Diagnostic performance of radiologists in distinguishing post-COVID-19 residual abnormalities from interstitial lung abnormalities.

Objective: Distinguishing post-COVID-19 residual abnormalities from interstitial lung abnormalities (ILA) on CT can be challenging if clinical information is limited. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of radiologists in distinguishing post-COVID-19 residual abnormalities from ILA.

Methods: This multi-reader, multi-case study included 60 age- and sex-matched subjects with chest CT scans.

ESR Essentials: imaging in fibrotic lung diseases-practice recommendations by the European Society of Thoracic Imaging.

Fibrotic lung diseases (FLDs) represent a subgroup of interstitial lung diseases (ILDs), which can progress over time and carry a poor prognosis. Imaging has increased diagnostic discrimination in the evaluation of FLDs. International guidelines have stated the role of radiologists in the diagnosis and management of FLDs, in the context of the interdisciplinary discussion.

Lung and Liver Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy During Mechanically Assisted Deep Inspiration Breath-Holds: A Prospective Feasibility Trial.

Purpose: Radiation therapy for tumors subject to breathing-related motion during breath-holds (BHs) has the potential to substantially reduce the irradiated volume. Mechanically assisted and noninvasive ventilation (MANIV) could ensure the target repositioning accuracy during each BH while facilitating treatment feasibility through oxygen supplementation and a perfectly replicated mechanical support. However, there is currently no clinical evidence substantiating the use of MANIV-induced BH for moving tumors.

Secondary organizing pneumonia associated with protracted COVID: A case series.

Objectives: Immunocompromised B-cell-depleted patients are at risk of developing protracted COVID-19, a clinical syndrome characterized by prolonged viral shedding and respiratory symptoms that can lead to hypoxemic pneumonia. Our aim is to describe this unusual condition and its treatment.

Patients And Methods: This monocentric retrospective study reports six cases of severe organizing pneumonia that developed during the clinical course of protracted COVID-19.

Radiomics and Delta-Radiomics Signatures to Predict Response and Survival in Patients with Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Treated with Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors.

The aim of our study was to determine the potential role of CT-based radiomics in predicting treatment response and survival in patients with advanced NSCLC treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors. We retrospectively included 188 patients with NSCLC treated with PD-1/PD-L1 inhibitors from two independent centers. Radiomics analysis was performed on pre-treatment contrast-enhanced CT.

Strategies to safely rule out pulmonary embolism in COVID-19 outpatients: a multicenter retrospective study.

Objectives: The objective was to define a safe strategy to exclude pulmonary embolism (PE) in COVID-19 outpatients, without performing CT pulmonary angiogram (CTPA).

Methods: COVID-19 outpatients from 15 university hospitals who underwent a CTPA were retrospectively evaluated. D-Dimers, variables of the revised Geneva and Wells scores, as well as laboratory findings and clinical characteristics related to COVID-19 pneumonia, were collected.

Implementation of artificial intelligence in thoracic imaging-a what, how, and why guide from the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI).

This statement from the European Society of Thoracic imaging (ESTI) explains and summarises the essentials for understanding and implementing Artificial intelligence (AI) in clinical practice in thoracic radiology departments. This document discusses the current AI scientific evidence in thoracic imaging, its potential clinical utility, implementation and costs, training requirements and validation, its' effect on the training of new radiologists, post-implementation issues, and medico-legal and ethical issues. All these issues have to be addressed and overcome, for AI to become implemented clinically in thoracic radiology.

Partial anomalous pulmonary venous return in adults: Insight into pulmonary hypertension.

Background: Partial anomalous pulmonary venous return (PAPVR) is a rare condition that may lead to pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We sought to determine the prevalence of PAPVR, the follow-up rate of incidentally discovered PAPVR, the repercussions of volume and pressure overload on the right ventricle (RV), and the prevalence and predictors of PAH.

Methods And Results: Fifty PAPVR patients aged ≥18 years were included.

Platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome in a postoperative patient: a case report.

Background: We report a case of platypnea-orthodeoxia syndrome observed in a complex clinical situation associating a bilateral pleural effusion, lobar pulmonary embolism, and a partial anomalous pulmonary venous return.

Case Presentation: A 57-year-old Caucasian woman developed acute dyspnea in the postoperative course of an elective gynecological surgery for advanced stage ovarian cancer. Preoperative evaluation had failed to reveal any respiratory or cardiac problem.

Real-life prevalence of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung diseases.

The concept of progressive fibrosing interstitial lung disease (PF-ILD) has recently emerged. However, real-life proportion of PF-ILDs outside IPF is still hard to evaluate. Therefore, we sought to estimate the proportion of PF-ILD in our ILD cohort.

COVID-19 pneumonia imaging follow-up: when and how? A proposition from ESTI and ESR.

This document from the European Society of Thoracic Imaging (ESTI) and the European Society of Radiology (ESR) discusses the role of imaging in the long-term follow-up of COVID-19 patients, to define which patients may benefit from imaging, and what imaging modalities and protocols should be used. Insights into imaging features encountered on computed tomography (CT) scans and potential pitfalls are discussed and possible areas for future review and research are also included. KEY POINTS: • Post-COVID-19 pneumonia changes are mainly consistent with prior organizing pneumonia and are likely to disappear within 12 months of recovery from the acute infection in the majority of patients.

Tumor response to EGFR/BRAF/MEK co-inhibition in a patient with EGFR mutated lung adenocarcinoma developing a BRAF mutation as an acquired resistance mechanism.

EGFR-mutant adenocarcinomas represent 12% of unselected lung adenocarcinomas and 44% of never smoker adenocarcinomas in the Caucasian population. Activating mutations like exon19 deletion or exon21 Leu858Arg point mutations are predictive of tumor response to EGFR tyrosine kinase inhibitors. Unfortunately, acquired resistance inevitably occurs by the development of novel EGFR mutations, mutations in other genes, gene amplification, gene fusion or tumor transformation.

Pulmonary tumor thrombotic microangiopathy in a patient with a metastatic urothelial carcinoma.

A 78-year-old woman was admitted for acute dyspnoea. One year before, she had been treated with cisplatin and gemcitabine for a high grade urothelial carcinoma. Immunotherapy was discussed 9 months later due the progression of bone metastases but could not be administered before this episode of respiratory distress.

Integrative respiratory follow-up of severe COVID-19 reveals common functional and lung imaging sequelae.

Background: COVID-19 pandemic resulted in an unprecedented number of hospitalizations in general wards and intensive care units (ICU). Severe and critical COVID-19 patients suffer from extensive pneumonia; therefore, long-term respiratory sequelae may be expected.

Research Question: We conducted a cohort study to determine respiratory sequelae in patients with severe and critical COVID-19.

Vertebral uptake of Tc-macroaggregated albumin during lung perfusion scanning.

A 53-year-old female underwent a lung ventilation/perfusion scintigraphy (V/Q scan) in the workup of extensive thrombosis of the left subclavian and internal jugular veins. The perfusion lung scan visualized an atypical uptake in the thoracic vertebrae. A chest Computed Tomography (CT) scan demonstrated unusual tortuous and opacified thoracic superficial veins, collaterals of the lateral thoracic vein.

Short telomeres increase the risk of severe COVID-19.

Telomeres are non-coding DNA sequences that protect chromosome ends and shorten with age. Short telomere length (TL) is associated with chronic diseases and immunosenescence. The main risk factor for mortality of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is older age, but outcome is very heterogeneous among individuals of the same age group.

Carcinoid Heart Disease on Computed Tomography.

Carcinoid tumors can release hormones responsible of cardiac valves fibrosis known as carcinoid heart disease.

Hazardous Removal of a Misplaced Nasogastric Tube.

Careful analysis of tubes positioning on chest X-ray not only reveals misplacement but also helps to plan a safe removal.

Familial hypersensitivity pneumonitis triggered by exposure during carpooling.

https://bit.ly/3hzvE4w.

COVID-19 Infection in Kidney Transplant Recipients: A Single-Center Case Series of 22 Cases From Belgium.

Rationale & Objective: The world is facing a global pandemic caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Although kidney transplant recipients are at increased risk for viral infections, the impact of their chronic immunosuppressed status on the risk for acquiring coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) and disease severity is unknown.

Study Design: All cases of COVID-19 infection in our cohort of kidney transplant recipients were prospectively monitored.

Pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease: diagnostic value of pulmonary artery distensibility.

Objectives: To evaluate how pulmonary artery (PA) distensibility performs in detecting pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease (PH-LHD) in comparison with parameters from ungated computed tomography (CT) and echocardiography.

Methods: One hundred patients (79 men, mean age = 63 ± 17 years) with either severe heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), aortic stenosis, or primary mitral regurgitation prospectively underwent right heart catheterization, ungated CT, ECG-gated CT, and echocardiography. During the ECG-gated CT, the right PA distensibility was calculated.

Pulmonary hypertension detection by computed tomography pulmonary transit time in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

Aims: To evaluate the relationships between pulmonary transit time (PTT), cardiac function, and pulmonary haemodynamics in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and to explore how PTT performs in detecting pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Methods And Results: In this prospective study, 57 patients with advanced HFrEF [49 men, 51 years ± 8, mean left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction 26% ± 8] underwent echocardiography, right heart catheterization, and cardiac computed tomography (CT). PTT was measured as the time interval between peaks of attenuation in right ventricle (RV) and LV and was compared between patients with or without PH and 15 controls.