Abstract: In this paper we introduce a novel application of the diffusion tensor for anisotropic image processing. The Anisotropic Contour Completion (ACC) we suggest consists in extending the characteristic function of the open curve by means of a degenerated diffusion tensor that prevents any diffusion in the normal direction. We show that ACC is equivalent to a dilation with a continuous elliptic structural element that takes into account the local orientation of the contours to be closed. Experiments on contours extracted from real images show that ACC produces shapes able to adapt to any curve in an active contour framework. 1.

Abstract: Impairment of left ventricular (LV) contractility due to cardiovascular diseases is reflected in LV motion patterns. The mechanics of any muscle strongly depends on the spatial orientation of its muscular fibers since the motion that the muscle undergoes mainly takes place along the fiber. The helical ventricular myocardial band (HVMB) concept describes the myocardial muscle as a unique muscular band that twists in space in a non homogeneous fashion. The 3D anisotropy of the ventricular band fibers suggests a regional analysis of the heart motion. Computation of normality models of such motion can help in the detection and localization of any cardiac disorder. In this paper we introduce, for the first time, a normalized parametric domain that allows comparison of the left ventricle motion across patients. We address, both, extraction of the LV motion from Tagged Magnetic Resonance images, as well as, defining a mapping of the LV to a common normalized domain. Extraction of normality motion patterns from 17 healthy volunteers shows the clinical potential of our LV parametrization.

Abstract: Background Reliable predictive imaging markers of response to immune checkpoint inhibitors are needed. Purpose To develop and validate a pretreatment CT-based radiomics signature to predict response to immune checkpoint inhibitors in advanced solid tumors. Materials and Methods In this retrospective study, a radiomics signature was developed in patients with advanced solid tumors (including breast, cervix, gastrointestinal) treated with anti-programmed cell death-1 or programmed cell death ligand-1 monotherapy from August 2012 to May 2018 (cohort 1). This was tested in patients with bladder and lung cancer (cohorts 2 and 3). Radiomics variables were extracted from all metastases delineated at pretreatment CT and selected by using an elastic-net model. A regression model combined radiomics and clinical variables with response as the end point. Biologic validation of the radiomics score with RNA profiling of cytotoxic cells (cohort 4) was assessed with Mann-Whitney analysis. Results The radiomics signature was developed in 85 patients (cohort 1: mean age, 58 years ± 13 [standard deviation]; 43 men) and tested on 46 patients (cohort 2: mean age, 70 years ± 12; 37 men) and 47 patients (cohort 3: mean age, 64 years ± 11; 40 men). Biologic validation was performed in a further cohort of 20 patients (cohort 4: mean age, 60 years ± 13; 14 men). The radiomics signature was associated with clinical response to immune checkpoint inhibitors (area under the curve [AUC], 0.70; 95% CI: 0.64, 0.77; P < .001). In cohorts 2 and 3, the AUC was 0.67 (95% CI: 0.58, 0.76) and 0.67 (95% CI: 0.56, 0.77; P < .001), respectively. A radiomics-clinical signature (including baseline albumin level and lymphocyte count) improved on radiomics-only performance (AUC, 0.74 [95% CI: 0.63, 0.84; P < .001]; Akaike information criterion, 107.00 and 109.90, respectively). Conclusion A pretreatment CT-based radiomics signature is associated with response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, likely reflecting the tumor immunophenotype. © RSNA, 2021 Online supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Summers in this issue.

Abstract: Tagged magnetic resonance is a very usefull and unique tool that provides a complete local and global knowledge of the left ventricle (LV) motion. In this article we introduce a method capable of tracking and segmenting the LV. Spectral methods are applied in order to obtain the so called HARP images which encode information about movement and are the base for LV point-tracking. For segmentation we use Active Shapes (ASM) that model LV shape variation in order to overcome possible local misplacements of the boundary. We finally show experiments on both synthetic and real data which appear to be very promising.

Abstract: Fisher Linear Discriminant Analysis (FLDA) is one of the most popular techniques used in classification applying dimensional reduction. The numerical scheme involves the inversion of the within-class scatter matrix, which makes FLDA potentially ill-conditioned when it becomes singular. In this paper we present a novel explicit formulation of FLDA in terms of the eccentricity ratio and eigenvector orientations of the within-class scatter matrix. An analysis of this function will characterize those situations where FLDA response is not reliable because of numerical instability. This can solve common situations of poor classification performance in computer vision.