This record contains raw data related to article “Volume-of-Interest Aware Deep Neural Networks for Rapid Chest CT-Based COVID-19 Patient Risk Assessment" Since December 2019, the world has been devastated by the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Emergency Departments have been experiencing situations of urgency where clinical experts, without long experience and mature means in the fight against COVID-19, have to rapidly decide the most proper patient treatment. In this context, we introduce an artificially intelligent tool for effective and efficient Computed Tomography (CT)-based risk assessment to improve treatment and patient care. In this paper, we introduce a data-driven approach built on top of volume-of-interest aware deep neural networks for automatic COVID-19 patient risk assessment (discharged, hospitalized, intensive care unit) based on lung infection quantization through segmentation and, subsequently, CT classification. We tackle the high and varying dimensionality of the CT input by detecting and analyzing only a sub-volume of the CT, the Volume-of-Interest (VoI). Differently from recent strategies that consider infected CT slices without requiring any spatial coherency between them, or use the whole lung volume by applying abrupt and lossy volume down-sampling, we assess only the "most infected volume" composed of slices at its original spatial resolution. To achieve the above, we create, present and publish a new labeled and annotated CT dataset with 626 CT samples from COVID-19 patients. The comparison against such strategies proves the effectiveness of our VoI-based approach. We achieve remarkable performance on patient risk assessment evaluated on balanced data by reaching 88.88%, 89.77%, 94.73% and 88.88% accuracy, sensitivity, specificity and F1-score, respectively.
Background: Masson's tumor (MT) is a rare benign vascular disease. In literature, detailed description of its radiological findings is not available and functional imaging such as diffusion weighted (DW)-MRI has never been described. We aim to summarize the CT and MRI findings in our representative case and to conduct a systematic review of the literature. Case Presentation: We reported a 54-year-old ex-smoker male patient who presented with a nodular mass to the left cheek. He denied any previous trauma. CT examination performed on initial presentation revealed a well circumscribed solid oval mass with soft tissue density, a calcified focus and no significative contrast enhancement after contrast administration. MRI showed a well circumscribed solid oval mass, with intermediate T2 signal intensity with areas of high T2 signal intensity and the presence of peripheral high-flow serpentine vessels, low T1 signal intensity. The mass showed a non-enhancing area with enhancing vessels after intravenous contrast administration. We surveyed CT and MRI findings of head and neck MT of English and French language papers, published from 1981 to 2019, together with our representative case. We included articles with a description of CT and/or MRI findings of head and neck MT. Conclusion: We have experienced one case and have evaluated imaging findings through systematic review. Only 36 articles were eligible. CT and MRI findings were reported in 27 and 23 articles, respectively. To date, no diffusion weighted imaging (DWI)-MRI findings have been described. The most frequent findings in CT were a well-defined mass with high or soft tissue density. The most frequent MRI findings were a non-homogeneous signal intensity in T1 and T2 weighted sequences, with foci of hyperintensity, multiple septations or flow voids. After contrast administration, the enhancement could be homogeneous, non-homogeneous, nodular or peripheral. In our case, we found a non-homogeneous hyperintensity in DWI-MRI with an area of restricted diffusion and low apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) was observed (0.963 × 10 − 3 mm 2 /s +\-0.12 SD). The imaging characteristics cannot provide a pre-operative identikit of MT and surgical removal is necessary to accurately differentiate it from malignant angiosarcoma but radiological evaluation is useful in surgical planning. Keywords: Masson's tumor, case report, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion weighted imaging
Benign subglottic/tracheal stenosis (SG/TS) is a life-threatening condition commonly caused by prolonged endotracheal intubation or tracheostomy. Invasive mechanical ventilation was frequently used to manage severe COVID-19, resulting in an increased number of patients with various degrees of residual stenosis following respiratory weaning. The aim of this study was to compare demographics, radiological characteristics, and surgical outcomes between COVID-19 and non-COVID patients treated for tracheal stenosis and investigate the potential differences between the groups.We retrospectively retrieved electronical medical records of patients managed at two referral centers for airways diseases (IRCCS Humanitas Research Hospital and Avicenne Hospital) with tracheal stenosis between March 2020 and May 2022 and grouped according to SAR-CoV-2 infection status. All patients underwent a radiological and endoscopic evaluation followed by multidisciplinary team consultation. Follow-up was performed through quarterly outpatient consultation. Clinical findings and outcomes were analyzed by using SPPS software. A significance level of 5% (p < 0.05) was adopted for comparisons.A total of 59 patients with a mean age of 56.4 (±13.4) years were surgically managed. Tracheal stenosis was COVID related in 36 (61%) patients. Obesity was frequent in the COVID-19 group (29.7 ± 5.4 vs. 26.9 ± 3, p = 0.043) while no difference was found regarding age, sex, number, and types of comorbidities between the two groups. In the COVID-19 group, orotracheal intubation lasted longer (17.7 ± 14.5 vs. 9.7 ± 5.8 days, p = 0.001), tracheotomy (80%, p = 0.003) as well as re-tracheotomy (6% of cases, p = 0.025) were more frequent and tracheotomy maintenance was longer (21.5 ± 11.9 days, p = 0.006) when compared to the non-COVID group. COVID-19 stenosis was located more distal from vocal folds (3.0 ± 1.86 vs. 1.8 ± 2.03 cm) yet without evidence of a difference (p = 0.07). The number of tracheal rings involved was lower in the non-COVID group (1.7 ± 1 vs. 2.6 ± 0.8 p = 0.001) and stenosis were more frequently managed by rigid bronchoscopy (74% vs. 47%, p = 0.04) when compared to the COVID-19 group. Finally, no difference in recurrence rate was detected between the groups (35% vs. 15%, p = 0.18).Obesity, a longer time of intubation, tracheostomy, re-tracheostomy, and longer decannulation time occurred more frequently in COVID-related tracheal stenosis. These events may explain the higher number of tracheal rings involved, although we cannot exclude the direct role of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the genesis of tracheal stenosis. Further studies with in vitro/in vivo models will be helpful to better understand the role of inflammatory status caused by SARS-CoV-2 in upper airways.
Background: Chest CT could reduce false negative diagnoses of first RT-PCR tests in patients suspected of COVID-19. We aimed to assess the diagnostic performance of CT in patients with a negative first RT-PCR testing and to identify typical features of COVID-19 pneumonia that can guide diagnosis in this case.Methods: Patients suspected of COVID-19 with a negative first RT-PCR testing were retrospectively revalued after undergoing CT. CT were reviewed by two radiologists and classified as suspected COVID-19 pneumonia, non COVID-19 pneumonia or negative. The performance of both first RT-PCR result and CT was evaluated by using sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and area under the curve (AUC) and by using the second RT-PCR test as the reference standard. CT findings for confirmed COVID-19 positive or negative were compared by using the Pearson chi-squared test (P-values <0.05).Findings: 337 patients suspected of COVID-19 underwent CT and nasopharyngeal swabs in March 2020 . 87 out of 337 patients had a negative first RT-PCR result, of these 68 repeated RT- PCR testing and were included in the study.The first RT-PCR test showed SE 0, SP 100%, PPV = NaN, NPV =70%, AUC = 50%, CT showed SE 70% , SP 79 %, PPV =86%, NPV 76%, AUC=75%.The most relevant CT variables were ground glass opacity more than 50% and peripheral and/or perihilar distribution.Interpretation: CT could reduce false negative cases by selecting patients who need a second RT-PCR test.Funding Statement: NoneDeclaration of Interests: The authors declare no competing interests.Ethics Approval Statement: This retrospective study was approved by our local institutional review board (IRB). Informed consent was waived because of the retrospective nature of the study and because the analysis used anonymous clinical data.
Background Diffusion-weighted imaging obtained with magnetic resonance (DW-MRI) is a non-invasive imaging tool potentially able to provide information about microstructural tumor characteristics. Purpose To prospectively analyze the correlation between the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and clinical-histologic characteristics of squamous cell carcinoma (SCCA) of the oral cavity and oropharynx. Material and Methods Sixty-seven patients with untreated, histologically proven SCCA of the oral cavity and oropharynx underwent conventional and diffusion-weighted (b-values 0, 50, 250, 500, and 900 s/mm2) MRI. Tumor ADC was calculated from regions of interest drawn manually on the highest b-value images using ImageJ (ImageJ, NIH) and fsl (fsl 4, University of Oxford) image processing packages. ADC was calculated in two ways: standard ADC using all b-values; and ADCHigh using only b-values ≥ 250 s/mm2. We assessed the correlations between both ADC and ADCHigh and the clinical-histological characteristics of SCCA. Results Fifty-two patients (36 men, 16 women; mean age, 55 ± 13 years) were suitable for ADC calculation. Mean ADC was 1136.0 ± 108.5 × 10-6 mm2/s. Mean tumor ADCHigh was 991.2 ± 152.1 × 10-6 mm2/s. Mean tumor size was 32.3 ± 13.4 mm (range, 14.0-69.0 mm). We observed no correlation of either ADC or ADCHigh values with any of the clinical-histological tumor characteristics. Undifferentiated tumors (G3) showed lower apparent diffusion coefficient values compared to differentiated ones (G1-G2), without reaching statistical significance. Conclusion We did not observe any statistically significant correlation between ADC values and clinical-histological characteristics of SCCA of the oral cavity and oropharynx.
Rib osteomyelitis is a rare entity, occurring in approximately 1 % or less of all cases of haematogenous osteomyelitis. Given its rarity and clinical heterogeneity, the diagnosis of rib osteomyelitis can be challenging and requires a high index of suspicion. We present a case of acute osteomyelitis of the rib due to community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), which occurred in an otherwise healthy 3-month-old infant and mimicked an epigastric hernia at first. An otherwise healthy 3-month-old female infant was sent by her primary care paediatrician to the paediatric emergency department for possible incarcerated epigastric hernia because for 2 days, she had suffered from mild to moderate fever, irritability, poor feeding, and tender epigastric swelling. Ultrasonographic imaging excluded epigastric hernia, and transthoracic echocardiography ruled out endocarditis. However, clinical assessment combined with laboratory criteria classified the child into the high-risk group for having severe bacterial infection. Consequently, awaiting the definitive diagnosis, she was immediately treated with a broad-spectrum regimen of intravenous antibiotic therapy based on vancomycin (40 mg/kg/die in 3 doses) and meropenem (100 mg/kg/die in 3 doses). Three days after admission, the blood culture result was positive for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and vancomycin remained as antibiotic therapy. On day 3, a second swelling appeared at the level of the seventh left rib, 2 cm-wide, non-erythematous, mildly painful. Ultrasonography of the left chest wall on this occasion showed an image consistent with an acute osteomyelitis of the anterior osteo-chondral region of the 7th rib and associated adjacent periosteal and soft tissue collection and magnetic resonance imaging confirmed the osteomyelitis of the anterior middle-distal part of the 7th left rib, near the costochondral junction. Vancomycin was continued up to a total of 6 weeks of therapy, and at the end, the child was discharged in good condition with no relapse during the follow-up. This is one of the few reported cases of paediatric rib osteomyelitis caused by community-acquired MRSA. Timely identification associated with prompt and targeted antibiotic therapy may allow full recovery.
This record contains raw data related to article “Frozen Section Analysis and Real-Time Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Surgical Specimen Oriented on 3D Printed Tongue Model to Assess Surgical Margins in Oral Tongue Carcinoma: Preliminary Results" Abstract Background: A surgical margin is the apparently healthy tissue around a tumor which has been removed. In oral cavity carcinoma, a negative margin is considered ≥ 5 mm, a close margin between 1 and 5 mm, and a positive margin ≤ 1 mm. Currently, the intraoperative surgical margin status is based on the visual inspection and tissue palpation by the surgeon and intraoperative histopathological assessment of the resection margins by frozen section analysis (FSA). FSA technique is limited and susceptible to sampling errors. Definitive information on the deep resection margins requires postoperative histopathological analysis. Methods: We described a novel approach for the assessment of intraoperative surgical margins by examining a surgical specimen oriented through a 3D-printed specific patient tongue with real-time Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). We reported the preliminary results of a case series of 10 patients, prospectively enrolled, with oral tongue carcinoma who underwent surgery between February 2020 and April 2021. Two radiologists with 5 and 10 years of experience, respectively, in Head and Neck radiology in consensus evaluated specimen MRI and measured the distance between the tumor and the specimen surface. We performed intraoperative bedside FSA. To compare the performance of bedside FSA and MRI in predicting definitive margin status we computed the weighted sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), accuracy (ACC), area under the ROC curve (AUC), F1-score, Positive Predictive Value (PPV), and Negative Predictive Value (NPV). To express the concordance between FSA and ex-vivo MRI we reported the jaccard index. Results: Intraoperative bedside FSA showed SE of 90%, SP of 100%, F1 of 95%, ACC of 0.9%, PPV of 100%, NPV (not a number), and jaccard of 90%, and ex-vivo MRI showed SE of 100%, SP of 100%, F1 of 100%, ACC of 100%, PPV of 100%, NPV of 100%, and jaccard of 100%. These results needed to be validated in a larger sample size of 21- 44 patients. Conclusion: The presented method allows a more accurate evaluation of surgical margin status, and the first clinical experiences underline the high potential of integrating FSA with ex-vivo MRI of the fresh surgical specimen.
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