Dual-Energy CT for Evaluation of Intra- and Extracapsular Silicone Implant Rupture.

Silicone implants are commonly used for both breast augmentation and breast reconstruction. With aging of the implant, the silicone envelope may become weak or may rupture. The technique of choice for evaluation of implant integrity is breast MRI; however this may be contraindicated in some patients or the cost may be prohibitive.

Endoscopic and Pathologic Characterization of Papillary Architecture in Struvite Stone Formers.

Objective: To describe the endoscopic characteristics of renal papillae in struvite stone formers (SFs).

Materials And Methods: From 2009 to 2014, patients undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy were prospectively enrolled in our study. Endoscopic analysis and biopsy of papillae were performed to demonstrate the presence and percentage surface area (SA) of Randall's plaque or ductal plug.

Current computed tomography techniques can detect duct of Bellini plugging but not Randall's plaques.

Objective: To assess the ability of noninvasive computed tomography (CT) scans to detect interstitial calcium phosphate deposits (Randall's plaques) and duct of Bellini plugs, which are possible stone precursor lesions.

Methods: At time of percutaneous nephrolithotomy (PCNL) for stone removal, all accessible individual papillae of 105 patients were endoscopically visualized and video recorded. Image-processing software was used to estimate the percentage of papillary surface occupied by plaque or plug in each pole (upper, middle, lower).

Phenotypic characterization of kidney stone formers by endoscopic and histological quantification of intrarenal calcification.

Interstitial Randall's plaques and collecting duct plugs are distinct forms of renal calcification thought to provide sites for stone retention within the kidney. Here we assessed kidney stone precursor lesions in a random cohort of stone formers undergoing percutaneous nephrolithotomy. Each accessible papilla was endoscopically mapped following stone removal.

Projection space denoising with bilateral filtering and CT noise modeling for dose reduction in CT.

Purpose: To investigate a novel locally adaptive projection space denoising algorithm for low-dose CT data.

Methods: The denoising algorithm is based on bilateral filtering, which smooths values using a weighted average in a local neighborhood, with weights determined according to both spatial proximity and intensity similarity between the center pixel and the neighboring pixels. This filtering is locally adaptive and can preserve important edge information in the sinogram, thus maintaining high spatial resolution.