Yue Mei^1,2,3, Jianwei Deng^1,2, Dongmei Zhao^1,2, Changjiang Xiao^1,2, Tianhang Wang⁴, Li Dong⁵, Xuefeng Zhu^1,6,*

CMES-Computer Modeling in Engineering & Sciences, Vol.139, No.1, pp. 911-935, 2024, DOI:10.32604/cmes.2023.043810

Abstract Elastography is a non-invasive medical imaging technique to map the spatial variation of elastic properties of soft tissues. The quality of reconstruction results in elastography is highly sensitive to the noise induced by imaging measurements and processing. To address this issue, we propose a deep learning (DL) model based on conditional Generative Adversarial Networks (cGANs) to improve the quality of nonhomogeneous shear modulus reconstruction. To train this model, we generated a synthetic displacement field with finite element simulation under known nonhomogeneous shear modulus distribution. Both the simulated and experimental displacement fields are used to validate the proposed method. The reconstructed… More >

Qian Zhang^1,2,#, Yuanyuan Cao^2,#, Mingming Fang³, Qin Yang², Pingyang Zhang^1,*

Oncologie, Vol.24, No.4, pp. 717-727, 2022, DOI:10.32604/oncologie.2022.026998

Abstract Background: Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignant tumor in women, and its morbidity and mortality are increasing each year, due to the lack of specific clinical symptoms in the early stage of BC, and the lack of diagnostic methods for early breast cancer. Therefore, identifying an effective diagnostic method for early BC has become urgent. Materials and Methods: Breast lesions with a histological diagnosis that were examined by ultrasonic elastography (UE) in our department from June 2020 to December 2021 were reviewed. qRT-PCR was performed to measure the expression levels of miR-144-5p and miR-26b-5p in the plasma of… More >

Jose A. Silva‐Sepulveda¹, Yudy Fonseca², Irine Vodkin³, Gabrielle Vaughn¹, Robert Newbury⁴, Vera Vavinskaya⁵, Jerry Dwek⁶, James C. Perry¹, Preeti Reshamwala⁷, Cynthia Baehling⁸, James Lyon⁹, Christopher Davis¹, Jesse W. Lee¹, Hannah El‐Sabrout¹⁰, Doaa Shahbah¹¹, Laith Alshawabkeh¹², John W Moore¹, Howaida El‐Said¹

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.14, No.4, pp. 600-608, 2019, DOI:10.1111/chd.12770

Abstract Introduction: Liver fibrosis and cirrhosis are late complications in Fontan palliation. Liver biopsy is the gold standard. The goal of this study is to correlate transjugular liver biopsy (TJLB) in the setting of Fontan palliation with noninvasive testing and hemodynamics.
Methods: Between August 2014 and July 2017, 49 Fontan patients underwent TJLB. All the patients had hemodynamic evaluation, 28 patients had MRE (magnetic reso‐ nance elastography) and 40 patients had cardiopulmonary exercise test. Histologic liver fibrosis was quantitated using traditional histologic scoring systems and a modi‐ fied Ishak congestive hepatic fibrosis score.
Results: Median age 17.8 years, median time since… More >

Jessica L. Schachter¹, Manisha Patel², Samuel R. Horton³, A. Mike Devane⁴, Alex Ewing⁵, Gary A. Abrams⁶

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.13, No.5, pp. 764-770, 2018, DOI:10.1111/chd.12650

Abstract Objective: As the population of patients with Fontan circulation surviving into adult‐ hood increases, hepatic cirrhosis has grown to be a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. Early detection of advanced hepatic fibrosis is imperative for proper inter‐ vention and consideration for heart or combined heart/liver transplantation. Noninvasive biomarkers and elastography have been evaluated for their diagnostic utility with variable results in the Fontan population.
Design: The cohort included 14 patients age 26.4 SD 7.5 who underwent Fontan surgery. All patients were evaluated with FibroSURE, shear wave elastography (SWE), hepatic duplex sonography, and liver biopsy. Liver fibrosis on biopsy was… More >

Michael V. Di Maria¹, Lindsey Silverman², Adel K. Younoszai¹, Mariana L. Meyers³, Kelley E. Capocelli⁴, Michael R. Narkewicz⁵

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.13, No.3, pp. 444-449, 2018, DOI:10.1111/chd.12594

Abstract Background: The current management paradigm for children with single ventricle heart disease involves a series of palliative surgeries, culminating in the Fontan operation. This physiology results in a high central venous pressure, and in the setting of single ventricle heart disease, results in hepatic injury and fibrosis over time. Fontan-associated liver disease (FALD) is universally present in this cohort, and the current gold standard for diagnosis remains biopsy. Noninvasive assessments of liver fibrosis, such as ultrasound with elastography or acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI), has been utilized in this cohort. The effect of poor cardiovascular efficiency, as measured by cardiopulmonary… More >

William N. Evans^1,2, Ruben J. Acherman^1,2, Michael L. Ciccolo^1,3, Sergio A. Carrillo^1,2, Alvaro Galindo^1,2, Abraham Rothman^1,2, Gary A. Mayman^1,2, Elizabeth A. Adams^1,2, Leigh C. Reardon^1,4, Brody J. Winn⁵, Noel S. Yumiaco⁵, Lesley Shimuizu¹, Yoko Inanaga¹, Rowena J. Deleon¹, Humberto Restrepo^1,2

Congenital Heart Disease, Vol.13, No.1, pp. 38-45, 2018, DOI:10.1111/chd.12558

Abstract Objective: We hypothesized that clinic-based, hepatic-ultrasound, elastography measurements, either alone or in combination with other noninvasive variables, might correlate with liver-biopsy fibrosis scores in patients post-Fontan.
Methods: Between March 2012 and February 2017, we identified patients post-Fontan that underwent elective cardiac catheterization and simultaneous transvenous hepatic biopsy. From this group, we selected patients that met inclusion criteria for liver-ultrasound, shear-wave elastography. Utilizing the results of elastography, laboratory testing, and time post-Fontan, we constructed a composite Fontan hepatic index as a sum of elastography measurements in kilopascals, model for end-stage liver disease excluding INR scores, and the square root of the… More >

Sevan Goenezen^1,*, Ping Luo¹, Baik Jin Kim¹, Maulik Kotecha¹, Yue Mei^2,3

Molecular & Cellular Biomechanics, Vol.16, Suppl.2, pp. 46-48, 2019, DOI:10.32604/mcb.2019.07348

Abstract It is well known that the mechanical properties of tissues may vary spatially due to changing tissue types or due to inherent tissue disease. For example, the biomechanical properties are known to vary throughout blood vessels [1]. Diseases such as cancers may also lead to locally altered mechanical properties, thus allow a preliminary diagnosis via finger palpation. Quantifying the mechanical property distribution of tissues for a given constitutive equation will allow to characterize the biomechanical response of tissues. This may help to 1) predict disease progression, 2) diagnose diseases that alter the biomechanics of the tissue, e.g., skin cancers, breast… More >