A CT radiomics–based random forest model was proven useful for differentiating bone islands from osteoblastic metastases at abdominal CT and showed better diagnostic performance compared with an in... Background It is important to diagnose sclerotic bone lesions in order to determine treatment strategy. Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic performance of a CT radiomics–based machine learning model...

Objective: To evaluate whether multidetector CT with low-dose radiation (low-dose CT) of joints can be useful when evaluating fractures. Methods: Our study included CT scans of 398 patients, 103 shoulder cases, 109 wrist cases, 98 pelvis cases and 88 ankle cases. There were 191 females and 207 males. The low-dose CTs were performed using identical voltage and parameters with the exception of decreased (half of standard dose) tube current. Low-dose and standard-dose images were compared with regards to objective image quality, subjective evaluation of image quality and diagnostic performance for the fractures. Results: There was no significant difference of image noise between standard-dose CT and low-dose CT in every joint (p > 0.05). Each mean value of subjective score did not show significant difference according to the dosage of the CT scan. There were no statistically significant differences in the sensitivity (96–100%), specificity (95.2–100%) or accuracy (97.9–100%) between standard-dose CT and low-dose CT (p values, 0.1336–1.000). Conclusion: The evaluation of extremities for fractures using low-dose CT can reduce radiation exposure by about 50% compared with standard-dose CT without affecting image quality or diagnostic performance. Advances in knowledge: Low-dose CT of the extremities (shoulder, pelvis, ankle and wrist) can reduce radiation dose by about 50% compared with standard-dose CT and does not significantly affect image quality or diagnostic performance in fracture detection.

Ultrasound elastography is a widely used technique for assessing the mechanical characteristics of tissues. Although there are several ultrasound elastography techniques, strain elastography (SE) is currently the most widely used technique for visualizing an elastographic map in real time. Among its various indications, SE is especially useful in evaluating the musculoskeletal system. In this article, we review the SE techniques for clinical practice and describe the images produced by these techniques in the context of the musculoskeletal system. SE provides information about tissue stiffness and allows real-time visualization of the image; however, SE cannot completely replace gray-scale, color, or power Doppler ultrasonography. SE can increase diagnostic accuracy and may be useful for the follow-up of benign lesions.

Objectives:To compare the reliability of two recently reported MR grading systems of cervical neural foraminal stenosis (CNFS) and their correlation with clinical manifestations.Methods:We evaluated 188 patients (M:F = 80:108, mean age of 41 years) who visited our institution and underwent oblique sagittal MR imaging of the cervical spine. Two radiologists evaluated the MRI findings for the presence and grade of CNFS at the narrowest point, with the grading systems (Park, Kim and mKim systems) suggested by Park et al. and Kim et al. More than one positive neurologic sign and more than one neurologic clinical symptom was considered a positive neurologic manifestation (PNM) of each foraminal stenosis. Inter-observer agreement between two readers was analyzed using kappa statistics. Nonparametric correlation analysis (Spearman’s correlation) was used to evaluate correlation coefficients (R) to assess the relationship between CNFS grade and clinical manifestations.Results:Both the Park and mKim systems demons...