Radiomics in urolithiasis: Systematic review of current applications, limitations, and future directions

Radiomics is increasingly applied to the diagnosis, management, and outcome prediction of various urological conditions. Urolithiasis is a common benign condition with a high incidence and recurrence rate. The purpose of this scoping review is to evaluate the current evidence of the application of radiomics in urolithiasis, especially its utility in diagnostics and therapeutics. An electronic literature search on radiomics in the setting of urolithiasis was conducted on PubMed, EMBASE, and Scopus from inception to 21 March 2022. A total of 7 studies were included. Radiomics has been successfully applied in the field of urolithiasis to differentiate phleboliths from calculi and classify stone types and composition pre-operatively. More importantly, it has also been utilized to predict outcomes and complications after endourological procedures. Although radiomics in urolithiasis is still in its infancy, it has the potential for large-scale implementation. Its greatest potential lies in the correlation with conventional established diagnostic and therapeutic factors

Imaging and technologies for prostate cancer. Where are we now-where do we go?

We have been witnessing rapid advances in the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer. While some approaches have matured, others are still in their infancy. We have learned that Active Surveillance is safe in patients with lowrisk prostate cancer while patients with high-risk prostate cancer are best served by a multimodality approach including surgery, radiotherapy, and medical management [1, 2]. In patients with moderate-risk prostate cancer, we are balancing our choice between cancer control and cancer cure. While surgery ofers a potential cure for the disease, it also harbors a signifcant probability for morbidity and complications. Hence many men and their partners value not to impair quality of life as a possible trade-of for a defnitive cure

Emerging optical techniques in advanced cystoscopy for bladder cancer diagnosis: A review of the current literature

Background and objective : The current standard for the diagnosis and followup of bladder cancer remains white light cystoscopy, despite its well-known limitations. The aim of this paper is to review the current literature on three optical diagnostics that have been developed to improve the performance of white light cystoscopy: photodynamic diagnosis, narrow-band imaging and optical coherence tomography. Materials and Methods : A PubMed search was performed for all articles on bladder cancer and photodynamic diagnosis, narrow-band imaging, and optical coherence tomography. Relevant papers on the working mechanism or clinical performance of the techniques were selected. Results : Photodynamic diagnosis and narrow-band imaging both aim to improve the visualization of bladder cancer. Both techniques have demonstrated an improved detection rate of bladder cancer. For photodynamic diagnosis, decreased residual tumor rates and increased recurrence free survival after photodynamic diagnosis-assisted transurethral resection have been shown. Both techniques have a relatively high false positive rate. Optical coherence tomography is a technique aiming at real-time noninvasive pathological diagnosis. Studies have shown that optical coherence tomography can accurately discriminate bladder cancer from normal bladder mucosa, and even suggest that a reliable estimation of the stage of a bladder tumor can be made. Conclusions : Photodynamic diagnosis is the technique with most evidence of clinical effectiveness to date, but low specificity is limiting a widespread use. For the novelties, narrow-band imaging, and optical coherence tomography, more evidence is needed before these techniques can be implemented in daily urological practice