Estimation of urinary stone composition by automated processing of CT images

The objective of this article was developing an automated tool for routine clinical practice to estimate urinary stone composition from CT images based on the density of all constituent voxels. A total of 118 stones for which the composition had been determined by infrared spectroscopy were placed in a helical CT scanner. A standard acquisition, low-dose and high-dose acquisitions were performed. All voxels constituting each stone were automatically selected. A dissimilarity index evaluating variations of density around each voxel was created in order to minimize partial volume effects: stone composition was established on the basis of voxel density of homogeneous zones. Stone composition was determined in 52% of cases. Sensitivities for each compound were: uric acid: 65%, struvite: 19%, cystine: 78%, carbapatite: 33.5%, calcium oxalate dihydrate: 57%, calcium oxalate monohydrate: 66.5%, brushite: 75%. Low-dose acquisition did not lower the performances (P < 0.05). This entirely automated approach eliminates manual intervention on the images by the radiologist while providing identical performances including for low-dose protocols

Fluorescence diagnosis and flat lesions of urothelium: New challenges for pathologists and urologists (Review).

Bladder cancer is a common malignancy. Recurrence rate and progression vary greatly depending on factors such as tumor multiplicity, size, previous recurrence rates, tumor stage, tumor grade and the presence of carcinoma in situ. Treatment is expensive, recent studies demonstrated that superficial bladder cancer is a major economic burden. It is necessary to establish new kinds of techniques to improve diagnosis, therapy and follow-up, such as fluorescence diagnosis, without adding significant risk of complications. As urologists have a better sight of bladder lesions with fluorescence diagnosis, pathologists will be asked in the future to evaluate more frequently flat lesions, which up to now would not have been a matter of concern. For several reasons it is very important to have accurate and precise definitions of these flat lesions. First to permit uniform treatment of large groups of patients and second to see in large cohorts the evolution and natural history of several flat lesions, not always well known up to now. The aim of the study was to review the most important flat lesions, to demonstrate the difficulty of classifying several lesions, to introduce to urologists the new problems linked to FD and to suggest new models for accurate analysis. How far can we go in our answer as pathologists and how will it change the patient management

Pharmacists’ interventions on intravenous to oral conversion for potassium

International audienc

Pharmacists’ interventions on intravenous to oral conversion for potassium

International audienc