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Objectives: This study was aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of ultrasound (US) in differentiating trichilemmal cysts (TCs) from epidermoid cysts (ECs). Methods: Based on clinical and ultrasound features, a prediction model was established and validated. 164 cysts in the pilot cohort and another 69 in the validation cohort diagnosed with TCs or ECs histopathologically were evaluated. The same radiologist performed all ultrasound examinations. Results: For clinic features, TCs tended to occur in females compared with ECs (66.7 vs 28.5%; P <.001). In addition, TCs were prone to occur in the hairy area compared with ECs (77.8 vs 13.1%; P <.001). For ultrasound features, the internal hyperechogenicity and cystic change were more likely to appear in TCs in comparison with ECs (92.6 vs 25.5%; P <.001; 70.4 vs 23.4%; P <.001, respectively). Upon the features mentioned above, a prediction model was established with the areas under the receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.936 and 0.864 in the pilot and validation cohorts, respectively. Conclusions: US is promising for differentiating TCs from ECs and is valuable for their clinical management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To evaluate high‐frequency ultrasound (HFUS) features for diagnosing cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) as a spectrum of progressively advanced malignancies, including precursor actinic keratosis (AK), Bowen's disease (BD), and invasive squamous cell carcinoma (iSCC). Method: In this retrospective study, 160 skin lesions diagnosed histopathologically (54 AK, 54 BD, and 52 iSCC) in 160 patients were included. The HFUS features of AK, BD, and iSCC were analyzed. The obtained data were evaluated using univariate and forward multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: The most significant HFUS features in AK were regular surface (odds ratio [OR], 8.42) and irregular basal border (OR, 6.36). The most significant HFUS features in BD were crumpled surface (OR, 19.62) and layer involvement confined to the epidermis (OR, 3.96). The most significant HFUS features in iSCC were concave surface (OR, 27.06), stratum corneum (SC) detachment (OR, 14.41), irregular basal border (OR, 4.01), and convex surface (OR, 3.73). The characteristics of surface features, basal border, and layer involvement could be valuable HFUS clues in the discrimination of AK, BD, and iSCC. Conclusion: High‐frequency ultrasound is valuable for the differentiation of AK, BD, and iSCC, which may allow dynamic and noninvasive monitoring in the spectrum of cSCC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: To propose a diagnostic algorithm for improving the diagnosis of atypia of undetermined significance or follicular lesion of undetermined significance (AUS/FLUS) thyroid nodules. METHODS: This study retrospectively enrolled 77 consecutive patients with 81 AUS/FLUS nodules who underwent preoperative BRAFV600E mutation analysis. A new diagnostic algorithm was proposed that BRAFV600E mutation analysis for the Fine-needle aspiration cytology specimen was firstly carried out, in which positive BRAFV600E mutation indicated malignancy and classification of the nodules with negative BRAFV600E mutation was further performed based on ultrasound pattern-based risk stratification of American Thyroid Association Guidelines. The diagnostic performance of the new diagnostic algorithm was evaluated. RESULTS: The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, accuracy, and area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of new diagnostic algorithm were 94.6%, 84.0%, 91.4%, 86.9%, 90.1%, and 0.893, respectively. The proposed diagnostic algorithm significantly increased the diagnostic performances (AUROC: 0.893 vs. 0.837 and 0.795), sensitivity (94.6% vs. 71.4% and 75.0%), and accuracy (90.1% vs. 79.0% and 77.8%) compared with BRAFV600E mutation analysis alone and ultrasound pattern-based risk stratification alone (all P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The proposed diagnostic algorithm is helpful for improving the diagnosis of AUS/FLUS nodules, which might be as a routine approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The risk stratification system of the American College of Radiology Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (ACR TI-RADS) for thyroid nodules is affected by low diagnostic specificity. Machine learning (ML) methods can optimize the diagnostic performance in medical image analysis. However, it is unknown which ML-based diagnostic pattern is more effective in improving diagnostic performance for thyroid nodules and reducing nodule biopsies. Therefore, we compared ML-assisted visual approaches and radiomics approaches with ACR TI-RADS in diagnostic performance and unnecessary fine-needle aspiration biopsy (FNAB) rate for thyroid nodules. Methods: This retrospective study evaluated a data set of ultrasound (US) and shear wave elastography (SWE) images in patients with biopsy-proven thyroid nodules (≥1 cm) from the Shanghai Tenth People's Hospital (743 nodules in 720 patients from September 2017 to January 2019) and an independent test data set from the Ma'anshan People's Hospital (106 nodules in 102 patients from February 2019 to April 2019). Six US features and five SWE parameters from the radiologists' interpretation were used for building the ML-assisted visual approaches. The radiomics features extracted from the US and SWE images were used with ML methods for developing the radiomics approaches. The diagnostic performance for differentiating thyroid nodules and the unnecessary FNAB rate of the ML-assisted visual approaches and the radiomics approaches were compared with ACR TI-RADS. Results: The ML-assisted US visual approach had the best diagnostic performance than the US radiomics approach and ACR TI-RADS (area under the curve [AUC]: 0.900 vs. 0.789 vs. 0.689 for the validation data set, 0.917 vs. 0.770 vs. 0.681 for the test data set). After adding SWE, the ML-assisted visual approach had a better diagnostic performance than US alone (AUC: 0.951 vs. 0.900 for the validation data set, 0.953 vs. 0.917 for the test data set). When applying the ML-assisted US+SWE visual approach, the unnecessary FNAB rate decreased from 30.0% to 4.5% in the validation data set and from 37.7% to 4.7% in the test data set in comparison to ACR TI-RADS. Conclusions: The ML-assisted dual modalities visual approach can assist radiologists to diagnose thyroid nodules more effectively and considerably reduce the unnecessary FNAB rate in the clinical management of thyroid nodules. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The accurate evaluation of BRAFV600E mutation in preoperative fine‐needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) specimens is important for making management decisions in thyroid nodules (TNs). The aim of this study was to assess the false‐positive and false‐negative BRAFV600E mutations in thyroid FNAC specimens and their influence on diagnosis of TN. Methods: This prospective study enrolled 292 nodules in 269 patients who underwent BRAFV600E mutation analysis using amplification refractory mutation system‐quantitative real‐time polymerase chain reaction (ARMS‐qPCR) both in FNAC specimens and formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded (FFPE) tissue samples after surgery. The false‐positive and false‐negative mutations for BRAFV600E analysis using ARMS‐qPCR in FNAC specimens were recorded, with reference to the results of BRAFV600E mutation analysis using ARMS‐qPCR in FFPE tissue sample. Diagnostic performances of FNAC, BRAFV600E mutation analysis in FNAC specimens, BRAFV600E mutation analysis in FFPE tissue sample, and the combination of FNAC and BRAFV600E mutation analysis for predicting thyroid malignancy were assessed. Results: The false‐positive and false‐negative mutations for BRAFV600E analysis using ARMS‐qPCR in FNAC specimens were 10.1% (19/189) and 7.1% (7/98), respectively. FNAC combined with preoperative BRAFV600E mutation analysis significantly increased the diagnostic sensitivity from 75.7% to 92.3%, and accuracy from 78.7% to 90.6% in comparison with FNAC alone (both P < .001). No significant differences were found between the combination of FNAC and BRAFV600E mutation analysis in FNAC specimens and the combination of FNAC and BRAFV600E mutation analysis in FFPE tissue sample (sensitivity: 92.3% vs 91.9%; accuracy: 90.6% vs 91.3%; both P > .05). Conclusions: FNAC combined with preoperative BRAFV600E mutation analysis can significantly increase the diagnostic performance in comparison with FNAC alone. False‐positive and false‐negative BRAFV600E mutation results are found in preoperative FNAC specimens, whereas it does not affect the overall auxiliary diagnosis of TNs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: With the fast development of artificial intelligence techniques, we proposed a novel two-stage multi-view learning framework for the contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) based computer-aided diagnosis for liver tumors, which adopted only three typical CEUS images selected from the arterial phase, portal venous phase and late phase. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the first stage, the deep canonical correlation analysis (DCCA) was performed on three image pairs between the arterial and portal venous phases, arterial and delayed phases, and portal venous and delayed phases respectively, which then generated total six-view features. While in the second stage, these multi-view features were then fed to a multiple kernel learning (MKL) based classifier to further promote the diagnosis result. Two MKL classification algorithms were evaluated in this MKL-based classification framework. We evaluated proposed DCCA-MKL framework on 93 lesions (47 malignant cancers vs. 46 benign tumors). RESULTS: The proposed DCCA-MKL framework achieved the mean classification accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, Youden index, false positive rate, and false negative rate of 90.41 ± 5.80%, 93.56 ± 5.90%, 86.89 ± 9.38%, 79.44 ± 11.83%, 13.11 ± 9.38% and 6.44 ± 5.90%, respectively, by soft margin MKL classifier. CONCLUSION: The experimental results indicate that the proposed DCCA-MKL framework achieves best performance for discriminating benign liver tumors from malignant liver cancers. Moreover, it is also proved that the three-phase CEUS image based CAD is feasible for liver tumors with the proposed DCCA-MKL framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives To investigate the diagnostic performance of a 2-dimensional shear wave elastographic technique (Virtual Touch tissue imaging and quantification [VTIQ]; Siemens Medical Solutions, Mountain View, CA) for predicting thyroid malignancy. Methods A total of 302 thyroid nodules underwent conventional sonography and VTIQ before fine-needle aspiration examination or surgery. Compared with histopathologic or cytologic results in combination with follow-up, the diagnostic performance of various shear wave speed (SWS) indices (minimum [SWSmin], maximum [SWSmax], and mean [SWSmean]) on VTIQ as well as conventional sonographic features for predicting thyroid malignancy was evaluated in all of the nodules. Results Sixty-five malignant and 237 benign thyroid nodules were histopathologically or cytologically confirmed. All SWS indices on VTIQ were lower in benign nodules than thyroid malignancy (all P < .001). For discrimination between malignant and benign nodules, all VTIQ SWS indices were better than conventional sonographic features, such as a solid component, a taller-than-wide shape, microcalcification, a poorly defined margin and hypoechogenicity, in predicting thyroid malignancy (all P < .05). By applying a cutoff SWSmean value of 2.60 m/s, VTIQ achieved sensitivity and negative predictive values of 84.6% and 94.3%, respectively, for differentiating nodules. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic curve of SWSmax (0.862 versus 0.717), SWSmin (0.866 versus 0.717), and SWSmean (0.891 versus 0.725) for nodules larger than 10 mm were higher than those for nodules of 10 mm or smaller (all P < .05). Interoperator and intraoperator reproducibility was proven to be excellent, with all interclass correlation coefficient values higher than 0.80 (range, 0.813-0.905) Conclusions Virtual Touch tissue imaging and quantification is a useful and reproducible tool for predicting thyroid malignancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of ultrasound elastography, including conventional strain elastography, acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI)‐induced strain elastography, and point shear wave elastography (SWE) for diagnosis of major salivary gland lesions. Methods: Forty major salivary gland lesions underwent conventional sonography, conventional strain elastography, ARFI strain elastography, and point SWE before surgery or biopsy. The diagnostic performances of the sonographic and elastographic techniques were assessed with reference to histopathologic results. Results: There were 32 benign (7 Warthin tumors, 17 pleomorphic adenomas, and 8 other benign lesions) and 8 malignant (1 squamous carcinoma, 2 metastases, 2 mucoepidermoid carcinomas, 1 anaplastic carcinoma, and 2 malignant lymphomas) major salivary gland lesions on pathologic analysis. No conventional sonographic features or conventional strain elastographic scores were found to be associated with malignancy (all P >.05). The ARFI strain elastographic scores between benign and malignant lesions were statistically different (P =.032) and an ARFI strain elastographic score of 4 or greater was highly predictive of malignancy (P=.025). An ARFI strain elastographic score of greater than 3 achieved specificity of 81.3% (26 of 32) and sensitivity of 62.5% (5 of 8) in differentiating benign from malignant lesions. The shear wave velocity on point SWE did not show a significant difference in distinguishing between malignant and benign lesions (6.07 versus 4.43 m/s; P >.05). However, Warthin tumors had a trend to show lower shear wave velocities compared with pleomorphic adenomas (2.84 versus 5.27 m/s; P =.024). Conclusions: Acoustic radiation force impulse strain elastography may be potentially useful for diagnosing major salivary gland lesions, whereas conventional strain elastography and point SWE are not helpful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

OBJECTIVE: To assess the value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the diagnosis of polypoid lesions of gallbladder (PLGs). METHODS: CEUS was performed to 116 patients (mean age, 49.6 years; range, 21-80 years) with PLGs from 8 university hospitals. 9 cases of biliary sludge were proven by surgery and the remaining 107 cases were confirmed by histopathological examination. The confidence level, diagnostic performance, inter-observer agreement of two independent readers with different experience was assessed. The readers were blind to the imaging and clinical results of the patients. RESULTS: There were significant differences between benign and malignant PLGs in patient age, gender, lesion size, echogenicity, stalk, time-to-peak, vascularity on CEUS, enhancement pattern, and wall destruction. The confidence levels increased significantly and the interobserver agreement increased from 0.425 to 0.601 after CEUS. The sensitivity increased from 22.2 to 77.8% after CEUS in the staff radiologist, and from 22.2 to 66.7% in the resident radiologist. The correctly characterized lesions were 64.7% before versus 87.1% after CEUS (P = 0.125) for the staff radiologist, and 57.8% versus 70.7% for the resident radiologist (P = 0.007). No significance was found in the subgroup of lesions ≤1.0 cm before and after CEUS for the two radiologists. CONCLUSIONS: CEUS using convex multifrequency probes could detect the dynamic microvascularization of PLGs greater than 1.0 cm and facilitate the differentiation between benign and malignant tumors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the value of contrast-enhanced transrectal ultrasound (CETRUS) in predicting the nature of prostate diseases and prostate cancer Gleason score. Methods: 106 patients suspected of prostate cancer were evaluated with CETRUS followed by systematic biopsy. Prostate blood flow of CETRUS was graded using a subjective 5-point scale. The relationships between ultrasound findings and biopsy outcomes, as well as prostate cancer Gleason score were analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of CETRUS. Results: Biopsy revealed prostate cancer in 43 of 106 patients. The proportions of malignant histology in the groups with CETRUS scores of 1-5 were 0% (0/10), 8.3% (2/24), 31.7% (13/41), 88.9% (16/18) and 92.3% (12/13), respectively. The rate of prostate cancer with a Gleason score ≥7 in the groups with a CETRUS score of 2-5 were 0% (0/2), 15.4% (2/13), 37.5% (6/16) and 91.7% (11/12), respectively. The blood flow grading scale correlated with pathological outcomes and Gleason score significantly (r = 0.66, p < 0.001; and r = 0.61, p < 0.001, respectively). ROC analysis showed the area under the ROC curve to be 0.87. Conclusions: CETRUS-based blood flow grading scale is a reliable tool for predicting the pathological outcome of prostate diseases and prostate cancer Gleason score noninvasively. Copyright © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the findings of renal cell carcinomas (RCCs) on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS). Methods: CEUS features of 84 RCCs confirmed by pathologic examination in 81 patients were retrospectively analyzed. A contrast-specific mode and a sulfur hexafluoride-filled microbubble contrast agent were used for CEUS. The enhancement pattern, extent, and dynamic change in the cortical, corticomedullary, and late phases were evaluated. Results: On CEUS, the emergence of tumor enhancement was earlier in two nodules (2.4%), simultaneous in 71 (84.5%), and later in 11 (13.1%), in comparison with the adjacent renal cortex. Seventy-four RCC nodules (88.1%) showed hyper-enhancement (n = 2) or iso-enhancement (n = 72) during the cortical phase, and the remaining 10 (11.9%) showed hypo-enhancement. Twenty-three nodules (27.4%) showed homogeneous enhancement and 61 (72.6%) inhomogeneous enhancement. In the corticomedullary phase, the nodules showed hypo-enhancement in 68 (81.0%) and iso-enhancement in 16 (19.0%). In the late phase, all RCCs showed the same enhancement pattern as that shown in the corticomedullary phase. Seventy-two (85.7%) nodules showed a clear perilesional rim-like enhancement in late phase. Conclusions: Hyper- or iso-enhancement during the cortical phase, subsequent washout in late phase, inhomogeneous enhancement, and perilesional rim-like enhancement are clues for RCCs, which might be useful for characterization of RCCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To compare the enhancement pattern of hilar cholangiocarcinoma on contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) with that on contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT). Methods: Thirty-two consecutive patients with pathologically proven hilar cholangiocarcinomas were evaluated by both low mechanical index CEUS and CECT. The enhancement feature of the tumor, portal vein infiltration, and lesion conspicuity on them was investigated. Results: In the arterial phase, the numbers of the lesions showing hyperenhancement, isoenhancement, and hypoenhancement, were 14 (43.8%), 14 (43.8%), and 4 (12.6%), on CEUS, and 12 (37.5%), 9 (28.1%), and 11 (34.4%), on CECT (P =0.162). In portal phase, the numbers of the lesions showing hypoenhancement, isoenhancement, and hyperenhancement were 30 (93.8%), 1 (3.1%), and 1 (3.1%), on CEUS, and 23 (71.9%), 8 (25.0%), and 1 (3.1%), on CECT (P =0.046). The detection rates for portal vein infiltration were 84.2% (16/19) for baseline ultrasound, 89.5% (17/19) for CEUS, and 78.9% (15/19) for CECT (all P >0.05 between every two groups). CEUS significantly improved the lesion conspicuity in comparison with CECT. CEUS and CECT made correct diagnoses in 30 (93.8%) and 25 (78.1%) lesions prior to pathological examination (P =0.125). Conclusion: The enhancement pattern of hilar cholangiocarcinoma on CEUS was similar with that on CECT in arterial phase, whereas in portal phase hilar cholangiocarcinoma shows hypoenhancement more likely on CEUS. CEUS and CECT lead to similar results in evaluating portal vein infiltration and diagnosis of this entity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the differential diagnosis of gallbladder wall (GBW) thickening and determine the predictors of malignant GBW thickening. One hundred fifty-nine patients with GBW thickening, including 76 men and 83 women, from eight institutions were enrolled. CEUS was performed after injection of a sulfur hexafluoride microbubble-based ultrasound contrast agent. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to reveal independent predictors associated with malignant GBW thickening. The final diagnoses were 48 gallbladder carcinomas and 111 benign gallbladder diseases. Maximal thicknesses of the GBW in malignant and benign GBW thickening were 17.3 ± 5.2 (6–30) mm and 8.6 ± 5.1 (4–26) mm respectively ( p < 0.001). CEUS revealed significant differences in intra-lesional vessels, enhancement homogeneity, time to hypo-enhancement, inner layer discontinuity, outer layer discontinuity and adjacent liver involvement (all p -values < 0.05) between malignant and benign GBW thickening. Patient age > 46.5 y, focal GBW thickening, inner layer discontinuity and outer layer discontinuity were found to be associated with malignancy by multiple logistic regression analysis (all p -values < 0.05). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed Az values for patient age, focal GBW thickening, inner wall discontinuity and outer wall discontinuity of 0.709 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.627–0.790), 0.714 (95% CI: 0.630–0.798), 0.860 (95% CI: 0.791–0.928) and 0.858 (95% CI: 0.783–0.933), respectively. CEUS is useful in the differential diagnosis between malignant and benign GBW thickening. Focal GBW thickening, inner wall discontinuity and outer wall discontinuity observed on CEUS are diagnostic clues for malignant GBW thickening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To retrospectively determine the accuracy of baseline ultrasound (BUS) and of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the differential diagnosis of pancreatic solid-cystic lesions. Methods: Fifty-four pancreatic solid-cystic lesions in 52 patients were examined with BUS and CEUS, two different seniority radiologists read the images independently, Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of BUS and CEUS in the diagnosis of benign or malignant pancreatic solid-cystic lesions, the diagnostic consistency between different seniority radiologists was evaluated by Kappa statistics. Results: Among the 54 lesions, there were pancreatic cyst five cases, pancreatic pseudocyst twenty cases, pancreatic cystadenoma eight cases, pancreatic cystadenocarcinoma seven cases, intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm of pancreas (IPMN) three cases, pancreatic carcinoma combined liquefied six cases, solid-pseudopallary tumor of pancreas (SPTP) three cases, pancreatic myopericytoma one case, pancreatic lymphangioma one case. After ROC analysis, the areas under the ROC curve (Az) were 0.752 by BUS, 0.928 by CEUS to resident radiologist, and 0.896 by BUS, 0.954 by CEUS to staff radiologist. The correct diagnosis rate of specific disease was 42.6% by BUS, 64.8% by CEUS to staff radiologist (P <0.05), and 33.3% by BUS, 53.7% by CEUS to resident radiologist (P <0.05). The interobserver agreement in CEUS is higher than that in BUS, the Kappa value was 0.889±0.062 and 0.428±0.126 respectively. Conclusion: Compared with BUS, CEUS can significantly enhance the diagnostic rate of pancreatic solid-cystic lesions. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Purpose: The objective of this study was to investigate the contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging features of focal liver lesions (FLLs) in fatty liver. Method: One hundred FLLs in 98 patients with fatty liver were evaluated with real-time CEUS. Results: All malignant FLLs showed hyperenhancement in arterial phase and contrast washout in portal and late phases. Among the FLLs, 3.3% of hemangiomas, 12.5% of focal nodular hyperplasias (FNHs), and 2.5% of focal fatty sparing lesions showed contrast washout in the late phase. The sensitivity and specificity for the characterization of hepatocellular carcinoma, metastasis, hemangioma, FNH, and focal fatty sparing lesions were 100% and 95.6%, 60% and 100%, 93.3% and 98.6%, 87.5% and 97.8%, and 92.6% and 100%, respectively. Conclusions: Correct characterization of FLLs in fatty liver by CEUS is possible based on their typical enhancement patterns. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]