An Image Registration Method for Head CTA and MRA Images Using Mutual Information on Volumes of Interest

Image registration is an important and a fundamental task in computer vision and image processing field. For example, to make a surgical plan for head operation, the surgeons should gain more detailed information from CT angiography (CTA) and MR angiography (MRA) images. And the abnormalities can be easily detected from the fusion image which is obtained from two different modalities. One of the multiple modal image registration methods is matching the CTA and MRA, by which the image of head vascular could be enhanced. In general, the procedure for fusion is completed manually. It is time-consuming and subjective. Particularly the anatomical knowledge is required as well. Therefore, the development of automatic registration methods is expected in medical fields. In this paper, we propose a method for high accurate registration, which concentrates the structure of head vascular. We use 2-D projection images and restrict volume of interests to improve the processing affection. In experiments, we performed our proposed method for registration on five sets of CTA and MRA images and a better result from our previous method is obtained.SCIS&ISIS 2014 : Joint 7th International Conference on Soft Computing and Intelligent Systems and 15th International Symposium on Advanced Intelligent, December 3-6, 2014, Kitakyushu, Japa

An Image Registration Method for Head CT and MR Imaging Based on Optimal Retrieval

Image registration is an important problem and a fundamental task in com-puter vision and image processing field. Recently, many image registration techniques are introduced such as PET with CT image and abnormalities can be easily detected by using image information. One of the multi modal images, CT and MR imaging of the head for diagnosis and surgical planning indicates that physicians and surgeons gain impor- tant information from these modalities. In radiotherapy planning, manual registration techniques are performed on MR and CT images of the brain. In general, physicians segment the volumes of interest (VOIs) from each set of slices on the MR and CT im- ages manually. However, manual registration of the object may require several hours for analysis based on anatomical knowledge. In this paper, we describes a new method for automatic registration of head images which is obtained CT and MRI by using an optimal retrieval on neighbor VOIs in several extracted data and maximization of mutual information. In the experimental results, we can reduce the computational times. The primary objective of this study is to increase accuracy of the registration and reduce the computational processing time

Gastrointestinal Endoscopy for Patients with High Levels of Serum CEA and CA19-9

Serum levels of tumor markers, such as carcinoembryonic antigen （CEA） and carbohydrate antigen 19-9 （CA19-9）, are often measured to detect potential malignancy. When these levels are high, the presence or absence of malignancy is confirmed via a more detailed examination using gastrointestinal （GI） endoscopy and computed tomography. The rate of confirmation of malignancy upon such a follow-up is unknown. This study aimed to investigate the malignancy detection rate via GI endoscopy for patients with high levels of serum CEA and CA19-9. All patients who underwent such GI endoscopy between January 2018 and February 2019 at Showa University Hospital were included in this study. The patients were divided into a follow-up group and a screening group, depending on the purpose of measuring their serum CEA/CA19-9 levels. There were 156 patients who underwent GI endoscopy because of high CEA/CA19-9 levels within the study period. Advanced malignant lesions were detected in 10 patients （6.4％）, including seven cases of colorectal cancer and three cases of upper GI malignancies. In the screening group, six cases （5.7％） of GI malignancies were detected, none of which were found in asymptomatic patients without anemia. In the follow-up group, four cases （7.8％） of GI malignancies were detected; three patients were asymptomatic, and one patient had anemia. Our findings suggest that high serum CEA/CA19-9 levels in asymptomatic patients without anemia and without a history of malignancy do not indicate the presence of malignancy. However, high serum CEA/CA19-9 levels may indicate the potential presence of GI malignancies for patients with a history of malignant tumors, even if they are asymptomatic and do not have anemia

Magnifying Colonoscopy Findings for Differential Diagnosis of Sessile Serrated Adenoma/Polyps and Hyperplastic Polyps

Sessile serrated adenoma/polyps (SSA/Ps) are thought to be precursors of colorectal cancers. However, current endoscopic techniques for differentiating SSA/Ps from conventional hyperplastic polyps (HPs) have low diagnostic accuracy. The aim of the present study was to assess the ability of mucosal crypt patterns to distinguish SSA/Ps from HPs. We examined 140 lesions from 93 patients that had been diagnosed histologically as SSA/Ps or HPs at the Showa University Hospital between June 2010 and May 2012. Three experienced colonoscopists reviewed the endoscopic findings of magnifying colonoscopy. Type II open-shape (Type II-O) pit patterns and varicose microvascular vessels (VMVs) were identified according to previously proposed definitions. Although 140 lesions were initially identified for the study, 27 lesions were excluded from analysis because of insufficient endoscopic findings. Thus, endoscopic findings from a total of 113 lesions (68 SSA/Ps and 45 HPs) were evaluated. Of 113 serrated polyps, 51 lesions (44 SSA/Ps and 7 HPs; P<0.01) had Type II-O pit patterns. The inter- and intra-observer agreement for these patterns among three colonoscopists was κ=0.61 (range 0.57–0.65) and κ=0.68 (range 0.52–0.94), respectively. The positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV), sensitivity, and specificity of Type II-O pit patterns for differentiating between SSA/P and HP were 86%, 61%, 65%, and 84%, respectively. In contrast, the PPV, NPV, sensitivity, and specificity of VMVs were 68%, 43%, 37%, and 73%, respectively. The results indicate that Type II-O mucosal crypt patterns may be useful for the differential diagnosis of SSAPs and HPs

Cell-quintupling: Structural phase transition in a molecular crystal, bis(trans-4–butylcyclohexyl)methanol

A structural phase transition at 151.6 K of the title compound [bis(trans-4–butylcyclohexyl)methanol] is examined by X-ray diffraction crystallography, Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, and adiabatic calorimetry. A general consideration on possible superstructures indicates that a single modulation wave is sufficient to drive this cell-quintupling transition. The entropy of transition determined calorimetrically indicates that two conformations are dominant in the room-temperature phase in contrast to the fivefold disorder expected from the structure of the low-temperature phase

Echocardiography findings in a case with Ballantyne syndrome

Marked fluid retention occurs in Ballantyne syndrome, but few reports are available on changes in cardiac morphology in this syndrome. A woman with generalized edema, dyspnea, fetal hydrops (skin edema and ascites), thickened placenta, and elevated plasma B-type natriuretic peptide level (344 pg/mL) was admitted to our hospital at gestational week (GW) 20^+3. Blood pressure remained within the normal range. However, acute increases in left atrial volume index, pulmonary artery systolic pressure, and hyperdynamic left ventricular function (as evidenced by increased left ventricular ejection fraction to 74% with cardiac index of 5.1 L/min/m2) occurred preceding fetal death at GW 21^+4 in the presence of increased inferior vena cava diameter (23 mm) and relatively low systemic vascular resistance of 752 dyn・s/cm5. These findings suggested life-threatening heart failure and required cesarean delivery at GW 21^+5 resulting in complete recovery. The placenta suggested cytomegalovirus infection

Accuracy of the Differential Diagnosis of Colorectal Serrated Polyps Using a Conventional Endoscope: A Prospective Study

Some serrated polyps （SPs） are thought to be precursors of colorectal cancers. However, the endoscopic diagnosis of sessile serrated adenoma/polyps （SSA/Ps） has been reported to have a low accuracy. The aim of this study was to clarify the ability to distinguish between SSA/Ps and non-SSA/Ps by using mucosal crypt patterns combined with endoscopic findings. In total, 457 consecutive patients who underwent endoscopic resection for colorectal polyps at the Showa University Hospital from April 2007 to December 2010 were prospectively enrolled in this study. Before treatment, mucosal crypt patterns of the lesions were classified into three types （hyperplastic, adenomatous, and mixed pattern）. When the lesion had an adenomatous pattern with a cerebriform appearance or mixed pattern, it was diagnosed as a traditional serrated adenoma （TSA）. If the lesion had a hyperplastic pattern and was sized 6mm or more in the proximal colon or 10mm or more in the distal colon, it was diagnosed as an SSA/P by the endoscopist. We analyzed 1,151 colorectal polyps in this study. Endoscopically, 117 polyps were diagnosed as SSA/Ps or hyperplastic polyps （HPs）, 998 polyps were conventional adenomas, and 36 polyps were TSAs, with diagnostic accuracies of 94.7％, 94.1％, and 97.3％, respectively. Of the 117 polyps diagnosed as SSA/Ps or HPs, 59 lesions met our criteria for SSA/Ps, with a diagnostic accuracy of 70.9％. Our results indicate that the combination of mucosal crypt patterns and endoscopic findings may be useful for differentiating between SPs and non-SPs. However, additional specific endoscopic features of SSA/Ps are still needed