{"title":"RANO 2.0: critical updates and practical considerations for radiological assessment in neuro-oncology.","authors":"Akihiko Sakata, Yasutaka Fushimi, Sonoko Oshima, Megumi Uto, Yohei Mineharu, Satoshi Nakajima, Sachi Okuchi, Takayuki Yamamoto, Sayo Otani, Satoshi Ikeda, Shigeki Takada, Takashi Mizowaki, Yoshiki Arakawa, Yuji Nakamoto","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01821-6","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11604-025-01821-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Appropriate response assessment criteria are crucial for accurate evaluation of clinical trial outcomes, and numerous criteria have been proposed to address this need. With the introduction of Response Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (RANO) criteria version 2.0 (RANO 2.0) in 2023, response assessment in gliomas has evolved significantly, requiring both clinicians and radiologists to develop a comprehensive understanding of its modifications and implementation. This review first provides an overview of standard management and imaging schedule in glioma treatment. We then review the basic framework of RANO 2.0, inherited from previous response criteria, with particular emphasis on major modifications to this framework: the implementation of the Brain Tumor Imaging Protocol and the adoption of post-radiation scan as the baseline scan. Additionally, we analyze critical changes in response evaluation and interpretation, specifically focusing on the role of preliminary progressive disease assessment with confirmation scans, and the elimination of T2/FLAIR lesion measurements from enhancing tumor assessment. Through illustrative clinical cases, we demonstrate the practical application of these modifications and discuss the implementation of three distinct imaging-based categories: enhancing tumor, non-enhancing tumor, and tumors with both enhancing and non-enhancing components (in short, mixed tumor). This comprehensive narrative review provides clinicians with practical guidance for implementing RANO 2.0 in their clinical practice.</p>","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":"1557-1574"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12479667/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144528022","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Evaluation of AI diagnostic systems for breast ultrasound: comparative analysis with radiologists and the effect of AI assistance.","authors":"Sayumi Tsuyuzaki, Tomoyuki Fujioka, Emi Yamaga, Leona Katsuta, Mio Mori, Yuka Yashima, Mayumi Hara, Arisa Sato, Iichiroh Onishi, Jitsuro Tsukada, Tomoyuki Aruga, Kazunori Kubota, Ukihide Tateishi","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01809-2","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11604-025-01809-2","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>The purpose of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of an artificial intelligence (AI)-based Computer-Aided Diagnosis (CADx) system for breast ultrasound, compare its performance with radiologists, and assess the effect of AI-assisted diagnosis. This study aims to investigate the system's ability to differentiate between benign and malignant breast masses among Japanese patients.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>This retrospective study included 171 breast mass ultrasound images (92 benign, 79 malignant). The AI system, BU-CAD™, provided Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) categorization, which was compared with the performance of three radiologists. Diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve (AUC) were analyzed. Radiologists' diagnostic performance with and without AI assistance was also compared, and their reading time was measured using a stopwatch.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>The AI system demonstrated a sensitivity of 91.1%, specificity of 92.4%, and an AUC of 0.948. It showed comparable diagnostic performance to Radiologist 1, with 10 years of experience in breast imaging (0.948 vs. 0.950; p = 0.893), and superior performance to Radiologist 2 (7 years of experience, 0.948 vs. 0.881; p = 0.015) and Radiologist 3 (3 years of experience, 0.948 vs. 0.832; p = 0.001). When comparing diagnostic performance with and without AI, the use of AI significantly improved the AUC for Radiologists 2 and 3 (p = 0.001 and 0.005, respectively). However, there was no significant difference for Radiologist 1 (p = 0.139). In terms of diagnosis time, the use of AI reduced the reading time for all radiologists. Although there was no significant difference in diagnostic performance between AI and Radiologist 1, the use of AI substantially decreased the diagnosis time for Radiologist 1 as well.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The AI system significantly improved diagnostic efficiency and accuracy, particularly for junior radiologists, highlighting its potential clinical utility in breast ultrasound diagnostics.</p>","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":"1643-1651"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-10-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC12479558/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"144247930","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comment on \"CT-based assessment of bear-inflicted maxillofacial injuries: evaluation using the facial injury severity scale and its association with hospitalization duration\".","authors":"Zeeshan Solangi, Rachana Mehta, Ranjana Sah","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01878-3","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-025-01878-3","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145199383","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Percutaneous aspiration and sclerotherapy for simple hepatic cysts: a systematic review and meta-analysis.","authors":"Tomohiro Matsumoto, Rika Yoshimatsu, Marina Osaki, Junki Shibata, Kana Miyatake, Tomoaki Yamanishi, Takuji Yamagami","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01874-7","DOIUrl":"10.1007/s11604-025-01874-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>This systematic review aims to assess the efficacy and safety of percutaneous aspiration and sclerotherapy (PAS) for patients with symptomatic simple hepatic cysts (SHCs).</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>We systematically searched the electronic databases of PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and Ichushi-Web for studies published up to November 2024, reporting outcomes of PAS for symptomatic SHCs. The primary outcomes were rates of symptomatic relief or disappearance of symptoms. The secondary outcomes were cyst volume reduction rates and complication rates. Subgroup analyses compared ethanol with the other sclerosants. Single-arm meta-analyses were performed, with meta-regression conducted when substantial heterogeneity (I<sup>2</sup> > 50%) was observed. Risk of bias was assessed using the Cochrane RoB2 tool for randomized controlled trials and RoBANS2 for non-randomized studies.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Sixteen studies were included. Fourteen studies were assessed as having a high risk of bias. The pooled symptomatic relief or disappearance rate was 86.9% (95% CI 80.2-91.6%, I<sup>2</sup> = 0%). The cyst volume reduction rate was 86.4% (95% CI 74.1-93.3%, I<sup>2</sup> = 95%). There were no major complications. The pooled minor complication rates were 13.6% (95% CI 6.5-26.4%, I<sup>2</sup> = 67.2%) for pain and 7.4% (95% CI 4.1-13.0%, I<sup>2</sup> = 38%) for fever. Subgroup analysis showed no significant differences between ethanol and other sclerosants. High heterogeneity was observed for cyst volume reduction and pain, indicating variability across studies. Meta-regression analysis for cyst volume reduction rate and pain did not identify any significant associations.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>PAS appears to be a relatively safe and effective treatment option for patients with symptomatic SHCs and provides high rates of symptomatic relief with low complication rates. However, given the high risk of bias in the available evidence and the lack of direct comparison with surgical treatment, these findings should be interpreted with caution. Further high-quality comparative studies are warranted to confirm these results.</p>","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145199391","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Comment letter on \"Coronary computed tomography angiography using the diluted contrast material protocol: a technique for achieving uniform coronary artery enhancement\" by Ohara et al.","authors":"Xiang Tao, Mengyue Liu","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01872-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-025-01872-9","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145199371","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Clinical factors affecting colonic iodine-131 distribution after radioactive iodine therapy for thyroid cancer.","authors":"Noriko Takata, Naoto Kawaguchi, Masao Miyagawa, Akihiro Itou, Reia Yamada, Ayaka Takimoto, Teruhito Kido","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01882-7","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-025-01882-7","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>Radioactive iodine therapy (RAIT) is used to treat patients with thyroid cancer at high risk of recurrence or those with distant metastases. Small amounts of iodine-131 (I-131) are excreted in the stool after RAIT. Thyroid hormone withdrawal (THW) before RAIT can cause constipation, increasing radiation exposure to the colon. Although measuring colonic radiation using I-131 dosimetry would be challenging, colonic radiation dose can be estimated using I-131 whole-body scintigraphy post-RAIT. Therefore, we aimed to determine the clinical risk factors, including THW, associated with colonic distribution on I-131 scintigraphy post-RAIT.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>We analyzed 251 patients who received 530 RAITs, categorized into two groups based on the preparation method. We compared the relationship between clinical risk factors (including preparation method) and colonic I-131 distribution 3 d post-RAIT. In addition, we compared the frequency and degree of colonic I-131 distribution between patients who received RAITs with stimulant laxatives and those who received RAITs with osmotic laxatives. Four subgroup analyses were conducted based on the preparation method and defecation frequency.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>We performed 253 RAITs (47.7%) using recombinant human thyrotropin, while the remaining 277 RAITs (52.3%) were performed using THW. In the multivariate analysis, THW, higher RAIT dose (≥ 3.7 GBq), and fewer defecation frequencies (≤ 2 times) were significantly associated with a higher frequency of colonic I-131 distribution (p = 0.0206, 0.0020, and 0.0006, respectively). Of the patients treated using THW RAITs, which relieved constipation, those treated with RAITs with stimulant laxatives had significantly lower colonic I-131 distribution than did those treated with RAITs with osmotic laxatives (p = 0.0378).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>THW, high-dose RAIT, and defecation frequency were significantly associated with colonic I-131 distribution. Pre-treatment strategies, such as the use of stimulant laxatives should be considered to reduce colonic radiation exposure.</p>","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145199435","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jingyun Ren, Hui Yuan, Yang Chen, Peng Wang, Xinchao Yao, Qing Zhang, Lei Jiang
{"title":"Physiological biodistribution of <sup>68</sup>Ga-Pentixafor: PET/CT evaluation and implications for CXCR4 imaging.","authors":"Jingyun Ren, Hui Yuan, Yang Chen, Peng Wang, Xinchao Yao, Qing Zhang, Lei Jiang","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01876-5","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-025-01876-5","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong><sup>68</sup>Ga-Pentixafor PET/CT is a novel imaging modality targeting the C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4), which plays a crucial role in immune regulation, stem cell homing, and tumor progression. While its clinical use is expanding, comprehensive characterization of its physiological biodistribution remains limited.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study retrospectively included 73 individuals who underwent <sup>68</sup>Ga-Pentixafor PET/CT, comprising patients with various benign and malignant conditions, as well as healthy volunteers. Time-activity curves (TACs) were generated in two volunteers with dynamic and static imaging at multiple timepoints. Semi-quantitative uptake metrics (SUV<sub>max</sub> and SUV<sub>mean</sub>) were measured across normal organs and tissues. Age- and sex-related uptake patterns were analyzed in the cohort. Moreover, a subgroup of 12 participants underwent dual-timepoint imaging at 30 and 60 min post-injection of <sup>68</sup>Ga-Pentixafor was analyzed.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong><sup>68</sup>Ga-Pentixafor demonstrated primarily urinary clearance with intense radiotracer accumulation in the kidneys and bladder, and displayed obvious physiological uptake in the nasopharynx, palatine tonsils, thymus, spleen, adrenal glands, and pediatric bone. Males showed higher muscle SUV<sub>max</sub> than females (P = 0.036), while females displayed higher thymus SUV<sub>max</sub> and SUV<sub>mean</sub> than males (both P < 0.001). Pediatric subjects exhibited higher radiotracer uptake in the nasopharynx, thymus and bone than adults (P < 0.05), whereas adults demonstrated higher radioactivity uptake in the thyroid, stomach, prostate, testes, and muscle than children (P < 0.05). Moreover, significantly lower radiotracer uptake was observed at 60 min compared to 30 min post-injection in the nasopharynx, parotid glands, lungs, blood pool, spleen, pancreas, kidneys, bone, and muscle (P < 0.05). This suggested that imaging at 60 min provided superior target-to-background contrast compared to 30 min.</p><p><strong>Conclusions: </strong><sup>68</sup>Ga-Pentixafor exhibited significant physiological uptake in nasopharynx, palatine tonsils, thymus, spleen, adrenal glands, pediatric bone, kidneys, and bladder. Semi-quantitative uptake values varied with sex, age and imaging time. These findings provided essential guidance for interpreting CXCR4-targeted PET/CT imaging.</p>","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145186013","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Ultra-fast whole-brain T2-weighted imaging in 7 seconds using dual-type deep learning reconstruction with single-shot acquisition: clinical feasibility and comparison with conventional methods.","authors":"Yohei Ikebe, Noriyuki Fujima, Hiroyuki Kameda, Taisuke Harada, Yukie Shimizu, Jihun Kwon, Masami Yoneyama, Kohsuke Kudo","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01875-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-025-01875-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To evaluate the image quality and clinical utility of ultra-fast T2-weighted imaging (UF-T2WI), which acquires all slice data in 7 s using a single-shot turbo spin-echo technique combined with dual-type deep learning (DL) reconstruction, incorporating DL-based image denoising and super-resolution processing, by comparing UF-T2WI with conventional T2WI.</p><p><strong>Material and methods: </strong>We analyzed data from 38 patients who underwent both conventional T2WI and UF-T2WI with the dual-type DL-based image reconstruction. Two board-certified radiologists independently performed blinded qualitative assessments of the patients' images obtained with UF-T2WI with DL and conventional T2WI, evaluating the overall image quality, anatomical structure visibility, and levels of noise and artifacts. In cases that included central nervous system diseases, the lesions' delineation was also assessed. The quantitative analysis included measurements of signal-to-noise ratios in white and gray matter and the contrast-to-noise ratio between gray and white matter.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Compared to conventional T2WI, UF-T2WI with DL received significantly higher ratings for overall image quality and lower noise and artifact levels (p < 0.001 for both readers). The anatomical visibility was significantly better in UF-T2WI for one reader, with no significant difference for the other reader. The lesion visibility in UF-T2WI was comparable to that in conventional T2WI. Quantitatively, the SNRs and CNRs were all significantly higher in UF-T2WI than conventional T2WI (p < 0.001).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The combination of SSTSE with dual-type DL reconstruction allows for the acquisition of clinically acceptable T2WI images in just 7 s. This technique shows strong potential to reduce MRI scan times and improve clinical workflow efficiency.</p>","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145149041","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Fractal-driven self-supervised learning enhances early-stage lung cancer GTV segmentation: a novel transfer learning framework.","authors":"Ryota Tozuka, Noriyuki Kadoya, Arata Yasunaga, Masahide Saito, Takafumi Komiyama, Hikaru Nemoto, Hidetoshi Ando, Hiroshi Onishi, Keiichi Jingu","doi":"10.1007/s11604-025-01865-8","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1007/s11604-025-01865-8","url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Purpose: </strong>To develop and evaluate a novel deep learning strategy for automated early-stage lung cancer gross tumor volume (GTV) segmentation, utilizing pre-training with mathematically generated non-natural fractal images.</p><p><strong>Materials and methods: </strong>This retrospective study included 104 patients (36-91 years old; 81 males; 23 females) with peripheral early-stage non-small cell lung cancer who underwent radiotherapy at our institution from December 2017 to March 2025. First, we utilized encoders from a Convolutional Neural Network and a Vision Transformer (ViT), pre-trained with four learning strategies: from scratch, ImageNet-1K (1,000 classes of natural images), FractalDB-1K (1,000 classes of fractal images), and FractalDB-10K (10,000 classes of fractal images), with the latter three utilizing publicly available models. Second, the models were fine-tuned using CT images and physician-created contour data. Model accuracy was then evaluated using the volumetric Dice Similarity Coefficient (vDSC), surface Dice Similarity Coefficient (sDSC), and 95th percentile Hausdorff Distance (HD95) between the predicted and ground truth GTV contours, averaged across the fourfold cross-validation. Additionally, the segmentation accuracy was compared between simple and complex groups, categorized by the surface-to-volume ratio, to assess the impact of GTV shape complexity.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>Pre-trained with FractalDB-10K yielded the best segmentation accuracy across all metrics. For the ViT model, the vDSC, sDSC, and HD95 results were 0.800 ± 0.079, 0.732 ± 0.152, and 2.04 ± 1.59 mm for FractalDB-10K; 0.779 ± 0.093, 0.688 ± 0.156, and 2.72 ± 3.12 mm for FractalDB-1K; 0.764 ± 0.102, 0.660 ± 0.156, and 3.03 ± 3.47 mm for ImageNet-1K, respectively. In conditions FractalDB-1K and ImageNet-1K, there was no significant difference in the simple group, whereas the complex group showed a significantly higher vDSC (0.743 ± 0.095 vs 0.714 ± 0.104, p = 0.006).</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>Pre-training with fractal structures achieved comparable or superior accuracy to ImageNet pre-training for early-stage lung cancer GTV auto-segmentation.</p>","PeriodicalId":14691,"journal":{"name":"Japanese Journal of Radiology","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2025-09-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"145064533","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}