Publications by authors named "Brook O"

Article Synopsis
  • The study aimed to assess how well women were represented as speakers at U.S. radiology annual scientific meetings from 2019 to 2022.
  • At the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR), female speaker representation rose from 20.0% to 26.5%, while the American Roentgen Ray Society (ARRS) saw fluctuations, peaking at 48.5% in 2022 after dropping in previous years.
  • The findings highlight a general improvement in female speaker representation, but emphasize the need for ongoing advocacy and strategies to maintain and promote gender equality in radiology.
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Background Percutaneous CT-guided lung core-needle biopsy is a frequently performed and generally safe procedure. However, with advances in the management of lung cancer, there is a need for a greater amount of tissue for tumor genomic profiling and characterization. Purpose To determine whether the number of core samples obtained with percutaneous CT-guided lung biopsy is associated with postprocedural complications.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The white paper highlights seven key challenges in radiology, including issues like declining reimbursement and labor shortages, which are critical for the profession’s future sustainability.
  • - It emphasizes the impact of corporatization, imaging appropriateness, and burnout on radiologists, alongside the ongoing conflicts with nonphysicians and the need for improved workflow efficiency.
  • - The Intersociety Summer Conference-2023 gathered experts to discuss these challenges and brainstorm potential solutions to ensure the viability of the radiology field moving forward.
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Purpose: To evaluate how the implementation of superior hypogastric nerve block (SHNB) during uterine artery embolization (UAE) for uterine fibroids impacts same-day discharge and healthcare encounters (HCEs) within 30 days.

Materials And Methods: A total of 240 patients who underwent successful UAE for fibroids between January 2018 and December 2022 were retrospectively reviewed. HCEs within 30 days, including emergency department and urgent care visits, admissions, and readmissions, were categorized as early (0-7 days of discharge) and late (8-30 days of discharge) and related or unrelated to interventional radiology (IR) care.

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Objective: The clinical significance of incidentally detected pancreatic duct (PD) dilatation at ultrasound (US) without a visualized underlying cause is unclear. We aimed to assess the role of subsequent MRI (including MRCP) and to identify US imaging and laboratory findings predictive of underlying pancreaticobiliary malignancy at the time of initial US.

Materials And Methods: Patients with incidentally detected PD dilatation at ultrasound from 2011 to 2019 that had an ensuing MRI were included.

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Purpose: Ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration (FNA) is a very low-risk procedure. Despite this, there remains great variability in the use of protective equipment. Given the monetary and environmental costs of protective equipment, the difference in infection rates with full versus limited protective equipment was assessed.

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Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is the most common GI diagnosis leading to hospitalization within the United States. Prompt diagnosis and treatment of GI bleeding is critical to improving patient outcomes and reducing high healthcare utilization and costs. Radiologic techniques including computed tomography angiography, catheter angiography, computed tomography enterography, magnetic resonance enterography, nuclear medicine red blood cell scan, and technetium-99m pertechnetate scintigraphy (Meckel scan) are frequently used to evaluate patients with GI bleeding and are complementary to GI endoscopy.

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Asymptomatic adnexal masses are commonly encountered in daily radiology practice. Although the vast majority of these masses are benign, a small subset have a risk of malignancy, which require gynecologic oncology referral for best treatment outcomes. Ultrasound, using a combination of both transabdominal, transvaginal, and duplex Doppler technique can accurately characterize the majority of these lesions.

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This review focuses on the initial imaging in the reproductive age adult population with acute pelvic pain, including patients with positive and negative beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) levels with suspected gynecological and nongynecological etiology. For all patients, a combination of transabdominal and transvaginal pelvic ultrasound with Doppler is usually appropriate as an initial imaging study. If nongynecological etiology in patients with negative β-hCG is suspected, then CT of the abdomen and pelvis with or without contrast is also usually appropriate.

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Objectives: To determine whether international normalized ratio (INR), bilirubin, and creatinine predict bleeding risk following percutaneous liver biopsy.

Methods: A total of 870 consecutive patients (age 53 ± 14 years; 53% (459/870) male) undergoing non-targeted, ultrasound-guided, percutaneous liver biopsy at a single tertiary center from 01/2016 to 12/2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression models to evaluate the relationship between individual and combined laboratory values, and post-biopsy bleeding risk.

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Article Synopsis
  • Gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding is the leading cause of GI-related hospitalizations in the U.S., making timely diagnosis and treatment essential for better patient outcomes and reduced healthcare costs.
  • Various radiologic techniques, such as CT angiography and MR enterography, are used to assess GI bleeding and work alongside GI endoscopy, although existing management guidelines can create confusion about their use.
  • An expert panel has reviewed these radiologic methods, discussing their performance, pros and cons compared to endoscopy, and providing consensus recommendations for their technical application in GI bleeding cases.
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Background Splenic biopsy is rarely performed because of the perceived risk of hemorrhagic complications. Purpose To evaluate the safety of large bore (≥18 gauge) image-guided splenic biopsy. Materials and Methods This retrospective study included consecutive adult patients who underwent US- or CT-guided splenic biopsy between March 2001 and March 2022 at eight academic institutions in the United States.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study looks at how to find ways to save money on a medical procedure called uterine artery embolization (UAE) that helps treat problems like fibroids.
  • Researchers reviewed records of 123 patients who had this procedure between 2020 and 2022 to figure out where the costs come from, like staff time and equipment.
  • They found that most of the money goes to the materials used during the procedure, especially special particles and devices, and using just a doctor instead of a doctor and a trainee can save some costs too.
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Purpose: After a slow and challenging transition period, peer learning and improvement (PLI) is now being more widely adopted by practices as an option for continuous personal and practice performance improvement. In addition to gaps that exist in the understanding of what PLI is and how it should be practiced, wide variation exists in how the process is implemented, administered, how outcomes are measured, and what strategies are employed to engage radiologists. This report aims to describe lessons learned from our 20-year experience with the design, implementation, and continuous improvements of a PLI program in a large academic program.

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Background: Routine concordance evaluation between pathology and imaging findings was introduced for CT-guided biopsies.

Purpose: To analyze malignancy rate in concordant, discordant, and indeterminate non-malignant results of CT-guided lung biopsies.

Methods: Concordance between pathology results and imaging findings of consecutive patients undergoing CT-guided lung biopsy between 7/1/2016 and 9/30/2021 was assessed during routine meetings by procedural radiologists.

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Objective: To assess success and safety of CT-guided procedures with narrow window access for biopsy.

Methods: Three hundred ninety-six consecutive patients undergoing abdominal or pelvic CT-guided biopsy or fiducial placement between 01/2015 and 12/2018 were included (183 women, mean age 63 ± 14 years). Procedures were classified into "wide window" (width of the needle path between structures > 15 mm) and "narrow window" (≤ 15 mm) based on intraprocedural images.

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Registry data are being increasingly used to establish treatment guidelines, set benchmarks, allocate resources, and make payment decisions. Although many registries rely on manual data entry, the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) is using automated data extraction for its VIRTEX registry. This process relies on participants using consistent terminology with highly structured data in physician-developed standardized reports (SR).

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Article Synopsis
  • This study looked at how to make liver biopsies using ultrasound better and easier.
  • They checked data from 501 patients and found that 86% of the biopsies were successful.
  • Smaller, deeper liver lesions and certain locations made it harder to perform the biopsy, especially when there were fewer lesions to target.
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The surgical management of placenta accreta spectrum (PAS) is often challenging. There are a variety of techniques and management options described in the literature ranging from uterine sparing to cesarean hysterectomy. Following the inaugural meeting of the Pan-American Society for Placenta Accreta Spectrum a multidisciplinary group collaborated to describe collective recommendations for the surgical management of PAS.

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Background: Few studies have directly compared different surgical procedures for uterine fibroids with respect to long-term health-related quality of life outcomes and symptom improvement.

Objective: We examined differences in change from baseline to 1-, 2-, and 3-year follow-up in health-related quality of life and symptom severity among patients who underwent abdominal myomectomy, laparoscopic or robotic myomectomy, abdominal hysterectomy, laparoscopic or robotic hysterectomy, or uterine artery embolization.

Study Design: The COMPARE-UF registry is a multiinstitutional prospective observational cohort study of women undergoing treatment for uterine fibroids.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates the prevalence and impact of peer learning (PL) among radiologists in the ACR during the first quarter of 2022, utilizing a survey administered to 20,850 members.
  • Results show that 53% of respondents actively use PL, with users being generally younger, more likely to be female, and practicing in urban settings compared to nonusers.
  • Users of PL report significant benefits, including improved safety culture, enhanced continuous improvement initiatives, and a high likelihood of recommending the program to colleagues.
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Purpose: To evaluate the ability of hand motion analysis using conventional and new motion metrics to differentiate between operators of varying levels of experience for central venous access (CVA) and liver biopsy (LB).

Materials And Methods: In the CVA task, 7 interventional radiologists (experts), 10 senior trainees, and 5 junior trainees performed ultrasound-guided CVA on a standardized manikin; 5 trainees were retested after 1 year. In the LB task, 4 radiologists (experts) and 7 trainees biopsied a lesion on a manikin.

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