Publications by authors named "G Ascenti"
Objective: To investigate the potential role of dual-energy spectral computer tomography (CT) quantitative parameters in the definition of bladder cancer (BCa) pathological grading.
Methods: This retrospective study evaluated the use of spectral CT imaging features for BCa. From 2021 to 2023, 63 patients with histologically-confirmed BCa diagnosis were examined at our Institution.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to compare the effectiveness of dual-energy CT (DECT) iodine maps with traditional CT scans in diagnosing non-occlusive mesenteric ischemia (NOMI) using data from 142 patients who underwent surgery.
- Findings showed that iodine concentration measurements in the late arterial phase provided superior diagnostic ability (AUC of 0.966) for identifying ischemic bowel compared to both portal venous phase and conventional CT scans.
- The study concluded that late arterial phase iodine maps markedly enhance diagnostic accuracy for acute bowel ischemia, showing a very high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (96.48%) at a defined cutoff.
Dual-energy CT (DECT) is an innovative technology that is increasingly widespread in clinical practice. DECT allows for tissue characterization beyond that of conventional CT as imaging is performed using different energy spectra that can help differentiate tissues based on their specific attenuation properties at different X-ray energies. The most employed post-processing applications of DECT include virtual monoenergetic images (VMIs), iodine density maps, virtual non-contrast images (VNC), and virtual non-calcium (VNCa) for bone marrow edema (BME) detection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFConstrictive pericarditis (CP) is a rare condition that can affect the pericardium after every pericardial disease process and has been described even after SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccine. In CP, the affected pericardium, usually the inner layer, is noncompliant, constraining the heart to a fixed maximum volume and impairing the diastolic function. This leads to several clinical features, that, however, can be pleomorphic.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of a dual-energy computed tomography (DECT)-based material decomposition algorithm for iodine quantification and fat fraction analysis to detect lymph node metastases in breast cancer patients.
Materials And Methods: 30 female patients (mean age, 63.12 ± 14.