Purpose: We investigated the effect of prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on the dissection plan of the neurovascular bundle and the oncological results of our patients who underwent robotic ...radical prostatectomy operation. Materials and Methods: We prospectively evaluated 30 consecutive patients, 15 of whom had prostate MRI before the operation, and 15 of whom did not. With the findings of MRI, the dissection plan was changed as intrafascial, interfascial, and extrafascial technique in the MRI group. Two groups were compared in terms of age, prostate-specific antigen (PSA), and Gleason scores (GSs). Surgical margin status was also checked with the final pathology. Results: There was no significant difference between the two groups in terms of age, PSA, biopsy GS, and final pathological GS. MRI changed the initial surgical plan to a nerve-sparing technique in 7 of the 15 patients. Only one patient in the MRI group had a positive surgical margin on bladder neck. MRI was confirmed as the primary tumour localisation in the final pathology in 93.3% of patients. Conclusion: Preoperative prostate MRI influenced the decision to carry out a nerve-sparing technique in 46% of the patients in our study; however, the change to a nerve-sparing technique did not seem to compromise the surgical margin positivity.
Objective: This study was aimed at evaluating the intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) parameter alterations of liver metastases of colorectal carcinoma (CRC) during antiangiogenic bevacizumab ...combination therapy. Methods: Twenty-five patients with CRC liver metastases treated with bevacizumab in combination with FOLFOX-or-FOLFIRI protocols were enrolled in the study. MRI was performed using a 1.5-tesla scanner pre-treatment (PT) and at 3, 6, and 9 months of therapy. Routine abdominal MRI sequences and an IVIM-DWI (diffusion-weighted imaging) sequence were obtained. The IVIM-DWI sequence was executed with 16 b-values varying from 0 to 1,400 s/mm 2 . The mean values of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), true diffusion (D), pseudodiffusion (D*), and perfusion fraction (f) of each metastasis were obtained for all b-values, and the time-related changes were recorded to analyze the chronologic responses to antiangiogenic therapy. The RECIST 1.1 criteria were used for the evaluation of treatment response. Results: The diameters of the metastases diminished significantly at 9 months when compared with PT (p = 0.03). The D (p = 0.10) and ADC (p = 0.21) values of the metastases increased at 9 months of therapy. D* was the highest at 3 months (p =0.24); it decreased at 6 (p =0.97) and 9 months (p =0.87) of therapy. The f value had peaked at 3 months (p =0.51) and started to decrease thereafter. At 6 months, f decreased to the lowest values (p =0.12). Conclusion: IVIM parameters, particularly the perfusion fraction, may quantitatively reflect the response to antiangiogenic treatment. The antiangiogenic response manifests after 3 months of therapy before the RECIST-related response.
Purpose. In this study, our purpose was to investigate the diagnostic efficacy of the dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) method in the patients with bile duct obstruction. ...Materials and Methods. 108 consecutive patients (53 men, 55 women, mean age; 55.77±14.62, range 18–86 years) were included in this study. All the patients underwent conventional upper abdomen MRI using intravenous contrast material (Gd-DTPA) and MRCP in 1.5 Tesla MRI scanner. MRCP images were evaluated together with the T1 and T2w images, and both biliary ducts and surrounding tissues were examined for possible pathologies that may cause obstruction. Results. MRI/MRCP findings compared with final diagnoses, MRI/MRCP in the demonstration of bile duct obstruction sensitivity 96%, the specificity 100%, and accuracy 96.3%, in the detection of presence and level of obstruction, the sensitivity 96.7%, specificity 100%, and accuracy 97.2%, in the diagnosis of choledocholithiasis, the sensitivity 82.3%, specificity 96%, and accuracy 91.7%, and in the determination of the character of the stenosis, sensitivity 95.6%, specificity 91.3%, and accuracy 94.5% were found. Conclusion. The combination of dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI and MRCP techniques in patients with suspected biliary obstruction gives the detailed information about the presence of obstruction, location, and causes and is a highly specific and sensitive method.
To evaluate the results of 18F-FDG PET/MRI in relation to the histopathologic subtypes and histologic grades of mass-forming primary intrahepatic neoplasms.
We retrospectively evaluated 18F-FDG ...positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) results for 39 patients with histopathologically confirmed primary hepatic neoplasms, 15 with mass-forming intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) and 24 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) and standardized uptake value (SUV) were analyzed in relation to the histopathologic diagnosis and histologic grade, including calculating the sensitivity and specificity of the imaging findings.
The median SUV of ICC (6.0 interquartile range, 5-10) was significantly higher than that of HCC (4.0 2.62-6.50) (p = 0.002). An area under the curve (AUC) of 0.79 (95% confidence interval 0.649-0.932) had a sensitivity of 86.7% and a specificity of 67% at the best cut-off SUV of 4.41 to differentiate between ICC and HCC. ADC values did not differ significantly between HCCs and ICCs (p = 0.283). Both SUV and ADC values differed significantly between low-grade (well- and moderately differentiated) and high-grade (poorly differentiated) HCCs. Combining ADC and SUV further improved differentiation of low- from high-grade HCCs to a significant level (0.929). The SUV did not differ significantly between ICC histologic grades (p = 0.280), while the ADC differed significantly only between well and poorly differentiated ICCs (p = 0.004).
Assessing primary hepatic neoplasms with 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET/MRI may help to predict tumor grade and differentiate between types of intrahepatic neoplasms.
Objective: To compare the diagnostic ability and time efficiency of contrast-enhanced (CE) whole body fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI) ...protocol and non-CE (NCE) protocol. Subjects and Methods: Ninety-three patients with known primary tumors underwent whole-body hybrid FDG PET/MRI during the follow-up of their malignancies with the use of NCE and CE protocols. The NCE PET/MRI protocol consisted of diffusion-weighted (b = 0 and 800 s/mm 2 ) and T1-weighted Turbo Flash in the axial plane and T2-weighted HASTE sequence in the coronal planes (Σ = 25 min). The CE PET/MRI protocol was performed by acquiring axial serial CE 3D FS VIBE images in the upper abdomen, completing the whole body in the late phase in the axial plane (Σ = 30 min). Results: There was a statistically significant difference between the total number of lesions detected by the CE protocol (median 2, interquartile range (IQR) 0–14) and that detected by the NCE protocol (median 1, IQR 0–5; p < 0.001). More malignancies were detected in the abdomen (p < 0.001) and brain (p < 0.001) with the CE PET/MRI protocol, whereas no significant difference was present when comparing the 2 protocols in the detection of malignancies in the head and neck (p = 0.356), thorax (p = 0.09), lymph nodes (p = 0.196), and bone (p = 0.414). Conclusion: The CE FDG PET/MRI protocol enables fast and accurate detection of malignancies compared to the NCE FDG PET/MRI protocol, particularly in the upper abdomen and brain. Diagnostic ability and time efficiency can be increased with the proposed short CE protocol in place of the whole body PET/MRI protocol including both NCE and CE imaging sequences.
To retrospectively determine the sensitivity and specificity of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for differentiation between acute and chronic cholecystitis, with histopathologic analysis as the ...reference standard.
Institutional review board approval with waived informed consent was obtained for this HIPAA-compliant study. Four reviewers blinded to the cholecystitis type but aware that cholecystitis was present retrospectively evaluated MR images for predetermined findings in 32 patients (15 male, 17 female; mean age +/- standard deviation, 55 years +/- 20) with histopathologically proved acute or chronic cholecystitis. The final MR diagnoses and MR findings in both groups were compared with each other and with the histopathologic diagnoses to determine the sensitivity and specificity of MR imaging. Chi(2) tests were used to detect differences in MR findings between the acute and chronic cholecystitis groups.
MR imaging sensitivity and specificity for detection of acute cholecystitis were 95% (18 of 19 patients) and 69% (nine of 13 patients), respectively. The sensitivities of increased gallbladder wall enhancement and increased transient pericholecystic hepatic enhancement were 74% (14 of 19 patients) and 62% (10 of 16 patients), respectively. Both findings had 92% (12 of 13 patients) specificity. Sensitivities of increased wall thickness, pericholecystic fluid, and adjacent fat signal intensity changes were 100% (19 of 19 patients), 95% (18 of 19 patients), and 95% (18 of 19 patients), respectively; specificities were 54% (seven of 13 patients), 38% (five of 13 patients), and 54% (seven of 13 patients), respectively. Pericholecystic abscess, intraluminal membranes, and wall irregularity or defect each had 100% (13 of 13 patients) specificity; sensitivities were 11% (two of 19 patients), 26% (five of 19 patients), and 21% (four of 19 patients), respectively. Increased gallbladder wall enhancement (P<.001) and increased transient pericholecystic hepatic enhancement (P=.003) were the most significantly different between acute and chronic cholecystitis.
Increased gallbladder wall enhancement and increased transient pericholecystic hepatic enhancement had the highest combination of sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis and differentiation of acute and chronic cholecystitis.
Pancreatic endometriosis is extremely rare with only 14 cases reported in the medical literature and its diagnosis on radiological imaging poses a great challenge. We report a case of a 31-year-old ...female patient with recurrent admissions for pancreatitis of unknown aetiology and no relevant previous medical history. Sectional imaging showed a cystic lesion in the tail of the pancreas and the diagnosis of a post-pancreatitis pseudocyst or a less likely pre-malignant mucinous cystadenoma was considered. On post-robotic resection of the pancreatic cyst, the histopathology analysis was positive for endometrial stroma. Pancreatic endometriosis although rare should be considered as a differential diagnosis for cystic lesions especially in patients who are known to have pelvic endometriosis. Nevertheless, the gold standard for the definite diagnosis of pancreatic endometriosis remains histopathological.
The purpose of this study is to review the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of benign and metastatic abdominal lymph nodes on diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI).
Twenty-eight patients with a ...total of 40 benign (20 patients) and 16 malignant (8 patients) lymph nodes who underwent DWI MRI of the abdomen (b = 0.600) were enrolled in the study. ADC values of the lymph nodes were measured and comparison was made between benign and malignant groups.
Mean ADC value of lymph nodes was 2.38 +/- 0.29 and 1.84 +/- 0.37 x 10(-3) mm(2)/sec in the benign and malignant groups, respectively. There was a significant statistical difference between the ADC values of benign and malignant lymph nodes (P < .0005).
A wide range of ADC values exist in patients with metastatic abdominal lymph nodes, with a tendency of higher ADC values in benign lymph nodes.