Pneumoconiosis ranks first among the newly-emerged occupational diseases reported annually in China, and imaging diagnosis is still one of the main clinical diagnostic methods. However, manual reading of films requires high level of doctors, and it is difficult to discriminate the staged diagnosis of pneumoconiosis imaging, and due to the influence of uneven distribution of medical resources and other factors, it is easy to lead to misdiagnosis and omission of diagnosis in primary healthcare institutions. Computer-aided diagnosis system can realize rapid screening of pneumoconiosis in order to assist clinicians in identification and diagnosis, and improve diagnostic efficacy. As an important branch of deep learning, convolutional neural network (CNN) is good at dealing with various visual tasks such as image segmentation, image classification, target detection and so on because of its characteristics of local association and weight sharing, and has been widely used in the field of computer-aided diagnosis of pneumoconiosis in recent years. This paper was categorized into three parts according to the main applications of CNNs (VGG, U-Net, ResNet, DenseNet, CheXNet, Inception-V3, and ShuffleNet) in the imaging diagnosis of pneumoconiosis, including CNNs in pneumoconiosis screening diagnosis, CNNs in staging diagnosis of pneumoconiosis, and CNNs in segmentation of pneumoconiosis foci to conduct a literature review. It aims to summarize the methods, advantages and disadvantages, and optimization ideas of CNN applied to the images of pneumoconiosis, and to provide a reference for the research direction of further development of computer-aided diagnosis of pneumoconiosis.
Objective To clarify the thin-layer 16-slice spiral CT features of coal worker’s pneumoconiosis and the superior distribution of comorbidities in their staging and lobes and lung field anatomy. Methods Sixty-six patients with coal worker's pneumoconiosis diagnosed by the pneumoconiosis diagnosis and identification group from October 2014 to March 2015 were enrolled. All patients underwent 16-slice spiral CT and thin-layer CT reconstruction with a thickness of 1.5 mm. The thin-slice CT signs and comorbidities of coal workers’ pneumoconiosis were observed, and the superior distribution of CT signs in patients at different stage and different lobes and lung field anatomy were evaluated. Results There were 16 cases of irregular small nodules in the lungs, 22 cases of large shadow fusion, 18 cases of intraocular shadow calcification, 41 cases of emphysema, 21 cases of pulmonary bullae, 21 cases of pulmonary hypertension, and 31 cases of enlarged lymph nodes in the mediastinum and calcified. The above signs were mostly distributed in stage Ⅲ pneumoconiosis (P<0.05). There were 32 cases of regular small nodules, which were mostly distributed in stage Ⅰ pneumoconiosis. In the 16 cases of irregular small nodules, the advantage was distributed in the middle and outer lobes of the double lungs. In the 22 cases of large shadow fusion, the advantage was distributed in the upper and lower lobe of the lungs. In the 16 cases of tuberculosis, the advantage was distributed in the upper lobe of the lungs. In the 21 cases of bullous bullae, the advantage was distributed in the upper lobe of the two lungs, mostly in the right upper lung. Conclusion The thin 16-slice spiral CT signs of coal worker’s pneumoconiosis can reflect the pathological changes, and have a certain correlation with the stage of pneumoconiosis, and have obvious characteristics in the anatomical distribution of lung and lung fields.
Objective To investigate the current development status of chest wall surgery at all levels of hospitals in Sichuan Province, as well as to provide evidence for the promotion of chest wall surgery. Methods We conducted a questionnaire study to investigate chest wall surgery at all levels of hospitals in Sichuan Province and to collect suggestions for chest wall surgery development from thoracic surgeons attending the meeting of the Sichuan International Medical Exchange & Promotion Association from September 2021 to January 2022. Results A total of 128 questionnaires were issued, with 97 (75.8%) of them being valid. According to the survey results, hospitals with grade A secondary or higher in Sichuan Province performed chest wall surgery. Chest wall surgery accounted for 14.3% of thoracic surgery, with 70.4% being chest wall trauma surgeries, 11.6% being chest wall tumor surgeries, 10.5% being chest wall infection surgeries, and 7.5% being chest wall deformity surgeries. Chest wall surgery accounted for 9.3% of thoracic surgery in the grade A tertiary hospitals, primarily for chest wall trauma and tumor; 23.1% in grade B tertiary hospitals, primarily for chest wall trauma and tumor; and 50.7% in grade A secondary hospitals, primarily for chest wall trauma and infection. Totally 96.9% of hospitals supported the establishment of a subspecialty in chest wall surgery. Suggestions for advancing chest wall surgery included: enhancing communication and cooperation (e.g. holding academic conferences, training courses), the establishment of the chest wall surgery association or consortium, and the formulation of regulations and guidelines or consensus, etc. Conclusion Chest wall surgery has been performed at all levels of hospitals in Sichuan Province. The relevant guidelines can be made based on the related academic associations, thus boosting the development of chest wall surgery in the future.
Objective To analyze the perioperative outcomes of uniportal thoracoscopic lobectomy compared with three-port thoracoscopic lobectomy. Methods Data were extracted from the Western China Lung Cancer Database, a prospectively maintained database at the Department of Thoracic Surgery, West China Hospital, Sichuan University. Perioperative outcomes of the patients who underwent uniportal or three-port thoracoscopic lobectomy for lung cancer during January 2014 through April 2021 were analyzed by using propensity score matching. Altogether 5 817 lung cancer patients were enrolled who underwent thoracoscopic lobectomy (uniportal: 530 patients; three-port: 5 287 patients). After matching, 529 patients of uniportal and 1 583 patients of three-port were included. There were 529 patients with 320 males and 209 females at median age of 58 (51, 65) years in the uniportal group and 1 583 patients with 915 males and 668 females at median age of 58 (51, 65) years in the three-port group. Results Uniportal thoracoscopic lobectomy was associated with less intraoperative blood loss (20 mL vs. 30 mL, P<0.001), longer operative time (115 min vs. 105 min, P<0.001) than three-port thoracoscopic lobectomy. No significant difference was found between the two groups regarding the number of lymph node dissected, rate of conversion to thoracotomy, incidence of postoperative complication, postoperative pain score within 3 postoperative days, length of hospital stay, or hospitalization expenses. Conclusion Uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy is safe and effective, and the overall perioperative outcomes are comparable between uniportal and three-port strategies, although the two groups show differences in intraoperative blood loss.