Journal of Thoracic Imaging

PURPOSE: Intravenous contrast poses challenges to computed tomography (CT) muscle density analysis. We developed and tested corrections for contrast-enhanced CT muscle density to improve muscle analysis and the utility of CT scans for the assessment of myosteatosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using retrospective images from 240 adults who received routine abdominal CT imaging from March to November 2020 with weight-based iodine contrast, we obtained paraspinal muscle density measurements from noncontrast (NC), arterial, and venous-phase images...

PURPOSE: Military deployment to dusty, austere environments in Southwest Asia and Afghanistan is associated with symptomatic airways diseases including asthma and bronchiolitis. The utility of chest high-resolution computed tomographic (HRCT) imaging in lung disease diagnosis in this population is poorly understood. We investigated visual assessment of HRCT for identifying deployment-related lung disease compared with healthy controls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Chest HRCT images from 46 healthy controls and 45 symptomatic deployed military personnel with clinically confirmed asthma and/or biopsy-confirmed distal lung disease were scored by 3 independent thoracic radiologists...

PURPOSE: The success of cancer screening depends on patient adherence to the screening program. The purpose of this study is to assess how the level of education might affect participants' compliance with screening in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Secondary data analyses of the participants in the NLST were performed. A total of 50,104 participants were included in this study. Participants who enrolled in the trial but refused the initial screening were compared with those who completed the screening...

PURPOSE: To quantitatively analyze lung elasticity in idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) using elastic registration based on 3-dimensional pulmonary magnetic resonance imaging (3D-PMRI) and to assess its' correlations with the severity of IPF patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty male patients with IPF (mean age: 62±6 y) and 30 age-matched male healthy controls (mean age: 62±6 y) were prospectively enrolled. 3D-PMRI was acquired with a 3-dimensional ultrashort echo time sequence in end-inspiration and end-expiration...

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify differences in imaging features between patients with confirmed right middle lobe (RML) torsion compared to those suspected yet without torsion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study entailing a search of radiology reports from April 1, 2014, to April 15, 2021, resulted in 52 patients with suspected yet without lobar torsion and 4 with confirmed torsion, supplemented by 2 additional cases before the search period for a total of 6 confirmed cases...

PURPOSE: The main objective of this study was to identify risk factors for post-percutaneous transthoracic lung biopsy (PTLB) pneumothorax and to establish and validate a predictive score for pneumothorax occurrence to identify patients eligible for outpatient care. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients who underwent PTLB between November 1, 2012 and March 1, 2017 were retrospectively evaluated for clinical and radiologic factors potentially related to pneumothorax occurrence...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the role of quantitative features of intranodular vessels based on deep learning in distinguishing pulmonary adenocarcinoma invasiveness. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This retrospective study included 512 confirmed ground-glass nodules from 474 patients with 241 precursor glandular lesions (PGL), 126 minimally invasive adenocarcinomas (MIA), and 145 invasive adenocarcinomas (IAC). The pulmonary blood vessels were reconstructed on noncontrast computed tomography images using deep learning-based region-segmentation and region-growing techniques...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

PURPOSE: Pericardial fat (PF) and epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) may enhance the proinflammatory response in corona virus-19 (COVID-19) patients. Higher PF and EAT volumes might result in multiorgan failure and explain unfavorable trajectories.The aim of this study was to examine the association between the volume of PF and EAT and multiorgan failure over time. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients with an available chest computed tomography were prospectively included (March-June 2020)...

Radiologists fulfill a vital role in the multidisciplinary care provided to patients with interstitial lung diseases and other diffuse parenchymal lung disorders. The diagnosis of interstitial lung diseases hinges on the consensus of clinical, radiology, and pathology medical subspecialists, but additional expertise from rheumatology, immunology, or hematology can be invaluable. The thin-section computed tomography (CT) features of lung involvement informs the diagnostic approach. Radiologists should be familiar with radiologic methods (including inspiratory/expiratory and prone imaging) and be well versed in the recognition of the CT features of fibrosis, assessment of the overall pattern of lung involvement, and classification according to the latest guidelines...

PURPOSE: We aimed to investigate the impacts of age, gender, and race on aortic dimensions in healthy adults. METHODS: We analyzed data from 3 large population-based sample studies, including Chinese Echocardiographic Measurements in Normal Chinese Adults, Japanese the Normal Values for Echocardiographic Measurements Project, and European Normal Reference Ranges for Echocardiography, to compare the two-dimensional echocardiography-derived aortic diameters at different levels and to explore the effects of age, gender, and race on aortic measurements...

PURPOSE: Reliable prediction of volume doubling time (VDT) is essential for the personalized management of pulmonary ground-glass nodules (GGNs). We aimed to determine the optimal VDT prediction method by comparing different machine learning methods only based on the baseline chest computed tomography (CT) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Seven classical machine learning methods were evaluated in terms of their stability and performance for VDT prediction. The VDT, calculated by the preoperative and baseline CT, was divided into 2 groups with a cutoff value of 400 days...

Many lung diseases, first, tumors, are smoking-related, and it is very likely to find more than one pattern in the same patient. Airspace enlargement with fibrosis (AEF) is one of them, but it has not been deeply understood or studied yet. In fact, we think that it might still be wrongly assimilated with other conditions that have different radiological features altogether and different prognoses. This pictorial essay is aimed at pointing out AEF so that radiologists and pulmonologists get acquainted with it and use the proper terminology, as AEF might not be that rare...

PURPOSE: To compare dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) based qualitative and quantitative parameters in chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension with various postoperative primary and secondary endpoints. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective analysis of 64 patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension who underwent DECT. First, a clot score was calculated by assigning the following score: pulmonary trunk-5, each main pulmonary artery-4, each lobar-3, each segmental-2, and subsegmental-1 per lobe; the sum total was then calculated...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Approach to imaging ischemia in women Coronary artery disease in women tends to have a worse short- and long-term prognosis relative to men and remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Both clinical symptoms and diagnostic approach remain challenging in women due to lesser likelihood of women presenting with classic anginal symptoms on one hand and underperformance of conventional exercise treadmill testing in women on the other. Moreover, a higher proportion of women with signs and symptoms suggestive of ischemia are more likely to have nonobstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) that requires additional imaging and therapeutic considerations...

Arterial plaque rupture and thrombosis is the primary cause of major cardiovascular and neurovascular events. The identification of atherosclerosis, especially high-risk plaques, is therefore crucial to identify high-risk patients and to implement preventive therapies. Computed tomography angiography has the ability to visualize and characterize vascular plaques. The standard methods for plaque evaluation rely on the assessment of plaque burden, stenosis severity, the presence of positive remodeling, napkin ring sign, and spotty calcification, as well as Hounsfield Unit (HU)-based thresholding for plaque quantification; the latter with multiple shortcomings...

PURPOSE: To evaluate the left atrial (LA) function in participants with apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (AHCM) by cardiovascular magnetic resonance feature tracking (CMR-FT). MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirty typical AHCM (TAHCM) patients, 23 subclinical AHCM (SAHCM) patients and 32 normal healthy volunteers who underwent CMR exam were retrospectively analyzed. LA reservoir, conduit, and contractile function were quantified by volumetric and CMR-FT derived strain and strain rate (SR) parameters from 2-chamber and 4-chamber cine imaging...

High-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) is an essential component of the diagnosis and assessment of patients with interstitial lung diseases (ILDs). In some cases, a diagnosis of ILD can be made solely based on a multidisciplinary discussion of HRCT findings and clinical evaluation. HRCT findings also inform prognosis and may influence treatment decisions. It is essential that high-quality HRCT images are obtained using parameters for optimum spatial resolution. Key terms used to describe HRCT findings should be used consistently among clinicians...