Deep learning offers significant advancements in the accuracy of prostate identification and classification, underscoring its potential for clinical integration. However, the opacity of deep learning models presents interpretability challenges, critical for their acceptance and utility in medical diagnosis and detection. While explanation methods have been proposed to demystify these models, enhancing their clinical viability, the efficacy and acceptance of these methods in medical tasks are not well documented. This pilot study investigates the effectiveness of deep learning explanation methods in clinical settings and identifies the attributes that radiologists consider crucial for explainability, aiming to direct future enhancements. This study reveals that while explanation methods can improve clinical task performance by up to 20%, their perceived usefulness varies, with some methods being rated poorly. Radiologists prefer explanation methods that are robust against noise, precise, and consistent. These preferences underscore the need for refining explanation methods to align with clinical expectations, emphasizing clarity, accuracy, and reliability. The findings highlight the importance of developing explanation methods that not only improve performance but also are tailored to meet the stringent requirements of clinical practice, thereby facilitating deeper trust and a broader acceptance of deep learning in medical diagnostics.
10 August 2023 in Seminars in Interventional Radiology
Uterine fibroids and adenomyosis are prevalent benign neoplasms that can lead to serious deleterious health effects including life-threatening anemia, prolonged menses, and pelvic pain; however, up to 40% of women remain undiagnosed. Traditional treatment options such as myomectomy or hysterectomy can effectively manage symptoms but may entail longer hospital stays and hinder future fertility. Endovascular treatment, such as uterine artery embolization (UAE), is a minimally invasive procedure that has emerged as a well-validated alternative to surgical options while preserving the uterus and offering shorter hospital stays. Careful patient selection and appropriate techniques are crucial to achieving optimal outcomes. There have been advancements in recent times that encompass pre- and postprocedural care aimed at enhancing results and alleviating discomfort prior to, during, and after UAE. Furthermore, success and reintervention rates may also depend on the size and location of the fibroids. This article reviews the current state of endovascular treatments of uterine fibroids and adenomyosis.
Abdominal pregnancy is a rare but life-threatening variation of ectopic pregnancy that is often treated with laparoscopic management; however, we present a case successfully treated using only minimally invasive techniques. A 36-year-old female G1P0 with a history of infertility is diagnosed with 11-weeks abdominal pregnancy by transvaginal ultrasound. She presented with vaginal bleeding and abdominal pain, and her beta-human chorionic gonadotropin was 53,680 mIU/mL. The location of the fetal sac was not amenable to surgery or percutaneous injection. We performed bilateral uterine artery embolization and subsequent intramuscular methotrexate injection. The procedure was successful with no complications. The patient was followed at postoperative week 11, and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin was 2 mIU/mL, and at 3 months, a transvaginal ultrasound revealed resolution of the abdominal pregnancy.
We present the case of a 50-year-old female who underwent bilateral ovarian artery embolization for uterine fibroids in the setting of hypoplastic uterine arteries. Ovarian artery embolization is usually conducted during uterine artery embolization for fibroids to increase the procedure success when ovarian feeders are seen. The bilateral ovarian artery embolization is rarely performed due to fears of amenorrhea and early menopause from decreased blood supply to both ovaries. According to our knowledge, this the first case report describing primary bilateral ovarian artery embolization in the setting of a rare anatomic variant- hypoplastic uterine arteries. The patient had complete resolution of symptoms from her uterine fibroids after treatment with bilateral ovarian artery embolization with no ovarian failure findings on the follow-up.