Magnetic resonance imaging biomarkers for chronic kidney disease: a position paper from the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action PARENCHIMA

Functional renal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has seen a number of recent advances, and techniques are now available that can generate quantitative imaging biomarkers with the potential to improve the management of kidney disease. Such biomarkers are sensitive to changes in renal blood flow, tissue perfusion, oxygenation and microstructure (including inflammation and fibrosis), processes that are important in a range of renal diseases including chronic kidney disease. However, several challenges remain to move these techniques towards clinical adoption, from technical validation through biological and clinical validation, to demonstration of cost-effectiveness and regulatory qualification. To address these challenges, the European Cooperation in Science and Technology Action PARENCHIMA was initiated in early 2017. PARENCHIMA is a multidisciplinary pan-European network with an overarching aim of eliminating the main barriers to the broader evaluation, commercial exploitation and clinical use of renal MRI biomarkers. This position paper lays out PARENCHIMA’s vision on key clinical questions that MRI must address to become more widely used in patients with kidney disease, first within research settings and ultimately in clinical practice. We then present a series of practical recommendations to accelerate the study and translation of these techniques

Optimising preoperative risk stratification tools for prostate cancer using mpMRI

Contains fulltext : 190043.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access

Comparison of sport achievement orientation of male professional, amateur, and wheelchair basketball athletes.

The use of multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) to detect and localize prostate cancer has increased in recent years. In 2010, the European Society of Urogenital Radiology (ESUR) published guidelines for mpMRI and introduced the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PI-RADS) for scoring the different parameters.To evaluate the reliability and diagnostic performance of endorectal 1.5-T mpMRI using the PI-RADS to localize the index tumor of prostate cancer in patients undergoing prostatectomy.This institutional review board IRB-approved, retrospective study included 63 patients (mean age, 60.7 years, median PSA, 8.0). Three observers read mpMRI parameters (T2W, DWI, and DCE) using the PI-RADS, which were compared with the results from whole-mount histopathology that analyzed 27 regions of interest. Inter-observer agreement was calculated as well as sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predicted value (NPV) by dichotomizing the PI-RADS criteria scores ≥3. A receiver-operating curve (ROC) analysis was performed for the different MR parameters and overall score.Inter-observer agreement on the overall score was 0.41. The overall score in the peripheral zone achieved sensitivities of 0.41, 0.60, and 0.55 with an NPV of 0.80, 0.84, and 0.83, and in the transitional zone, sensitivities of 0.26, 0.15, and 0.19 with an NPV of 0.92, 0.91, and 0.92 for Observers 1, 2, and 3, respectively. The ROC analysis showed a significantly increased area under the curve (AUC) for the overall score when compared to T2W alone for two of the three observers.1.5 T mpMRI using the PI-RADS to localize the index tumor achieved moderate reliability and diagnostic performance

The social embedding of biomedicine: an analysis of German media debates 1995-2004

Weingart P, Salzmann C, Wörmann S. The social embedding of biomedicine: an analysis of German media debates 1995-2004. Public Understanding of Science. 2008;17(3):381-396.Biomedical research and technologies such as cloning, stem cell research, and the deciphering of the human genome have met with opposition-albeit of different intensity-motivated by ethical values. The debates over the continuation of research and the implementation of the respective technologies are being staged in the mass media. The media have assumed the function of "embedding" controversial knowledge and technologies into society by using public discourse. The hypothesis is that these discourses follow a common pattern revealing the process of "embedding," and ultimately leading to a change of existing values. In this study, three debates over cloning, stem cell research and the Human Genome Project are analyzed in ten German daily and weekly newspapers over the period 1995-2004. It is shown that the patterns of reporting are more complex than anticipated. Rather than being identical for all technologies, they reveal different courses depending on the kind of knowledge/ technology and value sensitivity