Objective:To describe a low-cost, reproducible phantom model for training medical practitioners in ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation (EA) of a cystic thyroid nodule.

Methods:The model of cyst contents was created using a mixture of coffee powder, cornstarch and water to mimic colloidal contents. This was injected into the finger of a cut surgical glove secured with transparent tape to serve as an inflatable capsule and placed inside a chicken breast. This setup allows practitioners to perform key ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation techniques including spinal needle insertion, cyst aspiration, saline flushing, re-aspiration and ethanol injection.

Results:The phantom model was assembled for PhP 150.30 per unit and took approximately 5 minutes to construct. This model was demonstrated to be a cost-effective and simple method for enabling specialists to practice and enhance their skills in ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation of a cystic thyroid nodule.

Conclusion:The described phantom model provides an accessible and practical training tool for healthcare providers to gain proficiency in ultrasound-guided ethanol ablation of a cystic thyroid nodule in a safe and controlled setting prior to actual patient handling.

OBJECTIVE: To explore the clinical effect of personalized puncture planning before surgery using Picture Archiving and Communication System (PACS) in the treatment of osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures in the elderly. METHODS: A total of 69 elderly patients with osteoporotic vertebral compression fractures treated by percutaneous vertebroplasty from January 2020 20 to December 2021 with more than 1 year of follow-up were analyzed retrospectively. Thirty-four patients were individualized for preoperative planning with PACS software (observation group), including 8 males and 26 females, with a mean age of (73.30±7.96) years old;and 35 patients were treated with conventional treatment (control group), including 7 males and 28 females, with a mean age of (77.30±7.84) years old. The operation time, the amount of cement injection, cement leakage rate, bone watertight diffusion and refracture within 1 year between two groups were observed and compared. The Cobb's angle, low back pain visual analogue scale(VAS) and the modified Oswsetry disability indexes(ODI) before surgery and 1 day, 1 year after surgery were compared between two groups. RESULTS: Both groups successfully completed the operation without serious surgical complications, 2 refractures occurred in the control group. The operation time in the observation group was(41.9±11.9) min, which was less than that in the control group (52.7±13.6) min (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the cement injection volume between two groups (P>0.05). Two cases of cement leakage in the observation group was less than 8 in the control group (P<0.05). The bone cement distribution index of two groups had significant difference(P<0.05). There were no significant differences between two groups in Cobb's angle of the injured vertebras and ODI before and 1 day after surgery(P>0.05), however, the comparative differences were statistically significant at 1 year after surgery(P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the VAS between two groups at each time period(P>0.05). CONCLUSION Using the PACS software to plan personalized puncture scheme can reduce the operation time, reduce the cement leakage rate, improve the diffusion of bone cement and longer maintain the postoperative form of vertebral body and the functional state of patients' lumbar back.
Humans ; Male ; Female ; Aged ; Vertebroplasty/methods* ; Fractures, Compression/diagnostic imaging* ; Spinal Fractures/diagnostic imaging* ; Osteoporotic Fractures/diagnostic imaging* ; Aged, 80 and over ; Retrospective Studies ; Radiology Information Systems

OBJECTIVE: To implement radiological diagnostic guidelines and improve the standardization level of radiological reports. METHODS: A multimodal structured reporting system was designed. An integrated strategy of "standard coding + structural items + key images" was adopted to develop report templates for different diseases or anatomical sites, covering both text-only structured reports and comprehensive text-image structured reports. Horizontal comparisons with traditional (unstructured) reports were conducted to evaluate differences across four dimensions: efficiency, acceptability, completeness of disease sign description, and accuracy of data classification. RESULTS: The quality of comprehensive text-image structured reports was significantly superior to that of traditional reports ( P<0.01), while there was no statistically significant difference between text-only structured reports and traditional reports ( P>0.01). The information completeness and compliance with diagnostic guidelines of text-image reports were significantly higher than those of both traditional reports and text-only structured reports. The acceptability of text-image reports among senior radiologists (4.04±0.55) and clinicians (4.19±0.58) was higher than that among junior radiologists (3.04±1.55). In terms of data classification accuracy, the retrieval accuracy of structured reports based on natural language processing (NLP) (F1-Score: 0.85-1.00) was significantly better than the keyword retrieval method used for traditional reports. CONCLUSION Image-text-integrated structured reporting reduces heterogeneity in traditional reports and aids competency development among junior radiologists in primary care.
Radiology Information Systems ; Diagnostic Imaging ; Humans

OBJECTIVES: We propose a Contrastive Regional Attention and Prior Knowledge-Infused U-Transformer model (CRAKUT) to address the challenges of imbalanced text distribution, lack of contextual clinical knowledge, and cross-modal information transformation to enhance the quality of generated radiology reports. METHODS: The CRAKUT model comprises 3 key components, including an image encoder that utilizes common normal images from the dataset for extracting enhanced visual features, an external knowledge infuser that incorporates clinical prior knowledge, and a U-Transformer that facilitates cross-modal information conversion from vision to language. The contrastive regional attention in the image encoder was introduced to enhance the features of abnormal regions by emphasizing the difference between normal and abnormal semantic features. Additionally, the clinical prior knowledge infuser within the text encoder integrates clinical history and knowledge graphs generated by ChatGPT. Finally, the U-Transformer was utilized to connect the multi-modal encoder and the report decoder in a U-connection schema, and multiple types of information were used to fuse and obtain the final report. RESULTS: We evaluated the proposed CRAKUT model on two publicly available CXR datasets (IU-Xray and MIMIC-CXR). The experimental results showed that the CRAKUT model achieved a state-of-the-art performance on report generation with a BLEU-4 score of 0.159, a ROUGE-L score of 0.353, and a CIDEr score of 0.500 in MIMIC-CXR dataset; the model also had a METEOR score of 0.258 in IU-Xray dataset, outperforming all the comparison models. CONCLUSIONS The proposed method has great potential for application in clinical disease diagnoses and report generation.
Humans ; Radiology Information Systems ; Radiology

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

Meningiomas represent the most prevalent benign intracranial tumors, comprising 13- 26% of primary intracranial neoplasms. These tumors derive their blood supply from both extracranial and intracranial circulation. Over recent decades, pre-operative embolization (POE) has emerged as a potential adjunctive therapy to surgery, aiming to reduce tumor vascularity. Our study seeks to explore the potential correlation between the extent of devascularization following POE of meningiomas and intraoperative blood loss.

This cross-sectional study involved nine meningioma patients at a tertiary hospital, involving chart review of patients across four years. These patients were referred for POE due to angiographic evidence of a hypervascular mass between January 2018 and January 2022. We collected demographic data, tumor characteristics (including location, size, and vascular supply), and intraoperative variables such as total operative time and blood loss. Statistical analyses aimed to uncover correlations between vascularization degree and various factors.

Our population consists predominantly of females (53.68%), with a mean age of 45.85 ± 13.65 years. Only one mortality was recorded (7.7%). Pre-operative embolization achieved devascularization in the majority (69.2%) of cases, with approximately two-thirds (66.7%) experiencing complete devascularization. Mean total operative time stood at 336.11 ± 301.88 minutes, with a mean post-operative blood loss of 985.56 ± 1013.72 milliliters. Additionally, for those with recorded recovery times, the mean recovery time was 14.32 ± 13.51 hours.

Mortality rates showed no association with sex, devascularization status, or number of feeding vessel zones. Furthermore, the extent of devascularization did not correlate with age, sex, number of feeding vessel zones, postoperative blood loss, total operative time, or recovery time (p >0.05).

In summary, this study represents a significant endeavor to elucidate factors influencing meningioma outcomes following pre-operative embolization. Despite limitations regarding patient numbers, our study offers valuable insights into operative parameters and embolization considerations for future analyses in our tertiary center.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the predictive value of ACR-TIRADS in detecting malignancy in thyroid nodules.

This is a retrospective, multi-center, cross-sectional analysis of patients who underwent ultrasound and thyroidectomy at three Cordillera Consortium hospitals between January 2019 and December 2021. Ultrasound reports were reviewed and correlated with histopathology reports to determine features associated with malignancy.

A study of 117 patients with thyroid nodules found significant differences in ACR-TIRADS subcategories. The risk of malignancy for TIRADS categories 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 were 10%, 9.5%, 21.9%, 43.9%, and 76.97%, respectively. ACR-TIRADS demonstrated a high sensitivity of 92.1% and negative predictive value (NPV) of 90.3% as a rule-out test, and a specificity of 96.2% with a positive predictive value (PPV) of 76.9% as a rule-in test using TIRADS 5 as malignant. Correct classification of malignant nodules increased by cut-off value with the highest at 73.5% at the ≥5 cut-off value. Discussion: Thyroid nodules were more common in females under 55 years old. Certain sonographic features of thyroid nodules, such as being solid or predominantly solid, hypoechoic, lobulated/irregular, and having punctate echogenic foci, were associated with malignancy. The risk of malignancy at Cordillera Consortium hospitals was notably higher in this study. The ACR-TIRADS test yielded results consistent with previous studies, with TR 1 and 2 indicating benign nodules and TIRAD 3-5 indicating malignant nodules.

Due to a higher risk of malignancy, it is recommended to be more aggressive in performing biopsies for thyroid nodules at Cordillera Consortium hospitals. ACR-TIRADS is a reliable screening tool and is recommended as a confirmatory test (TIRADS 5) for thyroid malignancy. Biopsies are still recommended for TIRADS 3, 4, and 5 nodules to avoid unnecessary procedures and confusion among surgeons.

Background and Objective: Meningiomas represent the most prevalent benign intracranial tumors, comprising 13- 26% of primary intracranial neoplasms. These tumors derive their blood supply from both extracranial and intracranial circulation. Over recent decades, pre-operative embolization (POE) has emerged as a potential adjunctive therapy to surgery, aiming to reduce tumor vascularity. Our study seeks to explore the potential correlation between the extent of devascularization following POE of meningiomas and intraoperative blood loss. Methods: This cross-sectional study involved nine meningioma patients at a tertiary hospital, involving chart review of patients across four years. These patients were referred for POE due to angiographic evidence of a hypervascular mass between January 2018 and January 2022. We collected demographic data, tumor characteristics (including location, size, and vascular supply), and intraoperative variables such as total operative time and blood loss. Statistical analyses aimed to uncover correlations between vascularization degree and various factors. Results: Our population consists predominantly of females (53.68%), with a mean age of 45.85 ± 13.65 years. Only one mortality was recorded (7.7%). Pre-operative embolization achieved devascularization in the majority (69.2%) of cases, with approximately two-thirds (66.7%) experiencing complete devascularization. Mean total operative time stood at 336.11 ± 301.88 minutes, with a mean post-operative blood loss of 985.56 ± 1013.72 milliliters. Additionally, for those with recorded recovery times, the mean recovery time was 14.32 ± 13.51 hours. : Mortality rates showed no association with sex, devascularization status, or number of feeding vessel zones. Furthermore, the extent of devascularization did not correlate with age, sex, number of feeding vessel zones, postoperative blood loss, total operative time, or recovery time (p >0.05). Conclusion In summary, this study represents a significant endeavor to elucidate factors influencing meningioma outcomes following pre-operative embolization. Despite limitations regarding patient numbers, our study offers valuable insights into operative parameters and embolization considerations for future analyses in our tertiary center.
Meningioma ; Radiology, Interventional

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease(NAFLD) is a chronic metabolic condition with rapidly increasing incidence, becoming a public health issue of worldwide concern. Studies have shown that farnesoid X receptor(FXR)-based modulation of downstream targets can improve liver function and metabolic status in the patients with NAFLD and may be a potential drug target for treating this di-sease. Great progress has been achieved in the development of drugs targeting FXR for the treatment of NAFLD. A number of studies have explored the traditional Chinese medicine and their active ingredients for the treatment of NAFLD via FXR considering the high safety and efficacy and mild side effects. This paper systematically describes the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicines in the treatment of NAFLD via FXR and the downstream targets, aiming to provide precise targets for the drug development and clinical treatment of NAFLD.
Humans ; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease/metabolism* ; Liver ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional/adverse effects* ; Receptors, Cytoplasmic and Nuclear/metabolism*

Background: To respond to the pandemic, many societies, including the American Society for Radiation Therapy (ASTRO), the United Kingdom’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), and the Philippine Radiation Oncology Society (PROS), recommended guidelines to allow for continued safe delivery of oncologic services. Yet, the delivery of radiotherapy during the COVID-19 pandemic remains a challenge. Objective: To describe the situation of radiotherapy delivery in Metro Manila (NCR) during the COVID-19-related quarantine. Specifically, the objectives were to determine: (1) how the radiotherapy providers implemented the recommended changes, (2) if these implemented changes allowed the hospitals to operate with pre-COVID capacities, and (3) the causative factors of treatment interruptions if these were present. Additionally, in the face of treatment interruptions, the authors sought to put forth recommendations to decrease treatment interruptions. Methods: Investigators gathered data on the prevailing situation of RT services in their respective institutions during the strictest period of quarantine — Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ). Patients aged 18-70 years old who missed at least one fraction during the ECQ from March 16 – April 15, 2020, were invited to participate in a phone survey to determine factors contributing to treatment interruptions. Results: All the institutions implemented global recommendations to adapt to the pandemic, including infection control measures, telemedicine, and modification of RT plans. Despite this, most institutions had increased treatment interruptions during ECQ. The percentage of patients with interruptions was also much higher during the ECQ (66.37%) than during the pre-COVID month (30.56%). Among 142 patients unable to continue treatment, there were no significant differences in demographic variable and oncologic profile rates. The majority were more worried about getting COVID-19 than missing RT. The most common factor for treatment interruptions was transportation, followed by fear of getting COVID-19. Conclusion Compliance with global recommendations is not enough to ensure that the patients who require radiotherapy will receive it. Based on institutional and patient results, the causative factors of interruptions included suspension of services, lack of transportation, and anxiety of patients and staff. Especially in low-resource settings, recommendations are to use available resources as efficiently as possible by having an organized referral system, providing transportation or nearby accommodation for patients and staff, and communicating effectively to reassure patients that radiotherapy can be continued safely.
radiotherapy ; radiation therapy ; radiation oncology

During interventional procedures,subjects are exposed to direct and scattered X-rays.Establishing diagnostic reference levels is an ideal way to optimize the radiation dose and reduce radiation hazard.In recent years,diagnostic reference levels in interventional radiology have been established in different countries.However,because of the too many indicators for characterizing the radiation dose,the indicators used to establish diagnostic reference levels vary in different countries.The research achievements in this field remain to be reviewed.We carried out a retrospective analysis of the definition,establishment method,application,and main factors influencing the dose difference of the diagnostic reference level,aiming to provide a basis for establishing the diagnostic reference level for interventional procedures in China.
Humans ; Diagnostic Reference Levels ; Radiology, Interventional/methods* ; Radiation Dosage ; Retrospective Studies ; Radiography