Non-FDG PET/CT imaging of inflammatory arthritis.

Inflammatory arthritis represents a frequent cause of disability among adults, with a huge worldwide negative societal impact. Although clinical and laboratory evaluation of patients with inflammatory arthritis still constitutes the basis of management for these patients, conventional medical imaging has traditionally provided an important aid in the assessment of these conditions. There is a pressing need to obtain an independent, objective, and reproducible imaging evaluation to support the diagnosis of disorders that are difficult to assess or determine response to an increasing number of frequently expensive treatment modalities.

Global insights on diversity, equity, and inclusion-perspectives and experiences from musculoskeletal radiologists of the International Skeletal Society DEI Committee.

Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is important for delivering high-quality, culturally competent care and ensuring equal access to resources and opportunities in healthcare. However, the implementation of DEI has been met with unique challenges and successes across the globe. The International Skeletal Society (ISS), a multidisciplinary musculoskeletal society, made a conscious effort to promote DEI.

Recent evolution in imaging techniques for assessment of synovitis in osteoarthritis.

Synovitis remains an important marker of osteoarthritis (OA) disease incidence and progression, and is best assessed using imaging. In general, MRI with intravenous contrast is considered the gold standard method for assessing synovitis because it can effectively differentiate inflamed synovium and adjacent joint effusion and other surrounding structures. However, administration of intravenous gadolinium is not always desirable.

Deep learning algorithm enables automated Cobb angle measurements with high accuracy.

Objective: To determine the accuracy of automatic Cobb angle measurements by deep learning (DL) on full spine radiographs.

Materials And Methods: Full spine radiographs of patients aged > 2 years were screened using the radiology reports to identify radiographs for performing Cobb angle measurements. Two senior musculoskeletal radiologists and one senior orthopedic surgeon independently annotated Cobb angles exceeding 7° indicating the angle location as either proximal thoracic (apices between T3 and T5), main thoracic (apices between T6 and T11), or thoraco-lumbar (apices between T12 and L4).

Osteoarthritis year in review 2024: Imaging.

Objective: To review recent literature evidence describing imaging of osteoarthritis (OA) and to identify the current trends in research on OA imaging.

Method: This is a narrative review of publications in English, published between April, 2023, and March, 2024. A Pubmed search was conducted using the following search terms: osteoarthritis/OA, radiography, ultrasound/US, computed tomography/CT, magnetic resonance imaging/MRI, DXA/DEXA, and artificial intelligence/AI/deep learning.

Sirolimus monotherapy for Kasabach-Merritt phenomenon in a neonate; Case report.

Introduction And Importance: The Kasabach-Merritt Phenomenon (KMP), characterized by thrombocytopenia and consumptive coagulopathy due to endothelial cell growth in the infantile vascular tumor kaposiform hemangioendothelioma, presents a therapeutic challenge. This case highlights the novel use of sirolimus in a neonate, an approach less explored in this age group.

Case Presentation: A female neonate presented with a right anterior chest mass, progressing to respiratory distress and congestive heart failure.

Imaging Biomarkers of Osteoarthritis.

Currently no disease-modifying osteoarthritis drug has been approved for the treatment of osteoarthritis (OA) that can reverse, hold, or slow the progression of structural damage of OA-affected joints. The reasons for failure are manifold and include the heterogeneity of structural disease of the OA joint at trial inclusion, and the sensitivity of biomarkers used to measure a potential treatment effect.This article discusses the role and potential of different imaging biomarkers in OA research.

How AI May Transform Musculoskeletal Imaging.

While musculoskeletal imaging volumes are increasing, there is a relative shortage of subspecialized musculoskeletal radiologists to interpret the studies. Will artificial intelligence (AI) be the solution? For AI to be the solution, the wide implementation of AI-supported data acquisition methods in clinical practice requires establishing trusted and reliable results. This implementation will demand close collaboration between core AI researchers and clinical radiologists.

A Natural Organic Compound "Decursin" Has Both Antitumor and Renal Protective Effects: Treatment for Osteosarcoma.

Osteosarcoma is a rare malignant tumor that commonly occurs in children. Anticancer drugs, for example, cisplatin, aid in postsurgery recovery but induce side effects such as renal damage, affecting the life prognosis of patients. Decursin which is one of the bioactive components has been reported for its anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antitumor effects, but the effect on osteosarcoma is unexplained.

Impact of Initial Body Weight Loss on Prognosis in Advanced Pancreatic Cancer: Insights From a Single-Center Retrospective Study.

Background: Pancreatic cancer (PC) has a poor prognosis, with body weight loss commonly observed at diagnosis. However, the impact on PC prognosis of weight loss at the time of diagnosis on PC prognosis is unknown.

Methods: This retrospective, single-center study enrolled consecutively patients diagnosed with metastatic or locally advanced PC or resectable PC who were intolerant of or refused surgery.

Drug-induced Interstitial Nephritis in a Patient with Ulcerative Colitis Treated with 5-Aminosalicylic Acid.

This report describes the case of a 76-year-old man with ulcerative colitis who developed interstitial nephritis after starting 5-Aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA) therapy. The patient experienced an initial improvement in symptoms, but developed fatigue, anorexia, and severe renal dysfunction 2.5 months later.

Emerging Quantitative Imaging Techniques in Sports Medicine.

This article describes recent advances in quantitative imaging of musculoskeletal extremity sports injuries, citing the existing literature evidence and what additional evidence is needed to make such techniques applicable to clinical practice. Compositional and functional MRI techniques including T2 mapping, diffusion tensor imaging, and sodium imaging as well as contrast-enhanced US have been applied to quantify pathophysiologic processes and biochemical compositions of muscles, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage. Dual-energy and/or spectral CT has shown potential, particularly for the evaluation of osseous and ligamentous injury (eg, creation of quantitative bone marrow edema maps), which is not possible with standard single-energy CT.

Role of imaging for eligibility and safety of a-NGF clinical trials.

Nerve growth factor (a-NGF) inhibitors have been developed for pain treatment including symptomatic osteoarthritis (OA) and have proven analgesic efficacy and improvement in functional outcomes in patients with OA. However, despite initial promising data, a-NGF clinical trials focusing on OA treatment had been suspended in 2010. Reasons were based on concerns regarding accelerated OA progression but were resumed in 2015 including detailed safety mitigation based on imaging.

Strategic application of imaging in DMOAD clinical trials: focus on eligibility, drug delivery, and semiquantitative assessment of structural progression.

Despite decades of research efforts and multiple clinical trials aimed at discovering efficacious disease-modifying osteoarthritis (OA) drugs (DMOAD), we still do not have a drug that shows convincing scientific evidence to be approved as an effective DMOAD. It has been suggested these DMOAD clinical trials were in part unsuccessful since eligibility criteria and imaging-based outcome evaluation were solely based on conventional radiography. The OA research community has been aware of the limitations of conventional radiography being used as a primary imaging modality for eligibility and efficacy assessment in DMOAD trials.

Overuse-Related Injuries of the Knee.

Overuse-related injuries of the knee joint and periarticular soft tissues include a heterogenous group of sports and nonsports-related injuries. These conditions include friction and impingement syndromes, bone stress injuries, bursitis, and tendon-related pathology such as tendinopathy and snapping. Traction apophysitis are also discussed as commonly seen in the pediatric population.

Latest advancements in imaging techniques in OA.

The osteoarthritis (OA) research community has been advocating a shift from radiography-based screening criteria and outcome measures in OA clinical trials to a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based definition of eligibility and endpoint. For conventional morphological MRI, various semiquantitative evaluation tools are available. We have lately witnessed a remarkable technological advance in MRI techniques, including compositional/physiologic imaging and automated quantitative analyses of articular and periarticular structures.

Update on recent developments in imaging of inflammation in osteoarthritis: a narrative review.

Synovitis is an important component of the osteoarthritis (OA) disease process, particularly regarding the "inflammatory phenotype" of OA. Imaging plays an important role in the assessment of synovitis in OA with MRI and ultrasound being the most deployed imaging modalities. Contrast-enhanced (CE) MRI, particularly dynamic CEMRI (DCEMRI) is the ideal method for synovitis assessment, but for several reasons CEMRI is not commonly performed for OA imaging in general.