Aged ; Calcinosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Leiomyoma ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Radiography ; Uterine Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology

OBJECTIVETo explore the ultrasound (US) findings of partially cystic thyroid nodules (PCTNs) and to analyze their relationship with differential diagnosis of benign and malignant lesions.

METHODS265 cases of PCTNs confirmed by needle biopsy or surgical pathology were included in this study. Their ultrasound characteristics were reviewed and their significance in differential diagnosis was analyzed.

RESULTSIn the 265 PTCNs, 53 cases were malignant and 212 cases were benign lesions. According to the comparison of ultrasound and pathology results, there were 51 true-positive cases, 208 true negative cases, four false-positive cases and two false negative cases;the sensitivity was 96.2% (51/53), specificity was 98.1% (208/212), positive predictive value (PPV) was 92.7% (51/55), negative predictive values (NPV) was 99.0% (208/210), and accuracy rate was 97.7% (259/265). In terms of the PTCNs, internal structure, shape and margin were significantly associated with malignant or benign nature (P < 0.001); the aspect ratio ≥ 1, spiculated or micro-lobulated margin were significantly associated with malignancy; while the smooth margin, spongiform structure were significantly associated with benign nature. In terms of the internal solid portion of the nodules, the configuration, free margin, echogenecity, and calcification were significantly associated with malignant or benign nature (P < 0.001). The eccentric configuration with an acute angle, non-smooth free margin, hypoechogenecity, marked hypoechogenecity and micro-calcification were significantly associated with malignancy; while concentric configuration, smooth free margin, hyper/isoechogenicity, free margin of the solid component, and macro-calcifications were significantly associated with benign nature (P < 0.01). The results of logistic regression analysis showed that the echogenicity, free margin, configuration and calcification of the solid component were important predictive factors of malignant lesions (P < 0.05), that the hypoechogenecity, marked hypoechogenecity, eccentric configuration with an acute angle, non-smooth free margin and micro-calcification of the internal solid portion of the nodules were predictors for malignant PTCNs (P < 0.01).

CONCLUSIONUnderstanding the characteristics of US findings of partially cystic thyroid nodules is of great importance to make an accurate diagnosis of malignant nodules.

Biopsy, Needle ; Calcinosis ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Thyroid Nodule ; diagnostic imaging ; Ultrasonics ; Ultrasonography

In order to overcome the shortcomings of high false positive rate and poor generalization in the detection of microcalcification clusters regions, this paper proposes a method combining discriminative deep belief networks (DDBNs) to automatically and quickly locate the regions of microcalcification clusters in mammograms. Firstly, the breast region was extracted and enhanced, and the enhanced breast region was segmented to overlapped sub-blocks. Then the sub-block was subjected to wavelet filtering. After that, DDBNs model for breast sub-block feature extraction and classification was constructed, and the pre-trained DDBNs was converted to deep neural networks (DNN) using a softmax classifier, and the network is fine-tuned by back propagation. Finally, the undetected mammogram was inputted to complete the location of suspicious lesions. By experimentally verifying 105 mammograms with microcalcifications from the Digital Database for Screening Mammography (DDSM), the method obtained a true positive rate of 99.45% and a false positive rate of 1.89%, and it only took about 16 s to detect a 2 888 × 4 680 image. The experimental results showed that the algorithm of this paper effectively reduced the false positive rate while ensuring a high positive rate. The detection of calcification clusters was highly consistent with expert marks, which provides a new research idea for the automatic detection of microcalcification clusters area in mammograms.
Algorithms ; Breast Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging* ; Calcinosis/diagnostic imaging* ; Early Detection of Cancer ; Humans ; Mammography ; Neural Networks, Computer

Humans ; Temporomandibular Joint/diagnostic imaging* ; Temporomandibular Joint Disorders/complications* ; Calcinosis/diagnostic imaging*

This study was to investigate the diagnostic value of the computed tomography (CT) histogram in thyroid benign solitary coarse calcification nodules (BSCNs). A total of 89 thyroid solitary coarse calcification nodules (coarse calcification ≥5 mm, no definite soft tissue around calcification) confirmed either by surgery or histopathological examination in 86 cases enrolled from January 2009 to December 2015 were evaluated. These included 56 BSCNs and 33 malignant solitary coarse calcification nodules (MSCNs). Overall, 27 cut-off values were calculated by N (4≤N≤30) times of 50 Hounsfield units (HU) in the range of 200 to 1500 HU, and each cut-off value and the differences in the corresponding area percentages in the CT histogram were recorded for BSCN and MSCN. The optimal cut-off value and the corresponding area percentage were established by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. In the 19 groups with an ROC area under curve (AUC) of more than 0.7, at a cut-off value of 800 HU and at an area percentage of no more than 93.8%, the ROC AUC reached the maximum of 0.79, and the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 75.3%, 80.4%, and 66.7%, respectively. At a cut-off value of 1050 HU and at an area percentage of no more than 93.6%, the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 71.9%, 60.7%, and 90.9%, respectively. At a cut-off of 1150 HU and area of no more than 98.4%, the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 70.8%, 57.1%, and 93.9%, respectively. At a cut-off of 600 HU and area of no more than 12.1%, the accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were 61.8%, 39.3%, and 100.0%, respectively. Compared with the cut-off value of 800 HU and an area percentage of no more than 93.8%, the sensitivity of cut-off values and minimum areas of 1050 HU and 93.6%, of 1150 HU and 98.4%, and of 600 HU and 12.1%, was gradually decreasing; however, their specificity was gradually increasing. This can provide an important basis for reducing the misdiagnosis and unnecessary surgical trauma.
Adult ; Calcinosis/diagnostic imaging* ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Thyroid Nodule/diagnostic imaging* ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods*

Aged ; Appendiceal Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; Calcinosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Cystadenoma, Mucinous ; diagnostic imaging ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Female ; Humans ; Radiography, Abdominal ; Rupture, Spontaneous

In order to preprocess mammograms for diagnosing the early cases of breast cancer and improving the computational efficiency in the computer-aided detection of micro-calcifications in mammograms, we have advanced a novel processing technique for the extraction of micro-calcification region of interest (MROI). The proposed method is based on a three-step procedure: (1) the mammogram is divided into sub-images of the same size; (2) the wavelet multi-resolution method is conducted on the sub-images, and the parameters related to wavelet transform and threshold T are discussed according to rho; (3) the classification of sub-images is determined by T. It is tested with 20 mammograms and the results show that the method can achieve a true positive rate as high as 89.7% with a false positive rate as low as 2.1%.
Breast Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Breast Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Calcinosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted ; Humans ; Mammography

This study evaluated the association of periurethral calcification (PUC) with uroflowmetric parameters and symptom severity in male patients with lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) of benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). The data were collected from a prospectively maintained database of 1321 men with LUTS of BPH who visited Chonnam National University Hospital (Gwang-ju, Korea) from January 2015 to December 2019. PUC severity and location were evaluated on the midsagittal plane during transrectal ultrasonography. Relationships among age, prostate-related parameters, International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS), and uroflowmetric parameters were assessed. Among the 1321 patients in this study, 530 (40.1%) had PUC. Patients with PUC had significantly higher IPSS (mean ± standard deviation [s.d.]: 15.1 ± 8.7 vs 13.1 ± 7.9; P < 0.001) and lower peak flow rate (Qmax; mean ± s.d.: 12.4 ± 6.6 ml s^-1 vs 14.7 ± 13.3 ml s^-1; P < 0.001), compared with patients who did not have PUC. Analyses according to PUC severity revealed that patients with severe PUC had higher prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level (P = 0.009), higher total IPSS (P < 0.001), lower Qmax (P = 0.002), and smaller prostate volume (P < 0.001), compared with patients who had non-severe (mild or moderate) PUC. Multivariate analysis showed that distal PUC was independently associated with high total IPSS (P = 0.02), voiding symptom score (P = 0.04), and storage symptom score (P = 0.023), and low Qmax (P = 0.015). In conclusion, PUC was significantly associated with worse LUTS parameters in terms of IPSS and Qmax. Furthermore, distally located PUC was independently associated with worse LUTS of BPH in men.
Humans ; Male ; Prostatic Hyperplasia/diagnostic imaging* ; Prostate/diagnostic imaging* ; Clinical Relevance ; Hyperplasia ; Lower Urinary Tract Symptoms/complications* ; Calcinosis/diagnostic imaging*

OBJECTIVETo investigate the diagnostic value of ultrasonography for diffuse thyroid disease accompanied with suspicious nodules.

METHODSA total of 148 patients with diffuse thyroid diseases accompanied with suspicious nodules underwent both ultrasonography and ultrasound-guided biopsy, and the results were analyzed and compared.

RESULTSAmong these 148 patients, 44 had Hashimoto's thyroiditis and 104 had Graves'disease. Totally 151 suspicious lesions were detected by ultrasonography, among which 48 lesions were pathologically confirmed to be benign and 103 malignant. Thirteen malignant lesions were diagnosed as benign by pre-operative ultrasonography, which were confirmed to be malignant after the surgical resection due to other suspected or confirmed malignant lesions. The detection rate of diffuse thyroid disease accompanied with thyroid cancer by per-operative ultrasound was 68.21%, and the misdiagnosis rate was 31.79%. The gender of patients(P=0.36), number of nodules(P=0.08), and blood flow types in lesions(P=0.080) had no significant difference between the benign and malignant groups, whereas internal echo(P=0.040), margin(P=0.000), shape(P=0.001), and calcification features(P=0.000)showed significant differences. Up to 80.74% of the lesions with hyperechoic calcification were malignant.

CONCLUSIONSGray-scale sonographic features are helpful for the differential diagnosis of nodules in patients with diffuse thyroid diseases. Nodules in the isthmus and those accompanied with multiple nodules should be noticed.

Calcinosis ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Diagnostic Errors ; Humans ; Thyroid Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; Thyroid Nodule ; Ultrasonography

Breast cancer is one of the main cancers leading to women mortality in the world. Since the causes are still obscure, the microcalcification clusters are the primary indicators of breast cancer, and the detection is of importance to the prevention and treatment of the disease. Microcalcifications appear in the small clusters of a few pixels and as spots which are slightly brighter than their backgrounds. It becomes a challenge to detect all the microcalcifications. This paper presents an approach for detecting microcalcifications in digital mammograms employing a dual-threshold method developed from LoG edge detection. Two thresholds are proposed in our method based on two additional criterions. Experimental results show that the proposed method can locate the microcalcifications exactly in mammogram as well as restrain the contours produced by the noises.
Algorithms ; Breast Neoplasms ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Calcinosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Female ; Humans ; Mammography ; methods ; Radiographic Image Interpretation, Computer-Assisted ; methods