Position paper on stress cardiac MRI in chronic coronary syndrome: Endorsed by the Société Française de Radiologie (SFR) the Société Française d’Imagerie CardioVasculaire (SFICV) and the Société Française de Cardiologie (SFC)

This position paper was intended to update the former consensus between the French Societies of Radiology and Cardiology about the use of stress cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in chronic coronary syndrome published in 2009. The Delphi method was used to build the present consensus. This expert panel consensus includes recommendations for indications, procedure with patient preparation, stress inducing drugs, acquisition protocol, interpretation and risk stratification by stress MRI.     

Correlation between magnetic resonance imaging characteristics and BRAF alteration status in individuals with optic pathway/hypothalamic pilocytic astrocytomas

Background and purposeMost individuals with optic pathway/hypothalamic pilocytic astrocytoma (OPHPA) harbor either the BRAF V600E mutation or KIAA1549-BRAF fusion (K-B). This study aimed to investigate the imaging characteristics of OPHPA in relation to BRAF alteration status.Materials and methodsSeven cases of OPHPA harboring either the BRAF V600E mutation or K-B fusion were included in the study. Preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was assessed for degree of T2 hyperintensity on T2-weighted images (T2WI) and the ratio of nonenhancing T2 or fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) hyperintense area to the contrast enhanced area (CE) on gadolinium-enhanced-T1 weighted images (T2/FLAIR-CE mismatch). The T2 signal intensity was normalized to cerebrospinal fluid (T2/CSF) for both the V600E and K-B group and compared. T2/FLAIR-CE mismatch was assessed by calculating the proportion of the tumor volume of nonenhancing high T2 signal intensity to the whole lesion (nonenhancing and enhancing components).ResultsFour and three cases of OPHPA harboring the BRAF V600E mutation and K-B, respectively, were analyzed. The T2/CSF value was higher in the K-B group than in the V600E group. Moreover, the V600E group had a larger T2/FLAIR-CE mismatch than the K-B group.ConclusionsThe BRAF alteration status in individuals with OPHPA was associated with preoperative MRI by focusing on T2 signal intensity and T2/FLAIR-CE mismatch. The BRAF V600E mutation was associated with a lower T2/CSF value and larger T2/FLAIR-CE mismatch, whereas K-B fusion was associated with a higher T2/CSF value and smaller T2/FLAIR-CE mismatch.     

Significance of Non-Mass Enhancement in the Subareolar Region on Preoperative Breast Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Nipple-Sparing Mastectomy

PurposeThe eligibility for nipple-sparing mastectomy (NSM) regarding subareolar non-mass enhancement (NME) on breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was not clear. This study aimed to evaluate the eligibility for NSM according to the NME-to-nipple distance on preoperative breast MRI.MethodsWe identified patients with breast cancer who underwent mastectomy with NME suspected of malignancy in the subareolar region on preoperative breast MRI. The incidence of nipple invasion was pathologically evaluated according to the NME-to-nipple distance on breast MRI, and the clinicopathologic factors related to pathologic nipple invasion were analyzed.ResultsOf 137 patients, 55 (40.1%) had NME extension to the nipple, 53 (38.7%) had radiologic distance less than 2 cm, and 29 (21.2%) had radiologic distance of 2 cm or more. The rate of pathologic nipple invasion was 52.7% (29 of 55) in patients with NME extension to nipple, 7.5% (4 of 53) in patients with NME-to-nipple distance less than 2 cm, and 3.4% (1 of 29) in patients with NME-to-nipple distance of 2 cm or more (P < .001). NME extension to the nipple was an independent risk factor for pathologic nipple invasion (odds ratio 21.702; 95% confidence interval, 2.613–180.225; P = .004). The survival outcome was not different between NSM and conventional total mastectomy/skin-sparing mastectomy in patients with radiologic distance less than 2 cm, but without NME extension to the nipple.ConclusionsNSM is an acceptable procedure in patients with breast cancer with a low incidence of pathologic nipple invasion when there is no evidence of NME extension to the nipple on preoperative breast MRI.     

硬膜外间歇脉冲注射镇痛模式中罗哌卡因 分娩镇痛效果及最适宜浓度研究

目的 探讨硬膜外间歇脉冲注射（intermittent epidural bolus，IEB）镇痛模式中罗哌卡因的分娩镇痛效果及最适宜浓度。方法 选择2021年1月至2022年1月龙港市人民医院收治的接受IEB镇痛的健康初产妇120例，按罗哌卡因使用浓度分为低浓度组（0.075%罗哌卡因）、中浓度组（0.1%罗哌卡因）、高浓度组（0.125%罗哌卡因），每组各40例。记录3组产妇在镇痛前、镇痛后1～7h、分娩时及分娩后1h的疼痛视觉模拟评分法（visual analogue scales，VAS）评分。采用Bromage评分评估3组产妇椎管内麻醉运动神经阻滞效应。记录3组产妇的产程时间、罗哌卡因总量、舒芬太尼总量、缩宫素使用情况、总满意度及新生儿Apgar评分。结果 镇痛后随产程进展，3组产妇的VAS均逐渐升高，其中低浓度组VAS相对较高；3组中除镇痛后1h外的其他时间点VAS，差异均有统计学意义（P<0.05）；分娩时，3组VAS均达到最高，差异均有统计学意义（P<0.05）。镇痛后1～7h，中浓度、高浓度组中Bromage评分1分的产妇占比均高于低浓度组，高浓度组中Bromage评分0分的产妇占比低于低浓度组，差异均有统计学意义（P<0.05）；分娩时及分娩后1h，高浓度组Bromage评分1分的产妇占比高于低浓度组，差异均有统计学意义（P<0.05）。3组产妇产程时间、罗哌卡因用量、舒芬太尼用量、使用缩宫素患者占比、总满意度、新生儿出生1min及5min的Apgar评分比较，差异均无统计学意义（P>0.05）。结论 采用0.1%罗哌卡因联合0.4μg/ml舒芬太尼的IEB镇痛模式可达到起效时间短、疼痛感觉阻滞完全、下肢运动神经阻滞少的目的，且不影响产程时间、宫缩以及新生儿Apgar评分，同时还减少了硬膜外用药的总量，提高了麻醉的安全性和产妇满意度。     

Deep complex convolutional network for fast reconstruction of 3D late gadolinium enhancement cardiac MRI

Several deep‐learning models have been proposed to shorten MRI scan time. Prior deep‐learning models that utilize real‐valued kernels have limited capability to learn rich representations of complex MRI data. In this work, we utilize a complex‐valued convolutional network (?Net ) for fast reconstruction of highly under‐sampled MRI data and evaluate its ability to rapidly reconstruct 3D late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) data. ?Net preserves the complex nature and optimal combination of real and imaginary components of MRI data throughout the reconstruction process by utilizing complex‐valued convolution, novel radial batch normalization, and complex activation function layers in a U‐Net architecture. A prospectively under‐sampled 3D LGE cardiac MRI dataset of 219 patients (17 003 images) at acceleration rates R = 3 through R = 5 was used to evaluate ?Net . The dataset was further retrospectively under‐sampled to a maximum of R = 8 to simulate higher acceleration rates. We created three reconstructions of the 3D LGE dataset using (1) ?Net , (2) a compressed‐sensing‐based low‐dimensional‐structure self‐learning and thresholding algorithm (LOST), and (3) a real‐valued U‐Net (realNet) with the same number of parameters as ?Net . LOST‐reconstructed data were considered the reference for training and evaluation of all models. The reconstructed images were quantitatively evaluated using mean‐squared error (MSE) and the structural similarity index measure (SSIM), and subjectively evaluated by three independent readers. Quantitatively, ?Net ‐reconstructed images had significantly improved MSE and SSIM values compared with realNet (MSE, 0.077 versus 0.091; SSIM, 0.876 versus 0.733, respectively; p < 0.01). Subjective quality assessment showed that ?Net ‐reconstructed image quality was similar to that of compressed sensing and significantly better than that of realNet. ?Net reconstruction was also more than 300 times faster than compressed sensing. Retrospective under‐sampled images demonstrate the potential of ?Net at higher acceleration rates. ?Net enables fast reconstruction of highly accelerated 3D MRI with superior performance to real‐valued networks, and achieves faster reconstruction than compressed sensing.