Publications by authors named "Stoker J"
Background And Objective: Current guidelines on radiological follow-up (FU) for patients after treatment for nonmetastatic renal cell carcinoma (RCC) are not based on robust evidence. This review aims to evaluate whether the 2022 European Association of Urology (EAU) guidelines are noninferior, in terms of recurrence and (overall) survival, to a higher imaging frequency of computed tomography (CT) of the chest and abdomen.
Methods: A literature search of relevant search machines (PubMed/Medline and EMBASE) was performed up to May 29, 2024.
Introduction: Hysterosalpingography (HSG) and hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) are commonly used tubal patency tests during the fertility work-up. Besides its diagnostic purpose, HSG with oil-based contrast can also be applied for its fertility-enhancing effect, by tubal flushing. HyFoSy is considered as less painful compared with HSG, it lacks exposure to iodinated contrast medium and ionising radiation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Total tumor volume (TTV) is associated with overall and recurrence-free survival in patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRLM). However, the labor-intensive nature of such manual assessments has hampered the clinical adoption of TTV as an imaging biomarker. This study aimed to develop and externally evaluate a CRLM auto-segmentation model on CT scans, to facilitate the clinical adoption of TTV.
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- The study assesses the effectiveness of an AI algorithm for detecting pulmonary nodules using ultra-low-dose CT scans in emergency departments, highlighting its role in improving diagnosis.
- A total of 870 patients were included, with the AI identifying 104 true positives but also generating 1,758 false positives, indicating a high trade-off between missed nodules and unnecessary alerts.
- The conclusion emphasizes that while AI significantly increases the detection of potentially harmful nodules (5.8 times more), it also raises the rate of false positives (42.9 times more), which can lead to additional unneeded follow-ups.
Purpose: To assess the diagnostic performance of Diffusion Weighted Imaging (DWI) and provide optimal apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) cut-off values for differentiating between benign and metastatic lymph nodes in women with uterine cervical cancer.
Method: MEDLINE and EMBASE databases were searched. Methodological quality was assessed with QUADAS-2.
Introduction: Postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF) occurs in 25% of patients undergoing a high-risk pancreatoduodenectomy (PD) and is a driving cause of major morbidity, mortality, prolonged hospital stay and increased costs after PD. There is a need for perioperative methods to decrease these risks. In recent studies, preoperative chemoradiotherapy in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) reduced the rate of POPF seemingly due to radiation-induced pancreatic fibrosis.
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- The study aims to validate the MAGNIFI-CD index as an effective tool for monitoring treatment responses in patients with perianal fistulising Crohn's disease (pfCD).
- It analyzed data from 65 patients treated surgically or medically, showing a significant decrease in MAGNIFI-CD scores for those who responded to treatment and excellent agreement between two independent radiologists scoring the index.
- The research establishes key cut-off values for determining treatment responses, suggesting that the MAGNIFI-CD index is a reliable and responsive MRI scoring method for this condition.
Background: Currently available tools for noninvasive motility quantification of the small intestine are limited to dynamic 2D MRI scans, which are limited in their ability to differentiate between types of intestinal motility.
Purpose: To develop a method for quantification and characterization of small intestinal motility in 3D, capable of differentiating motile, non-motile and peristaltic motion patterns.
Study Type: Prospective.
Study Question: Does hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) prior to hysterosalpingography (HSG) or HSG prior to HyFoSy affect visible tubal patency when compared HSG or HyFoSy alone?
Summary Answer: Undergoing either HyFoSy or HSG prior to tubal patency testing by the alternative method does not demonstrate a significant difference in visible tubal patency when compared to HyFoSy or HSG alone.
What Is Known Already: HyFoSy and HSG are two commonly used visual tubal patency tests with a high and comparable diagnostic accuracy for evaluating tubal patency. These tests may also improve fertility, although the underlying mechanism is still not fully understood.
Article Synopsis
- Traditional bolus materials in radiotherapy help optimize dose delivery to superficial targets, but they fall short for specialized cases like cavity filling, prompting the exploration of 3D printing as a solution.
- The study aims to implement a comprehensive 3D printed bolus solution using failure modes and effects analysis (FMEA) to enhance workflow and quality assurance in a clinical setting.
- The results showed a detailed workflow with numerous steps and potential failure modes, emphasizing the importance of early collaboration between physics and dosimetry to ensure safe and effective use of the new silicone bolus designs.
Article Synopsis
- A study was conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of MR enterography in characterizing strictures caused by Crohn's disease and its correlation with stricture severity.
- The research involved a retrospective analysis of patient data collected from two major clinics, examining various MR enterography features through assessments by trained radiologists over a significant time period.
- Results indicated that certain features of strictures, like length and associated bowel dilation, showed strong reliability in measuring severity, which can help improve clinical decision-making and drug development for treating this condition.
Article Synopsis
- The study focused on improving dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI by optimizing pseudo-spiral (PS) k-space sampling patterns, which are crucial for obtaining high-quality images while minimizing undersampling issues.* -
- Researchers simulated contrast agent inflow in different abdominal organs and evaluated 704 sampling and reconstruction methods based on image quality and pharmacokinetic parameter accuracy, eventually identifying a superior PS sampling strategy.* -
- The best strategy, which uses a specific distribution of readouts and regularization techniques, resulted in sharper images with fewer artifacts in healthy participants and showed promising results in a patient with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).*
Article Synopsis
- The study evaluated the prognostic significance of total tumor volume (TTV) in predicting early recurrence and overall survival in patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) who received systemic therapy followed by local treatment.
- Results showed that both baseline TTV and changes in TTV after treatment were significantly associated with early recurrence and overall survival, while conventional measures like RECIST1.1 did not show predictive value.
- Findings were validated in an external patient cohort, confirming that TTV provides important prognostic information beyond traditional clinical factors for patients with initially unresectable CRLM.
Background: Disease recurrence remains one of the biggest concerns in patients after resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC). Despite (neo)adjuvant systemic therapy, most patients experience local and/or distant PDAC recurrence within 2 years. High-level evidence regarding the benefits of recurrence-focused surveillance after PDAC resection is missing, and the impact of early detection and treatment of recurrence on survival and quality of life is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Abdominal computed tomography (CT) is the standard imaging modality for detection and staging in patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). Although liver magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is superior to CT in detecting small lesions, guidelines are ambiguous regarding the added value of an additional liver MRI in the surgical workup of patients with CRLM. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to evaluate the clinical added value of liver MRI in patients eligible for resection or ablation of CRLM based on CT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Mesenchymal stem cell treatment (MST) has emerged as a new therapeutic strategy for Crohn's perianal fistulas. It has been demonstrated that a fibrotic tract on MRI with a MAGNIFI-CD score ≤ 6 is the best predictor for long-term clinical closure. Therefore, the aim of the current study was to analyse the effectiveness of MST for complex Crohn's perianal fistulas based on MRI.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is a non-invasive method to measure the viscoelastic properties of tissue and has been applied in multiple abdominal organs. However, abdominal MRE suffers from detrimental breathing motion causing misalignment of structures between repeated acquisitions for different MRE dimensions (e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: [F]FDG-PET/CT is used for staging and treatment planning in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC). We studied if a PET-based prediction model could provide additional risk stratification beyond International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) staging in our population with LACC to aid treatment decision making.
Methods: In total, 183 patients with LACC treated with chemoradiation between 2013 and 2018 were included.
Study Question: What are the costs and effects of tubal patency testing by hysterosalpingo-foam sonography (HyFoSy) compared to hysterosalpingography (HSG) in infertile women during the fertility work-up?
Summary Answer: During the fertility work-up, clinical management based on the test results of HyFoSy leads to slightly lower, though not statistically significant, live birth rates, at lower costs, compared to management based on HSG results.
What Is Known Already: Traditionally, tubal patency testing during the fertility work-up is performed by HSG. The FOAM trial, formally a non-inferiority study, showed that management decisions based on the results of HyFoSy resulted in a comparable live birth rate at 12 months compared to HSG (46% versus 47%; difference -1.
Importance: When considering nonoperative treatment in a patient with acute appendicitis, it is crucial to accurately rule out complicated appendicitis. The Atema score, also referred to as the Scoring System of Appendicitis Severity (SAS), has been designed to differentiate between uncomplicated and complicated appendicitis but has not been prospectively externally validated.
Objective: To externally validate the SAS and, in case of failure, to develop an improved SAS (2.
Objectives: Lymphopenia at hospital admission occurs in over one-third of patients with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP), yet its clinical relevance and pathophysiological implications remain underexplored. We evaluated outcomes and immune features of patients with lymphopenic CAP (L-CAP), a previously described immunophenotype characterized by admission lymphocyte count <0.724 × 10 cells/L.
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