Laser interstitial thermotherapy application for breast surgery: Current situation and new trends.

While breast specialists debate on therapeutic de-escalation in breast cancer, the treatment of benign lesions is also discussed in relation to new percutaneous ablation techniques. The purpose of these innovations is to minimize potential morbidity. Laser Interstitial ThermoTherapy (LITT) is an option for the ablation of targeted nodules.

Real-time light dosimetry for intra-cavity photodynamic therapy: Application for pleural mesothelioma treatment.

Complete and homogeneous illumination of the target is necessary for the success of a photodynamic therapy (PDT) procedure. In most applications, light dosimetry is done using detectors placed at strategic locations of the target. In this study we propose a novel approach based on the combination of light distribution modeling with spatial localization of the light applicator for real time estimation and display of the applied dose on medical images.

Is STAPLE algorithm confident to assess segmentation methods in PET imaging?

Accurate tumor segmentation in [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography is crucial for tumor response assessment and target volume definition in radiation therapy. Evaluation of segmentation methods from clinical data without ground truth is usually based on physicians' manual delineations. In this context, the simultaneous truth and performance level estimation (STAPLE) algorithm could be useful to manage the multi-observers variability.

Impact of consensus contours from multiple PET segmentation methods on the accuracy of functional volume delineation.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of consensus algorithms on segmentation results when applied to clinical PET images. In particular, whether the use of the majority vote or STAPLE algorithm could improve the accuracy and reproducibility of the segmentation provided by the combination of three semiautomatic segmentation algorithms was investigated.

Methods: Three published segmentation methods (contrast-oriented, possibility theory and adaptive thresholding) and two consensus algorithms (majority vote and STAPLE) were implemented in a single software platform (Artiview®).

Evaluation of PET volume segmentation methods: comparisons with expert manual delineations.

Introduction: [¹⁸F]-Fluorodeoxyglucose PET has become an essential technique in oncology. Accurate segmentation is important for treatment planning. With the increasing number of available methods, it will be useful to establish a reliable evaluation tool.