Objective To review study of various imaging examination methods for evaluating of gastric cancer. Method The recent and relevant literatures about the imaging examination methods for evaluating of gastric cancer were scrutinized and analyzed retrospectively. Results The imaging examination methods such as the barium meal, endoscopic ultrasonography, computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging, positron emission tomography-CT, were used to evaluate the gastric cancer, but with certain limitations. The new methods such as the dual-energy CT, radiomics, and so on, had become the focus of the clinical research. The imaging methods are of great significances in the evaluation of the gastric cancer before the surgery, peritoneal metastasis, chemoradiotherapy and neoadjuvant chemotherapy later. Conclusions Various imaging examination methods, used in evaluating of gastric cancer, play some important roles in clinical application. New methods such as dual-energy CT, radiomics, and so on, are with bright potentiality for clinical application.
ObjectiveTo summarize the research progress of ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide (USPIO) enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in normal-sized lymph node metastasis of colorectal cancer.MethodThe relevant literatures published recently at domestic and abroad about USPIO enhanced MRI in normal-sized lymph node metastasis of colorectal cancer were collected and reviewed.ResultsUSPIO, a kind of lymph node targeted magnetic resonance contrast agent, could be used to evaluate lymph node metastasis of malignant tumors. USPIO enhanced MRI could detect normal-sized lymph node metastasis in colorectal cancer effectively compared with normal MRI. It provided a higher diagnostic performance than normal enhanced MRI. In addition, USPIO enhanced MRI could also distinguish inflammatory and metastatic lymph nodes better that were difficult to be distinguished by normal enhanced MRI.ConclusionUSPIO enhanced MRI shows a certain potential for clinical application in detecting normal-sized lymph node metastasis of colorectal cancer, but it has not been widely used in China.
Objective We sought a good understanding of the current role of computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis of small bowel obstruction (SBO).Methods We looked for the best evidence on computed tomography for diagnosing small bowel obstruction by searching MEDLINE/PubMed (1978-April, 2006), SUMsearch (1978-April, 2006), CNKI (1978-April, 2006) and critically appraised the evidence. Results There was powerful evidence supporting the efficacy of computed tomography in the diagnosis of small bowel obstruction. Given the current evidence together with our clinical experience and considering the patient and his family members, values and preferences, computed tomography was done. We confirmed the diagnosis of strangulating small bowel obstruction, which needed immediate operation. Conclusions Computed tomography is a very useful tool for the diagnosis of small bowel obstruction with high sensibility and specificity.
To analyze the CT features of solid pseudopapillary tumor of pancreas (SPTP), and correlation with the pathological findings of the disease so as to improve the diagnostic abilities, the CT images and the clinical manifestations, we retrospectively analyzed the pathological materials of 23 cases with surgery and pathology proved SPTP. In the 23 patients, 21 cases were female (91.3%) and 2 were male (8.7%). The most common symptom was abdominal discomfort with dull pain in 12 patients (52.2%). Others included the pancreatic mass that was detected incidentally during physical examination in 9 patients (39.1%), nausea/vomiting in 2 patients (8.7%). And 1 case of female patients had 2 lesions. In the 24 tumors, 6 cases were located at the head (25.0%), 3 were at neck (12.5%), 8 cases were at body (33.3%), and 7 cases were at tail of pancreas respectively (29.2%). The long-axis diameter ranged from 2.1cm to 20.1cm (mean 6.4cm). 9 tumors were mostly solid component (37.5%), 10 tumors were contained similar proportion of solid and cystic part (41.7%), and mainly cystic components in 5 tumors (20.8%). In 9 of the 23 patients, calcification was found in the tumor (39.1%). In 2 of the 23 patients, bleeding was seen in the mass (8.7%). The dilation of intrahepatic bile duct was found in 1 patient (8.7%). Liver metastasis was showed in one patient (8.7%). On post-contrast CT scan, solid parts demonstrated mild enhancement at the arterial phase. At the portal phase, solid parts were enhanced continuously in all cases, and the enhancement degrees were lower than normal pancreatic tissue. The cystic parts of all lesions showed no enhancement. Pseudo papillary structure, hemorrhage, necrosis, or cystic degeneration were found in all patients by histological study. In a word, SPTP has comparatively characteristic CT imaging features consistent with histological features, when combined with clinical manifestations, could be correctly diagnosed and differentially diagnosed.
Objective To evaluate the imaging features of hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEHE). Methods The imaging data of 15 patients with HEHE proved by surgery and pathology who reeived treatment in West China Hospital from Jul. 2012 to Aug. 2018, were retrospectively analyzed. The location, boundary, density/signal, and enhanced features of tumor were observed. Results Among 15 cases, there were 3 cases of single, 5 cases of multiple, and 6 cases of fusion. Thirteen cases were distributed under the capsular of liver, accompanied by the capsule retraction sign, 14 cases had lollipop sign, 7 cases had core pattern sign. On plain CT images, the lesions manifested as low density. On plain MR images, the lesions had hypointense on T1-weighted images and hyperintense on T2-weighted images. The enhanced scanning could be characterized by mild enhancement, rim-like enhancement at early phase, and progressive centripetal fill-in enhancement during dynamic phase imaging. Conclusions CT and MRI imagings of HEHE are different, and there are certain characteristics of capsule retraction sign, lollipop sign, and core pattern sign.
Objective To determine feasibility of texture analysis of CT images for the discrimination of hepatic epithelioid hemangioendothelioma (HEHE) and liver metastases of colon cancer. Methods CT images of 9 patients with 19 pathologically proved HEHEs and 18 patients with 38 liver metastases of colon cancer who received treatment in West China Hospital of Sichuan University from July 2012 to August 2016 were retrospectively analyzed. Results Thirty best texture parameters were automatically selected by the combination of Fisher coefficient (Fisher)+classification error probability combined with average correlation coefficients (PA)+mutual information (MI). The 30 texture parameters of arterial phase (AP) CT images were distributed in co-occurrence matrix (22 parameters), run-length matrix (1 parameter), histogram (4 parameters), gradient (1 parameter), and autoregressive model (2 parameters). The distribution of parameters in portal venous phase (PVP) were co-occurrence matrix (18 parameters), run-length matrix (2 parameters), histogram (7 parameters), gradient (2 parameters), and autoregressive model (1 parameter). In AP, the misclassification rates of raw data analysis (RDA)/K nearest neighbor classification (KNN), principal component analysis (PCA)/KNN, linear discriminant analysis (LDA)/KNN, and nonlinear discriminant analysis, and nonlinear discriminant analysis (NDA)/artificial neural network (ANN) was 38.60% (22/57), 42.11% (24/57), 8.77% (5/57), and 7.02% (4/57), respectively. In PVP, the misclassification rates of RDA/KNN, PCA/KNN, LDA/KNN, and NDA/ANN was 26.32% (15/57), 28.07% (16/57), 15.79% (9/57), and 10.53% (6/57), respectively. The misclassification rates of AP and PVP images had no statistical significance on the misclassification rates of RDA/KNN, PCA/KNN, LDA/KNN, and NDA/ANN between AP and PVP (P>0.05). Conclusion The texture analysis of CT images is feasible to identify HEHE and liver metastases of colon cancer.
This study aims to investigate the value of pre-treatment computed tomography (CT) texture analysis in predicting therapeutic response of liver metastasis from colorectal cancer after combined targeting chemotherapy. A total of 82 patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases who underwent chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy (cetuximab) between March 2011 and October 2017 comprised this retrospective study population. According to the RECIST1.1, the best curative effect evaluation of patients was recorded. Complete response (CR) and partial response (PR) were assigned to the response group, and the stable disease (SD) and progressive disease (PD) were assigned to the non-response group. The CT texture analysis was based on the Omini-Kinetics software, and the three-dimensional (3D) texture analysis was performed on the marked lesion on portal phase. The differences of texture parameters between the response group and the non-response group were compared. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were depicted on the parameters which with statistically difference, to characterize value in predicting the response to target-combined chemotherapy. The differences of Entropy, Energy, Variance, std. Deviation, Quantile95 and sumEntropy between the two groups in pre-treatment lesions were significant (P < 0.05). And lesions with higher Entropy, lower Energy, higher Variance, higher std Deviation and higher sumEntropy seemed to indicate a better therapeutic response. When sumEntropy > 0.867, good diagnostic efficiency could be obtained, with sensitivity of 60.5% and specificity of 79.5%, respectively. In conclusion, texture parameters derived from baseline CT images of colorectal cancer liver metastasis have the potential value acting as imaging biomarkers in predicting tumor response to combined target chemotherapy.