Based on our experience with 1,000 patients over 15 years, we have made a decision to adopt TARE as the first-line transarterial LRT for patients with HCC. Our decision was informed by prospective data and incrementally reported demonstrating outcomes stratified by BCLC, applied as either neoadjuvant or definitive treatment. (Hepatology 2017).

Purpose:To report long-term outcomes of radiation segmentectomy (RS) for early hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The authors hypothesized that outcomes are comparable to curative treatments for patients with solitary HCC less than or equal to 5 cm and preserved liver function. Materials and Methods:This retrospective study included 70 patients (median age, 71 years; range, 22-96 years) with solitary HCC less than or equal to 5 cm not amenable to percutaneous ablation who underwent RS (dose of .190 Gy) between 2003 and. Patients who underwent subsequent curative liver transplantation were excluded to eliminate this confounding variable affecting survival. Radiologic response of time to progression and median overall survival were estimated by using the Kaplan-Meier method per the guidelines of the European Association for the Study of the Liver (EASL) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Results:Seventy patients were treated with RS over 14 years. Sixty-three patients (90%) showed response by using EASL criteria, of which 41 (59%) showed complete response. Fifty patients (71%) achieved response by using WHO criteria, of which 11 (16%) achieved complete response. Response rates at 6 months were 86% and 49% by using EASL and WHO criteria, respectively. Median time to progression was 2.4 years (95% confidence interval: 2.1, 5.7), with 72% of patients having no target lesion progression at 5 years. Median overall survival was 6.7 years (95% confidence interval: 3.1, 6.7); survival probability at 1, 3, and 5 years was 98%, 66%, and 57%, respectively. Overall survival probability at 1, 3, and 5 years was 100%, 82%, and 75%, respectively, in patients with baseline tumor size less than or equal to 3 cm (n = 45) and was significantly longer than in patients with tumors greater than 3 cm (P = .026). In our study, we review our longterm outcomes (.10 years) of patients with HCC less than or equal to 5 cm not amenable to resection, radiofrequency ablation, or transplantation who underwent RS. We hypothesize that this approach could be considered potentially curative based on the same rationale as resection, radiofrequency ablation, and transplantation. Conclusion Materials and MethodsR.J.L. and R.S. are advisors to BTG International. There was no funding for this analysis and all authors had control of the data and information submitted for publication. Our study was approved by the institutional review board and was compliant with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act. All patients provided written informed consent prior to receiving treatment after selecting RS over chemoembolization. We searched our prospectively acquired database of HCC (10) for patients treated with 90 Y radioembolization from December 2003 to 2016 (14 years). Inclusion criteria were as follows: solitary HCC less than or equal to 5 cm, preserved liver function (Child-Pugh class A), and no vascular invasion or extrahepatic metastases (7). Patients who underwent transplantation or resection were excluded to mitigate the potential confo...

The detection and segmentation of adherent eukaryotic cells from brightfield microscopy images represent challenging tasks in the image analysis field. This paper presents a free and open-source image analysis package which fully automates the tasks of cell detection, cell boundary segmentation, and nucleus segmentation in brightfield images. The package also performs image registration between brightfield and fluorescence images. The algorithms were evaluated on a variety of biological cell lines and compared against manual and fluorescence-based ground truths. When tested on HT1080 and HeLa cells, the cell detection step was able to correctly identify over 80% of cells, whilst the cell boundary segmentation step was able to segment over 75% of the cell body pixels, and the nucleus segmentation step was able to correctly identify nuclei in over 75% of the cells. The algorithms for cell detection and nucleus segmentation are novel to the field, whilst the cell boundary segmentation algorithm is contrast-invariant, which makes it more robust on these low-contrast images. Together, this suite of algorithms permit brightfield microscopy image processing without the need for additional fluorescence images.Finally our sephaCe application, which is available at http:// www.sephace.com, provides a novel method for integrating these methods with any motorised microscope, thus facilitating the adoption of these techniques in biological research labs.

We report survival outcomes for patients with advanced-stage hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) with portal vein thrombosis (PVT) treated with Y radioembolization. With institutional review board approval, we searched our prospectively acquired database for Y patients treated between 2003 and 2017. Inclusion criteria were patients who had HCC with tumor PVT. Patients with metastases were excluded. Laboratory data were collected at baseline and 1 mo afterY radioembolization. Toxicity grades were reported according to the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events, version 4.0, and long-term survival outcomes were reported and stratified by Child-Pugh class (CP). Overall survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate analysis was performed using Cox proportional hazards regression. A subanalysis for patients with a high level of α-fetoprotein (AFP) (>100 ng/dL) was conducted. In total, 185 patients with HCC PVT underwentY radioembolization. Seventy-four (40%) were CP-A, 51 (28%) were CP-B7, and 60 (32%) were ≥CP-B8. New albumin, bilirubin, and alkaline phosphatase grade 3/4 toxicities were, respectively, 3%, 10%, and 0% for CP-A; 14%, 12%, and 6% for CP-B7; and 23%, 32%, and 3% for ≥CP-B8. Median overall survival for CP-A patients was 13.3 mo (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.7-15.7 mo). CP-B7 and ≥CP-B8 patients exhibited median overall survival of 6.9 mo (95% CI, 5.3-10.1 mo) and 3.9 mo (95% CI, 2.9-5.0 mo), respectively. Significant overall survival prognosticators on univariate analysis were albumin, bilirubin, ascites, tumor size 5 cm or smaller, focality, distribution, infiltration, Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group status, AFP level, and PVT extent. Multivariate analysis showed the prognosticators of overall survival to be bilirubin, no ascites, tumor size 5 cm or smaller, solitary lesion, baseline AFP level lower than 100 ng/dL, and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group status. Of 123 patients with a high AFP level (>100 ng/dL), 12 patients achieved restored normal AFP levels (<13 ng/dL) and exhibited median overall survival of 23.9 mo (95% CI, 20.1-124.1 mo). AFP responders at 1 mo had better overall survival than nonresponders, at 8.5 mo versus 4.8 mo ( = 0.018); AFP responders at 3 mo had overall survival of 13.3 mo, versus 6.9 mo for nonresponders ( = 0.021). Y radioembolization can serve as a safe and effective treatment for advanced-stage HCC patients with tumor PVT. Overall survival outcomes are affected by baseline liver function, tumor size, and AFP level.

Background and Aims Radioembolization (yttrium‐90 [Y90]) is used in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as a bridging as well as downstaging liver‐directed therapy to curative liver transplantation (LT). In this study, we report long‐term outcomes of LT for patients with HCC who were bridged/downstaged by Y90. Approach and Results Patients undergoing LT following Y90 between 2004 and 2018 were included, with staging by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) tumor‐node‐metastasis criteria at baseline pre‐Y90 and pre‐LT. Post‐Y90 toxicities were recorded. Histopathological data of HCC at explant were recorded. Long‐term outcomes, including overall survival (OS), recurrence‐free survival (RFS), disease‐specific mortality (DSM), and time‐to‐recurrence, were reported. Time‐to‐endpoint analyses were estimated using Kaplan–Meier. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed using a log‐rank test and Cox proportional‐hazards model, respectively. During the 15‐year period, 207 patients underwent LT after Y90. OS from LT was 12.5 years, with a median time to LT of 7.5 months [interquartile range, 4.4‐10.3]. A total of 169 patients were bridged, whereas 38 were downstaged to LT. Respectively, 94 (45%), 60 (29%), and 53 (26%) patients showed complete, extensive, and partial tumor necrosis on histopathology. Three‐year, 5‐year, and 10‐year OS rates were 84%, 77%, and 60%, respectively. Twenty‐four patients developed recurrence, with a median RFS of 120 (95% confidence interval, 69‐150) months. DSM at 3, 5, and 10 years was 6%, 11%, and 16%, respectively. There were no differences in OS/RFS for patients who were bridged or downstaged. RFS was higher in patients with complete/extensive versus partial tumor necrosis (P < 0.0001). For patients with UNOS T2 treated during the study period, 5.2% dropped out because of disease progression. Conclusions Y90 is an effective treatment for HCC in the setting of bridging/downstaging to LT. Patients who achieved extensive or complete necrosis had better RFS, supporting the practice of neoadjuvant treatment before LT.

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Introduction: We compared the efficacy of the ALBI (albumin–bilirubin) score to the established Child–Pugh (CP) grade in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients treated with yttrium-90 radioembolization (Y90). We further assessed the individual contributions of albumin and bilirubin to survival prediction. Methods: 1000 consecutive HCC patients treated with Y90 were included. Overall survival (OS) was assessed using Kaplan Meier analysis. Sub-stratification analyses were performed using CP and ALBI and in subgroups determined by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) or Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) staging. The independent impact (hazard ratio (HR)) of ALBI, CP, albumin, and bilirubin on survival was assessed using Cox proportional hazards analysis. Results: Median OS for ALBI 1, 2, and 3 grades was 46.7, 19.1, and 8.8 months, respectively. The HR for death for ALBI 2 vs. ALBI 1 was 3.39 (1.75–6.57); ALBI 3 vs. ALBI 1 was 7.58 (3.89–14.79); and the c-index was 0.623. Median OS for CP A, B, and C was 21.7, 11.3, and 6.0 months, respectively. The HR for death for CP B vs. CP A was 2.04 (1.71–2.43); CP C vs. CP A was 3.27 (2.08–5.14); and the c-index was 0.616. Stratified OS showed unique prognostic groups identified by ALBI within CP-B and CP-C. Median OS for albumin grades 1, 2, and 3 was 46.0, 17.1, and 9.1 months, respectively. Median OS for bilirubin grades 1, 2, and 3 was 15.6, 21.0, and 5.8 months, respectively. The HR for death for albumin 2 vs. 1 was 2.48 (1.81–3.41); albumin 3 vs. 1 was 4.74 (3.44–6.54); and the c-index was 0.640. The HR for death for bilirubin 2 vs. 1 was 1.09 (0.82–1.44); bilirubin 3 vs. 1 was 2.37 (1.66–3.40); and the c-index was 0.533. Conclusions: ALBI outperforms CP in survival prognosis in Y90 treated patients. On sub-analyses, serum albumin (not bilirubin) appears to be the main driver of survival prediction. Our study supports the prognostic ability of ALBI and may suggest a role of albumin alone as a biomarker for patients with HCC.

Aim is to assess the temporal changes and prognostic value of chest radiograph (CXR) in COVID-19 patients. Material and methods: We performed a retrospective study of confirmed COVID-19 patients presented to the emergency between March 07-17, 2020. Clinical & radiological findings were reviewed. Clinical outcomes were classified into critical & non-critical based on severity. Two independent radiologists graded frontal view CXRs into COVID-19 pneumonia category 1 (CoV-P1) with <4 zones and CoV-P2 with ≥4 zones involvement. Interobserver agreement of CoV-P category for the CXR preceding the clinical outcome was assessed using Kendall's τ coefficient. Association between CXR findings and clinical deterioration was calculated along with temporal changes of CXR findings with disease progression. Results: Sixty-two patients were evaluated for clinical features. 56 of these (total: 325 CXRs) were evaluated for radiological findings. Common patterns were progression from lower to upper zones, peripheral to diffuse involvement, & from ground glass opacities to consolidation. Consolidations starting peripherally were noted in 76%, 93% and 48% with critical outcomes, respectively. The interobserver agreement of the CoV-P category of CXRs in the critical and non-critical outcome groups were good and excellent, respectively (τ coefficient = 0.6 & 1.0). Significant association was observed between CoV-P2 and clinical deterioration into a critical status (χ2 = 27.7, p = 0.0001) with high sensitivity (95%) and specificity (71%) within a median interval time of 2 days (range: 0-4 days). Conclusion: Involvement of predominantly 4 or more zones on frontal chest radiograph can be used as predictive prognostic indicator of poorer outcome in COVID-19 patients.