The influence of serum uric acid on coronary atherosclerosis plaque phenotypes by computed tomography angiography: The missing link?

Background And Aims: The interaction of serum uric acid (SUA) with atherogenesis is incompletely understood. Aim of our study was to investigate the association of SUA levels with coronary plaque composition including high-risk-plaque (HRP) features by coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) and for the prediction of major adverse cardiac events (MACE).

Methods And Results: 1242 patients (age 66.

Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum: a distinct adipose tissue type in COPD?

Objective: Lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum (LHIS) is a distinct section of epicardial adipose tissue. However, its association with COPD is poorly documented.

Methods: Patients undergoing coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) for clinical indications were recruited retrospectively and screened for LHIS and COPD.

Does the absence of breast arterial calcification (BAC 0) rule out severe coronary artery disease? A computed tomography angiography study.

Background: Cardiovascular risk (CV)-stratification in females is challenging, and current models miss a high proportion at-risk. Breast arterial calcifications (BAC) are independent prognosticators, but their interaction with the coronary artery disease profile by computed tomography (CT) is controverse, and the role of BAC 0 unclear.

Objective: to investigate the interaction of BAC with coronary CT outcomes (CAC score, coronary stenosis severity and high-risk plaque (HRP).

The interaction of lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum with pericardial adipose tissue biomarkers by computed tomography.

Objective: Novel pericardial adipose tissue imaging biomarkers are currently under investigation for cardiovascular risk stratification. However, a specific compartment of the epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), lipomatous hypertrophy of the interatrial septum (LHIS), is included in the pericardial fat volume (PCFV) quantification software. Our aim was to evaluate LHIS by computed tomography angiography (CTA), to elaborate differences to other pericardial adipose tissue components (EAT) and paracardial adipose tissue (PAT), and to compare CT with [F]FDG-PET.

The Neck-Persistency-Net: a three-dimensional, convolution, deep neural network aids in distinguishing vital from non-vital persistent cervical lymph nodes in advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma after primary concurrent radiochemotherapy.

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic performance (DP) of the high-resolution contrast computed tomography (HR-contrast-CT) based Neck-Persistency-Net in distinguishing vital from non-vital persistent cervical lymph nodes (pcLNs) in patients with advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) following primary concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CRT) with [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and high-resolution contrast-enhanced computed tomography ([18F]FDG-PET-CT). Furthermore, the Neck-Persistency-Net's potential to justify omitting post-CRT neck dissection (ND) without risking treatment delays or preventing unnecessary surgery was explored.

Methods: All HNSCC patients undergoing primary CRT followed by post-CRT-ND for pcLNs recorded in the institutional HNSCC registry were analyzed.

Micro-robotic percutaneous targeting of type II endoleaks in the angio-suite.

Purpose: Endovascular aneurysm repair has emerged as the standard therapy for abdominal aortic aneurysms. In 9-30% of cases, retrograde filling of the aneurysm sac through patent branch arteries may result in persistence of blood flow outside the graft and within the aneurysm sac. This condition is called an endoleak type II, which may be treated by catheter-based embolization in case of continued sac enlargement.

Gender differences in the diagnostic efficacy of coronary CTA: Overutilization of coronary CTA in pre- and perimenopausal females?

Objectives: Public campaigns such as the "Go-red-for-women"-initiative have raised heart-disease awareness and may trigger overutilization of coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA). Objective was to investigate the diagnostic efficacy of coronary CTA stratified by age and gender.

Methods: 1882 consecutive patients (58.

Photon-Counting Detector Computed Tomography (PCD-CT): A New Era for Cardiovascular Imaging? Current Status and Future Outlooks.

Photon-counting detector computed tomography (PCD-CT) represents a revolutionary new generation of computed tomography (CT) for the imaging of patients with cardiovascular diseases. Since its commercial market introduction in 2021, numerous studies have identified advantages of this new technology in the field of cardiovascular imaging, including improved image quality due to an enhanced contrast-to-noise ratio, superior spatial resolution, reduced artifacts, and a reduced radiation dose. The aim of this narrative review was to discuss the current scientific literature, and to find answers to the question of whether PCD-CT has yet led to a true step-change and significant progress in cardiovascular imaging.

Major cardiovascular events in patients with cardiovascular monosodium urate deposits in atherosclerotic plaques.

Objective: To determine the association of cardiovascular atherosclerotic plaque monosodium urate deposits with the occurrence of major cardiovascular events in gout and hyperuricemia patients.

Methods: This retrospective cohort study included patients with clinically suspicion of gout, who performed a dual energy computed tomography of the affected limb and thorax between June 1st, 2012 and December 5th, 2019. Clinical and laboratory parameters were retrieved from patientś charts.

CT comparison of the nasal airway anterior and posterior to the piriform aperture in patients with and without nasal obstruction.

Background: Nasal airway stenosis may lie anterior and/or posterior to the piriform aperture. We intended to compare the nasal airway anterior and posterior to the piriform aperture in patients with and without nasal obstruction.

Methods: Segmented computed tomography cross-sectional areas of the nasal airway anterior (CT-CSA) and posterior to the piriform aperture (at the level of the head of the inferior turbinate; CT-CSA) were compared between patients with nasal obstruction (cases) and trauma controls.

Prediction of high coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores from aortic arch calcification: An efficient tool for selection of non-optimal candidates for coronary CTA?

Purpose: Overutilization of healthcare resources is causing a high socioeconomic burden. Patients with high coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores > 1000AU are not optimal candidates for coronary CTA and better suited for other diagnostic strategies. Therefore, our objective was to evaluate whether a 4-scale aortic arch calcification severity (AoArCa) score from CT and X-Ray predicts high-CAC scores.

Radiomic Assessment of Radiation-Induced Alterations of Skeletal Muscle Composition in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma within the Currently Clinically Defined Optimal Time Window for Salvage Surgery-A Pilot Study.

Patients with locally advanced head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) frequently require primary radiochemotherapy (RCT). Despite intensity modulation, the desired radiation-induced effects observed in HNSCC may also be observed as side effects in healthy tissue, e.g.

Prediction of the as Low as Diagnostically Acceptable CT Dose for Identification of the Inferior Alveolar Canal Using 3D Convolutional Neural Networks with Multi-Balancing Strategies.

Ionizing radiation is necessary for diagnostic imaging and deciding the right radiation dose is extremely critical to obtain a decent quality image. However, increasing the dosage to improve the image quality has risks due to the potential harm from ionizing radiation. Thus, finding the optimal as low as diagnostically acceptable (ALADA) dosage is an open research problem that has yet to be tackled using artificial intelligence (AI) methods.

Can ultra-low-dose computed tomography reliably diagnose and classify maxillofacial fractures in the clinical routine?

Purpose: Maxillofacial trauma predominantly affects young adults between 20 and 40 years of age. Although radioprotection is a legal requirement, the significant potential of dose reduction in computed tomography (CT) is still underused in the clinical routine. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether maxillofacial fractures can be reliably detected and classified using ultra-low-dose CT.