O_FIG O_LINKSMALLFIG WIDTH=200 HEIGHT=111 SRC="FIGDIR/small/25326981v1_ufig1.gif" ALT="Figure 1"> View larger version (31K): [email protected]@14e7b87org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@19005c4org.highwire.dtl.DTLVardef@6ac42f_HPS_FORMAT_FIGEXP M_FIG O_FLOATNOGraphical AbstractC_FLOATNO C_FIG HighlightsO_LIA retrospective cohort of liver biopsies collected from over 20 healthcare centres has been assembled. C_LIO_LIThe cohort is characterized on the basis of collagen staining used for liver fibrosis assessment. C_LIO_LIA computational pipeline for the quantification of collagen from liver histology slides has been developed and applied to the described cohorts. C_LIO_LIUncertainty estimation is evaluated as a method to build trust in deep-learning based collagen predictions. C_LI The introduction of digital pathology has revolutionised the way in which histology-based measurements can support large, multi-centre studies. How-ever, pooling data from various centres often reveals significant differences in specimen quality, particularly regarding histological staining protocols. These variations present challenges in reliably quantifying features from stained tissue sections using image analysis. In this study, we investigate the statistical variation of measuring fibrosis across a liver cohort composed of four individual studies from 20 clinical sites across Europe and North America. In a first step, we apply colour consistency measurements to analyse staining variability across this diverse cohort. Subsequently, a learnt segmentation model is used to quantify the collagen proportionate area (CPA) and employed uncertainty mapping to evaluate the quality of the segmentations. Our analysis highlights a lack of standardisation in PicroSirius Red (PSR) staining practices, revealing significant variability in staining protocols across institutions. The deconvolution of the staining of the digitised slides identified the different numbers and types of counterstains used, leading to potentially incomparable results. Our analysis highlights the need for standardised staining protocols to ensure reliable collagen quantification in liver biopsies. The tools and methodologies presented here can be applied to perform slide colour quality control in digital pathology studies, thus enhancing the comparability and reproducibility of fibrosis assessment in the liver and other tissues.

Given the current limited accuracy of imaging screening for Hepatic Echinococcosis (HCE) in under-resourced areas, the authors developed and validated a Multimodal Imaging system (HEAC) based on plain Computed Tomography (CT) combined with ultrasound for HCE screening in those areas. In this study, we developed a multimodal deep learning diagnostic system by integrating ultrasound and plain CT imaging data to differentiate hepatic echinococcosis, liver cysts, liver abscesses, and healthy liver conditions. We collected a dataset of 8979 cases spanning 18 years from eight hospitals in Xinjiang China, including both retrospective and prospective data. To enhance the robustness and generalization of the diagnostic model, after modeling CT and ultrasound images using EfficientNet3D and EfficientNet-B0, external and prospective tests were conducted, and the model's performance was compared with diagnoses made by experienced physicians. Across internal and external test sets, the fused model of CT and ultrasound consistently outperformed the individual modality models and physician diagnoses. In the prospective test set from the same center, the fusion model achieved an accuracy of 0.816, sensitivity of 0.849, specificity of 0.942, and an AUC of 0.963, significantly exceeding physician performance (accuracy 0.900, sensitivity 0.800, specificity 0.933). The external test sets across seven other centers demonstrated similar results, with the fusion model achieving an overall accuracy of 0.849, sensitivity of 0.859, specificity of 0.942, and AUC of 0.961. The multimodal deep learning diagnostic system that integrates CT and ultrasound significantly increases the diagnosis accuracy of HCE, liver cysts, and liver abscesses. It beats standard single-modal approaches and physician diagnoses by lowering misdiagnosis rates and increasing diagnostic reliability. It emphasizes the promise of multimodal imaging systems in tackling diagnostic issues in low-resource areas, opening the path for improved medical care accessibility and outcomes.

The study aims to investigate the prognostic value of deep learning based pericoronary adipose tissue attenuation computed tomography (PCAT) and plaque volume beyond coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) -derived fractional flow reserve (CT-FFR) in patients with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A total of 183 patients with PCI who underwent coronary CTA were included in this retrospective study. Imaging assessment included PCAT, plaque volume, and CT-FFR, which were performed using an artificial intelligence (AI) assisted workstation. Kaplan-Meier survival curves analysis and multivariate Cox regression were used to estimate major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including non-fatal myocardial infraction (MI), stroke, and mortality. In total, 22 (12%) MACE occurred during a median follow-up period of 38.0 months (34.6-54.6 months). Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that right coronary artery (RCA) PCAT (p = 0.007) and plaque volume (p = 0.008) were significantly associated with the increase in MACE. Multivariable Cox regression indicated that RCA PCAT (hazard ratios (HR): 2.94, 95%CI: 1.15-7.50, p = 0.025) and plaque volume (HR: 3.91, 95%CI: 1.20-12.75, p = 0.024)　were independent predictors of MACE after adjustment by clinical risk factors. However, CT-FFR was not independently associated with MACE in multivariable Cox regression (p = 0.271). Deep learning based RCA PCAT and plaque volume derived from coronary CTA were found to be more strongly associated with MACE than CTFFR in patients with PCI.

Multi-material decomposition (MMD) enables quantitative reconstruction of tissue compositions in the human body, supporting a wide range of clinical applications. However, traditional MMD typically requires spectral CT scanners and pre-measured X-ray energy spectra, significantly limiting clinical applicability. To this end, various methods have been developed to perform MMD using conventional (i.e., single-energy, SE) CT systems, commonly referred to as SEMMD. Despite promising progress, most SEMMD methods follow a two-step image decomposition pipeline, which first reconstructs monochromatic CT images using algorithms such as FBP, and then performs decomposition on these images. The initial reconstruction step, however, neglects the energy-dependent attenuation of human tissues, introducing severe nonlinear beam hardening artifacts and noise into the subsequent decomposition. This paper proposes JSover, a fundamentally reformulated one-step SEMMD framework that jointly reconstructs multi-material compositions and estimates the energy spectrum directly from SECT projections. By explicitly incorporating physics-informed spectral priors into the SEMMD process, JSover accurately simulates a virtual spectral CT system from SE acquisitions, thereby improving the reliability and accuracy of decomposition. Furthermore, we introduce implicit neural representation (INR) as an unsupervised deep learning solver for representing the underlying material maps. The inductive bias of INR toward continuous image patterns constrains the solution space and further enhances estimation quality. Extensive experiments on both simulated and real CT datasets show that JSover outperforms state-of-the-art SEMMD methods in accuracy and computational efficiency.

This study aimed to compare six large language models (LLMs) [Chat Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatGPT)o1-preview, ChatGPT-4o, ChatGPT-4o with canvas, Google Gemini 1.5 Pro, Claude 3.5 Sonnet, and Claude 3 Opus] in generating radiology references, assessing accuracy, fabrication, and bibliographic completeness. In this cross-sectional observational study, 120 open-ended questions were administered across eight radiology subspecialties (neuroradiology, abdominal, musculoskeletal, thoracic, pediatric, cardiac, head and neck, and interventional radiology), with 15 questions per subspecialty. Each question prompted the LLMs to provide responses containing four references with in-text citations and complete bibliographic details (authors, title, journal, publication year/month, volume, issue, page numbers, and PubMed Identifier). References were verified using Medline, Google Scholar, the Directory of Open Access Journals, and web searches. Each bibliographic element was scored for correctness, and a composite final score [(FS): 0-36] was calculated by summing the correct elements and multiplying this by a 5-point verification score for content relevance. The FS values were then categorized into a 5-point Likert scale reference accuracy score (RAS: 0 = fabricated; 4 = fully accurate). Non-parametric tests (Kruskal-Wallis, Tamhane's T2, Wilcoxon signed-rank test with Bonferroni correction) were used for statistical comparisons. Claude 3.5 Sonnet demonstrated the highest reference accuracy, with 80.8% fully accurate references (RAS 4) and a fabrication rate of 3.1%, significantly outperforming all other models (<i>P</i> < 0.001). Claude 3 Opus ranked second, achieving 59.6% fully accurate references and a fabrication rate of 18.3% (<i>P</i> < 0.001). ChatGPT-based models (ChatGPT-4o, ChatGPT-4o with canvas, and ChatGPT o1-preview) exhibited moderate accuracy, with fabrication rates ranging from 27.7% to 52.9% and <8% fully accurate references. Google Gemini 1.5 Pro had the lowest performance, achieving only 2.7% fully accurate references and the highest fabrication rate of 60.6% (<i>P</i> < 0.001). Reference accuracy also varied by subspecialty, with neuroradiology and cardiac radiology outperforming pediatric and head and neck radiology. Claude 3.5 Sonnet significantly outperformed all other models in generating verifiable radiology references, and Claude 3 Opus showed moderate performance. In contrast, ChatGPT models and Google Gemini 1.5 Pro delivered substantially lower accuracy with higher rates of fabricated references, highlighting current limitations in automated academic citation generation. The high accuracy of Claude 3.5 Sonnet can improve radiology literature reviews, research, and education with dependable references. The poor performance of other models, with high fabrication rates, risks misinformation in clinical and academic settings and highlights the need for refinement to ensure safe and effective use.

The risk of postoperative pancreatic fistula (POPF), one of the most dreaded complications after pancreatic surgery, can be predicted from preoperative imaging and tabular clinical routine data. However, existing studies suffer from limited clinical applicability due to a need for manual data annotation and a lack of external validation. We propose AutoFRS (automated fistula risk score software), an externally validated end-to-end prediction tool for POPF risk stratification based on multimodal preoperative data. We trained AutoFRS on preoperative contrast-enhanced computed tomography imaging and clinical data from 108 patients undergoing pancreatic head resection and validated it on an external cohort of 61 patients. Prediction performance was assessed using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and balanced accuracy. In addition, model performance was compared to the updated alternative fistula risk score (ua-FRS), the current clinical gold standard method for intraoperative POPF risk stratification. AutoFRS achieved an AUC of 0.81 and a balanced accuracy of 0.72 in internal validation and an AUC of 0.79 and a balanced accuracy of 0.70 in external validation. In a patient subset with documented intraoperative POPF risk factors, AutoFRS (AUC: 0.84 ± 0.05) performed on par with the uaFRS (AUC: 0.85 ± 0.06). The AutoFRS web application facilitates annotation-free prediction of POPF from preoperative imaging and clinical data based on the AutoFRS prediction model. POPF can be predicted from multimodal clinical routine data without human data annotation, automating the risk prediction process. We provide additional evidence of the clinical feasibility of preoperative POPF risk stratification and introduce a software pipeline for future prospective evaluation.

Breast cancer poses a serious threat to women's health, and its early detection is crucial for enhancing patient survival rates. While deep learning has significantly advanced mammographic image analysis, existing methods struggle to balance between view consistency with input adaptability. Furthermore, current models face challenges in accurately capturing multi-scale features, especially when subtle lesion variations across different scales are involved. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a Hybrid View Learning (HVL) paradigm that unifies traditional Single-View and Multi-View Learning approaches. The core component of this paradigm, our Attention-based Hybrid View Learning (AHVL) framework, incorporates two essential attention mechanisms: Contrastive Switch Attention (CSA) and Selective Pooling Attention (SPA). The CSA mechanism flexibly alternates between self-attention and cross-attention based on data integrity, integrating a pre-trained language model for contrastive learning to enhance model stability. Meanwhile, the SPA module employs multi-scale feature pooling and selection to capture critical features from mammographic images, overcoming the limitations of traditional models that struggle with fine-grained lesion detection. Experimental validation on the INbreast and CBIS-DDSM datasets shows that the AHVL framework outperforms both single-view and multi-view methods, especially under extreme view missing conditions. Even with an 80% missing rate on both datasets, AHVL maintains the highest accuracy and experiences the smallest performance decline in metrics like F1 score and AUC-PR, demonstrating its robustness and stability. This study redefines mammographic image analysis by leveraging attention-based hybrid view processing, setting a new standard for precise and efficient breast cancer diagnosis.

Automatic radiology report generation can enhance diagnostic efficiency and accuracy. However, clean open-source imaging scan-report pairs are limited in scale and variety. Moreover, the vast amount of radiological texts available online is often too noisy to be directly employed. To address this challenge, we introduce a novel task called Noisy Report Refinement (NRR), which generates radiology reports from noisy free-texts. To achieve this, we propose a report refinement pipeline that leverages large language models (LLMs) enhanced with guided self-critique and report selection strategies. To address the inability of existing radiology report generation metrics in measuring cleanliness, radiological usefulness, and factual correctness across various modalities of reports in NRR task, we introduce a new benchmark, NRRBench, for NRR evaluation. This benchmark includes two online-sourced datasets and four clinically explainable LLM-based metrics: two metrics evaluate the matching rate of radiology entities and modality-specific template attributes respectively, one metric assesses report cleanliness, and a combined metric evaluates overall NRR performance. Experiments demonstrate that guided self-critique and report selection strategies significantly improve the quality of refined reports. Additionally, our proposed metrics show a much higher correlation with noisy rate and error count of reports than radiology report generation metrics in evaluating NRR.

Early allograft dysfunction (EAD) significantly affects liver transplantation prognosis. This study evaluated the effectiveness of artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted methods in accurately diagnosing EAD and identifying its causes. The primary metric for assessing the accuracy was the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC). Accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity were calculated and analyzed to compare the performance of the AI models with each other and with radiologists. EAD classification followed the criteria established by Olthoff et al. A total of 582 liver transplant patients who underwent transplantation between December 2012 and June 2021 were selected. Among these, 117 patients (mean age 33.5 ± 26.5 years, 80 men) were evaluated. The ultrasound parameters, images, and clinical information of patients were extracted from the database to train the AI model. The AUC for the ultrasound-spectrogram fusion network constructed from four ultrasound images and medical data was 0.968 (95%CI: 0.940, 0.991), outperforming radiologists by 30% for all metrics. AI assistance significantly improved diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity (P < 0.050) for both experienced and less-experienced physicians. EAD lacks efficient diagnosis and causation analysis methods. The integration of AI and ultrasound enhances diagnostic accuracy and causation analysis. By modeling only images and data related to blood flow, the AI model effectively analyzed patients with EAD caused by abnormal blood supply. Our model can assist radiologists in reducing judgment discrepancies, potentially benefitting patients with EAD in underdeveloped regions. Furthermore, it enables targeted treatment for those with abnormal blood supply.

Neuroimaging in ALS has contributed considerable academic insights in recent years demonstrating genotype-specific topological changes decades before phenoconversion and characterising longitudinal propagation patterns in specific phenotypes. It has elucidated the radiological underpinnings of specific clinical phenomena such as pseudobulbar affect, apathy, behavioural change, spasticity, and language deficits. Academic concepts such as sexual dimorphism, motor reserve, cognitive reserve, adaptive changes, connectivity-based propagation, pathological stages, and compensatory mechanisms have also been evaluated by imaging. The underpinnings of extra-motor manifestations such as cerebellar, sensory, extrapyramidal and cognitive symptoms have been studied by purpose-designed imaging protocols. Clustering approaches have been implemented to uncover radiologically distinct disease subtypes and machine-learning models have been piloted to accurately classify individual patients into relevant diagnostic, phenotypic, and prognostic categories. Prediction models have been developed for survival in symptomatic patients and phenoconversion in asymptomatic mutation carriers. A range of novel imaging modalities have been implemented and 7 Tesla MRI platforms are increasingly being used in ALS studies. Non-ALS MND conditions, such as PLS, SBMA, and SMA, are now also being increasingly studied by quantitative neuroimaging approaches. A unifying theme of recent imaging papers is the departure from describing focal brain changes to focusing on dynamic structural and functional connectivity alterations. Progressive cortico-cortical, cortico-basal, cortico-cerebellar, cortico-bulbar, and cortico-spinal disconnection has been consistently demonstrated by recent studies and recognised as the primary driver of clinical decline. These studies have led the reconceptualisation of ALS as a "network" or "circuitry disease".