) in the PMT group and 2 (range, 0-21) in the CRS group (P=0.55). The rate of venous claudication at the last follow-up was 19.0% (4/21) in the PMT group and 12.0% (10/83) in the CRS group (P=0.47). Conclusions: In this study, there was no difference in venous patency and in the rate and severity of PTS between the PMT and CRS groups. The number of stent and their length were significantly lower in the PMT group compared with the CRS group.

Predictive factors of venous recanalization in upper-extremity vein thrombosis.

BACKGROUND: Upper extremity venous thrombosis (UEVT) represents about 10% of venous thrombo-embolic disease. This is mainly explained by the increasing use of central venous line, for oncologic or nutritional care. The factors associated with venous recanalization are not known. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate prognosis factor associated with venous recanalization after UEVT. METHODS: This study included patients with UEVT diagnosed with duplex ultra-sonography (DUS) from January 2015 to December 2017 with DUS evaluations during follow-up. A multivariate Cox proportional-hazards-model analysis was performed to identify predictive factors of UEVT complete recanalization. RESULTS: This study included 494 UEVT, 304 proximal UEVT and 190 distal UEVT. The median age was 58 years, 39.5% were women. Clinical context was: hematological malignancy (40.7%), solid cancer (14.2%), infectious or inflammatory context (49.9%) and presence of venous catheters or pacemaker leads in 86.4%. The rate of recanalization without sequelae of UEVT was 38%. For all UEVT, in multivariate analysis, factors associated with complete vein recanalization were: thrombosis associated with central venous catheter (CVC) (HR:2.40, [1.45;3.95], p<0.001), UEVT limited to a venous segment (HR:1.94, [1.26;3.00], p = 0.003), occlusive thrombosis (HR:0.48 [0.34;0.67], p<0.0001), the presence of a PICC Line (HR:2.29, [1.48;3.52], p<0.001), a thrombosis of deep and distal topography (HR:1.70, [1.10;2.63], p = 0.02) or superficial thrombosis of the forearm (HR:2.79, [1.52;5.12], p<0.001). For deep and proximal UEVT, non-occlusive UEVT (HR:2.23, [1.49;3.33], p<0.0001), thrombosis associated with CVC (HR:1.58, [1.01;2.47], p = 0.04) and infectious or inflammatory context (HR:1.63, [1.10;2.41], p = 0.01) were factors associated with complete vein recanalization. CONCLUSION: In this study, factors associated with UEVT recanalization were UEVT limited to a venous segment, thrombosis associated with CVC, a thrombosis of deep and distal thrombosis topography and superficial thrombosis of the forearm. Occlusive thrombosis was associated with the absence of UEVT recanalization.

A STROBE cohort study of 755 deep and superficial upper-extremity vein thrombosis.

Upper extremity vein thrombosis (UE-VT) are more and more frequent pathologies and yet little studied. The aim is to describe the clinical and ultrasound features, UE-VT-related diseases, and the prevalence of pulmonary embolism (PE) and associated deaths.All UE-VT patients diagnosed by Doppler-ultrasound in Nantes University Hospital, from January 2015 to December 2017, were included retrospectively. UE-VT suspicion patterns, clinical features, UE-VT topography, and prevalence of PE and death were analyzed.Seven hundred and fifty-five UE-VT were analyzed, including 427 deep thrombosis (UE-DVT) and 328 superficial thrombosis (UE-SVT). In 86.2% (n = 651) UE-VT were related to endovascular devices. Among these thrombosis, one third is in connection with a PICC LINE and one quarter with a peripheral venous line. Forty nine percent (n = 370) of the patients had solid neoplasia or hematological malignancies. An inflammatory or systemic infectious context was found in 40.8% (n = 308) of the cases. The most frequently observed clinical sign at the UE-VT diagnosis was edema (28.6%). Among the UE-SVT it was the presence of an indurated cord (33.2%) and among the UE-DVT the indication of the Doppler-ultrasound was mainly a suspicion of infection on endovascular device (35.1%). In 10.6% (n = 80) of the cases the UE-VT were asymptomatic. The most frequently thrombosed veins were brachial basilic veins (16.7% of all thrombosed segments) followed by jugular (13%) and subclavian (12.3%) veins; 61.3% (n = 463) of UE-VT were in the right upper extremity; 63.3% (n = 478) UE-VT were occlusive. The occurrence of PE is 4% and the death rate is 10.2%, mainly related to the severe comorbidities of patients with UE-VT.UE-VT occurs in particular clinical contexts (hematological malignancies, solid cancers, systemic infections) and in the majority of endovascular devices (86.2%). The occurrence of PE is low.