Microwave ablation for benign thyroid nodules with cosmetic problems and related factors for post-ablative complete relief: a two-center retrospective study.

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of ultrasound (US)-guided percutaneous MWA for benign thyroid nodules with cosmetic problems and identify related factors contributing to post-ablative complete relief (CR).

Methods: This retrospective study reviewed the efficacy of MWA in treating thyroid nodules in patients with cosmetic problems who underwent MWA from January 2021 to May 2023. Patients were followed up at 1, 3, and 6 months after MWA.

Ultrasound-guided percutaneous microwave ablation of primary hyperthyroidism: security and efficacy analysis.

Objectives: This study aimed to analyze the safety, efficacy, and application prospects of ultrasound-guided microwave ablation (MWA) in the treatment of primary hyperthyroidism.

Methods: Eight patients with primary hyperthyroidism who underwent ultrasound-guided glandular volume reduction between January 2021 and December 2022 were included in this study. Pre- and postablative examinations, including grayscale ultrasound, contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), laboratory examination, antithyroid drug (ATD) dosage, and quality of life (QoL) assessment via Thyroid-Specific Patient-Reported Outcome Short-Form (ThyPRO-39), were analyzed retrospectively.

A Prediction Model for Assessing the Efficacy of Thermal Ablation in Treating Benign Thyroid Nodules ≥ 2 cm: A Multi-Center Retrospective Study.

Objectives: To develop and validate a prediction model utilizing clinical and ultrasound (US) data for preoperative assessment of efficacy following US-guided thermal ablation (TA) in patients with benign thyroid nodules (BTNs) ≥ 2 cm.

Materials And Methods: We retrospectively assessed 962 patients with 1011 BTNs who underwent TA at four tertiary centers between May 2018 and July 2022. Ablation efficacy was categorized into therapeutic success (volume reduction rate [VRR] > 50%) and non-therapeutic success (VRR ≤ 50%).

Tele-Mentored Handheld Ultrasound System for General Practitioners: A Prospective, Descriptive Study in Remote and Rural Communities.

Background: Rural general practitioners (GPs) have insufficient diagnostic information to deal with complex clinical scenarios due to the inequality in medical imaging resources in rural and remote communities. The objective of this study is to explore the value of a tele-mentored handheld ultrasound (tele-HHUS) system, allowing GPs to provide ultrasound (US) services in rural and remote communities.

Methods: Overall, 708 patients underwent tele-HHUS examination between March and October 2021 and March and April 2022 across thirteen primary hospitals and two tertiary-care general hospitals.

Nanoparticle-enhanced radiotherapy synergizes with PD-L1 blockade to limit post-surgical cancer recurrence and metastasis.

Cancer recurrence after surgical resection (SR) is a considerable challenge, and the biological effect of SR on the tumor microenvironment (TME) that is pivotal in determining postsurgical treatment efficacy remains poorly understood. Here, with an experimental model, we demonstrate that the genomic landscape shaped by SR creates an immunosuppressive milieu characterized by hypoxia and high-influx of myeloid cells, fostering cancer progression and hindering PD-L1 blockade therapy. To address this issue, we engineer a radio-immunostimulant nanomedicine (IPI549@HMP) capable of targeting myeloid cells, and catalyzing endogenous HO into O to achieve hypoxia-relieved radiotherapy (RT).

Comparison of efficacy, safety, and patient satisfaction between thermal ablation, conventional/open thyroidectomy, and endoscopic thyroidectomy for symptomatic benign thyroid nodules.

Purpose: Thermal ablation (TA) is a minimally invasive treatment method for symptomatic benign thyroid nodules (BTNs). This study aimed to evaluate the value of TA by comparing the efficacy, safety, and patient satisfaction with conventional/open thyroidectomy (ConT) and endoscopic thyroidectomy (ET) for symptomatic BTNs.

Methods: Patients with symptomatic BTNs who underwent ConT, ET, or TA therapy between January 2018 and January 2020 were included.

Engineering ROS-Responsive Bioscaffolds for Disrupting Myeloid Cell-Driven Immunosuppressive Niche to Enhance PD-L1 Blockade-Based Postablative Immunotherapy.

The existence of inadequate ablation remains an important cause of treatment failure for loco-regional ablation therapies. Here, using a preclinical model, it is reported that inadequate microwave ablation (iMWA) induces immunosuppressive niche predominated by myeloid cells. The gene signature of ablated tumor presented by transcriptome analyses is highly correlated with immune checkpoint blocking (ICB) resistance.

Tailoring Chemoimmunostimulant Bioscaffolds for Inhibiting Tumor Growth and Metastasis after Incomplete Microwave Ablation.

Microwave ablation has attracted the most attention as a locoregional therapeutic method for solid neoplasms. However, the high incidence of incomplete ablation that could promote the rapid cancer progression still remains a challenge in clinic. Herein, we found that the high invasiveness of residual tumor following incomplete microwave ablation (iMWA) is mainly due to the myeloid cell-mediated immunosuppression.

Thermal ablation and immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma: Recent advances and future directions.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of most common cancers that cause death in the world. Thermal ablation (TA) is an important alternative treatment method for HCC patients who are not appropriate for surgery or liver transplantation. Particularly for small and early HCCs, TA can be considered as the first-line curative treatment.

Thermal Ablation of Benign Thyroid Nodules and Papillary Thyroid Microcarcinoma.

Due to the increasing rates of physical examination and application of advanced ultrasound machines, incidences of benign thyroid nodules (BTNs) and papillary thyroid microcarcinoma (PTMC) were dramatically up-regulated in recent years. Thermal ablation (TA) has been widely used and regarded as a safe and effective method to eliminate or reduce BTNs and recurrent low-risk PTMC. However, conclusions using TA to treat primary PTMC are controversial.

Guided Punctures with Ultrasound Volume Navigation in Percutaneous Transforaminal Endoscopic Discectomy: A Technical Note.

Objective: Ultrasound volume navigation (UVN) has been widely used for accurate guidance and decreased radiation exposure. However, few studies have focused on the clinical significance of UVN in guiding percutaneous puncture in percutaneous transforaminal endoscopic discectomy (PTED). We evaluated UVN to guide percutaneous puncture in PTED.

Three-dimensional shear wave elastography for differentiation of breast lesions: An initial study with quantitative analysis using three orthogonal planes.

Objectives: To prospectively evaluate the diagnostic performance of three-dimensional (3D) shear wave elastography (SWE) for breast lesions with quantitative stiffness information from transverse, sagittal and coronal planes.

Methods: Conventional ultrasound (US), two-dimensional (2D)-SWE and 3D-SWE were performed for 122 consecutive patients with 122 breast lesions before biopsy or surgical excision. Maximum elasticity values of Young's modulus (Emax) were recorded on 2D-SWE and three planes of 3D-SWE.

Complex cystic and solid breast lesions: Diagnostic performance of conventional ultrasound, strain imaging and point shear wave speed measurement.

Objective: To assess the performance of conventional high frequency ultrasound (US) and US elastography in diagnosis of complex cystic and solid breast lesions.

Methods: Ninety three lesions in 93 patients underwent conventional US and US elastography, including strain elastography, acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging, and point shear wave speed (SWS) measurement.

Results: Pathological examination revealed 31 (33.

A two-stage multi-view learning framework based computer-aided diagnosis of liver tumors with contrast enhanced ultrasound images.

Objective: With the fast development of artificial intelligence techniques, we proposed a novel two-stage multi-view learning framework for the contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) based computer-aided diagnosis for liver tumors, which adopted only three typical CEUS images selected from the arterial phase, portal venous phase and late phase.

Materials And Methods: In the first stage, the deep canonical correlation analysis (DCCA) was performed on three image pairs between the arterial and portal venous phases, arterial and delayed phases, and portal venous and delayed phases respectively, which then generated total six-view features. While in the second stage, these multi-view features were then fed to a multiple kernel learning (MKL) based classifier to further promote the diagnosis result.

Assessment of Virtual Touch Tissue Imaging Quantification and the Ultrasound Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System in Patients With Thyroid Nodules Referred for Biopsy.

Objectives: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of Virtual Touch tissue imaging quantification (VTIQ; Siemens Medical Solutions, Mountain View, CA) in combination with the Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TI-RADS) for assessing thyroid nodules referred for biopsy.

Methods: A total of 197 surgically or cytologically proven thyroid nodules in 187 patients were included. Nodules evaluated by conventional ultrasound (US) and VTIQ examinations were classified into US TI-RADS categories.

Malignancy risk stratification of thyroid nodules: comparisons of four ultrasound Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data Systems in surgically resected nodules.

To compare the efficiency of four different ultrasound (US) Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data Systems (TI-RADS) in malignancy risk stratification in surgically resected thyroid nodules (TNs). The study included 547 benign TNs and 464 malignant TNs. US images of the TNs were retrospectively reviewed and categorized according to the TI-RADSs published by Horvath E et al.

Ablative safety margin depicted by fusion imaging with post-treatment contrast-enhanced ultrasound and pre-treatment CECT/CEMRI after radiofrequency ablation for liver cancers.

Objective: To evaluate the value of fusion imaging with post-treatment contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) and pre-treatment contrast-enhanced CT/MRI (CECT/CEMRI) in evaluating ablative safety margin after percutaneous ultrasound (US)-guided radiofrequency ablation (RFA) for liver cancers.

Methods: 34 consecutive patients with 47 liver lesions who had undergone RFA were included. Fusion imaging with post-treatment CEUS and pre-treatment CECT/CEMRI was carried out to evaluate local treatment response and ablative safety margin within 1-3 days after RFA.

Quality Measurement of Two-dimensional Shear Wave Speed Imaging for Breast Lesions: the Associated Factors and the Impact to Diagnostic Performance.

This study aimed to identify the associated factors for quality measurement (QM) of shear wave speed (SWS) imaging and to validate the additional value of QM in the diagnosis of breast lesions. From September 2014 to February 2015, conventional ultrasound and SWS imaging were performed in 338 women with 361 breast lesions. Binary logistic regression was used to identify associated factors for QM.

Two-dimensional shear wave elastography of breast lesions: Comparison of two different systems.

Objective: To evaluate the diagnostic performance of two different shear wave elastography (SWE) techniques in distinguishing malignant breast lesions from benign ones.

Materials And Methods: From March 2016 to May 2016, a total of 153 breast lesions (mean diameter, 16.8 mm±10.

Comparison of Virtual Touch Tissue Imaging & Quantification (VTIQ) and Toshiba shear wave elastography (T-SWE) in diagnosis of thyroid nodules: Initial experience.

Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of two different 2D shear wave speed imaging techniques of Virtual Touch Tissue Imaging & Quantification (VTIQ) and Toshiba shear wave elastography (T-SWE) in predicting malignant thyroid nodules (TNs).

Materials And Methods: 75 TNs in 75 patients which were subject to both VTIQ and T-SWE examinations were enrolled and analyzed. Shear wave speed (SWS) values on VTIQ and T-SWE were computed (SWS_max, min, mean and median).

Virtual touch tissue imaging and quantification (VTIQ) in the evaluation of thyroid nodules: the associated factors leading to misdiagnosis.

To evaluate the associated factors leading to misdiagnosis with VTIQ for differentiation between benign from malignant thyroid nodules (TNs). The study included 238 benign TNs and 150 malignant TNs. Conventional ultrasound (US) features and VTIQ parameters were obtained and compared with the reference standard of histopathological and/or cytological results.

Comparison of fine needle aspiration and non-aspiration cytology for diagnosis of thyroid nodules: A prospective, randomized, and controlled trial.

Objectives: To compare the sampling efficiency and diagnostic performance of ultrasound (US)-guided fine-needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and fine-needle non-aspiration cytology (FNNAC) for thyroid nodules.

Materials And Methods: 629 thyroid nodules in 629 cases (477 females, 152 males) were randomly subjected to FNAC or FNNAC from Jun 2014 to Feb 2015. Diagnostic performance was calculated in reference to the histological findings or follow-up results.

Quality measurement on shear wave speed imaging: diagnostic value in differentiation of thyroid malignancy and the associated factors.

To evaluate the associated factors for quality measurement (QM) on shear wave speed (SWS) imaging and the additional value of QM for differentiation of thyroid nodules. A consecutive series of 238 patients with 254 thyroid nodules were enrolled. They were all evaluated by conventional ultrasound and SWS imaging and were finally proven pathologically.

Factors associated with initial incomplete ablation for benign thyroid nodules after radiofrequency ablation: First results of CEUS evaluation.

Objective: To assess the factors associated with initial incomplete ablation (ICA) after radiofrequency ablation for benign thyroid nodules (BTNs).

Materials And Methods: 69 BTNs (mean volume 6.35±5.

First experience of comparisons between two different shear wave speed imaging systems in differentiating malignant from benign thyroid nodules.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to comparatively evaluate the two different shear wave speed (SWS) imaging systems of Toshiba shear wave elastography (T-SWE) and SuperSonic SWE (S-SWE) in distinguishing malignant from benign thyroid nodules (TNs).

Materials And Methods: 140 patients with 140 focal TNs were enrolled and underwent T-SWE and S-SWE before fine-needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy or surgery. SWE indices of mean, standard deviation and maximum values (E-mean, E-SD and E-max) of elastic modulus in TNs were measured on a color-coded mapping.