Reliability assessment of accelerated MR sequences for the estimation of structural and vascular markers in dementia Mario Verdicchio, Francesco Grassi, Giuseppina Esposito, Carlo Cavaliere, Vincenzo Alfano, Marco Cerrone, Sabina Pappatà, Elena Salvatore, Angelica Di Cecca, Marco Salvatore, Marco Aiello Scientific Reports, 2025 Estimating the volume of brain structures and white matter lesions has been demonstrated to be crucial as diagnostic markers of dementia. In this context, employing accelerated MR sequences could be particularly suitable for deploying comfortable imaging protocols. The aims of the study are twofold. First, the quality of accelerated structural and FLAIR sequences will be evaluated using conventional sequences as a comparative reference. Second, their concordance in the estimation of diagnostic markers will be assessed. Forty-six dementia patients underwent brain 3T MR protocol, including conventional and accelerated 3D T1w and 3D FLAIR sequences. The image quality was assessed using peak signal-to-noise ratio, structural similarity index measure, and mean squared error. The intraclass correlation and the Dice similarity coefficients were used to compare the markers. The quality assessment showed high agreement between accelerated and conventional sequences. Excellent concordance was demonstrated in the quantification of brain structures and white matter lesions. The results demonstrate the reliability of diagnostic markers of dementia derived from accelerated MR sequences, thereby supporting their use in clinical practice.
Current status of magnetic resonance imaging radiomics in hepatocellular carcinoma: A quantitative review with Radiomics Quality Score Valentina Brancato, Marco Cerrone, Nunzia Garbino, Marco Salvatore, Carlo Cavaliere World Journal of Gastroenterology, 2024 BACKGROUND Radiomics is a promising tool that may increase the value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for different tasks related to the management of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, its implementation in clinical practice is still far, with many issues related to the methodological quality of radiomic studies. AIM To systematically review the current status of MRI radiomic studies concerning HCC using the Radiomics Quality Score (RQS). METHODS A systematic literature search of PubMed, Google Scholar, and Web of Science databases was performed to identify original articles focusing on the use of MRI radiomics for HCC management published between 2017 and 2023. The methodological quality of radiomic studies was assessed using the RQS tool. Spearman’s correlation (ρ) analysis was performed to explore if RQS was correlated with journal metrics and characteristics of the studies. The level of statistical signi-ficance was set at P < 0.05. RESULTS One hundred and twenty-seven articles were included, of which 43 focused on HCC prognosis, 39 on prediction of pathological findings, 16 on prediction of the expression of molecular markers outcomes, 18 had a diagnostic purpose, and 11 had multiple purposes. The mean RQS was 8 ± 6.22, and the corresponding percentage was 24.15% ± 15.25% (ranging from 0.0% to 58.33%). RQS was positively correlated with journal impact factor (IF; ρ = 0.36, P = 2.98 × 10-5), 5-years IF (ρ = 0.33, P = 1.56 × 10-4), number of patients included in the study (ρ = 0.51, P < 9.37 × 10-10) and number of radiomics features extracted in the study (ρ = 0.59, P < 4.59 × 10-13), and time of publication (ρ = -0.23, P < 0.0072). CONCLUSION Although MRI radiomics in HCC represents a promising tool to develop adequate personalized treatment as a noninvasive approach in HCC patients, our study revealed that studies in this field still lack the quality required to allow its introduction into clinical practice.
A Systematic Review of the Current Status and Quality of Radiomics for Glioma Differential Diagnosis Valentina Brancato, Marco Cerrone, Marialuisa Lavitrano, Marco Salvatore, Carlo Cavaliere Cancers, 2022 Radiomics is a promising tool that may increase the value of imaging in differential diagnosis (DDx) of glioma. However, implementation in clinical practice is still distant and concerns have been raised regarding the methodological quality of radiomic studies. Therefore, we aimed to systematically review the current status of radiomic studies concerning glioma DDx, also using the radiomics quality score (RQS) to assess the quality of the methodology used in each study. A systematic literature search was performed to identify original articles focused on the use of radiomics for glioma DDx from 2015. Methodological quality was assessed using the RQS tool. Spearman’s correlation (ρ) analysis was performed to explore whether RQS was correlated with journal metrics and the characteristics of the studies. Finally, 42 articles were selected for the systematic qualitative analysis. Selected articles were grouped and summarized in terms of those on DDx between glioma and primary central nervous system lymphoma, those aiming at differentiating glioma from brain metastases, and those based on DDx of glioma and other brain diseases. Median RQS was 8.71 out 36, with a mean RQS of all studies of 24.21%. Our study revealed that, despite promising and encouraging results, current studies on radiomics for glioma DDx still lack the quality required to allow its introduction into clinical practice. This work could provide new insights and help to reach a consensus on the use of the radiomic approach for glioma DDx.
