Abstract:Chest computed tomography (CT) has been the preferred imaging modality during the pandemic owing to its sensitivity in detecting COVID‐19 infections. Recently, a large number of COVID‐19 imaging datasets have been deposited in public databases, leading to rapid advances in COVID‐19 research. However, the application of these datasets beyond COVID‐19‐related research has been little explored. The authors believe that they could be used in anatomical research to elucidate the link between anatomy and disease and… Show more
“…A total of 63 full text articles were assessed by authors for potential eligibility. After excluding articles for containing exclusion criteria as listed above as well as duplicates, 35 articles were included into the meta-analysis [ 1 , 2 , 4 – 10 , 12 , 14 , 16 – 20 , 22 – 24 , 26 , 27 , 29 , 31 , 33 – 39 , 41 – 45 ]. Fig.…”
Purpose
Sternal foramen is a perforation of the sternum that can be a source of misdiagnosis during radiographic imaging or life-threatening perforations during bone marrow sampling. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis on the prevalence, morphometrics, and location of foramen in the sternal body and xiphoid process, describe morphometric features of this phenomenon, and thus verify its clinical importance. Moreover, our secondary outcome was to compare effectiveness of various imaging methods in diagnosis of the sternal or xiphoid foramen.
Methods
A comprehensive search was conducted on major scientific databases to identify studies containing relevant information. Data on foramen’s prevalence, location, morphometrics, and accompanying findings were extracted and pooled into a meta-analysis using MetaXL 5.0.
Results
Thirty-five studies (n = 16,666 subjects) were included. The overall pooled prevalence of a foramen in the sternal body and/or a xiphoid process was 8.9% (95% CI 6.5–11.7) and it equaled 6.5% (95% CI 5.6–7.6) for sternal body alone and 2.9% (95% CI 0.5–6.9) for the xiphoid process. The foramen was more prevalent in males than in females (12.2% vs. 6.8%). The prevalence of sternal foramen was higher in South American [13.9% (95% CI 11.2–16.9)] and African [13.6% (95% CI 9.7–18.0)] studies compared to North American [6.2% (95% CI 5.0–7.5)] and European populations [8.6% (95% CI 3.1–16.3)]. Mean transverse and vertical diameter of foramen equaled 4.7 mm (95% CI 3.8–5.5), and 5.6 mm (95% CI 4.2–6.9), respectively.
Conclusion
Our analysis proves that the sternal foramina are structures of significant prevalence and size. Any physician should keep them in mind when performing punctures in this area.
“…A total of 63 full text articles were assessed by authors for potential eligibility. After excluding articles for containing exclusion criteria as listed above as well as duplicates, 35 articles were included into the meta-analysis [ 1 , 2 , 4 – 10 , 12 , 14 , 16 – 20 , 22 – 24 , 26 , 27 , 29 , 31 , 33 – 39 , 41 – 45 ]. Fig.…”
Purpose
Sternal foramen is a perforation of the sternum that can be a source of misdiagnosis during radiographic imaging or life-threatening perforations during bone marrow sampling. The aim of this study was to conduct a meta-analysis on the prevalence, morphometrics, and location of foramen in the sternal body and xiphoid process, describe morphometric features of this phenomenon, and thus verify its clinical importance. Moreover, our secondary outcome was to compare effectiveness of various imaging methods in diagnosis of the sternal or xiphoid foramen.
Methods
A comprehensive search was conducted on major scientific databases to identify studies containing relevant information. Data on foramen’s prevalence, location, morphometrics, and accompanying findings were extracted and pooled into a meta-analysis using MetaXL 5.0.
Results
Thirty-five studies (n = 16,666 subjects) were included. The overall pooled prevalence of a foramen in the sternal body and/or a xiphoid process was 8.9% (95% CI 6.5–11.7) and it equaled 6.5% (95% CI 5.6–7.6) for sternal body alone and 2.9% (95% CI 0.5–6.9) for the xiphoid process. The foramen was more prevalent in males than in females (12.2% vs. 6.8%). The prevalence of sternal foramen was higher in South American [13.9% (95% CI 11.2–16.9)] and African [13.6% (95% CI 9.7–18.0)] studies compared to North American [6.2% (95% CI 5.0–7.5)] and European populations [8.6% (95% CI 3.1–16.3)]. Mean transverse and vertical diameter of foramen equaled 4.7 mm (95% CI 3.8–5.5), and 5.6 mm (95% CI 4.2–6.9), respectively.
Conclusion
Our analysis proves that the sternal foramina are structures of significant prevalence and size. Any physician should keep them in mind when performing punctures in this area.
“…Despite the challenges caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a window of opportunities for data-driven research, particularly in the field of artificial intelligence and automated diagnosis. It was recently proposed by Yurasakpong et al [6] that these datasets could also be used for anatomical research to study disease-related alterations of normal anatomy.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…This requires an extensive repertoire of images to improve performance and accuracy, so an increasing number of cancer-related CT datasets have been made publicly available by uploading them into online depositories such as The Cancer Imaging Archive (TCIA). In addition to their intended uses, Yurasakpong et al [6] recently proposed that these datasets could be a valuable resource for anatomical research, and they can be used to examine potential relationships between variant anatomy and predisposition to diseases.…”
Background and Objectives: Anatomical variations in the head, neck and chest are common, and are observed as occasional findings on computed tomography (CT). Although anatomical variations are mostly asymptomatic and do not cause any negative influence on the body function, they may jeopardize diagnosis and may be confused with pathological conditions. The presence of variations may also limit surgical access during tumor removal. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of six anatomical variations—os acromiale, episternal ossicles, cervical rib, Stafne bone cavity, azygos lobe and tracheal bronchus—in an open-access computed tomography dataset obtained from oropharyngeal cancer patients. Materials and Methods: A total of 606 upper-chest and neck computed-tomography scans (79.4% male and 20.6% female) were retrospectively investigated. Sex difference was evaluated using the z-test for two proportions. Results: Os acromiale, episternal ossicles, cervical rib, Stafne bone cavity, azygos lobe, and tracheal bronchus were present in 3.1%, 2.2%, 0.2%, 0%, 0.3% and 0.5%, respectively, of all patients. Os acromiale was identified as meso-acromion in 86.6%, and as pre-acromion in 17.4%, of all acromia. Episternal ossicles were present unilaterally in 58.3%, and bilaterally in 41.7%, of all sterna. Only the cervical rib showed a sex difference in prevalence. Conclusions: awareness of these variations is important for radiologists interpreting head, neck and chest CTs; for example, those of oropharyngeal cancer patients. This study also illustrates the applicability of publicly available datasets in prevalence-based anatomical research. While most of the variations investigated in the present study are well-known, the episternal ossicles are not well explored, and need further investigation.
“…Typically an auxiliary finding on imaging studies with an approximate incidence of 2.4%, TD rarely warrants intervention [ 9 ]. TD forms one subgroup of the many anatomical thoracic variants, which includes cardiac bronchus, thoracic bronchus, and azygous lobe with a prevalence of 0%, 0.2%, and 0.8%, respectively [ 10 ]. The current diagnostic approach to TD involves a thorough clinical evaluation, imaging studies, and, in some cases, bronchoscopy.…”
A tracheal diverticulum (TD) is a generally benign medical condition, where there is an outpouching of the tracheal wall. Additionally, it is generally asymptomatic but there have been reported cases of adverse outcomes linked to TD. Here we present a case of a tracheal diverticulum that was incidentally found during the workup for stroke in a patient. Moreover, due to its radiologic appearance, there was concern for pneumomediastinum. We highlight the presentation and clinical importance of TD owing to the complications one is predisposed to from having this condition.
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