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Risk stratification of myocarditis is challenging due to variable clinical presentations. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) is the primary non-invasive imaging modality to investigate myocarditis while electrocardiograms (ECG) are routinely included in the clinical work-up. The association of ECG parameters with CMR tissue characterisation and their prognostic value were investigated in patients with clinically suspected myocarditis. Consecutive patients with suspected myocarditis who underwent CMR and ECG were analysed. Major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) included all-cause death, hospitalisation for heart failure, heart transplantation, documented sustained ventricular arrhythmia, or recurrent myocarditis. A total of 587 patients were followed for a median of 3.9 years. A wide QRS-T angle, low voltage and fragmented QRS were significantly associated with late gadolinium enhancement. Further, a wide QRS-T angle, low voltage and prolonged QTc duration were associated with MACE in the univariable analysis. In a multivariable model, late gadolinium enhancement (HR: 1.90, 95%CI: 1.17-3.10; p = 0.010) and the ECG parameters of a low QRS voltage (HR: 1.86, 95%CI: 1.01-3.42; p = 0.046) and QRS-T-angle (HR: 1.01, 95%CI: 1.00-1.01; p = 0.029) remained independently associated with outcome. The cumulative incidence of MACE was incrementally higher when findings of both CMR and ECG were abnormal (p<0.001). In patients with clinically suspected myocarditis, abnormal ECG parameters are associated with abnormal tissue characteristics detected by CMR. Further, ECG and CMR findings have independent prognostic implications for morbidity and mortality. Integrating both exams into clinical decision-making may play a role in risk stratification in this heterogeneous patient population.

Objectives This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of dose reduction on the performance of a deep learning (DL)–based computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) system regarding pulmonary nodule detection in a virtual screening scenario. Methods Sixty-eight anthropomorphic chest phantoms were equipped with 329 nodules (150 ground glass, 179 solid) with four sizes (5 mm, 8 mm, 10 mm, 12 mm) and scanned with nine tube voltage/current combinations. The examinations were analyzed by a commercially available DL-based CAD system. The results were compared by a comparison of proportions. Logistic regression was performed to evaluate the impact of tube voltage, tube current, nodule size, nodule density, and nodule location. Results The combination with the lowest effective dose ( E ) and unimpaired detection rate was 80 kV/50 mAs (sensitivity: 97.9%, mean false-positive rate (FPR): 1.9, mean CTDIvol: 1.2 ± 0.4 mGy, mean E : 0.66 mSv). Logistic regression revealed that tube voltage and current had the greatest impact on the detection rate, while nodule size and density had no significant influence. Conclusions The optimal tube voltage/current combination proposed in this study (80 kV/50 mAs) is comparable to the proposed combinations in similar studies, which mostly dealt with conventional CAD software. Modification of tube voltage and tube current has a significant impact on the performance of DL-based CAD software in pulmonary nodule detection regardless of their size and composition. Key Points • Modification of tube voltage and tube current has a significant impact on the performance of deep learning–based CAD software. • Nodule size and composition have no significant impact on the software’s performance. • The optimal tube voltage/current combination for the examined software is 80 kV/50 mAs.

Background Idiopathic inflammatory myopathy (IIM) is a group of autoimmune diseases with systemic myositis which may involve the myocardium. Cardiac involvement in IIM, although often subclinical, may mimic clinical manifestations of acute viral myocarditis (AVM). Our aim was to investigate the usefulness of the combined analysis of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) T1 and T2 mapping parameters measured both in the myocardium and in the thoracic skeletal muscles to differentiate AVM from IIM cardiac involvement. Methods Sixty subjects were included in this retrospective study (36 male, age 45 ± 16 years): twenty patients with AVM, twenty patients with IIM and cardiac involvement and twenty healthy controls. Study participants underwent CMR imaging with modified Look-Locker inversion-recovery (MOLLI) T1 mapping and 3-point balanced steady-state-free precession T2 mapping. Relaxation times were quantified after endocardial and epicardial delineation on basal and medial short-axis slices, as well as in different thoracic skeletal muscle groups present in the CMR field-of-view. ROC-Analysis was performed to assess the ability of mapping indices to discriminate the study groups. Results Mapping parameters in the thoracic skeletal muscles were able to discriminate between AVM and IIM patients. Best skeletal muscle parameters to identify IIM from AVM patients were reduced post-contrast T1 and increased extracellular volume (ECV), resulting in an area under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.95 for post-contrast T1 and 0.96 for ECV. Conversely, myocardial mapping parameters did not discriminate IIM from AVM patients but increased native T1 (AUC 0.89 for AVM; 0.84 for IIM) and increased T2 (AUC 0.82 for AVM; 0.88 for IIM) could differentiate both patient groups from healthy controls. Conclusion CMR myocardial mapping detects cardiac inflammation in AVM and IIM compared to normal myocardium in healthy controls but does not differentiate IIM from AVM. However, thoracic skeletal muscle mapping was able to accurately discern IIM from AVM.

Our aim was to prospectively determine whether quantitative computed tomography (CT) scores, consisting of simplified indices for liver remodeling and attenuation, may predict liver fibrosis in abdominal CT scans. This cross-sectional, prospective study was approved by the local IRB (Kantonale Ethikkommission Bern). Written informed consent was given from all patients undergoing study-MR exams. Between 02/16 and 05/17, four different liver fibrosis scores (CRL-R = caudate-right-lobe ratio, LIMV-, LIMA- and LIMVA-fibrosis score, with \"LIM\" for liver imaging morphology, \"V\" for liver vein diameter and \"A\" for attenuation) were calculated in 1534 consecutive abdominal CT scans, excluding patients with prior liver surgery and liver metastasis. Patients were invited to undergo magnetic resonance (MR) elastography as the non-invasive gold standard to evaluate liver fibrosis. MR elastography shear modulus ≥2.8 kPa was defined as beginning liver fibrosis, while ≥3.5 kPa was defined as significant liver fibrosis (which would correspond to fibrosis stage F2 or higher in histology). Cutoff values, sensitivities and specificities obtained from the receiver operating characteristics (ROC) analysis were then calculated in 141 patients who followed the invitation for MR elastography. To mitigate selection bias, prevalence was estimated in the screened total population (n = 1534) by applying the cutoff values with sensitivities and specificities calculated in the MR elastography sub-group. Positive predictive values (PPV) and negative predictive values (NPV) were then calculated. Fibrosis scores including liver vein attenuation LIMA-FS and LIMVA-FS showed higher areas under the ROC curves (0.96-0.97) than CRL-R (0.82) to detect significant liver fibrosis, while LIMV-FS showed good performance as well (0.92). The prevalence-corrected PPV were 29% for CRL-R, 70% for LIMV-FS, 76% for LIMA-FS and 82% for LIMVA-FS. CT fibrosis scores, notably LIMA-FS and LIMVA-FS, may predict significant liver fibrosis on routine abdominal CT scans.

BackgroundRecent evidence underlined the importance of right (RV) involvement in suspected myocarditis. We aim to analyze the possible incremental prognostic value from RV global longitudinal strain (GLS) by CMR.MethodsPatients referred for CMR, meeting clinical criteria for suspected myocarditis and no other cardiomyopathy were enrolled in a dual-center register cohort study. Ejection fraction (EF), GLS and tissue characteristics were assessed in both ventricles to assess their association to first major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) including hospitalization for heart failure (HF), ventricular tachycardia (VT), recurrent myocarditis and death.ResultsAmong 659 patients (62.8% male; 48.1 ± 16.1 years), RV GLS was impaired (> − 15.4%) in 144 (21.9%) individuals, of whom 76 (58%), 108 (77.1%), 27 (18.8%) and 40 (32.8%) had impaired right ventricular ejection fraction (RVEF), impaired left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), RV late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) or RV edema, respectively. After a median observation time of 3.7 years, 45 (6.8%) patients were hospitalized for HF, 42 (6.4%) patients died, 33 (5%) developed VT and 16 (2.4%) had recurrent myocarditis. Impaired RV GLS was associated with MACE (HR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.04–1.10; p < 0.001), HF hospitalization (HR = 1.17, 95% CI 1.12–1.23; p < 0.001), and death (HR = 1.07, 95% CI 1.02–1.12; p = 0.004), but not with VT and recurrent myocarditis in univariate analysis. RV GLS lost its association with outcomes, when adjusted for RVEF, LVEF, LV GLS and LV LGE extent.ConclusionRV strain is associated with MACE, HF hospitalization and death but has neither independent nor incremental prognostic value after adjustment for RV and LV function and tissue characteristics. Therefore, assessing RV GLS in the setting of myocarditis has only limited value.

Background and Objectives: Osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee is a degenerative disorder characterized by damage to the joint cartilage, pain, swelling, and walking disability. The purpose of this study was to assess whether demographic and radiologic parameters (knee diameters and knee cross-sectional area from magnetic resonance (MR) images) could be used as surrogate biomarkers for the prediction of OA. Materials and Methods: The knee diameters and cross-sectional areas of 481 patients were measured on knee MR images, and the corresponding demographic parameters were extracted from the patients’ clinical records. The images were graded based on the modified Outerbridge arthroscopic classification that was used as ground truth. Receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed on the collected data. Results: ROC analysis established that age was the most accurate predictor of severe knee cartilage degeneration (corresponding to Outerbridge grades 3 and 4) with an area under the curve (AUC) of the specificity–sensitivity plot of 0.865 ± 0.02. An age over 41 years was associated with a sensitivity and specificity for severe degeneration of 82.8% (CI: 77.5–87.3%), and 76.4% (CI: 70.4–81.6%), respectively. The second-best degeneration predictor was the normalized knee cross-sectional area, with an AUC of 0.767 ± 0.04), followed by BMI (AUC = 0.739 ± 0.02), and normalized knee maximal diameter (AUC = 0.724 ± 0.05), meaning that knee degeneration increases with increasing knee diameter. Conclusions: Age is the best predictor of knee damage progression in OA and can be used as surrogate marker for knee degeneration. Knee diameters and cross-sectional area also correlate with the extent of cartilage lesions. Though less-accurate predictors of damage progression than age, they have predictive value and are therefore easily available surrogate markers of OA that can be used also by general practitioners and orthopedic surgeons.

Background Computed tomography angiography (CTA) is a cornerstone in the pre- transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI) assessment. We evaluated the diagnostic performance of CTA and coronary artery calcium score (CACS) for CAD evaluation compared to invasive coronary angiography in a cohort of TAVI patients. Methods In consecutive TAVI patients without prior coronary revascularization and device implants, CAD was assessment by quantitative analysis in CTA. (a) Patients with non-evaluable segments were classified as obstructive CAD. (b) In patients with non-evaluable segments a CACS cut-off of 100 was applied for obstructive CAD. The reference standard was quantitative invasive coronary angiography (QCA, i.e. ≥ 50% stenosis). Results 100 consecutive patients were retrospectively included, age was 82.3 ± 6.5 years and 30% of patients had CAD. In 16% of the patients, adequate visualization of the entire coronary tree (all 16 segments) was possible with CTA, while 84% had at least one segment which was not evaluable for CAD analysis due to impaired image quality. On a per-patient analysis, where patients with low image quality were classified as CAD, CTA showed a sensitivity of 100% (95% CI 88.4–100.0), specificity of 11.4% (95% CI 5.1–21.3), PPV of 32.6% (95% CI 30.8–34.5), NPV of 100% and diagnostic accuracy of 38% (95% CI 28.5–48.3) for obstructive CAD. When applying a combined approach of CTA (in patients with good image quality) and CACS (in patients with low image quality), the sensitivity and NPV remained at 100% and obstructive CAD could be ruled out in 20% of the TAVI patients, versus 8% using CTA alone. Conclusion In routinely acquired pre-TAVI CTA, the image quality was insufficient in a high proportion of patients for the assessment of the entire coronary artery tree. However, when adding CACS in patients with low image quality to quantitative CTA assessment in patients with good image quality, obstructive CAD could be ruled-out in 1/5 of the patients and may therefore constitute a strategy to streamline pre-procedural workup, and reduce risk, radiation and costs in selected TAVI patients without prior coronary revascularization or device implants.

The study aimed to investigate the reduction of hematoma risk during MRI-guided breast biopsies by evaluating position-dependent intervention parameters and characteristics of the target lesion. We retrospectively analyzed 252 percutaneous MRI-guided breast biopsies performed at a single center between January 2013 and December 2023. Two groups were built depending on the severity of relative hematoma formation (using a cut-off ≤ 7.62 cm or > 7.62 cm ). Potential influencing variables were assessed, such as patient demographics, interventional parameters related to anatomical landmarks, and lesion characteristics. Fisher's exact test and Mann-Whitney-U-Test were used to calculate the statistical difference between groups of categorical, dichotomous, and continuous variables. Multivariable logistic regression was used to identify the strongest association with relative hematoma formation. The univariate analysis showed that relatively larger hematoma occurred significantly more frequently when the patients were younger (P = 0.002), the relative distances from the target lesion to the nipple (P = 0.001) as well as alongside the access path (P = 0.001) were greater and when the vacuum-assisted biopsy system was used in contrast to the Spirotome® (P = 0.035). Multivariable logistic regression analysis also showed that these were independently associated with the occurrence of relatively larger hematomas. Epinephrine in the local anesthetic, lesion location classified by specific quadrant, and pathological findings did not influence the extent of the hematoma. Our findings underscore the importance of strategic procedural planning to minimize hematoma occurrence and enhance patient safety during MRI-guided breast biopsy procedures.

Background/Objectives: The objective of this study was to investigate the association between congestive heart failure (CHF) and T1 mapping in both liver lobes using cardiac MRI. Methods: This retrospective study included patients who underwent cardiac MRI with T1 mapping sequences on a 1.5 T scanner. The liver T1 values were measured in four hepatic regions, utilizing cardiac short axis and four-chamber views. Echocardiographic and laboratory data were collected within 90 days of the cardiac MRI. Comparisons of the liver T1 values and echocardiographic parameters between patients with and without elevated NT-proBNP levels (>125 pg/mL) were conducted using the Mann–Whitney U test. Logistic regression models were employed to adjust for confounding factors. Results: A total of 397 patients were included (with a median age of 56 years; 127 females), of whom 35% (n = 138) exhibited elevated NT-proBNP levels. The patients with elevated NT-proBNP levels showed a larger end-diastolic volume (EDV: 92 vs. 81 mL/m2, p < 0.001) and a lower LVEF level (50% vs. 60%, p < 0.001). The liver T1 was significantly higher in the right liver lobe (670 vs. 596 ms, p < 0.001) and the caudate lobe (664 vs. 598 ms, p < 0.001), but not in the left lobe (571 vs. 568 ms, p = 0.068) or the dome (590 vs. 560 ms, p = 0.1). T1 mapping in the caudate (OR 1.013, 95% CI 1.004–1.023, p = 0.005) and right liver lobes (OR 1.012, 95% CI 1.003–1.021, p = 0.009) remained independently predictive in the logistic regression analysis. Conclusions: Elevated T1 values in the caudate and right liver lobes assessed by cardiac MRI were independently associated with CHF and outperformed T1 measurements in the left liver lobe in predicting disease.

Objectives Cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT) is an emerging technique for assessing myocardial strain with valuable diagnostic and prognostic potential. However, the reproducibility of biventricular CMR-FT analysis in a large cardiovascular population has not been assessed. Also, evidence of confounders impacting reader reproducibility for CMR-FT in patients is unknown and currently limits the clinical implementation of this technique. Methods From a dual-center database of patients referred to CMR for suspected myocarditis, 125 patients were randomly selected to undergo biventricular CMR-FT analysis for 2-dimensional systolic and diastolic measures, with additional 3-dimensional analysis for the left ventricle. All image analysis was replicated by a single reader and by a second reader for intra- and inter-reader analysis (Circle Cardiovascular Imaging). Reliability was tested with intraclass correlation (ICC) tests, and the impact of imaging confounders on agreement was assessed through multivariable analysis. Results Left and right ventricular ejection fractions were reduced in 34% and 37% of the patients, respectively. Good to excellent reliability was shown for 2D (all ICC > 0.85) and 3D (all ICC > 0.70) peak strain and early diastolic strain rate for both ventricles in longitudinal orientation as well as circumferential orientations for the left ventricle. An increased slice number improved agreement while the presence of pericardial effusion compromised diastolic strain rate agreement, and arrhythmia compromised right ventricular agreement. Conclusion In a large clinical cohort, we could show CMR-FT yields excellent inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility. Multi-parametric CMR-FT of the right and left ventricles appears to be a robust tool in cardiovascular patients referred to CMR. Clinical trial registration. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03470571, NCT04774549. Key Points • Cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT) is an emerging technique to measure myocardial strain in cardiovascular patients referred for CMR; however, the evaluation of its reproducibility in a large cohort has not yet been performed . • In a large clinical cohort, CMR-FT yields excellent inter-reader and intra-reader reproducibility for both left and right ventricular systolic and diastolic parameters . • Arrhythmia and pericardial effusion compromise agreement of select FT parameters, but poor ejection fraction does not .