End-to-End Discriminative Deep Network for Liver Lesion Classification

Colorectal liver metastasis is one of most aggressive liver malignancies. While the definition of lesion type based on CT images determines the diagnosis and therapeutic strategy, the discrimination between cancerous and non-cancerous lesions are critical and requires highly skilled expertise, experience and time. In the present work we introduce an end-to-end deep learning approach to assist in the discrimination between liver metastases from colorectal cancer and benign cysts in abdominal CT images of the liver. Our approach incorporates the efficient feature extraction of InceptionV3 combined with residual connections and pre-trained weights from ImageNet. The architecture also includes fully connected classification layers to generate a probabilistic output of lesion type. We use an in-house clinical biobank with 230 liver lesions originating from 63 patients. With an accuracy of 0.96 and a F1-score of 0.92, the results obtained with the proposed approach surpasses state of the art methods. Our work provides the basis for incorporating machine learning tools in specialized radiology software to assist physicians in the early detection and treatment of liver lesions

Laparoscopic versus open parenchymal preserving liver resections in the posterosuperior segments: a case-matched study

Patients with lesions in the posterosuperior (PS) segments of the liver have been considered poor candidates for laparoscopic liver resection (LLR). This study aims to compare short-term outcomes of LLR and open liver resections (OLR) in the PS segments.status: publishe

Liver segmentation: indications, techniques and future directions

Abstract Objectives Liver volumetry has emerged as an important tool in clinical practice. Liver volume is assessed primarily via organ segmentation of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images. The goal of this paper is to provide an accessible overview of liver segmentation targeted at radiologists and other healthcare professionals. Methods Using images from CT and MRI, this paper reviews the indications for liver segmentation, technical approaches used in segmentation software and the developing roles of liver segmentation in clinical practice. Results Liver segmentation for volumetric assessment is indicated prior to major hepatectomy, portal vein embolisation, associating liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy (ALPPS) and transplant. Segmentation software can be categorised according to amount of user input involved: manual, semi-automated and fully automated. Manual segmentation is considered the “gold standard” in clinical practice and research, but is tedious and time-consuming. Increasingly automated segmentation approaches are more robust, but may suffer from certain segmentation pitfalls. Emerging applications of segmentation include surgical planning and integration with MRI-based biomarkers. Conclusions Liver segmentation has multiple clinical applications and is expanding in scope. Clinicians can employ semi-automated or fully automated segmentation options to more efficiently integrate volumetry into clinical practice. Teaching points • Liver volume is assessed via organ segmentation on CT and MRI examinations. • Liver segmentation is used for volume assessment prior to major hepatic procedures. • Segmentation approaches may be categorised according to the amount of user input involved. • Emerging applications include surgical planning and integration with MRI-based biomarkers

Comparison of techniques for volumetric analysis of the future liver remnant: implications for major hepatic resections

The purpose of this work was to compare measured and estimated volumetry prior to liver resection. Data for consecutive patients submitted to major liver resection for colorectal liver metastases at two centres during 2004-2012 were reviewed. All patients underwent volumetric analysis to define the measured total liver volume (mTLV) and measured future liver remnant ratio (mR(FLR)). The estimated total liver volume (eTLV) standardized to body surface area and estimated future liver remnant ratio (eR(FLR)) were calculated. Descriptive statistics were generated and compared. A difference between mR(FLR) and eR(FLR) of ±5% was considered clinically relevant. Data for a total of 116 patients were included. All patients underwent major resection and 51% underwent portal vein embolization. The mean difference between mTLV and eTLV was 157 ml (P < 0.0001), whereas the mean difference between mR(FLR) and eR(FLR) was -1.7% (P = 0.013). By linear regression, eTLV was only moderately predictive of mTLV (R(2) = 0.35). The distribution of differences between mR(FLR) and eR(FLR) demonstrated that the formula over- or underestimated mR(FLR) by ≥5% in 31.9% of patients. Measured and estimated volumetry yielded differences in the FLR of ≥5% in almost one-third of patients, potentially affecting clinical decision making. Estimated volumetry should be used cautiously and cannot be recommended for general us

Prognostic value of CD73 expression in resected colorectal cancer liver metastasis

Immune checkpoint blockade has not yet been effective in patients with mismatch repair proficient metastatic colorectal cancer. Targeting immunosuppressive metabolic pathways is being explored as a new immunotherapeutic approach. We assessed whether CD73, the rate limiting enzyme that catalyzes the degradation of extracellular AMP into immunosuppressive adenosine, could be an immunological determinant of colorectal liver metastases (CRLMs). By immunofluorescence on tissue microarrays, intratumoral CD73 expression (tCD73) was analyzed in 391 CRLMs resected in 215 patients, and soluble CD73 (sCD73) was measured by ELISA in the pre-operative serum of 193 patients. High tCD73 was associated with worse pathological features, such as multiple and larger CRLMs, and poorer pathologic response to pre-operative chemotherapy. The median time to recurrence and disease-specific survival after CRLM resection was significantly shorter in patients with high tCD73 (11.0 and 46.4 months, respectively) compared with low tCD73 (19.0 and 61.5 months, respectively). tCD73 was strongly associated with patient outcomes independently of clinicopathological variables. sCD73 did not correlate with tCD73. Patients with high levels of sCD73 also had shorter disease-specific survival. Our results suggested that CD73 in CRLMs may be prognostically informative and may help select patients more likely to respond to adenosine pathway blocking agents

sj-pdf-1-caj-10.1177_08465371241230928 – Supplemental material for Risk Factors for Hospitalization Duration Longer Than 24 Hours Following Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation of Liver Tumours

Supplemental material, sj-pdf-1-caj-10.1177_08465371241230928 for Risk Factors for Hospitalization Duration Longer Than 24 Hours Following Percutaneous Radiofrequency Ablation of Liver Tumours by Olivier Racette, Li Xin Zhang, Damien Olivié, Kim-Nhien Vu, Jeanne-Marie Giard, Franck Vandenbroucke-Menu, Gilles Soulez, Justine Zehr, An Tang and Jean-Sébastien Billiard in Canadian Association of Radiologists Journal</p