Objective To introduce the imaging modalities used for the evaluation of postoperative complications of orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) and to present the imaging findings of these complications. Methods The literatures related to the imaging methods and imaging manifestations of OLT complications were reviewed. Results Ultrasound was the initial imaging technique used for the detection of complications in the early postoperative period. Spiral CT and MRI yielded more accurate and comprehensive evaluation of postoperative complications in later stage. So far, there had been no specific imaging findings to suggest rejection reaction. The spectrum of imaging manifestations of OLT complications, such as vascular complications, biliary complications, liver parenchymal complications, and so on, were summarized and illustrated. Conclusion Imaging examination (especially ultrasound, spiral CT and MRI ) plays an important role in the evaluation of postoperative complications of OLT.
ObjectiveTo observe multimodal imaging characteristics in eyes with focal choroidal excavation (FCE) and preliminarily analyze the risk factors in FCE with complications correlated with RPE.MethodsA retrospective case series. Thirty-one patients (31 eyes) with monocular FCE, first identified by spectral-domain (SD)-OCT in the Eye Center of The Second People’s Hospital of Foshan from December 2014 to December 2018, were involved in this study. There were 14 males and 17 females, with the mean age of 45.84±13.57 years. All patients underwent BCVA, optometry, and SD-OCT examinations. FFA and ICGA were simultaneously performed in 3 FCE patients with RPE complications. The subfoveal choroidal thickness (SFCT) and excavation width were measured with enhanced depth imaging OCT (EDI-OCT). The eyes with FCE were divided into two groups (FCE alone group 17 eyes vs. FCE complication group 14 eyes), based on whether complicated by RPE dysfunction. Among 14 eyes of FCE complication group, 7 (22.6%) with choroidal neovascularization, 4 (12.9%) with central serous chorioretinopathy, 1 (3.2%) with polypoidal choroidal vasculopathy, and 2 (6.5%) with RPE detachment. No significant difference was found in the mean age (t=0.87), gender composition (χ2=0.06), ocular laterality (χ2=2.58), and spherical equivalent (t=?0.81) between two groups, respectively (P＞0.05), except that the BCVA was significantly different (t=?2.11, P＜0.05). The SFCT and excavation width of eyes in both groups and the ICGA imaging characteristics of eyes in FCE complication group were analyzed. Risk factors of FCE with RPE complications were analyzed by logistic regression analysis.ResultsThirty-three excavations were identified in 31 eyes with FCE. The mean SFCT was 167.00±85.18 μm in FCE alone group vs. 228.36±67.95 μm in FCE complication group, while the excavation width was 645.00±231.93 μm vs. 901.00±420.55 μm and they were both significantly different (P＜0.05). Logistic regression analysis showed the SFCT (OR=1.016, P=0.026) and excavation width (OR=1.004, P=0.034) were risk factors for RPE complications of FCE. EDI-OCT showed the RPE at the excavation was impaired or vulnerable in all eyes of the FCE alone group, especially at the boundary area of excavation. The RPE damages were located at the boundary area of excavation in 10 eyes (71.4%) of FCE complication group. Constant choroidal hypofluorescence and filling defect were observed under the excavation in 3 eyes with ICGA imaging.ConclusionsSFCT and excavation width may be risk factors for RPE complications of FCE. Impairment of RPE at boundary area of excavation and focal choroidal ischemia or aberrant circulation under the excavation may correlate with the development of FCE complications.
ObjectiveTo establish the degenerative disc animal model in rhesus macaques and to verify its reliability with T1ρ, spin-lock imaging and T2-mapping MRI and histological observation. MethodsTwelve female rhesus macaques (aged 4-6 years, weighing 4.4-6.1 kg) were enrolled in the study. The L5, 6 intervertebral disk was used for the experimental group by injecting 1 mL bleomycin A5 (2 mg/mL) to its adjacent endplates to induce degeneration, and the L4,5 intervertebral disk for the control group by injecting 1 mL normal sodium to its adjacent endplates. T1ρ and T2-mapping relaxation time was examined by using MRI, and the histological observation was performed to evaluate the process of degeneration at 1, 4, and 12 weeks after operation. ResultsThere was no significant change of T1ρ, T2 map relaxation time in the control group at different time points before and after operation (P>0.05). In the experimental group, there was a significant decrease of T1ρ relaxation time from 4 weeks after operation, showing significant difference when compared with the values at pre-operation and 1 week after operation (P<0.05). The T2 map relaxation time decreased significantly at 12 weeks after operation, showing significant difference when compared with the values at the other time points (P<0.05). There was no significant difference between 2 groups at the other time points (P>0.05) except T1ρ relaxation time at 4 and 12 weeks and T2 map relaxation time at 12 weeks (P<0.05). No significant change of the percentage of the high intensity area of the operated discs was observed on T2WI of MRI after operation in 2 groups (P>0.05). The histological results showed that the number of nucleus pulposus decreased and arranged irregularly at 4 weeks, and there were fibrosis changes of nucleus pulposus and cleft of the inner annulus fibrosus at 12 weeks after operation in the experimental group. ConclusionDegeneration of lumbar intervertebral disc in rhesus macaques can be induced by injecting bleomycin A5. T1ρ-MRI may be an effective method to evaluate early degeneration of intervertebral disc.
Objective To summarize the development, clinical application, advantages and disadvantages, and future prospects of parathyroid autofluorescence in recent years. MethodThe literatures related to the research progress of parathyroid autofluorescence in recent years were searched, and launched a specific discussion. Results Autofluorescence of parathyroid gland was still in its infancy at home and abroad. The existing studies had shown that this technique was superior to visual recognition and could reduce the incidence of postoperative complications. Autofluorescence technology had shown some advantages in identifying parathyroid gland during operation, and its mechanism research and related equipment improvement should be focused in the future. ConclusionAutofluorescence technique is of great value in the identification of parathyroid glands in patients undergoing thyroidectomy or parathyroidectomy.
With the rapid development of ophthalmic imaging methods, there are many ways of examination in the diagnosis and treatment of fundus diseases, such as FFA, ICGA, FAF, OCT and emerging blood vessels by OCT angiography in recent years. Multi-model image can understand the changes of anatomical structure and function of different levels and parts of the fundus from different aspects. A variety of imaging examinations are combined and complemented each other, which makes us have a further understanding of the location and pathological changes of many fundus diseases. But at the same time, the emergence of multi-modal images also brings a series of problems. How to standardize the use of multi-modal imaging platform to better serve the clinic is a problem that ophthalmologists need to understand.
Objective To investigate the value of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for diagnosing typeⅠ congenital choledochocele and its complications. Methods The MR imaging data of 13 cases with proved typeⅠ congenital choledochocele associated with complications were retrospectively reviewed and compared with operative findings. MR imaging sequences included axial T2W and T1W plain scan, true-FISP coronal images, 2D-MRCP, and Gd-enhanced T1W images. Results All patients had cystic dilatation of the common bile ducts to various degrees. In 6 patients complicated with stone and infection, the bile duct showed uniform wall thickening with marked enhancement, and calculus were depicted within the duct lumen with dilatation of the proximal biliary duct. In 7 cases complicated with carcinoma of biliary duct, a polypoid soft tissue mass or nodule was seen inside the ductal lumen in 3 cases, or the duct wall was irregularly thickened in 4 patients. Six cases received curative operation, but one patient with extensive local infiltration, vascular encasement and lymphadenopathy had only palliative treatment. MR imaging observations were verified by surgery findings in all 13 patients.Conclusion MR imaging is very valuable not only in diagnosing typeⅠ congenital choledochocele, but also in revealing its complications.
The task of automatic generation of medical image reports faces various challenges, such as diverse types of diseases and a lack of professionalism and fluency in report descriptions. To address these issues, this paper proposes a multimodal medical imaging report based on memory drive method (mMIRmd). Firstly, a hierarchical vision transformer using shifted windows (Swin-Transformer) is utilized to extract multi-perspective visual features of patient medical images, and semantic features of textual medical history information are extracted using bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT). Subsequently, the visual and semantic features are integrated to enhance the model's ability to recognize different disease types. Furthermore, a medical text pre-trained word vector dictionary is employed to encode labels of visual features, thereby enhancing the professionalism of the generated reports. Finally, a memory driven module is introduced in the decoder, addressing long-distance dependencies in medical image data. This study is validated on the chest X-ray dataset collected at Indiana University (IU X-Ray) and the medical information mart for intensive care chest x-ray (MIMIC-CXR) released by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Massachusetts General Hospital. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can better focus on the affected areas, improve the accuracy and fluency of report generation, and assist radiologists in quickly completing medical image report writing.
ObjectiveTo explore the CT imaging features and independent risk factors for cystic pulmonary nodules and establish a malignant probability prediction model. Methods The patients with cystic pulmonary nodules admitted to the Department of Thoracic Surgery of the First People's Hospital of Neijiang from January 2017 to February 2022 were retrospectively enrolled. They were divided into a malignant group and a benign group according to the pathological results. The clinical data and preoperative chest CT imaging features of the two groups were collected, and the independent risk factors for malignant cystic pulmonary nodules were screened out by logistic regression analysis, so as to establish a prediction model for benign and malignant cystic pulmonary nodules. ResultsA total of 107 patients were enrolled. There were 76 patients in the malignant group, including 36 males and 40 females, with an average age of 59.65±11.74 years. There were 31 patients in the benign group, including 16 males and 15 females, with an average age of 58.96±13.91 years. Multivariate logistic analysis showed that the special CT imaging features such as cystic wall nodules [OR=3.538, 95%CI (1.231, 10.164), P=0.019], short burrs [OR=4.106, 95%CI (1.454, 11.598), P=0.008], cystic wall morphology [OR=6.978, 95%CI (2.374, 20.505), P<0.001], and the number of cysts [OR=4.179, 95%CI (1.438, 12.146), P=0.009] were independent risk factors for cystic lung cancer. A prediction model was established: P=ex/(1+ex), X=–2.453+1.264×cystic wall nodules+1.412×short burrs+1.943×cystic wall morphology+1.430×the number of cysts. The area under the receiver operating charateristic curve was 0.830, the sensitivity was 82.9%, and the specificity was 74.2%. ConclusionCystic wall nodules, short burrs, cystic wall morphology, and the number of cysts are the independent risk factors for cystic lung cancer, and the established prediction model can be used as a screening method for cystic pulmonary nodules.
Objective To investigate the accuracy of preoperative three-dimensional reconstruction of tumor in craniotomy for supratentorial convex brain tumors, and to provide an accurate and safe auxiliary method for craniotomy. Methods Patients with supratentorial convexity brain tumors who were admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery, West China Hospital, Yibin Hospital, Sichuan University between April 2018 and November 2020 were prospectively enrolled and randomly divided into reconstruction group and control group. In the reconstruction group, preoperative three-dimensional reconstruction of the tumor was used for craniotomy positioning, while in the control group, traditional two-dimensional tomographic imaging was used. The basic conditions, intraoperative localization and tumor exposure satisfaction rate, maximum diameter of bone window, operation time, cerebral draining vein injury, and postoperative subcutaneous effusion or intracranial infection were compared between the two groups. Results A total of 43 patients were included, 22 in the reconstruction group and 21 in the control group. There was no significant differences in age, gender composition, incidence of midline shift, tumor growth site and tumor size between the two groups (P>0.05). There was no significant difference in the incidence of cerebral drainage vein injury and postoperative subcutaneous effusion or intracranial infection between the two groups (P>0.05). The satisfaction rate of intraoperative positioning and tumor exposure in the reconstruction group (95.5% vs. 66.7%) was higher than that in the control group, the maximum diameter of the bone window [(6.26±1.32) vs. (7.31±1.13) cm] and the operation time [(194.00±22.76) vs. (214.57±26.53) min] were lower than the control group, and the differences were statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusions Preoperative three-dimensional reconstruction helps to locate the tumor more accurately, improves the satisfaction rate of tumor exposure, reduces the diameter of the craniotomy window, and shortens the operation time. Compared with traditional two-dimensional tomographic positioning, it has more advantages.
There are various examination methods for cardiovascular diseases. Non-invasive diagnosis and prognostic information acquisition are the current research hotspots of related imaging examinations. Positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a new advanced fusion imaging technology that combines the molecular imaging of PET with the soft tissue contrast function of MRI to achieve their complementary advantages. This article briefly introduces several major aspects of cardiac PET/MRI in the diagnosis of cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis, ischemic cardiomyopathy, nodular heart disease, and myocardial amyloidosis, in order to promote cardiac PET/MRI to be more widely used in precision medicine in this field.