The Utility of Deep Learning in Breast Ultrasonic Imaging: A Review

Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer in women; it poses a serious threat to women’s health. Thus, early detection and proper treatment can improve patient prognosis. Breast ultrasound is one of the most commonly used modalities for diagnosing and detecting breast cancer in clinical practice. Deep learning technology has made significant progress in data extraction and analysis for medical images in recent years. Therefore, the use of deep learning for breast ultrasonic imaging in clinical practice is extremely important, as it saves time, reduces radiologist fatigue, and compensates for a lack of experience and skills in some cases. This review article discusses the basic technical knowledge and algorithms of deep learning for breast ultrasound and the application of deep learning technology in image classification, object detection, segmentation, and image synthesis. Finally, we discuss the current issues and future perspectives of deep learning technology in breast ultrasound

R-CHOP with dose-attenuated radiation therapy could induce good prognosis in gastric diffuse large B cell lymphoma

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The treatment strategy for gastric diffuse large cell lymphoma (DLBCL) has not been standardized in such as to the cycles of chemotherapy, dose of radiation, or necessity for the surgery. Although the results of CHOP or R-CHOP treatments have demonstrated the good prognosis, the treatments have been controversial in many cases.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We retrospectively analyzed 40 gastric DLBCL patients receiving chemotherapy with or without radiation in our institute. Those in stages II-IV were treated with six cycles of R-CHOP without radiation; for those in stage I, we administered three cycles of R-CHOP with radiation.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The three-year overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) rates were 95.2 and 91.8%, respectively. Those in stage I obtained 100% of OS. The radiation dose prescribed was 30.6 Gy for CR cases and 39.6 to 40 Gy for PR after chemotherapy. Although survival rates tended to correlate with staging groups or age-adjusted IPI classifications, multivariate statistical analysis did not show clear differences. All 14 patients with initial bleeding were successfully managed without surgery during treatment.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>R-CHOP therapy was very effective for gastric DLBCL. It may be not necessary to use more than 30.6 Gy of radiotherapy in the highly chemo-sensitive cases. Less toxic treatments should be made available to gastric DLBCL patients.</p

Impact of early changes in serum biomarkers following androgen deprivation therapy on clinical outcomes in metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer

Abstract Background Less evidence is known about the role of early changes in serum biomarker after androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in patients with metastatic hormone-sensitive prostate cancer (mHSPC). Here we evaluated the impact of pre-treatment prognostic factors and early changes in serum biomarkers on prostate specific antigen (PSA) progression-free and overall survival rates in mHSPC. Methods We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 60 mHSPC patients (median age 72 years) treated with ADT whose laboratory data at baseline and following 12 weeks were available. Results Forty-four patients (73%) had PSA progression and 27 patients (45.0%) died during a median follow-up of 34 months. The multivariable Cox hazard model demonstrated that a log-transformed baseline PSA level (p = 0.003) and an extent of bone disease (EOD) score of ≥3 (p = 0.004) were statistically associated with an increased risk for PSA progression whereas one unit increase in a log-transformed PSA change (baseline-12 weeks) was associated with a decreased risk for PSA progression (p = 0.004). For overall survival, a high level of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) at 12 weeks was associated with increased risk (p = 0.030) whereas a one-unit increase in the log-transformed PSA change was associated with decreased risk (p = 0.001). Conclusions An increased level of PSA at baseline, or an EOD score of ≥3 may be a good predictor of PSA progression, and a high level of ALP at 12 weeks may be a risk predictor of death. A larger decline in PSA at 12 weeks from the baseline was associated with both PSA progression-free and overall survival time. Early changes in serum biomarkers may be useful in predicting poor outcomes in patients with mHSPC who are initially treated with ADT