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Background: A considerable controversy over performing thyroidectomy and central lymph node dissection in patients with papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) remained. However, accurate prediction of central lymph node metastasis (CLNM) is crucial for surgical extent and proper management. The aim of this study was to develop and validate a practical nomogram for predicting CLNM in patients with PTMC. Methods: A total of 1,029 patients with PTMC who underwent thyroidectomy and central lymph node dissection at Tangdu Hospital (the Second Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University) and Xijing Hospital (the First Affiliated Hospital of Air Force Medical University) were selected. Seven hundred and nine patients were assigned to the training set and 320 patients to the validation set. Data encompassing demographic characteristics, ultrasonography results, and biochemical indicators were obtained. Stepwise backward selection and multiple logistic regression were used to screen the variables and establish the nomogram. Concordance index (C-index), receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, and decision curve analysis (DCA) were employed to evaluate the nomogram's distinguishability, accuracy, and clinical utility. Results: Young age, multifocality, bigger tumor, presence of microcalcification, aspect ratio (height divided by width) ≥1, loss of fatty hilum, high free thyroxine (FT4), and lower anti-thyroid peroxidase antibody (TPOAb) were significantly associated with CLNM. The nomogram showed strong predictive capacity, with a C-index and accuracy of 0.784 and 0.713 in the training set and 0.779 and 0.703 in the external validation set, respectively. DCA indicated that the nomogram demonstrated strong clinical applicability. Conclusions: We established a reliable, cost-effective, reproducible, and noninvasive nomogram for predicting CLNM in patients with PTMC. This tool could be a valuable guidance for deciding on management in PTMC.

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PURPOSE: This prospective study assessed the value of ultrasonography (US) in the evaluation of hepatosplenic fungal infections (HSFI). METHODS: Thirty-two pediatric participants with confirmed onco-hematological diseases and HSFI were included. Lesions in the liver and/or spleen were detected by US, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), or computed tomography (CT). RESULTS: Of the participants, 11 (34%) had confirmed HSFI, while 21 (66%) had highly suspected HSFI. The US, CT, MRI, and fungal blood cultures demonstrated positive results in 31, 19, 25, and 7 patients, respectively. US had a significantly higher detection rate than CT, MRI, and fungal blood cultures (p < 0.05). The "bull's eye" phenomenon was a distinctive US feature of HSFI. Follow-up examinations indicated that after a mean of 7.7 (1-15) months, liver and/or spleen lesions disappeared in five patients. The lesion was significantly smaller in 10 patients. Residual calcifications were detected in 15 patients. Two patients died. CONCLUSION: Conclusively, the US may substitute for tissue biopsy, other imaging modalities, or fungal blood culture for the confirmation of HSFI, and may guide better antifungal treatment, thus achieving better outcomes.

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OBJECTIVE: Although there is growing evidence that ultrasonography is superior to X-ray for rib fractures' detection, X-ray is still indicated as the most appropriate method. This has partially been attributed to a lack of studies using an appropriate reference modality. We aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography and X-ray in the detection of rib fractures, considering CT as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Within a 2.5-year period, all consecutive patients with clinically suspected rib fracture(s) following blunt chest trauma and available posteroanterior/anteroposterior X-ray and thoracic CT were prospectively studied and planned to undergo thoracic ultrasonography, by a single operator. All imaging examinations were evaluated for cortical rib fracture(s), and their location was recorded. The cartilaginous rib portions were not assessed. CTs and X-rays were evaluated retrospectively. Concomitant thoracic/extra-thoracic injuries were assessed on CT. Comparisons were performed with the Mann-Whitney U test and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: Fifty-nine patients (32 males, 27 females; mean age, 53.1 ± 16.6 years) were included. CT, ultrasonography, and X-ray (40 posteroanterior/19 anteroposterior views) diagnosed 136/122/42 rib fractures in 56/54/27 patients, respectively. Ultrasonography and X-ray had sensitivity of 100%/40% and specificity of 89.7%/30.9% for rib fractures' detection. Ultrasound accuracy was 94.9% compared to 35.4% for X-rays (P < .001) in detecting individual rib fractures. Most fractures involved the 4th-9th ribs. Upper rib fractures were most commonly overlooked on ultrasonography. Thoracic cage/spine fractures and haemothorax represented the most common concomitant injuries. CONCLUSION: Ultrasonography appeared to be superior to X-ray for the detection of rib fractures with regard to a reference CT.

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BACKGROUND: Given the limited success rate and considerable challenges associated with conventional ultrasonography (US) guidance for percutaneous nephrostomy (PCN) in non-hydronephrotic kidneys, this study proposed a solution with ultrasound contrast agent to enhance the success rate and mitigate the difficulties. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2017 to August 2023, a total of thirteen patients diagnosed with non-hydronephrotic kidney were included in the study. Following routine ultrasonography examination, no significant dilatation of the renal collecting system was observed. US-guided percutaneous nephrostomy PCN was performed with the assistance of ultrasound contrast agent (UCA). The patients were subsequently monitored to assess the improvement of symptoms and postoperative recovery. RESULTS: The success rate was found to be 100% for all patients (13/13) and kidneys (20/20). The average volume of UCA solution used was 19 ± 6.7 mL (range, 11-35 mL), while the mean duration of the operation was 18.92 ± 8.96 min (range, 7-36 min). A majority of the patients (12/13) underwent a single puncture procedure. Throughout the follow-up period, no serious complications were observed, and surgery resulted in significant alleviation of symptoms in all patients. CONCLUSION: The use of UCA-assisted US guidance PCN has been shown to be effective in achieving urinary diversion and alleviating associated clinical symptoms in non-hydronephrotic kidneys. In comparison to traditional methods, this approach demonstrates a high success rate and safety profile, while also offering a simplified operative procedure. Consequently, it presents a novel method and concept for managing non-hydronephrotic kidneys afflicted by urine leakage.

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Lymphedema is a progressive condition. Its therapy aims to reduce edema, prevent its progression, and provide psychosocial aid. Nonsurgical treatment in advanced stages is mostly insufficient. Therefore-in many cases-surgical procedures, such as to restore lymph flow or excise lymphedema tissues, are the only ways to improve patients' quality of life. Imaging modalities: Lymphoscintigraphy (LS), near-infrared fluorescent (NIRF) imaging-also termed indocyanine green (ICG) lymphography (ICG-L)-ultrasonography (US), magnetic resonance lymphangiography (MRL), computed tomography (CT), photoacoustic imaging (PAI), and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are standardized techniques, which can be utilized in lymphedema diagnosis, staging, treatment, and follow-up. Conclusions: The combined use of these imaging modalities and self-assessment questionnaires deliver objective parameters for choosing the most suitable surgical therapy and achieving the best possible postoperative outcome.

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Percutaneous ablation is a low-invasive, repeatable, and curative local treatment that is now recommended for early-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) that is not suitable for surgical resection. Poorly differentiated HCC has high-grade malignancy potential. Microvascular invasion is frequently seen, even in tumors smaller than 3 cm in diameter, and prognosis is poor after percutaneous ablation. Biopsy has a high risk of complications such as bleeding and dissemination; therefore, it has limitations in determining HCC tumor malignancy prior to treatment. Advances in diagnostic imaging have enabled non-invasive diagnosis of tumor malignancy. We describe the usefulness of ultrasonography, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography for predicting outcome after percutaneous ablation for HCC.

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Background: Ultrasonography has been applied as an alternative method in the assessment of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pathology including anterior disc displacement (ADD). However, a concrete screening or diagnostic method which is feasible in clinical practice has not yet been established. The study aimed to establish a quantitative ultrasonographic method and determine its diagnostic efficacy for ADD of the TMJ. Methods: A total of 75 joints were allocated to either the normal disc position (NDP) group or the ADD group using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the reference standard. Longitudinal scans of the lateral articular compartment were obtained by a 14-MHz L-shaped linear array transducer. The width of the lateral joint space (LJS), the upper lateral joint space (ULJS), and the lower lateral joint space (LLJS), as well as the position of the lateral articular disc edge (ADE), were investigated by stepwise logistic regression analysis to identify significant indicators of ADD and to build a diagnostic model. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), and diagnostic accuracy were computed at the optimal cut-off value. Results: MRI detected 25 joints in the NDP group and 50 joints in the ADD group. Correlation analysis indicated that all 4 variables were associated with ADD. With the best performance of the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) of 0.939, LJS and ULJS were identified as predictors of ADD and subsequently adopted to build a diagnostic model by stepwise logistic regression. The optimal cut-off value of the 2-variable regression model for diagnosing ADD was 0.800, with a sensitivity of 82%, specificity of 96%, PPV of 97.6%, NPV of 72.7%, and an accuracy of 86.7%. Conclusions: The quantitative ultrasonographic diagnostic method showed promising diagnostic efficacy. It has the potential to be used for ADD screening in future clinical practice.

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OBJECTIVE: This study sought to evaluate the risk factors for recurrent papillary thyroid carcinoma by preoperative ultrasonography. METHODS: A retrospective study enrolled a total of 146 patients with thyroid papillary carcinoma confirmed by postoperative pathology, and divided into a recurrence group (n = 35) and a non-recurrence group (n = 111) to study their preoperative ultrasound report examination, including the presence of thyroiditis, tumor location, the maximum diameter of the primary tumor, tumor number, the presence of focal strong echogenicity within the lesion, the presence of abnormal lymph nodes, the presence of ultrasound imaging manifestations of thyroid invasion, and to explore the risk factors associated with recurrent papillary thyroid cancer. Moreover, the consistency of ultrasound examination and postoperative pathological findings was explored. RESULTS: There were significant differences in the maximum diameter of the primary tumor and thyroid invasion between the recurrent and non-recurrent papillary thyroid carcinoma groups (P < 0.05), and the preoperative tumor diameter diagnostic cutoff value is 13.750 mm. At the same time, ultrasound and pathology have good consistency in the number of papillary thyroid carcinoma tumors, moderate consistency in lymph node metastasis, and excellent consistency in the presence or absence of thyroid invasion. CONCLUSIONS: The maximum diameter of the primary tumor and thyroid invasion can be used as indicators to evaluate the risk of recurrence of thyroid papillary carcinoma by ultrasonic examination. In addition, the number of tumors and the presence of thyroid invasion in ultrasonic and pathological diagnosis showed good consistency.

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Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of a deep learning (DL) algorithm for breast masses smaller than 1 cm on ultrasonography (US). We also evaluated a hybrid model that combines the predictions of the DL algorithm from US images and a patient's clinical factors including age, family history of breast cancer, BRCA mutation, and mammographic breast density. Methods: A total of 1,041 US images (including 633 benign and 408 malignant masses) were obtained from 1,041 patients who underwent US between January 2014 and June 2021. All US images were randomly divided into training (513 benign and 288 malignant lesions), validation (60 benign and 60 malignant lesions), and test (60 benign and 60 malignant lesions) data sets. A mask region-based convolutional neural network (R-CNN) was used to generate a feature map of the input image with a CNN and a pre-trained ResNet101 structure. For the clinical model, the multilayer perceptron (MLP) structure was used to calculate the likelihood that the tumor was benign or malignant from the clinical risk factors. We compared the diagnostic performance of an image-based DL algorithm, a combined model with regression, and a combined model with the decision tree method. Results: Using the US images, the area under the receiver operating characteristics curve (AUROC) of the DL algorithm was 0.85 [95% confidence interval (CI), 0.78-0.92]. With the combined model using a regression model, the sensitivity was 78.3% (95% CI, 67.9-88.8%) and the specificity was 85% (95% CI, 76-94%). The sensitivity of the combined model using a regression model was significantly higher than that of the imaging model (P=0.003). The specificity values of the two models were not significantly different (P=0.083). The sensitivity and specificity of the combined model using a decision tree model were 75% (95% CI, 62.1-85.3%) and 91.7% (95% CI, 81.6-97.2%), respectively. The sensitivity of the combined model using the decision tree model was higher than that of the image model but the difference was not statistically significant (P=0.081). The specificity values of the two models were not significantly different (P=0.748). Conclusions: The DL model could feasibly be used to predict breast cancers smaller than 1 cm. The combined model using clinical factors outperformed the standalone US-based DL model.

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Background: Breast cancer (BC) is one of the most common malignancies affecting women. Timely and accurate diagnosis is crucial for treatment and prognosis. Some studies have found that elastography combined with microperfusion characteristics, which are mostly described by contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), could help in the diagnosis of breast lesions. This study aimed to assess the diagnostic performance of CEUS synchronized with shear wave elastography (SWE) in discriminating between benign and malignant breast lesions by using real-time contrast elastography images to analyze shell elasticity and contrast intensity. Methods: A total of 26 pathologically confirmed breast lesions in 26 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Each patient underwent conventional B-mode ultrasound, CEUS, and then SWE data was obtained from a frame of image that was almost identical to the B-mode and CEUS images when acquiring time to peak (TTP). Breast lesions were evaluated based on the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) and quantitative characteristics that describe the stiffness and intensity of contrast of the 1.0-3.0 mm shell region. Quantitative aspects of the inner lesions and shell on the elastogram included the maximum (Emax), mean (Emean), and minimum (Emin) Young's moduli. Quantitative enhanced features included maximum (Imax) and mean (Imean) intensity. We took postoperative pathological results as the gold standard. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves were used to compare the diagnostic efficacy of the 2 examination modalities, either alone or in combination. Results: The age of the patients ranged from 23 to 76 years, with a 42.5-year average age. In all breast lesions, 19 were benign and 7 were malignant. SWE synchronized with CEUS can effectively improve the diagnostic performance of breast lesions, and Emean + Imean and Emax + Emean + Imean of shell at 1.0 mm both had the highest area under the curve (AUC) of 0.86 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.67, 0.96], with the sensitivity and specificity of 71.43% and 89.47%, respectively. Conclusions: The combination of CEUS and SWE has a better diagnostic value in differentiating benign and malignant breast lesions compared to separate techniques.

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Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a clinical disease that occurs due to compression of the median nerve in the carpal tunnel. The determination of the severity of carpal tunnel syndrome is essential to provide appropriate therapeutic interventions. Machine learning (ML)-based modeling can be used to classify diseases, make decisions, and create new therapeutic interventions. It is also used in medical research to implement predictive models. However, despite the growth in medical research based on ML and Deep Learning (DL), CTS research is still relatively scarce. While a few studies have developed models to predict diagnosis of CTS, no ML model has been presented to classify the severity of CTS based on comprehensive clinical data. Therefore, this study developed new classification models for determining CTS severity using ML algorithms. This study included 80 patients with other diseases that have an overlap in symptoms with CTS, such as cervical radiculopathysasas, de quervian tendinopathy, and peripheral neuropathy, and 80 CTS patients who underwent ultrasonography (US)-guided median nerve hydrodissection. CTS severity was classified into mild, moderate, and severe grades. In our study, we aggregated the data from CTS patients and patients with other diseases that have an overlap in symptoms with CTS, such as cervical radiculopathysasas, de quervian tendinopathy, and peripheral neuropathy. The dataset was randomly split into training and test data, at 70% and 30%, respectively. The proposed model achieved promising results of 0.955%, 0.963%, and 0.919% in terms of classification accuracy, precision, and recall, respectively. In addition, we developed a machine learning model that predicts the probability of a patient improving after the hydro-dissection injection process based on the aggregated data after three different months (one, three, and six). The proposed model achieved accuracy after six months of 0.912%, after three months of 0.901%, and after one month 0.877%. The overall performance for predicting the prognosis after six months outperforms the prediction after one and three months. We utilized statistics tests (significance test, Spearman's correlation test, and two-way ANOVA test) to determine the effect of injection process in CTS treatment. Our data-driven decision support tools can be used to help determine which patients to operate on in order to avoid the associated risks and expenses of surgery.

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PURPOSE: Hepatic alveolar echinococcosis (HAE) of the metastasis-like pattern, according to the Echinococcus Ulm classification, is usually discovered as an incidental finding, and the diagnostic differentiation from "true metastases" is difficult. The aim of this study was to investigate whether lesions of the "metastasis-like pattern" in HAE show a typical contrast behavior that can be used for differentiation from metastasis in malignancies. METHODS: This prospective clinical study included 11 patients with histologically confirmed HAE of the metastasis-like pattern (7 female and 4 male; mean age, 57.1 years; mean disease duration, 59.5 months), who had been examined by B-scan sonography and CEUS, from the National Echinococcosis Registry Germany. RESULTS: On contrast-enhanced sonography, 11/11 reference lesions showed annular rim enhancement in the arterial and portal venous phases. Throughout the entire 4-min study period, none of the reference lesions showed central contrast enhancement-i.e., all exhibited a complete "black hole sign". A small central scar was seen in 81.8% of cases. CONCLUSION: In clinically unremarkable patients with incidentally detected metastasis-like lesions of the liver, contrast-enhanced sonographic detection of rim enhancement without central contrast uptake (black hole sign) should be considered evidence supporting a diagnosis of hepatic alveolar echinococcosis with a rare metastasis-like pattern. This can help to differentiate HAE from metastases, especially in high-endemic areas.

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Background The imaging evaluation of inferior vena cava (IVC) diameters is essential for the estimation of vena caval pathologies and can also detect early hypovolemic shock. There are very few studies on normal IVC diameters on CT scan done in foreign countries, and none done in the Indian population. Aims The goal of this research is to assess the normal IVC diameter in the Indian adult population by performing a CT scan of the abdomen. Material and methods In this study, CT scans of 200 individuals (aged 19-83) without any circulatory and vascular disorders were analyzed retrospectively. The anteroposterior (AP) and transverse diameters of the IVC were measured at the level of the renal vein and at the level 2 cm proximal to insertion in the heart (usual area of measurement on ultrasonography). Results The study discovered normal adult mean AP and transverse dimensions of the IVC at the level of the renal vein as 16.3 ± 2.9 mm and 25.8 ± 3.5 mm, respectively, and 16.9 + 3.2 mm and 26.2 + 3.6 mm at the level 2 cm proximal to its insertion in the right atrium. Conclusions In this study, the normal morphometric dimensions of the IVC in the Indian adult population were established. The diameters of the IVC and the age of the participants in our study had no statistically significant correlation, however, the IVC changes its cross-sectional area and diameter due to changes in venous pressure and blood pressure and hence is a highly compliant vessel. The results of the study will be used as baseline data for the assessment of IVC disorders.

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Recent advancements in surgical and anti-cancer therapies have provided significant hope of long survival in patients with pancreatic cancer (PC). To realize this hope, routine medical checkups of asymptomatic people should be performed to identify operable PCs. In this study, we evaluated the efficacy of medical checkups using abdominal ultrasonography (US). We retrospectively analyzed 374 patients with PC at our institute between 2010 and 2021. We divided these patients into several groups according to the diagnostic approach and compared their background and prognosis. These groups comprised PCs diagnosed through (a) symptoms, 242 cases; (b) US during medical checkup for asymptomatic individuals, 17; and other means. Of the 374 patients, 192 were men (51.3%), and the median age was 74 years (34−105). Tumors were located in the pancreatic tail in 67 patients (17.9%). Excision ratio and 5-year survival rate were significantly better in group (b) than in (a) (58.8% vs. 23.1%, p < 0.01 and 42.2% vs. 9.4%, p < 0.001, respectively). The prognosis of patients diagnosed using US during medical checkup was better than that of patients identified through symptomatic presentation of PC. US for asymptomatic individuals with PC might be one of the useful modalities for promoting better prognosis of PCs.

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BACKGROUND: Early identification of axillary lymph node metastasis (ALNM) in breast cancer (BC) is still a clinical difficulty. There is still no good method to replace sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB). The purpose of our study was to develop and validate a nomogram to predict the probability of ALNM preoperatively based on ultrasonography (US) and clinicopathological features of primary tumors. METHODS: From September 2019 to April 2022, the preoperative US) and clinicopathological data of 1076 T1-T2 BC patients underwent surgical treatment were collected. Patients were divided into a training set (875 patients from September 2019 to October 2021) and a validation set (201 patients from November 2021 to April 2022). Patients were divided into positive and negative axillary lymph node (ALN) group according pathology of axillary surgery. Compared the US and clinicopathological features between the two groups. The risk factors for ALNM were determined using multivariate logistic regression analysis, and a nomogram was constructed. AUC and calibration were used to assess its performance. RESULTS: By univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis, age (p = 0.009), histologic grades (p = 0.000), molecular subtypes (p = 0.000), tumor location (p = 0.000), maximum diameter (p = 0.000), spiculated margin (p = 0.000) and distance from the skin (p = 0.000) were independent risk factors of ALNM. Then a nomogram was developed. The model was good discriminating with an AUC of 0.705 and 0.745 for the training and validation set, respectively. And the calibration curves demonstrated high agreement. However, in further predicting a heavy nodal disease burden (> 2 nodes), none of the variables were significant. CONCLUSION: This nomogram based on the US and clinicopathological data can predict the presence of ALNM good in T1-T2 BC patients. But it cannot effectively predict a heavy nodal disease burden (> 2 nodes).

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BACKGROUND/PURPOSE: Controversies over the use of alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) for detection of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) existed from guidelines. Using large-scale database and hospital-based information, we aimed to reappraise the role of AFP in HCC surveillance, including proportion of AFP elevation by stage of HCC, additional benefit of AFP in combination of ultrasonography (US) in the detection of early HCC, and survival in early HCC with high AFP levels. METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled 43,437 patients from database of the Taiwan Cancer Registry (TCR) and 4250 patients from Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital (KCGMH) between January 2011 and December 2017. RESULTS: The HCC cases in KCGMH accounted for 9.8% of the total cases in the TCR. Among both nationwide database and hospital-based information, the proportion of early HCC patients with an AFP level of ≥20 ng/mL was approximately 40%. In KCGMH, the proportion of patients with an AFP level of ≥20 ng/mL and a virus-related (hepatitis B and C) etiology was around 41.7%; furthermore, among patients with early HCC, those with an AFP level of ≥20 ng/mL had 4.7 years of median survival and 48.3% of the 5-year overall survival rate. By hospital electronic medical records review of early HCC cohort in KCGMH, approximately 10.9% of patients with AFP levels ≥20 ng/mL had US-undetectable early HCC. CONCLUSION: This study suggested that AFP in combination with US would add an additional benefit as being a prompted role for detection of early HCC in patients with US-undetectable HCC.

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Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic value of conventional ultrasound and elastosonography in malignant thyroid nodules by meta-analysis. Methods: The literature included in the Cochrane Library, PubMed, and Embase were searched by using "elastosonography, ultrasonography, thyroid nodules" as the keywords. The clinical studies using elastosonography and conventional ultrasound to diagnose thyroid nodules were selected, and histopathology of thyroid nodules was used as reference standards. The quality evaluation and heterogeneity test were performed on the literature that met the requirements, the combined specificity and sensitivity were pooled, and a comprehensive ROC curve analysis was performed. The Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies (QUADAS) tool was utilized to evaluate the quality of each included study. Meta-DiSc version 1.4, StataSE 12 and Review Manager 5.4 were used. Results: A total of nine studies assessed 3066 thyroid nodules (2043 benign and 1023 malignant). The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR of conventional ultrasound for the diagnose of malignant thyroid nodules were 0.833 (95% CI 0.809-0.855), 0.818 (95% CI 0.801-0.835), 4.85 (95% CI 4.36-5.39), 0.20 (95% CI 0.17-0.23), and 29.38 (95% CI 23.28-37.08), respectively, with an AUC of 0.9068. Also, the pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, and DOR of elastosonography were 0.774 (95% CI 0.741-0.804), 0.737 (95% CI 0.715-0.758), 3.14(95% CI 2.85-3.47), 0.29 (95% CI 0.25-0.34), and 9.35 (95% CI 7.63-11.46), respectively, with an AUC of 0.8801. Three studies provided data regarding the conventional ultrasound and elastosonography. The pooled sensitivity, specificity, PLR, NLR, DOR, and AUC were 0.902 (95% CI 0.870-0.928), 0.649 (95% CI 0.616-0.681), 2.72 (95% CI 2.46-3.00), 0.14 (95% CI 0.11-0.19), 25.51 (95%CI 17.11-38.03), and 0.9294. Conclusion: The existing evidence shows that elastosonography cannot completely replace conventional ultrasound in the diagnosis of malignant thyroid nodules, and the combination of elastosonography and conventional ultrasound gives a better diagnostic precision. Systematic review registration: www.crd.york.ac.uk, identifier PROSPERO CRD42022375808.

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Extramammary Paget's disease (EMPD) is an uncommon intraepithelial malignancy that is rarely found in the male. Currently, there is very little knowledge pertaining to EMPD imaging, particularly in cases that involve the scrotum. Here, a 67-year-old man with lichenification on his left scrotum confirmed to be EMPD was reviewed. Bloodwork did not return a positive result, but syphilis-specific antibodies were found. Conventional high-frequency ultrasound (US) and contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) imaging were utilized to determine the lesion size and blood perfusion. In the present case, the lesion's size and involvement were vividly depicted by CEUS, while results obtained by conventional US were grossly underestimated. Consequently, multimodal imaging assessment is likely to provide more accurate diagnoses for uncommon diseases, such as EMPD, and to aid in clinical decision-making.

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Mirizzi syndrome occurs in up to 6% of patients with cholecystolithiasis. It is generally caused by external compression of the common hepatic duct by a gallstone impacted in the neck of the gallbladder or the cystic duct, which can lead to fistulisation. The aim of this review was to highlight the proposed classifications for Mirizzi syndrome (MS) and to provide an update on modern approaches to the diagnosis of this disease. We conducted research on various internet databases and the total number of records was 993, but after a gradual process of elimination our final review consisted of 21 articles. According to the literature, the Cesendes classification is the most commonly used, but many new suggestions have appeared. Our review shows that the ultrasonography (US) is the most frequently used method of initial diagnosis, despite still having only average sensitivity. Magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP) and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) are good methods and are similarly effective, but only the latter can be simultaneously therapeutic. Some modern methods show very high sensitivity, but are not so commonly administered. Mirizzi syndrome is still a diagnostic challenge, despite the advancement of the available tools. Preoperative diagnosis is crucial to avoid complications during treatment. New research may bring a unification of classifications and diagnostic algorithms.

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BACKGROUND: Inflammation of patients joints with severe disease activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has already been visualized and quantified by 2-[18F]fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission computed tomography ([18F] FDG PET/CT), but little is known about the metabolic status and its relationship with clinical and ultrasonography (US) metrology in patients with low/moderate activity or in remission. METHODS: Clinical assessments [based on 28-joint disease activity score (DAS28-CRP) and Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI)], [18F] FDG PET/CT, US and X-ray were performed on 63 RA patients classified into remission or low/moderate or severe disease activity groups. PET/CT was visually and then semi-quantitatively analysed by determining the standardized uptake value (SUV) of positive joints. RESULTS: Of the 1764 joints, 21.1% were tender only, 13.7% swollen only, 27.6% tender or swollen, 7.3% tender and swollen, 20.5% PET/CT-positive and 8.6% US-positive. PET and US measurements were correlated, albeit with poor concordance. The positive predictive value of PET/CT for clinical evaluation (tender and/or swollen) was low, whereas its negative predictive value was high. Highly significant differences were found with the number of PET/CT-positive joints and with cumulative SUV between "severe" and "non-severe" patients (including those in remission and those with low/moderate activity) and not between those classified as "remission" and "non-remission" or "remission" and "low/moderate activity". Moreover, the correlation between PET/CT measurements and clinical activity was positive only in the CDAI severe disease group. In patients in remission or with low/moderate activity, only 20-30% of joints were PET/CT-negative. In remission, PET/CT and US were positive in different joints, and PET/CT-positive but US-negative joints mainly exhibited RA (38.1%) or normal (49.2%) and not osteoarthritic (12.7%) X-ray patterns. CONCLUSIONS: [18F] FDG PET/CT was effective at distinguishing patients with severely active disease from other patients. In non-severe RA patients, including those in remission, PET/CT results are discordant from US and clinical observations. A longitudinal analysis is needed to explore the clinical relevance of such infra-clinical disease.