A new analytical cut-off point for determining 18 years of age using MRI on medial clavicular epiphysis

Evaluation of the ossification of the medial clavicular epiphysis plays a key role in forensic age estimation. The purpose of the present study was to assess a new numerical cut-off at the age of 18 years, taking into consideration Magnetic Resonance (MR) images of the medial clavicular epiphysis. We analyzed 163 MR scans of Italian subjects aged between 14 and 25 years. Using the data obtained we calculated two ratios: REM-1 (ratio between the length of the whole epiphysis and the length of the metaphysis) and REM-2 (ratio between the length of epiphyseal-metaphyseal fusion and the length of the metaphysis). In 68 out of 163 cases it was not possible to measure REM-2. The reproducibility was demonstrated using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient (ICC) (Cronbach’s alpha > 0.80). REM-1 and REM-2 were compared in each category of age (adult and minor) by the Wilcoxon signed-rank test. The cut-off points for measurements of REM-1 and REM-2 were determined by logistic regression. For REM-1, the cut-off scores were 0.83 for all individuals (accuracy = 94.77%) and males (accuracy = 96.05%), and 0.86 for females (accuracy = 92.30%). For REM-2, the cut-off values were 0.40 for all individuals and males (accuracy = 100.00%), and 0.41 for females (accuracy = 100.00%). Finally, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves for age classification based on REM-1 and REM-2 were constructed, showing that REM-2 had the highest discriminative power. Thus, a new cut-off model for predicting the age of majority has been introduced, conducting a quantitative analysis thanks to the use of a high-resolution imaging tool.     

Comparing Radiomics features of tumour and healthy liver tissue in a limited CT dataset: A machine learning study

IntroductionLiver cancer lesions on Computed Tomography (CT) withholds a great amount of data, which is not visible to the radiologists and radiographer. Radiomics features can be extracted from the lesions and used to train Machine Learning (ML) algorithms to predict between tumour and liver tissue. The purpose of this study was to investigate and classify Radiomics features extracted from liver tumours and normal liver tissue in a limited CT dataset.MethodsThe Liver Tumour Segmentation Benchmark (LiTS) dataset consisting of 131 CT scans of the liver with segmentations of tumour tissue and healthy liver was used to extract Radiomic features. Extracted Radiomic features included size, shape, and location extracted with morphological and statistical techniques according to the International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging manual. Relevant features was selected with chi2 correlation and principal component analysis (PCA) with tumour and healthy liver tissue as outcome according to a consensus between three experienced radiologists. Logistic regression, random forest and support vector machine was used to train and validate the dataset with a 10-fold cross-validation method and the Grid Search as hyper-parameter tuning. Performance was evaluated with sensitivity, specificity and accuracy.ResultsThe performance of the ML algorithms achieved sensitivities, specificities and accuracy ranging from 96.30% (95% CI: 81.03%–99.91%) to 100.00% (95% CI: 86.77%–100.00%), 91.30% (95% CI: 71.96%–98.93%) to 100.00% (95% CI: 83.89%–100.00%)and 94.00% (95% CI: 83.45%–98.75%) to 100.00% (95% CI: 92.45%–100.00%), respectively.ConclusionML algorithms classifies Radiomics features extracted from healthy liver and tumour tissue with perfect accuracy. The Radiomics signature allows for a prognostic biomarker for hepatic tumour screening on liver CT.Implications for practiceDifferentiation between tumour and liver tissue with Radiomics ML algorithms have the potential to increase the diagnostic accuracy, assist in the decision-making of supplementary multiphasic enhanced medical imaging, as well as for developing novel prognostic biomarkers for liver cancer patients.     

基于功能磁共振成像的肝豆状核变性患者纹状体亚区损害及临床分析

目的基于功能磁共振成像分析肝豆状核变性（Wilson disease, WD）患者纹状体亚区神经功能损害及其与临床相关分析，探讨其神经心理学症状可能的致病机制。方法收集WD患者29例和健康志愿者30例，进行3.0 T磁共振功能磁共振成像及临床量表测试，采用mICA工具箱的group ICA功能将壳核和尾状核分成8个亚区，做全脑功能连接，提取功能连接异常区域的值与临床量表测试结果做相关性分析。结果与对照组相比，WD患者左侧尾状核中部与全脑未发现功能增强或减弱区域，余感兴趣区与全脑功能连接不同程度减弱。左侧尾状核前部（ROI5）-中扣带回功能连接值与简易智能状态量表（MMSE）值呈显著负相关（r=-0.47，P=0.009）；右侧尾状核前部（ROI6）-中扣带回功能连接值与MMSE值呈显著负相关（r=-0.46，P=0.011）；右侧尾状核中部（ROI8）-右侧岛叶功能连接值与MMSE值呈显著负相关（r=-0.38，P=0.041）。结论右侧尾状核前中部与背外侧前额叶功能连接减弱，双侧壳核前部与丘脑功能连接减弱，可能破坏皮质-纹状体-丘脑回路引起认知功能损害；参与记忆及动作相关认知的突显网络、默认模式网络的通路连接受阻则可能是WD患者认知障碍的神经病理机制。     

肝脏脾植入误诊为肝细胞癌1例

[摘要]?本文报道了1例肝脏左外叶脾植入误诊为肝左叶小肝癌的病例，详细描述其临床特点、实验室检查、超声、磁共振及病理结果，并进行讨论。     

Une cause rare d’hypertension artérielle pulmonaire : l’amylose thoracique

Isolated thoracic involvement in amyloidosis is a rare and serious condition. Its association with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) usually weakens the prognosis. We report the case of a 40-year-old man with a smoking history, hospitalized for chest pain, abdominal pain and acute respiratory distress. The cardiac ultrasound revealed a circumferential pericardial effusion as well as a pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PAPS) at 80 mmHg. Chest imaging (computed tomography scan and magnetic resonance imaging) showed a tissue process developed in the pericardial sheath (60 × 45 mm) sheathing the ascending aorta and infiltrating the trunk of the pulmonary artery and its right branch. Anatomopathological and immunohistochemical study of the process revealed AL amyloidosis. Note that the patient had no signs of extrathoracic amyloidosis. Blood and urine electrophoresis and immunoelectrophoresis as well as bone marrow mylogram and biopsy were normal. The patient was put on oral anticoagulant as he presented with PAH. A therapeutic protocol with thalidomide and dexamethasone has been initiated. The course of the disease was marked by total regression of the clinical signs, a marked decrease in the amyloid process on imaging and a normalization of the PAPS; our follow-up being three years.     

Paleopathological study of a podal osteochondroma from the prehistoric Hypogeum of Calaforno (Sicily)

In this article, we report a case of isolated podal osteochondroma from the prehistoric Hypogeum of Calaforno (Giarratana, Ragusa, Sicily). Although the phalanx exhibiting the benign tumoral mass comes from a context featuring several commingled remains, the very good state of preservation of this bone allowed us to perform a comprehensive study of the neoplasm by applying a multidisciplinary approach encompassing archeology, morphology, stereomicroscopy, and radiology. The results from this very ancient specimen have been assessed in the light of the available paleopathological literature and clinical implications currently encountered in modern patients.