Multi-factorial considerations for intra-thoracic lymph node evaluations of healthy cats on computed tomographic images

Abstract Background It is difficult to examine mild to moderate feline intra-thoracic lymphadenopathy via and thoracic radiography. Despite previous information from computed tomographic (CT) images of intra-thoracic lymph nodes, some factors from animals and CT setting were less elucidated. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effect of internal factors from animals and external factors from the CT procedure on the feasibility to detect the intra-thoracic lymph nodes. Twenty-four, client-owned, clinically healthy cats were categorized into three groups according to age. They underwent pre- and post-contrast enhanced CT for whole thorax followed by inter-group evaluation and comparison of sternal, cranial mediastinal, and tracheobronchial lymph nodes. Results Post contrast-enhanced CT appearances revealed that intra-thoracic lymph nodes of kittens were invisible, whereas the sternal, cranial mediastinal, and tracheobronchial nodes of cats aged over 7 months old were detected (6/24, 9/24 and 7/24, respectively). Maximum width of these lymph nodes were 3.93 ± 0.74 mm, 4.02 ± 0.65 mm, and 3.51 ± 0.62 mm, respectively. By age, lymph node sizes of these cats were not significantly different. Transverse lymph node width of males was larger than that of females (P = 0.0425). Besides, the detection score of lymph nodes was affected by slice thickness (P < 0.01) and lymph node width (P = 0.0049). Furthermore, an irregular, soft tissue structure, possibly the thymus, was detected in all juvenile cats and three mature cats. Conclusions Despite additional information on intra-thoracic lymph nodes in CT images, which can be used to investigate lymphatic-related abnormalities, age, sex, and slice thickness of CT images must be also considered.

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Computer-aided abdominal lymph node detection using contrast-enhanced CT images

10.1117/12.878252 ◽

2011 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Jiamin Liu ◽

Jeremy Hua ◽

Jianhua Yao ◽

Jacob M. White ◽

Ronald M. Summers

Keyword(s):

Lymph Node ◽

Ct Images ◽

Abdominal Lymph Node ◽

Contrast Enhanced Ct ◽

Contrast Enhanced ◽

Enhanced Ct ◽

Computer Aided

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Detection of Lymph Nodes using CNN from Contrast-Enhanced CT Images

2020 9th International Congress on Advanced Applied Informatics (IIAI-AAI) ◽

10.1109/iiai-aai50415.2020.00100 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Tatsuki Ono ◽

Yuji Iwahori ◽

Hiroyasu Usami ◽

Boonserm Kijsirikul ◽

M. K. Bhuyan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lymph Nodes ◽

Ct Images ◽

Contrast Enhanced Ct ◽

Contrast Enhanced ◽

Enhanced Ct

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IMAGING CHARACTERISTIS OF MDCT IN NASOPHARYNGEAL CARCINOMA

Journal of Medicine and Pharmacy ◽

10.34071/jmp.2014.4_5.22 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 159-167

Author(s):

Huu Thuan Ngo ◽

Minh Loi Hoang ◽

Van Dinh Nguyen ◽

Dinh Duyen Nguyen

Keyword(s):

Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma ◽

Lymph Nodes ◽

Lateral Wall ◽

Cross Sectional Study ◽

Slice Thickness ◽

Cross Sectional ◽

Lymph Nodes Metastasis ◽

Contrast Enhanced Ct ◽

Contrast Enhanced ◽

Key Words Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma

Objectives: Imaging characteristis of MDCT in nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Subject and methods: Cross- sectional study in 51patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma by MDCT at Danang Cancer Hospital from January 2013 to July 2014. Results: The findings reveal that the tumor in lateral wall (66.7%), diameter > 2cm (64.7%), hypodensity (98%), contrast- enhanced CT (62.7%). Blunting of fossa of Rosenmuller (96.1%), invasion of parapharyngeal space (62.7%), destruction of pterygoid bone (19.6%), invasion of skull base (17.6%), destruction of sphenoid bone (9.8%). Lymph nodes metastasis (96.1%), diameter (> 1- 3cm) is 58.8%. T-staging by CT showed T1 (35.3%), T2 (37.3%), T3 (17.6%) and T4 (9.8%). N- staging by CT showed N2 (66.7%), N3a- N3b (19.6%). Staging of Nasopharyngeal carcinoma: stage II-III (60.8%), stage IVA-IVB (23.5%) and stage IVC (11.8%). Conclusions: MDCT with a thinner slice thickness and high quality images is able to detect lymph nodes metastasis with small size and those in deep neck area and assess comprehensively the invasion of the tumor. Key words: Nasopharyngeal carcinoma, MDCT

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CT diagnosis of ilioinguinal lymph node metastases in melanoma using radiological characteristics beyond size and asymmetry

BJS Open ◽

10.1093/bjsopen/zraa005 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

Author(s):

M J Wilkinson ◽

H Snow ◽

K Downey ◽

K Thomas ◽

A Riddell ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Lymph Node ◽

Diagnostic Accuracy ◽

Multivariable Analysis ◽

Ct Scans ◽

Non Invasive ◽

Poor Predictor ◽

Contrast Enhanced Ct ◽

Contrast Enhanced ◽

Enhanced Ct ◽

Node Metastases

Abstract Background Diagnosis of lymph node (LN) metastasis in melanoma with non-invasive methods is challenging. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of six LN characteristics on CT in detecting melanoma-positive ilioinguinal LN metastases, and to determine whether inguinal LN characteristics can predict pelvic LN involvement. Methods This was a single-centre retrospective study of patients with melanoma LN metastases at a tertiary cancer centre between 2008 and 2016. Patients who had preoperative contrast-enhanced CT assessment and ilioinguinal LN dissection were included. CT scans containing significant artefacts obscuring the pelvis were excluded. CT scans were reanalysed for six LN characteristics (extracapsular spread (ECS), minimum axis (MA), absence of fatty hilum (FH), asymmetrical cortical nodule (CAN), abnormal contrast enhancement (ACE) and rounded morphology (RM)) and compared with postoperative histopathological findings. Results A total of 90 patients were included. Median age was 58 (range 23–85) years. Eighty-eight patients (98 per cent) had pathology-positive inguinal disease and, of these, 45 (51 per cent) had concurrent pelvic disease. The most common CT characteristics found in pathology-positive inguinal LNs were MA greater than 10 mm (97 per cent), ACE (80 per cent), ECS (38 per cent) and absence of RM (38 per cent). In multivariable analysis, inguinal LN characteristics on CT indicative of pelvic disease were RM (odds ratio (OR) 3.3, 95 per cent c.i. 1.2 to 8.7) and ECS (OR 4.2, 1.6 to 11.3). Cloquet’s node is known to be a poor predictor of pelvic spread. Pelvic LN disease was present in 50 per cent patients, but only 7 per cent had a pathology-positive Cloquet’s node. Conclusion Additional CT radiological characteristics, especially ECS and RM, may improve diagnostic accuracy and aid clinical decisions regarding the need for inguinal or ilioinguinal dissection.

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Value of contrast-enhanced CT texture analysis in predicting IDH mutation status of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma

Scientific Reports ◽

10.1038/s41598-021-86497-4 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Yong Zhu ◽

Yingfan Mao ◽

Jun Chen ◽

Yudong Qiu ◽

Yue Guan ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Texture Analysis ◽

Ct Images ◽

Textural Features ◽

Mutation Status ◽

Portal Venous Phase ◽

Contrast Enhanced Ct ◽

Contrast Enhanced ◽

Enhanced Ct ◽

Venous Phase ◽

Ct Texture Analysis

AbstractTo explore the value of contrast-enhanced CT texture analysis in predicting isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH) mutation status of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinomas (ICCs). Institutional review board approved this study. Contrast-enhanced CT images of 138 ICC patients (21 with IDH mutation and 117 without IDH mutation) were retrospectively reviewed. Texture analysis was performed for each lesion and compared between ICCs with and without IDH mutation. All textural features in each phase and combinations of textural features (p < 0.05) by Mann–Whitney U tests were separately used to train multiple support vector machine (SVM) classifiers. The classification generalizability and performance were evaluated using a tenfold cross-validation scheme. Among plain, arterial phase (AP), portal venous phase (VP), equilibrium phase (EP) and Sig classifiers, VP classifier showed the highest accuracy of 0.863 (sensitivity, 0.727; specificity, 0.885), with a mean area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.813 in predicting IDH mutation in validation cohort. Texture features of CT images in portal venous phase could predict IDH mutation status of ICCs with SVM classifier preoperatively.

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Liver fibrosis staging by deep learning: a visual-based explanation of diagnostic decisions of the model

European Radiology ◽

10.1007/s00330-021-08046-x ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Yunchao Yin ◽

Derya Yakar ◽

Rudi A. J. O. Dierckx ◽

Kim B. Mouridsen ◽

Thomas C. Kwee ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Deep Learning ◽

Liver Fibrosis ◽

Liver Parenchyma ◽

Ct Images ◽

Fibrosis Stage ◽

Contrast Enhanced Ct ◽

Contrast Enhanced ◽

Enhanced Ct ◽

Liver Surface ◽

Fibrosis Staging

Abstract Objectives Deep learning has been proven to be able to stage liver fibrosis based on contrast-enhanced CT images. However, until now, the algorithm is used as a black box and lacks transparency. This study aimed to provide a visual-based explanation of the diagnostic decisions made by deep learning. Methods The liver fibrosis staging network (LFS network) was developed at contrast-enhanced CT images in the portal venous phase in 252 patients with histologically proven liver fibrosis stage. To give a visual explanation of the diagnostic decisions made by the LFS network, Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping (Grad-cam) was used to produce location maps indicating where the LFS network focuses on when predicting liver fibrosis stage. Results The LFS network had areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.92, 0.89, and 0.88 for staging significant fibrosis (F2–F4), advanced fibrosis (F3–F4), and cirrhosis (F4), respectively, on the test set. The location maps indicated that the LFS network had more focus on the liver surface in patients without liver fibrosis (F0), while it focused more on the parenchyma of the liver and spleen in case of cirrhosis (F4). Conclusions Deep learning methods are able to exploit CT-based information from the liver surface, liver parenchyma, and extrahepatic information to predict liver fibrosis stage. Therefore, we suggest using the entire upper abdomen on CT images when developing deep learning–based liver fibrosis staging algorithms. Key Points • Deep learning algorithms can stage liver fibrosis using contrast-enhanced CT images, but the algorithm is still used as a black box and lacks transparency. • Location maps produced by Gradient-weighted Class Activation Mapping can indicate the focus of the liver fibrosis staging network. • Deep learning methods use CT-based information from the liver surface, liver parenchyma, and extrahepatic information to predict liver fibrosis stage.

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