Meta-analysis of 5-day preoperative radiotherapy for soft tissue sarcoma (5D-PREORTS).

Background And Purpose: Although the role of conventionally fractionated radiotherapy (RT) in combination with surgery in the limb-sparing treatment of soft tissue sarcoma (STS) patients is well established, the effectiveness and safety of 5-day preoperative radiotherapy (RT) remain controversial. We performed a meta-analysis to evaluate the treatment outcomes of 5-day preoperative RT using ≥ 5 Gy per fraction with contemporary radiotherapy techniques.

Materials And Methods: Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and the proceedings of annual meetings through March 2022 were used to identify eligible studies.

Activity-based cost analysis of contrast-enhanced ultrasonography (CEUS) related to the diagnostic impact in focal liver lesion characterisation.

Purpose: This study was done to assess the clinical-diagnostic impact and cost of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) versus computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in the characterisation of focal liver lesions.

Materials And Methods: CEUS with sulphur hexafluoride-filled microbubbles (SonoVue bolus 2.4 ml) was performed in 157 patients with 160 focal liver lesions identified by other diagnostic techniques.

Diagnostic imaging costs before and after digital tomosynthesis implementation in patient management after detection of suspected thoracic lesions on chest radiography.

Objectives: To evaluate diagnostic imaging costs before and after DTS implementation in patients with suspected thoracic lesions on CXR.

Methods: Four hundred sixty-five patients (263 male, 202 female; age, 72.47 ± 11.

The role of CEUS in the characterization of hepatocellular nodules detected during the US surveillance program--current practices in Europe.

The basic pathological feature for the differential diagnosis between hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and non-malignant hepatocellular nodules in cirrhotic patients detected during ultrasound (US) is the vascular supply to the nodule. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are considered reference imaging techniques for depicting hepatocellular nodule vascularity in the noninvasive diagnosis of HCC. Contrast-enhanced US (CEUS) improves the diagnostic performance of unenhanced US in the diagnosis of HCC, giving an overall diagnostic accuracy that is similar to that of CT, even for nodules smaller than 2 cm.

64-Slice CT coronary angiography versus conventional coronary angiography: activity-based cost analysis.

Purpose: This study was done to analyse the costs of 64-slice computed tomography (CT) coronary angiography and conventional coronary angiography and determine the cost-effectiveness of the two modalities.

Materials And Methods: Detailed activity-based cost analyses of the two modalities were carried out at the departments of radiology and cardiology of a teaching hospital. The differential costs (equipment, variable, personnel), common costs and external costs were estimated.

MR angiography versus intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography of the lower extremities: activity-based cost analysis.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse the costs pertaining to the radiology department of magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) and intra-arterial digital subtraction angiography (DSA) in the evaluation of arterial disease of the lower limbs.

Materials And Methods: The differential cost of the two procedures, i.e.

Cost analysis of equipment failure of a radiology department and possible choices about maintenance.

Purpose: Our aim was to evaluate the economic impact of equipment failures in a radiology department with a view to guiding maintenance policy decisions.

Material And Methods: We assessed the negative economic impact caused by the interruption of activity of a radiodiagnostics section due to equipment failure, taking into account: the effects occurring during the first day of equipment down-time (assuming that the equipment failure occurs in the middle of the shift) and the effects during the following days until the repair of the failure; the effects occurring in the short- and long-term. To exemplify the negative impact of inactivity due to equipment failure, we chose three radiology sections with different levels of technological and operational complexity (chest radiology, gastrointestinal radiology and remote-controlled diagnostics).

Cost analysis of different protocols for imaging a patient with acute flank pain.

The aim of this study was to analyse the costs of different diagnostic approaches to patients with acute flank pain. Four different diagnostic approaches were considered: (a) spiral CT without contrast medium (CM); (b) plain film, ultrasonography (US) and intravenous urography (IVU)--the latter procedure is used in our department in cases still unsolved following the former investigations (28% in our experience); (c) plain film, US and spiral CT without CM (as an alternative to IVU in 28% of cases); and (d) IVU. The cost of each procedure in a university hospital was calculated, following analysis of the differential costs of each investigation (equipment, depreciation and maintenance costs, related materials and services, radiologists, radiographers, nurses) and their common costs (auxiliary personnel and indirect internal costs).

Digital vs conventional radiography: cost and revenue analysis.

The objective of this study was to analyse and compare the operating and investment costs of two radiographic systems, a conventional and a digital one, and to evaluate the cost/revenue ratio of the two systems. The radiological activity over 1 year for chest and skeletal exams was evaluated: 13,401 chest and 7,124 skeletal exams were considered. The following parameters of variable costs were evaluated: the difference between variable proportional costs of the two technologies, the effective variable cost of any size film, including the chemicals, and for different sizes of digital film, variable costs of chest plus skeletal exams performed with the two techniques.