Frontiers in oncology
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Frontiers in oncology · Jan 2019
Evaluation of Lymph Node Metastasis in Advanced Gastric Cancer Using Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Based Radiomics.
Objective: To develop and evaluate a diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI)-based radiomic nomogram for lymph node metastasis (LNM) prediction in advanced gastric cancer (AGC) patients. Overall Study: This retrospective study was conducted with 146 consecutively included pathologically confirmed AGC patients from two centers. All patients underwent preoperative 3.0 T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination. ⋯ Meanwhile, the specificity, sensitivity, and accuracy were 0.846, 0.853, and 0.851 in internal validation cohort, and 0.714, 0.952, and 0.893 in external validation cohort, compensating for the MRI-reported N staging and MRI-derived model. DCA demonstrated good clinical use of radiomic nomogram. Conclusions: This study put forward a DWI-based radiomic nomogram incorporating the radiomic signature, minimum ADC, and MRI-reported N staging for individualized preoperative detection of LNM in patients with AGC.
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Frontiers in oncology · Jan 2019
Radiomics Analysis of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging for the Prediction of Sentinel Lymph Node Metastasis in Breast Cancer.
Purpose: To investigate whether a combination of radiomics and automatic machine learning applied to dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI) of primary breast cancer can non-invasively predict axillary sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis. Methods: 62 patients who received a DCE-MRI breast scan were enrolled. Tumor resection and sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy were performed within 1 week after the DCE-MRI examination. ⋯ In the validation set, with respect to the accuracy and MSE, the SVM demonstrated the highest performance, with an accuracy, AUC, sensitivity (for positive SLN), specificity (for positive SLN) and Mean Squared Error (MSE) of 0.85, 0.83, 0.71, 1, 0.26, respectively. Conclusions: We demonstrated the feasibility of combining artificial intelligence and radiomics from DCE-MRI of primary tumors to predict axillary SLN metastasis in breast cancer. This non-invasive approach could be very promising in application.
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Frontiers in oncology · Jan 2019
The Impact of Formal Mentorship Programs on Mentorship Experience Among Radiation Oncology Residents From the Northeast.
Purpose: Strong mentorship has been shown to improve mentee productivity, clinical skills, medical knowledge, and career preparation. We conducted a survey to evaluate resident satisfaction with mentorship within their radiation oncology residency programs. Methods and Materials: In January 2019, 126 radiation oncology residents training at programs in the northeastern United States were asked to anonymously complete the validated Munich Evaluation of Mentoring Questionnaire (MEMeQ). ⋯ Overall, 38% of residents were either satisfied/very satisfied with their mentoring experience, while 49% of residents were unsatisfied/very unsatisfied. Conclusion: Residents participating in a formal mentorship program are significantly more likely to be satisfied with their mentoring experience than those who are not. Our results suggest that radiation oncology residency programs should strongly consider implementing formal mentorship programs.
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Frontiers in oncology · Jan 2019
Combination of Intravesical Bacille Calmette-Guérin and Chemotherapy vs. Bacille Calmette-Guérin Alone in Non-muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer: A Meta-Analysis.
Background: About 75% of newly diagnosed bladder cancer cases suffer from non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC), which used to recur and progress despite transurethral resection of bladder tumor (TURBT). This meta-analysis was conducted to examine if combined application of intravesical bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) with chemotherapy is associated with better prognosis. Methods: Systematic searches of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) concerning NMIBC were performed in PubMed, EMbase, CENTRAL, CNKI, WanFang, VIP, CBM databases, and some specialized websites. ⋯ The rate of fever (RR = 0.50, 95%CI: 0.27-0.91, P = 0.02), irritative bladder symptoms (RR = 0.69, 95%CI: 0.52-0.90, P = 0.007) and hematuria (RR = 0.50, 95%CI: 0.28-0.89, P = 0.02) were significantly decreased in patients treated with combination therapy compared to those with BCG alone. There were no statistically significant differences between combination therapy and BCG alone in toxicity (RR = 0.69, 95%CI: 0.34-1.40, P = 0.30), gastrointestinal reaction (RR = 2.54, 95%CI: 0.61-10.60, P = 0.20) or cystitis (RR = 0.67, 95%CI: 0.29-1.54, P = 0.34). Conclusions: Combined application of intravesical BCG and chemotherapy appears to be an effective treatment for patients with intermediate- to high-risk NMIBC, but not for those with tumor in situ alone or recurrent bladder cancer.
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Frontiers in oncology · Jan 2019
Differentiation of Small Hepatocellular Carcinoma From Dysplastic Nodules in Cirrhotic Liver: Texture Analysis Based on MRI Improved Performance in Comparison Over Gadoxetic Acid-Enhanced MR and Diffusion-Weighted Imaging.
Background: Accurate characterization of small (3 cm) hepatocellular carcinoma (sHCC) and dysplastic nodules (DNs) in cirrhotic liver is challenging. We aimed to investigate whether texture analysis (TA) based on T2-weighted images (T2WI) is superior to qualitative diagnosis using gadoxetic acid-enhanced MR imaging (Gd-EOB-MRI) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) for distinguishing sHCC from DNs in cirrhosis. Materials and methods: Sixty-eight patients with 73 liver nodules (46 HCCs, 27 DNs) pathologically confirmed by operation were included. ⋯ The specificity of TA (92.6%) was significantly higher than that of the combined set (P < 0.001), but no significant difference was observed in sensitivity (97.8 vs. 95.6%, P = 0.559). Conclusion: TA-based T2WI showed a better classification performance than that of qualitative diagnosis using Gd-EOB-MRI and DW imaging in differentiation of sHCCs from DNs in cirrhotic liver. TA-based MRI may become a potential imaging biomarker for the early differentiation HCCs from DNs in cirrhosis.