Dual Energy-Derived Metrics for Differentiating Adrenal Adenomas From Nonadenomas on Single-Phase Contrast-Enhanced CT.

Adrenal masses are often indeterminate on single-phase postcontrast CT. Dual-energy CT (DECT) with three-material decomposition algorithms may aid characterization. The purpose of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of metrics derived from portal venous phase DECT, including virtual noncontrast (VNC) attenuation, fat fraction, iodine density, and relative enhancement ratio, for characterizing adrenal masses.

Automated CT reformations reduce time and variability in trauma panscan exam completion.

Purpose: To test the hypothesis that an automated post-processing workflow reduces trauma panscan exam completion times and variability.

Methods: One-hundred-fifty consecutive trauma panscans performed between June 2018 and December 2019 were included, half before and half after implementation of an automated software-driven post-processing workflow. Acquisition and reconstruction timestamps were used to calculate total examination time (first acquisition to last reformation), setup time (between the non-contrast and contrast-enhanced acquisitions), and reconstruction time (for the contrast-enhanced reconstructions and reformations).

Texture Analysis as a Radiomic Marker for Differentiating Benign From Malignant Adrenal Tumors.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the use of texture analysis for differentiation between benign from malignant adrenal lesions on contrast-enhanced abdominal computed tomography (CT).

Methods: After institutional review board approval, a retrospective analysis was performed, including an electronic search of pathology records for all biopsied adrenal lesions. Patients were included if they also had a contrast-enhanced abdominal CT in the portal venous phase.

Imaging of Acute Hepatobiliary Dysfunction.

Abdominal pain is a common cause for emergency department visits in the United States, and biliary tract disease is the fifth most common cause of hospital admission. Common causes of acute hepatobiliary include gallstones and its associated complications and multiple other hepatobiliary etiologies, including infectious, inflammatory, vascular, and neoplastic causes. Postoperative complications of the biliary tract can result in an acute abdomen.

Acute Radiologic Manifestations of America's Opioid Epidemic.

The United States is in the midst of an opioid use epidemic, which has severe medical, social, and economic consequences. Addictions to and abuse of prescription and illicit opioids are increasing, and emergency department radiologists are increasingly being faced with the task of examining patients who present with opioid-related complications. These complications may be the result of direct drug toxicity or nonsterile injection of the drugs.

Texture analysis as a radiomic marker for differentiating renal tumors.

Purpose: To evaluate the utility of texture analysis for the differentiation of renal tumors, including the various renal cell carcinoma subtypes and oncocytoma.

Materials And Methods: Following IRB approval, a retrospective analysis was performed, including all patients with pathology-proven renal tumors and an abdominal computed tomography (CT) examination. CT images of the tumors were manually segmented, and texture analysis of the segmented tumors was performed.

Enhanced Laws textures: A potential MRI surrogate marker of hepatic fibrosis in a murine model.

Purpose: To compare enhanced Laws textures derived from parametric proton density (PD) maps to other MRI surrogate markers (T, PD, apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)) in assessing degrees of liver fibrosis in an ex vivo murine model of hepatic fibrosis imaged using 11.7T MRI.

Methods: This animal study was IACUC approved.

Application of texture analysis on parametric T and T maps for detection of hepatic fibrosis.

Purpose: To assess the utility of texture analysis of T and T maps for the detection of hepatic fibrosis in a murine model of hepatic fibrosis.

Materials And Methods: Following Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee approval, a dietary model of hepatic fibrosis was used and 15 ex vivo murine livers were examined. Images were acquired using a 30 mm bore 11.

Using texture analyses of contrast enhanced CT to assess hepatic fibrosis.

Purpose: To determine the ability of texture analyses of contrast-enhanced CT images for distinguishing between varying degrees of hepatic fibrosis in patients with chronic liver disease using histopathology as the reference standard.

Materials And Methods: Following IRB approval, 83 patients who underwent contrast enhanced 64-MDCT of the abdomen and pelvis in the portal venous phase between 12/2005 and 01/2013 and who had a liver biopsy within 6 months of the CT were included. An in-house developed, MATLAB-based texture analysis program was employed to extract 41 texture features from each of 5 axial segmented volumes of liver.

Utility of texture analysis for quantifying hepatic fibrosis on proton density MRI.

Purpose: To evaluate the potential utility of texture analysis of proton density maps for quantifying hepatic fibrosis in a murine model of hepatic fibrosis.

Materials And Methods: Following Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) approval, a dietary model of hepatic fibrosis was used and 15 ex vivo murine liver tissues were examined. All images were acquired using a 30 mm bore 11.

Evaluation of Acute Abdominal Pain in the Emergency Setting Using Computed Tomography Without Oral Contrast in Patients With Body Mass Index Greater Than 25.

Purpose: To evaluate the rate of delayed or missed diagnoses and need for additional computed tomography (CT) imaging in emergency department patients with abdominal pain who are imaged without oral contrast.

Materials And Methods: The institutional review board approved this Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant retrospective study; informed consent was waived. All consecutive adult patients with body mass index greater than 25 undergoing a CT abdomen/pelvis with intravenous contrast and without oral contrast with nontraumatic acute abdominal pain during a 16-month period at our academic tertiary care center were included.