Use of AI in Cardiac CT and MRI: A Scientific Statement from the ESCR, EuSoMII, NASCI, SCCT, SCMR, SIIM, and RSNA.

Artificial intelligence (AI) offers promising solutions for many steps of the cardiac imaging workflow, from patient and test selection through image acquisition, reconstruction, and interpretation, extending to prognostication and reporting. Despite the development of many cardiac imaging AI algorithms, AI tools are at various stages of development and face challenges for clinical implementation. This scientific statement, endorsed by several societies in the field, provides an overview of the current landscape and challenges of AI applications in cardiac CT and MRI.

Coronary Artery Calcium Scores After Prophylactic Premenopausal Bilateral Salpingo-Oophorectomy.

Background: Premenopausal risk-reducing salpingo-oophorectomy (RRSO) in women at high familial risk of ovarian cancer leads to immediate menopause. Although early natural menopause is associated with increased cardiovascular disease risk, evidence on long-term cardiovascular disease risk after early surgical menopause is scarce.

Objectives: We sought to determine the long-term influence of the timing of RRSO on the development of coronary artery calcium (CAC), an established marker for cardiovascular disease risk.

Repeatability of AI-based, automatic measurement of vertebral and cardiovascular imaging biomarkers in low-dose chest CT: the ImaLife cohort.

Objective: To evaluate the repeatability of AI-based automatic measurement of vertebral and cardiovascular markers on low-dose chest CT.

Methods: We included participants of the population-based Imaging in Lifelines (ImaLife) study with low-dose chest CT at baseline and 3-4 month follow-up. An AI system (AI-Rad Companion chest CT prototype) performed automatic segmentation and quantification of vertebral height and density, aortic diameters, heart volume (cardiac chambers plus pericardial fat), and coronary artery calcium volume (CACV).

CT-based airway changes after smoking cessation in the general population.

Purpose: Previous research has demonstrated improvements in CT-derived bronchial parameters in the first years after smoking cessation. This study investigates the association between longer smoking cessation duration and bronchial parameters in lung-healthy and lung-unhealthy ex-smokers from the general population.

Materials And Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis using low-dose CT scans of ex-smokers from the general population with at least 10 pack-years from the ImaLife study, a sub study within the Lifelines cohort.

Towards safe and reliable deep learning for lung nodule malignancy estimation using out-of-distribution detection.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) models may fail or suffer from reduced performance when applied to unseen data that differs from the training data distribution, referred to as dataset shift. Automatic detection of out-of-distribution (OOD) data contributes to safe and reliable clinical implementation of AI models. In this study, we propose a recognized OOD detection method that utilizes the Mahalanobis distance (MD) and compare its performance to widely known classical methods.

Myocardial Fibrosis Assessment at 3-T versus 5-T Myocardial Late Gadolinium Enhancement MRI: Early Results.

Background Cardiac MRI at 5 T has recently become available and potentially improves tissue contrast enhancement at gadolinium chelate-enhanced T1-weighted imaging. Purpose To evaluate the feasibility of 5-T myocardial late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) MRI in assessing myocardial fibrosis by comparing image quality and LGE quantification with reference-standard 3-T myocardial LGE MRI. Materials and Methods Consecutive patients with confirmed myocardial fibrosis on previous 3-T MRI scans between January 2023 and July 2023 prospectively underwent follow-up imaging from August 2023 to November 2023.

Endobronchial valve treatment improves chest-CT diaphragm configuration in COPD.

This study investigated the impact of bronchoscopic lung volume reduction treatment using endobronchial valves (EBV) on diaphragm configuration. We successfully analyzed the diaphragm index using a newly developed quantitative computed tomography (QCT) tool before and after EBV treatment in forty patients with severe emphysema. We evaluated whether changes in the diaphragm index were associated with improvements in forced expiratory volume in 1 s (FEV), residual volume (RV), Saint Georges Respiratory Questionnaire (SGRQ), and 6-min walking distance (6MWD) using Spearman's rho.

Short-term impact of cardiovascular screening by traditional risk assessment or coronary artery calcium score on health-related quality of life: the ROBINSCA trial.

Aims: Evidence on the impact of screening for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is important for policy decisions about screening implementation and to uncover teachable moments to motivate healthy lifestyle choices. It is unknown whether screening by cardiac computed tomography (CT) scan has a stronger impact on HRQoL than screening by traditional risk prediction models. The study aims to investigate differences in HRQoL across the screening process between participants who were randomized to CVD risk estimation by coronary artery calcium score or Systematic COronary Risk Evaluation.

Reference formulas for chest CT-derived lobar volumes in the lung-healthy general population.

Introduction: Lung hyperinflation, a key contributor to dyspnea in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), can be quantified via chest computed tomography (CT). Establishing reference equations for lobar volumes and total lung volume (TLV) can aid in evaluating lobar hyperinflation, especially for targeted lung volume reduction therapies.

Methods: The Imaging in Lifelines study (ImaLife) comprises 11,729 participants aged 45 and above with analyzed inspiratory low-dose thoracic CT scans.

Exploration of the relationship between general health-related problems and subclinical coronary artery disease: a cross-sectional study in a general population.

Objective: To explore associations between general health-related problems and subclinical coronary artery disease (CAD), determined by CT coronary calcium score (CT-CCS), in a general population.

Design: A cross-sectional design.

Setting: This study was performed in a prospective population-based cohort, examining the health and health-related behaviour of individuals living in the Northern Netherlands.

Recommendations for the creation of benchmark datasets for reproducible artificial intelligence in radiology.

Various healthcare domains have witnessed successful preliminary implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) solutions, including radiology, though limited generalizability hinders their widespread adoption. Currently, most research groups and industry have limited access to the data needed for external validation studies. The creation and accessibility of benchmark datasets to validate such solutions represents a critical step towards generalizability, for which an array of aspects ranging from preprocessing to regulatory issues and biostatistical principles come into play.

Association between skin autofluorescence and coronary calcification in the general population.

Objective: To address the relationship between tissue accumulation of advanced glycation end-products, assessed by skin autofluorescence (SAF), and subclinical atherosclerosis quantified with coronary artery calcium score (CACS) in the general Dutch population.

Methods: A total of 3,839 participants of the LifeLines Cohort Study without diabetes or cardiovascular disease were included in this cross-sectional evaluation. They underwent SAF measurement and cardiac computed tomography to measure CACS.

CT Myocardial Perfusion and CT-FFR versus Invasive FFR for Hemodynamic Relevance of Coronary Artery Disease.

Background CT-derived fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) and dynamic CT myocardial perfusion imaging enhance the specificity of coronary CT angiography (CCTA) for ruling out coronary artery disease (CAD). However, evidence on comparative diagnostic value remains scarce. Purpose To compare the diagnostic accuracy of CCTA plus CT-FFR, CCTA plus CT perfusion, and sequential CCTA plus CT-FFR and CT perfusion for detecting hemodynamically relevant CAD with that of invasive angiography.

Distribution of Solid Lung Nodules Presence and Size by Age and Sex in a Northern European Nonsmoking Population.

Background Most of the data regarding prevalence and size distribution of solid lung nodules originates from lung cancer screening studies that target high-risk populations or from Asian general cohorts. In recent years, the identification of lung nodules in non-high-risk populations, scanned for clinical indications, has increased. However, little is known about the presence of solid lung nodules in the Northern European nonsmoking population.

A Matter of Misunderstanding? Explaining (Mis)Perceptions of Electoral Integrity across 25 Different Nations.

In this paper, we investigate how trust in traditional and social media correlate with misperceptions of electoral integrity. Relying on insights from political communication research on exposure to misinformation and selective exposure mechanisms, as well as insights on the different roles of traditional and social media in different regime types, we argue that misperceptions of election integrity are likely driven in large part by the interplay between the trust people have in different media sources and the context (i.e.

On or off topic? Understanding the effects of issue-related political targeted ads.

Whilst data-driven strategies are allegedly prevalent in political campaigns, evidence regarding their actual effectiveness is scarce. This study investigates, from an individual perspective, the effect of issue congruency in political ads on immediate responses and voting behaviors. To reach our goal, we combined different types of data collection: mobile experience sampling method (mESM), panel survey, and content analysis.

Low-Dose CT-derived Bronchial Parameters in Individuals with Healthy Lungs.

Background CT-derived bronchial parameters have been linked to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and asthma severity, but little is known about these parameters in healthy individuals. Purpose To investigate the distribution of bronchial parameters at low-dose CT in individuals with healthy lungs from a Dutch general population. Materials and Methods In this prospective study, low-dose chest CT performed between May 2017 and October 2022 were obtained from participants who had completed the second-round assessment of the prospective, longitudinal Imaging in Lifelines study.