scholarly journals Qualitative and Quantitative Diagnosis in Head and Neck Cancer

Diagnostics ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 1526
Author(s):  
Fernando López ◽  
Antti Mäkitie ◽  
Remco de Bree ◽  
Alessandro Franchi ◽  
Pim de Graaf ◽  
...  

The diagnosis is the art of determining the nature of a disease, and an accurate diagnosis is the true cornerstone on which rational treatment should be built. Within the workflow in the management of head and neck tumours, there are different types of diagnosis. The purpose of this work is to point out the differences and the aims of the different types of diagnoses and to highlight their importance in the management of patients with head and neck tumours. Qualitative diagnosis is performed by a pathologist and is essential in determining the management and can provide guidance on prognosis. The evolution of immunohistochemistry and molecular biology techniques has made it possible to obtain more precise diagnoses and to identify prognostic markers and precision factors. Quantitative diagnosis is made by the radiologist and consists of identifying a mass lesion and the estimation of the tumour volume and extent using imaging techniques, such as CT, MRI, and PET. The distinction between the two types of diagnosis is clear, as the methodology is different. The accurate establishment of both diagnoses plays an essential role in treatment planning. Getting the right diagnosis is a key aspect of health care, and it provides an explanation of a patient’s health problem and informs subsequent decision. Deep learning and radiomics approaches hold promise for improving diagnosis.

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-200
Author(s):  
Marco Antonio Loschiavo Leme de Barros ◽  
Gabriel Calil Pinheiro

Resumo: Neste texto discute-se a proteção ampliativa conferida aos direitos fundamentais pelo Judiciário brasileiro. Para tanto, são apresentados em primeiro lugar dois referenciais teóricos que permitem estudar esse tipo de proteção: a teoria dos direitos fundamentais de Robert Alexy e a tese do diálogo institucional. Ambos referenciais reforçam a importância do papel da deliberação no processo de tomada de decisão e articulação entre os poderes. Após essa compreensão, discute-se o caso do reconhecimento judicial do direito fundamental funerário por meio das decisões. O estudo foi desenvolvido a partir do exame quantitativo e qualitativo de julgados proferidos pelo Tribunal de Justiça de São Paulo. Constatação alcançada em relação à temática foi que juízes adotam diferentes tipos de argumentos para justificar a existência ou não do direito fundamental funerário na solução dos litígios. Em alguns casos juízes não se preocupam em estabelecer um diálogo com as decisões passadas e sequer indicam os argumentos que justificam o reconhecimento desse direito à luz do ordenamento, ainda que recorram aos distintos modelos de interpretação do Texto Constitucional. Ao final, considerando a omissão legislativa e doutrinária sobre o tema, observa-se a ausência de clareza em relação ao tratamento do direito funerário, seja diante de problemas de deliberação entre juízes seja entre os poderes da Federação. Tal situação prejudica a coerência do discurso judicial e do próprio debate acerca do reconhecimento de um direito fundamental funerário.Palavras-chave: Direito fundamental funerário. Diálogo institucional. Juiz. Interpretação. Argumentação jurídica.Abstract: This article discusses the ampliative protection of fundamental rights carried out by the Brazilian Judiciary. First, we highlight the theoretical framework of the study, namely Robert Alexy’s theory of fundamental rights and the idea of institutional dialogue. Both references indicate the importance of deliberative procedures in decision-making and articulation among the powers. Afterwards, we discuss the case of the judicial recognition of the fundamental right to funeral through the decisions. The study was developed from the qualitative and quantitative examination of trials decreed by the São Paulo Court of Justice. We argue that judges adopt different types of arguments to justify the existence or not of the fundamental right to funeral. In some cases, judges do not care about stablishing a dialogue with past decisions, neither to indicate the motifs for this recognition even though they adopt different models of legal reasoning. Finally, considering the Brazilian legislative and legal doctrine omission on this matter, it is observed the lack of transparency in relation to the treatment of the right to funeral, both before problems of deliberation among judges or among the powers of the Federation.  This situation compromises the coherence of judicial decisions and the debate about the recognition of a fundamental right to funeral.Keywords: Fundamental right to funeral. Institutional dialogue. Judge. Interpretation. Legal reasoning.


2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 159-159
Author(s):  
V. Grégoire

The ultimate goal of any radiotherapy is to eradicate the disease without inflicting damage on the normal tissues surrounding the tumours, which could be responsible for late treatment morbidity. To achieve this objective, the first step is to precisely select and delineate the target volumes to which a given dose will be prescribed. This step requires the use of multi-modal images from clinical examination to anatomical and molecular images. Imaging examination will be used not only to delineate the boundaries of the tumour volume, but also to assess tumour heterogeneity and, possibly, to guide a heterogeneous dose prescription (i.e. the so-called ‘dose painting’ approach). Last, re-imaging the patient during treatment to assess variation of the tumour volume during radiotherapy may also be performed in the framework of adaptive treatment. Over the last decade, a lot of information has been gathered on the use of multi-modal imaging for dose planning, and its potential and technical difficulties have been identified. During the lecture, the speaker will review the state-of-the-art of multi-imaging for treatment, using head and neck tumours as a paradigm, emphasising what should be considered as routine practice and what should still be viewed as research questions. © 2018 ICRP. Published by SAGE.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-194
Author(s):  
S. Barrett ◽  
R. Appleyard

AbstractIntroduction: PET–CT scans are commonly used for the purpose of gross tumour volume (GTV) delineation in head and neck cancers. Qualitative visual methods (QVM) are currently employed in most radiotherapy departments but these are subject to inter- and intra-observer variability. Quantitative thresholding methods which appear in the published literature are evaluated with respect to their reliability for delineation of GTVs in head and neck cancers.Discussion: Image segmentation involves the application of a distinct value to all pixels or voxels in an image dataset. This is a complex process affected by numerous variables. Some of the following segmentation thresholds may be applied to automatically delineate specified regions. Standardised uptake value (SUV) is commonly used to apply a threshold for GTV delineation, however this leads to inappropriately large GTVs. A further common quantitative threshold is based on the maximum signal on the PET image relative to the background uptake, known as signal to background ratio (SBR). This method generates GTVs that correlate well with surgically removed tumour volumes. Applying a fixed threshold of a percentage of the maximal intensity uptake is also documented in the literature but was found to be unsuitable for the purpose of head and neck GTV contouring. Systems based on the physical features of the PET-CT images are also discussed and are found to produce very promising results.Conclusion: A number of quantitative techniques are evaluated and currently the most suitable is found to be SBR, however even this method was not found to be entirely reliable. More promising techniques need further evaluation before they could be implemented clinically and a Radiation Oncologist or Nuclear Medicine Radiologist must still validate all GTVs produced by quantitative methods.


2005 ◽  
Vol 44 (S 01) ◽  
pp. S38-S40
Author(s):  
Th. Herrmann

Summary:PET/CT imaging is most likely to be of use in radiation oncology with patients who have poorly defined target volume areas, e.g. brain tumours, bronchogenic carcinoma, and cases of miscellaneous geographical miss. Other tumours that call for dose escalated radiotherapy, such as head and neck tumours, bronchogenic carcinoma, and prostate carcinomas may further benefit from an accurate delineation of the metabolically active tumour volume and its differentiation from surrounding healthy tissue, or tumour atelectasis.


Author(s):  
Elena Lytvynenko ◽  
◽  
Taisiya Kozlova ◽  

The changeable and unpredictable development of the enterprises’ external environment is one of the appearance causes of various types of business activities' risks, including logistics. The purpose of this article is to develop recommendations on improving the risk management of enterprises’ logistics activities in the context of instability. Achieving this goal requires consideration of the main stages of this process regarding the logistics activities' risks, providing advices on improving the process of risk management of logistics orientation. The article explores the process of analyzing the logistics activities' risks of the enterprise. Proceeding from the theoretical provisions of management and summarizing the practical experience of research in the field of systematic analysis of the enterprises' logistics activities risks, there are traced the organization's peculiarities of such analysis, and the main directions of its further improvement are proposed. All actions in the article, which are related to the analysis of the risk of enterprise logistics activity, are proposed to carry out in a certain sequence in the article. This sequence is given in the form of a structural scheme of systematic analysis of the risks of the enterprise logistics activities. Based on the objectivity of the existence of logistics activities' risks and the need to ensure the rational management of them, the algorithm of the risk management in the enterprise logistics system covers the stages of risks' identification, their qualitative and quantitative assessment, diagnostics, assessment of risk acceptability and application of neutralization measures to unacceptable logistical risks. It is concluded that the logistics activities risks combine different types of risks of all components and elements both in the process of changing material, financial and information flows, as well as in the process of managing the risks arising in the logistics system


Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 311
Author(s):  
Anna Granath Hansson ◽  
Peter Ekbäck ◽  
Jenny Paulsson

This paper aims to elucidate the sliding scale between usufruct and ownership by applying a property rights framework to three Swedish forms of tenure in multifamily housing. The framework deconstructs the bundles of rights of rental, tenant-ownership and ownership to highlight commonalities and differences connected to the right to use and exclude, the right to transfer and the right to the value. It is concluded that the three tenure forms have many traits in common but that there are distinct differences in some areas, most notably in connection to the right to the value. The property rights framework applied in the study may be applicable also on a general level as a method to analyze and compare tenures of different types in different countries. Further, ways to improve the framework and cover more facets of outcomes of property rights patterns are suggested.


Work ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Fabiana Foltran Mescollotto ◽  
Érica Brito Gonçalves ◽  
Ester Moreira de Castro Carletti ◽  
Ana Beatriz Oliveira ◽  
Elisa Bizetti Pelai ◽  
...  

Background: Excessive use of smartphones may be associated with behavioral and physical health changes and might cause musculoskeletal alterations in the head and neck region. Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of smartphone addiction in college students and its correlation with symptoms of head and neck pain and masticatory and trapezius muscle activity while resting, before and after smartphone use. Methods: Twenty university students participated in the study. They answered the Smartphone Addiction Scale and the Fonseca Anamnestic Index. Next, the participants were seated and prepared for electromyography through the placement of surface electrodes on the masseter, temporal, and trapezius muscles. Rest condition data were collected for 10 seconds before and after 30 minutes of smartphone use. Results: The results showed that 35% of the evaluated individuals were classified as smartphone addicted and 35% reported no head or neck pain in the previous 30 days. There was no association between smartphone use and head and neck pain. In the electromyography, there was an increase in RMS values after smartphone use in the right and left masseter muscles and the left trapezius. Conclusion: College students presented a high prevalence of smartphone addiction and head and neck pain, but these were not statistically associated. There was a change in muscle activity only in the right trapezius muscles before and after 30 minutes of smartphone use. These findings are contrary to the current belief that the use of smartphones correlates with pain in the neck region and changes in the electrical muscle activity, leading to fatigue in the cervical muscles.


Molecules ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 26 (13) ◽  
pp. 3874
Author(s):  
Dominika Veselinyová ◽  
Jana Mašlanková ◽  
Katarina Kalinová ◽  
Helena Mičková ◽  
Mária Mareková ◽  
...  

We are experiencing rapid progress in all types of imaging techniques used in the detection of various numbers and types of mutation. In situ hybridization (ISH) is the primary technique for the discovery of mutation agents, which are presented in a variety of cells. The ability of DNA to complementary bind is one of the main principles in every method used in ISH. From the first use of in situ techniques, scientists paid attention to the improvement of the probe design and detection, to enhance the fluorescent signal intensity and inhibition of cross-hybrid presence. This article discusses the individual types and modifications, and is focused on explaining the principles and limitations of ISH division on different types of probes. The article describes a design of probes for individual types of in situ hybridization (ISH), as well as the gradual combination of several laboratory procedures to achieve the highest possible sensitivity and to prevent undesirable events accompanying hybridization. The article also informs about applications of the methodology, in practice and in research, to detect cell to cell communication and principles of gene silencing, process of oncogenesis, and many other unknown processes taking place in organisms at the DNA/RNA level.


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