Radiological Technology Research Articles

Commuting violence: Social, mental and academic consequences. Is this concept necessary to adopt?

Abstract Introduction Violence has emerged as a pressing public health issue due to its global impact, prompting the need to coin the term ‘commuting violence’ (CV). This term refers to any form of aggression experienced by students traveling from the University to other locations such as their homes or vice versa, considering that this situation could have health and academic consequences for students. Objectives To determine the consequences associated with CV in university students. Methods A cross-sectional and prospective study was conducted, including students from a Medical School in Veracruz, Mexico, from August to December 2023. Invitations to participate were extended to students of medicine, chiropractic, and radiology technology. Results A total of 279 participants with a mean age of 20 (±3.0) years were included. 89.6% of students perceive insecurity on their journey to the university, primarily due to the presence of suspicious individuals (93.9%); 70.6% of participants reported knowing a peer who has experienced CV, leading them to avoid certain streets (92.5%) to avoid it. Insecurity felt on the journey home from school showed a significant association (OR/CI95%) for anxiety due to JV of (7.2/3.2-16), stress due to CV of (11.1/4.74-25.9), and paranoia due to CV of (4.48/2.02-9.92). A total of 140 (50.2%) students reported experiencing CV, with the most frequent manifestations being sexual harassment (79.3%) and verbal harassment (57.8%), as well as two (1.4%) attempted rapes. Experiencing CV was positively associated with students avoiding class schedules before 8:00 a.m. (3.6/1.69-7.63) and after 6:00 p.m. (4.6/1.7-11.94), as well as absenteeism (7.37/2.51-21.67) and thoughts of dropping out (12.9/2.75-60.36) (p < 0.05). Conclusions PV is a relevant situation that exists within the well-being of students, impacting them both in anticipation and when faced with it. The concept of CV should be considered for use in future research. Key messages • We propose the concept of Commuting violence as an element to be taken into account since it has been demonstrated that this situation interferes with the academic activity of the students. • Commuting violence occurs during academic activities, so universities should propose actions to make students feel safe on their daily journey to the university.

SWOT analysis of the application of artificial intelligence in radiologic technology and radiology

Artificial intelligence (AI) is bringing changes to radiology and radiologic technology, enabling the development of programs and algorithms that facilitate diagnosis and decisions. It is essential to understand how AI can improve patient outcomes, increase the efficiency of investigations and reduce costs. Machine and deep learning have proven to be extremely useful in the detection and characterization of lesions, improving routine imaging techniques and facilitating the work of radiologists by reducing workload and improving the quality of reporting. The practical application of artificial intelligence in radiology and radiologic technology has been slowed down by the lack of integrated solutions and well-structured data archives, as well as challenges such as non-transparency of decision-making systems and large amounts of quality data needed to train artificial intelligence models. There are concerns about the potential impact of AI on the work of radiologists and radiologic technologists, which may hinder the development and implementation of this technology. Textual data derived from image reports can provide valuable healthcare insights. Natural language processing (NLP), a subset of artificial intelligence, offers promising solutions for handling unstructured text in these reports, opening a new era in extracting information from medical images and related reports. Due to the challenges in training experts for the application of AI in healthcare, a multidisciplinary approach will have to be used and investments in collaboration and education will have to be made. There are outstanding issues of liability and regulation regarding data storage and privacy, particularly in the case of cloud storage. The concern of the workforce and their lack of education about artificial intelligence represents an obstacle to its adoption, but also offers an opportunity for the technological advancement of the profession.

Effect of remote surveillance system on management of diagnostic imaging significant actionable findings.

327 Background: Delayed assessment of diagnostic imaging (DI) significant actionable findings (AFs) at an oncological center prompted the creation of a safety net system which used technological advancements to improve communication amongst radiologists and patient-facing providers. Significant AFs is an unexpected radiology finding that is not considered imminently life-threatening but for which follow-up action is recommended within a determined timeframe. Due to the robust nature of DI reports significant AFs can be overlooked. The Actionable Finding Vigilance Unit (AFVU) was created to provide a safety net system for the flow of information. Methods: Operationalizing the AFVU required a multidisciplinary approach consisting of executive stakeholders in Patient Safety, Quality, Radiology, and Information Technology amongst others. A list of 24 AFs was created. Stakeholders met weekly to formalize a strategy and execute the planned intervention. Essential elements included: identifying significant AFs for monitoring, obtaining provider buy-in, creating a digital dashboard within the electronic health record, developing a structured DI report for enhanced communication of findings, and implementing registered nurses team for monitoring. The plan – do- study- act methodology was applied. Results: Over a ten-month period, there were a total of 819 findings. 353 significant AFs associated with the pre-determined list for monitoring. Approximately 29% (102/352) required escalation from the AFVU. Patients without a primary physician in the cancer center were considered a vulnerable population. These patients often sought care via the emergency department and were under the oversight of the AFVU. Total volume of significant AFs for this population consisted of 466 findings, 8 % (36/466) required escalation by the AFVU. Conclusions: Utilization of an electronic health record with the capacity to issue immediate electronic notifications to providers, coupled with a digital dashboard for the monitoring all significant AF reported, does create a safety net for providers and patients. The electronic communication of significant AFs is further enhanced using human interaction for case review and follow up. Data highlights the benefit of harmonizing technology with clinician knowledge and workflow as instrumental in promoting safety and reducing risk in healthcare.

Reviving the poppy seed test for the diagnosis of colovesical fistula: A case report from a single rural center experience.

The poppy seed test is a valuable, cost-effective, and sensitive initial diagnostic investigation to identify the presence of colovesical fistula, particularly for clinicians in remote or rural areas with lack of access to specialist radiologic, endoscopic, surgical, or urological support. The poppy seed test therefore may act as a bridge toward the commencement of appropriate referral pathways for the management of colovesical fistula. The diagnosis of colovesical fistula is resource intensive, often requiring a combination of radiological investigation and endoscopy. The poppy seed test is a non-invasive and cost-effective alternative that has been demonstrated to identify presence of colovesical fistula with high sensitivity. There is however a noticeable paucity of recommendations for the poppy seed test in the diagnostic approach to colovesical fistula due to significant advancements in alternative radiologic and endoscopic technologies. Despite this, in resource-challenged areas with lack of specialist support, the poppy seed test is a cost-effective, accessible and safe test that can be performed to confirm the presence of colovesical fistula. We report a case of a 79-year-old man with a past history of colorectal cancer managed surgically with adjuvant chemoradiotherapy who develops noisy micturition, pneumaturia, and fecaluria 22 years after treatment. Given the suspicion of colovesical fistula, computed tomography imaging and cystoscopy were performed which was unable to demonstrate an overt fistula. The poppy seed test was utilized and demonstrated presence of poppy seeds in the urine, confirming the presence of a fistula. The patient was referred to a specialist surgical center for consideration of further management. The poppy seed test is a valuable initial diagnostic investigation for clinicians in remote or rural areas with lack of access to specialist radiologic, endoscopic, surgical, or urological support in confirming the presence of a colovesical fistula and initiating referral pathways for the management of this condition.

314 - The Development of Learning Materials for Preparing Virtual Patients for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Using Virtual Reality Technology for Students of Radiological Technology

314 - The Development of Learning Materials for Preparing Virtual Patients for Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Using Virtual Reality Technology for Students of Radiological Technology

176 - Using Virtual Environment of Radiotherapy Training (VERT) system to improve technical skill and knowledge in radiotherapy for Radiological Technology Student

176 - Using Virtual Environment of Radiotherapy Training (VERT) system to improve technical skill and knowledge in radiotherapy for Radiological Technology Student

132 - Development and Implication of Virtual Reality Simulation in Computed Tomography Simulator Education for Radiological Technology Students

132 - Development and Implication of Virtual Reality Simulation in Computed Tomography Simulator Education for Radiological Technology Students

34 - Clinical competencies and performance of radiologic technology interns in general radiography

34 - Clinical competencies and performance of radiologic technology interns in general radiography

389 - Teacher's related-factors, learning style and behavioral engagement of radiologic technology students in a private university

389 - Teacher's related-factors, learning style and behavioral engagement of radiologic technology students in a private university

The future of diagnosis: artificial intelligence and advancing technologies in radiology

The transformative impact of AI on radiology extends across a broad spectrum from emergency cases to chronic diseases and oncological conditions. The documented successes underscore the critical role of ongoing research in this field, emphasizing its paramount importance in enhancing diagnostic accuracy, saving lives, and providing improved services to healthcare professionals

Liver transplantation for unresectable Klatskin tumor: experience of two centers, first distant results

Aim. Evaluation of the first distant results of the combined experience of liver transplantation for unresectable portal cholangiocarcinoma from two large specialized clinical centers.Materials and methods. In total, 23 attempts at liver transplantation for unresectable Klatskin tumor were undertaken. Out of them, 10 were conducted at the A.M. Granov Russian Research Center for Radiology and Surgical Technologies (Granov Center), and 13 were conducted at the Minsk Scientific and Practical Center for Surgery, Transplantology, and Hematology (Minsk Center). The maximum tumor size was 5 and 3 cm in patients operated at the Granov and Minsk Centers, respectively. In the Granov Center, neoadjuvant therapy included a combination of endobiliary photodynamic therapy, regional and systemic chemotherapy. Patients were included in the waiting list only in cases of decreased tumor marker levels and in the absence of disease progression and acute cholangitis. In the Minsk Center, stereotactic radiotherapy was used for neoadjuvant treatment in the absence of active cholangitis; the first 3 patients underwent liver transplantation without prior neoadjuvant treatment.Results. Due to disease progression, six patients were excluded. In three patients at the Mink Center, the diagnosis was not morphologically confirmed after liver transplantation. A total of 14 liver transplantations were performed for unresectable hilar cholangiocarcinoma. After neoadjuvant treatment at the Granov Center, normalization of the CA19-9 marker was observed in four patients, its decrease by 3–4 times was observed in two patients. Liver transplantation was performed in six patients. The average time from the onset of treatment to transplantation was 9.1 months (6–14). Out of the six patients, one was alive for 34 months, with the median overall survival being 22.2 months. Progression was the cause of death in only one patient. Out of the three patients without neoadjuvant treatment at the Minsk Center, two were alive at 16 and 134 months without progression. One patient died after transplantation from disease progression at 24 months. Stereotactic radiotherapy achieved normalization of CA19-9 in four patients; its twofold reduction was observed in one patient. The average time from the onset of treatment to transplantation was six months (3–12). The average CA19-9 tumor marker level by the time of transplantation was 11.3 IU/mL. At 20–26 months, three patients were alive without evidence of disease progression; two patients died of progression after 9 and 59 months.Conclusion. Liver transplantation for unresectable portal cholangiocarcinoma after neoadjuvant treatment regardless of the methods used is highly promising in carefully selected recipients.

Integrating radiological technology in environmental health surveillance to enhance public safety

The integration of radiological technology into environmental health surveillance represents a significant advancement in enhancing public safety. Radiological technologies, including advanced imaging and monitoring systems, offer powerful tools for detecting and assessing environmental hazards that impact public health. This review explores the potential benefits, methodologies, and challenges associated with integrating radiological technology into environmental health surveillance. Recent advancements in radiological technology, such as high-resolution imaging systems and portable radiation detectors, have greatly improved the ability to monitor and analyze environmental radiation levels with precision. These technologies enable real-time detection of radiation exposure, providing critical data for assessing risks associated with radiation sources, such as industrial activities, nuclear power plants, and natural radioactive materials. By integrating these tools into environmental health surveillance frameworks, public health agencies can enhance their capacity to identify and address radiation-related hazards more effectively. The application of radiological technology in environmental health surveillance facilitates comprehensive monitoring of radiation levels across various environments, including urban, rural, and industrial areas. This data is crucial for identifying contamination hotspots, tracking changes in radiation levels over time, and evaluating the effectiveness of radiation control measures. Additionally, the integration of radiological technology supports the development of predictive models for assessing potential health impacts and guiding emergency response strategies in the event of radiation incidents. Despite its advantages, integrating radiological technology into environmental health surveillance presents several challenges. These include the high costs of advanced equipment, the need for specialized training for personnel, and the management of large volumes of data generated by monitoring systems. Addressing these challenges requires a coordinated approach involving government agencies, research institutions, and industry stakeholders to ensure effective implementation and sustainability. In conclusion, integrating radiological technology into environmental health surveillance has the potential to significantly enhance public safety by providing accurate and timely data on radiation exposure. Continued innovation and collaboration in this field will be essential for optimizing the benefits of radiological technology and addressing the challenges associated with its integration into environmental health monitoring systems. Keywords: Integrating; Radiological Technology; Environmental Health Surveillance; Enhance; Public Safety

Advancements in Radiologic Technology: AI Integration, Dose Reduction, and Early Detection Techniques

Advancements in Radiologic Technology: AI Integration, Dose Reduction, and Early Detection Techniques

Optimization of Radiation Protection for Companions in Pediatric Chest Radiography

Aims: The objective of this study is to optimize the positioning of the companion during pediatric chest radiographic exams by analyzing the scattered radiation dose measured with an ionization chamber. Place and Duration of Study: The experimental study was conducted between February 2024 and April 2024, in the radiodiagnosis laboratory belonging to the Medical Physics and Radiology Technology courses at the Franciscan University (UFN) in the city of Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul. Methodology: A fixed conventional X-ray device and a phantom (simulating object) filled with 15 cm of water to represent a pediatric chest were used. The parameters of voltage (kV) and the product of current and time (mA.s) were kept constant. Measurements of the air KERMA (KAIR) were performed by positioning the dosimetric system at four points around the phantom (0º, 90º, 180º, and 270º), simulating the exposure conditions of the companion. Results: The results showed that the lowest radiation dose received by the companion at the gonadal level occurred at 90º around the table (cathode side), while the lowest dose at the lens level was at 270º (anode side). The highest dose at the gonadal level was observed at 180º, and the highest dose at the lens level was at 90º. Conclusion: It was concluded that the companion should position themselves on the anode side (270º), as the lens does not have lead protection, while protection is available for the rest of the body. This recommendation aims to optimize radiological safety for the companion.

Collective Effective Dose from Medical Radiation Use in Indonesia: Si-INTAN Data Study Period 2018-2021

Until now, there has been no information regarding the value of the collective dose per procedure using the X-ray modality in Indonesia. As in the ICRP 103 publication (2007), it is stated that the collective effective dose is an instrument for optimizing protection by comparing radiological technology and the protection procedures that will be taken. This article aims to raise awareness and optimize the use of diagnostic X-ray modalities by providing an estimate of the proportion of Indonesia's total population compared to the number of radiation examinations carried out, the collective annual effective dose, and the potential risks. The information provided is based on a data reported to the Patient Dose Data Information System (Si-INTAN) application from 2018 to 2021. The data is in the form of the number of patient examinations per modality and the national Diagnostic Reference Level (DRL) value for each type of procedure. From the results of the analysis, it was found that the proportion of patient examinations per modality in the sequence was conventional radiology (79.19%), CT Scan (17.56%), dental radiology (1.75%), interventional fluoroscopy (0.70%), medical diagnostic nuclear (0.62%), and mammography (0.18%). The majority of the annual collective effective dose in Indonesia comes from CT Scan (97.45%), interventional fluoroscopy (1.30%), conventional radiology (0.86%), diagnostic nuclear medicine (0.38%), and a small percentage from mammography and dental radiology. It is estimated that around 116.6 million Indonesians receive radiation exposure for medical needs with a collective annual effective dose of 860,000 man-Sv. This collective effective dose provides an estimate of the incidence of cancer in the Indonesian population of around 0.016% of the entire population in 2021. This information can be used as a baseline to evaluate trends in using and monitoring ionizing radiation sources for medical imaging needs in Indonesia. Keywords: effective dose, collective effective dose, diagnostic reference level (DRL), radiation imaging, diagnostic X-rays, radiation protection

Emerging technologies in pediatric radiology: current developments and future prospects.

Radiological imaging is a crucial diagnostic tool for the pediatric population. However, it is associated with several unique challenges in this age group compared to adults. These challenges mainly come from the fact that children are not small-sized adults and differ in development, anatomy, physiology, and pathology compared to adults. This paper reviews relevant articles published between January 2015 and October 2023 to analyze challenges associated with imaging technologies currently used in pediatric radiology, emerging technologies, and their role in resolving the challenges and future prospects of pediatric radiology. In recent decades, imaging technologies have advanced rapidly, developing advanced ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance, nuclear imaging, teleradiology, artificial intelligence, machine learning, three-dimensional printing, radiomics, and radiogenomics, among many others. By prioritizing the unique needs of pediatric patients while developing such technologies, we can significantly alleviate the challenges faced in pediatric radiology.

Detection of pulmonary nodules in chest radiographs: novel cost function for effective network training with purely synthesized datasets

PurposeMany large radiographic datasets of lung nodules are available, but the small and hard-to-detect nodules are rarely validated by computed tomography. Such difficult nodules are crucial for training nodule detection methods. This lack of difficult nodules for training can be addressed by artificial nodule synthesis algorithms, which can create artificially embedded nodules. This study aimed to develop and evaluate a novel cost function for training networks to detect such lesions. Embedding artificial lesions in healthy medical images is effective when positive cases are insufficient for network training. Although this approach provides both positive (lesion-embedded) images and the corresponding negative (lesion-free) images, no known methods effectively use these pairs for training. This paper presents a novel cost function for segmentation-based detection networks when positive–negative pairs are available.MethodsBased on the classic U-Net, new terms were added to the original Dice loss for reducing false positives and the contrastive learning of diseased regions in the image pairs. The experimental network was trained and evaluated, respectively, on 131,072 fully synthesized pairs of images simulating lung cancer and real chest X-ray images from the Japanese Society of Radiological Technology dataset.ResultsThe proposed method outperformed RetinaNet and a single-shot multibox detector. The sensitivities were 0.688 and 0.507 when the number of false positives per image was 0.2, respectively, with and without fine-tuning under the leave-one-case-out setting.ConclusionTo our knowledge, this is the first study in which a method for detecting pulmonary nodules in chest X-ray images was evaluated on a real clinical dataset after being trained on fully synthesized images. The synthesized dataset is available at https://zenodo.org/records/10648433.

Student’s Academic Achievement Predicts Clinical Internship in Radiological Sciences

Radiologic Technology Education is in a dynamic state that has evolved substantially from analog to digital radiography and from on-the-job training program to formal education which are now standard. Clinical internship in the hospital setting is crucial where experience is one of the most prime opportunities for the Rad-Tech interns. The purpose of this study is to determine the student’s academic achievement and the students internship performance in the radiological sciences of the school year 2023-2024. By utilizing an explanatory research design, the study focusing in the Rad-Tech internship performance aligned with performance indicators such as: area preparation, patient care and management, patient positioning, and image acquisition and processing. The challenges faced by the students during internship in the radiological sciences were all challenge and interpreted as low which obtained the over-all mean p- value of 2.62. This means that the challenges were poor performance in the radiological sciences. Based on the findings of the study, the respondents need to be guided by the Clinical Instructors and the preceptors in all radiological sciences procedures such as Ultrasound, Computed Tomography Scan, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Nuclear Medicine, and Radiation Therapy.

Clinical, Cultural, Computational, and Regulatory Considerations to Deploy AI in Radiology: Perspectives of RSNA and MICCAI Experts.

The Radiological Society of North of America (RSNA) and the Medical Image Computing and Computer Assisted Intervention (MICCAI) Society have led a series of joint panels and seminars focused on the present impact and future directions of artificial intelligence (AI) in radiology. These conversations have collected viewpoints from multidisciplinary experts in radiology, medical imaging, and machine learning on the current clinical penetration of AI technology in radiology and how it is impacted by trust, reproducibility, explainability, and accountability. The collective points-both practical and philosophical-define the cultural changes for radiologists and AI scientists working together and describe the challenges ahead for AI technologies to meet broad approval. This article presents the perspectives of experts from MICCAI and RSNA on the clinical, cultural, computational, and regulatory considerations-coupled with recommended reading materials-essential to adopt AI technology successfully in radiology and, more generally, in clinical practice. The report emphasizes the importance of collaboration to improve clinical deployment, highlights the need to integrate clinical and medical imaging data, and introduces strategies to ensure smooth and incentivized integration. Keywords: Adults and Pediatrics, Computer Applications-General (Informatics), Diagnosis, Prognosis © RSNA, 2024.

Radiologic Technology Students' Perceptions on Adoption of Artificial Intelligence Technology in Radiology.

This study aims to analyze radiologic technology student's perceptions of artificial intelligence (AI) and its applications in radiology. A quantitative cross-sectional survey was conducted. A pre-validated survey questionnaire with 17 items related to students perceptions of AI and its applications was used. The sample included radiologic technology students from three universities in Saudi Arabia. The survey was conducted online for several weeks, resulting in a sample of 280 radiologic technology students. Of the participants, 63.9% were aware of AI and its applications. T-tests revealed a statistically significant difference (p = 0.0471) between genders with male participants reflecting slightly higher AI awareness than female participants. Regarding the choice of radiology as specialization, 35% of the participants stated that they would not choose radiology, whereas 65% preferred it. Approximately 56% of the participants expressed concerns about the potential replacement of radiology technologists with AI, and 62.1% strongly agreed on the necessity of incorporating known ethical principles into AI. The findings reflect a positive evaluation of the applications of this technology, which is attributed to its essential support role. However, tailored education and training programs are necessary to prepare future healthcare professionals for the increasing role of AI in medical sciences.