Cortical Bone Thickness Assessment from Multi-frequency Ultrasound RF Data using a Convolutional Architecture with Multi-head Attention

Cortical bone thickness is an important predictor of bone strength and fracture risk, and accurate classification is crucial for the diagnosis and treatment of osteoporosis. The thinning of the cortical layer, indicative of compromised bone microarchitecture due to imbalanced formation and loss, underscores its significance. Nonetheless, quantifying bone thickness is challenging due to the diverse skeletal sites and subject variations in bone structure and properties.A potential solution lies in multi-frequency ultrasound assessment of cortical bone, enabling comprehensive property characterization across varying wavelengths and penetration depths. This research strives to establish a robust methodology for evaluating cortical bone thickness by leveraging a convolutional model with an attention mechanism to analyse multi-frequency ultrasound data

Should the Ruptured Renal Allograft Be Removed?

During a 16-month period when 93 renal transplants were performed, eight kidney graft ruptures were detected within 18 days of transplantation, without evidence of venous obstruction. Six grafts were removed at the time of an exploratory operation for rupture and only one showed signs of probable irreversible rejection when examined by microscopy. Two graft ruptures were repaired and one of these grafts has had good long-term function 22 months later. These observations suggest that if bleeding at the site of graft rupture can be securely controlled and if the conditions of the patient and of the graft are favorable except for the rupture, it may be possible to save more than one of eight grafts. © 1979, American Medical Association. All rights reserved

A Consensus Mechanism to Improve Prediction of Cortical Bone Properties using Ultrafast Ultrasound Acquisition

Human bone microarchitecture is complex and density-based bone assessment modalities cannot fully capture bone strength or health. Ultrasound can be used to assess bone microstructure, but it is hindered by the dense and acoustically diverse nature of cortical bone. This study proposes a methodology for predicting cortical bone thickness and porosity through a novel approach utilizing convolutional neural networks (CNNs), processing multi-frequency radiofrequency (RF) data obtained from ultrafast ultrasound, and implementing a consensus mechanism to enhance reliability. Received ultrasound RF signals are processed using a CNN with a mutual consensus mechanism, which is used to discard received RF data when measurement variation is over a certain threshold. The feasibility of the proposed method is demonstrated through realistic simulations and an ex vivo animal bone study using an ultrafast ultrasound scanner. The preliminary findings of this study demonstrate an enhancement in overall accuracy, with an increase from 92% to 95.6% for thickness and an increase from 73.4% to 88.4% for porosity classification, without and with consensus respectively. The implemented mutual consensus mechanism increases the accuracy of the thickness and porosity estimations both in silico and ex vivo. Ultrafast ultrasound scanners can capture thousands of RF signals within seconds, which results in availability of large datasets for implementation of artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms. Here, we propose a new approach for ultrafast ultrasound data processing that values data quality over quantity by discarding noisy measurements using a consensus mechanism to improve the final estimation reliability

Randomized trial of continuous nasogastic, bolus nasogastric, and transpyloric feeding in infants of birth-weight under 1400-g

Forty three infants under 1400 g were fed by a bolus nasogastric, continuous nasogastric, or transpyloric route. There were more complications with transpyloric feeding and no identifiable benefits in the growth rate, oral energy input, or chosen biochemical indices of nutrition. Bolus or continuous nasogastric feeds rather than transpyloric are better routine methods in infants of low birth weight