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Kavalcı Kol B, Boşnak Güçlü M, Baytok E, Yılmaz Demirci N. Comparison of the muscle oxygenation during submaximal and maximal exercise tests in patients post-coronavirus disease 2019 syndrome with pulmonary involvement. Physiother Theory Pract 2024:1-14. [PMID: 38469863 DOI: 10.1080/09593985.2024.2327534] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/22/2023] [Accepted: 03/03/2024] [Indexed: 03/13/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Pulmonary involvement is prevalent in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Arterial hypoxemia may reduce oxygen transferred to the skeletal muscles, possibly leading to impaired exercise capacity. Oxygen uptake may vary depending on the increased oxygen demand of the muscles during submaximal and maximal exercise. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to compare muscle oxygenation during submaximal and maximal exercise tests in patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome with pulmonary involvement. METHODS Thirty-nine patients were included. Pulmonary function (spirometry), peripheral muscle strength (dynamometer), quadriceps femoris (QF) muscle oxygenation (Moxy® device), and submaximal exercise capacity (six-minute walk test (6-MWT)) were tested on the first day, maximal exercise capacity (cardiopulmonary exercise test (CPET)) was tested on the second day. Physical activity level was evaluated using an activity monitor worn for five consecutive days. Cardiopulmonary responses and muscle oxygenation were compared during 6-MWT and CPET. RESULTS Patients' minimum and recovery muscle oxygen saturation were significantly decreased; maximum total hemoglobin increased, heart rate, blood pressure, breathing frequency, dyspnea, fatigue, and leg fatigue at the end-of-test and recovery increased in CPET compared to 6-MWT (p < .050). Peak oxygen consumption (VO2peak) was 18.15 ± 4.75 ml/min/kg, VO2peak; percent predicted < 80% was measured in 51.28% patients. Six-MWT distance and QF muscle strength were less than 80% predicted in 58.9% and 76.9% patients, respectively. CONCLUSIONS In patients with post-COVID-19 syndrome with pulmonary involvement, muscle deoxygenation of QF is greater during maximal exercise than during submaximal exercise. Specifically, patients with lung impairment should be evaluated for deoxygenation and should be taken into consideration during pulmonary rehabilitation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Başak Kavalcı Kol
- Pilot Health Coordinatorship, Kırşehir Ahi Evran University, Kırşehir, Türkiye
| | - Meral Boşnak Güçlü
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Gazi University, Çankaya, Ankara, Türkiye
| | - Ece Baytok
- Faculty of Health Sciences, Department of Physical Therapy and Rehabilitation, Gazi University, Çankaya, Ankara, Türkiye
| | - Nilgün Yılmaz Demirci
- Faculty of Medicine, Department of Pulmonology, Gazi University, Yenimahalle, Ankara, Türkiye
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Lizzi F, Postuma I, Brero F, Cabini RF, Fantacci ME, Lascialfari A, Oliva P, Rinaldi L, Retico A. Quantification of pulmonary involvement in COVID-19 pneumonia: an upgrade of the LungQuant software for lung CT segmentation. EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL PLUS 2023; 138:326. [PMID: 37064789 PMCID: PMC10088731 DOI: 10.1140/epjp/s13360-023-03896-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2022] [Accepted: 03/15/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
Computed tomography (CT) scans are used to evaluate the severity of lung involvement in patients affected by COVID-19 pneumonia. Here, we present an improved version of the LungQuant automatic segmentation software (LungQuant v2), which implements a cascade of three deep neural networks (DNNs) to segment the lungs and the lung lesions associated with COVID-19 pneumonia. The first network (BB-net) defines a bounding box enclosing the lungs, the second one (U-net 1 ) outputs the mask of the lungs, and the final one (U-net 2 ) generates the mask of the COVID-19 lesions. With respect to the previous version (LungQuant v1), three main improvements are introduced: the BB-net, a new term in the loss function in the U-net for lesion segmentation and a post-processing procedure to separate the right and left lungs. The three DNNs were optimized, trained and tested on publicly available CT scans. We evaluated the system segmentation capability on an independent test set consisting of ten fully annotated CT scans, the COVID-19-CT-Seg benchmark dataset. The test performances are reported by means of the volumetric dice similarity coefficient (vDSC) and the surface dice similarity coefficient (sDSC) between the reference and the segmented objects. LungQuant v2 achieves a vDSC (sDSC) equal to 0.96 ± 0.01 (0.97 ± 0.01) and 0.69 ± 0.08 (0.83 ± 0.07) for the lung and lesion segmentations, respectively. The output of the segmentation software was then used to assess the percentage of infected lungs, obtaining a Mean Absolute Error (MAE) equal to 2%.
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Affiliation(s)
- Francesca Lizzi
- Pisa Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Pisa, Italy
| | | | - Francesca Brero
- Pavia Division, INFN, Pavia, Italy
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Raffaella Fiamma Cabini
- Pavia Division, INFN, Pavia, Italy
- Department of Mathematics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Maria Evelina Fantacci
- Pisa Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Pisa, Italy
- Department of Physics, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Alessandro Lascialfari
- Pavia Division, INFN, Pavia, Italy
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Piernicola Oliva
- Department of Chemical, Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
- Cagliari Division, INFN, Cagliari, Italy
| | - Lisa Rinaldi
- Pavia Division, INFN, Pavia, Italy
- Department of Physics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Alessandra Retico
- Pisa Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Pisa, Italy
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Scapicchio C, Chincarini A, Ballante E, Berta L, Bicci E, Bortolotto C, Brero F, Cabini RF, Cristofalo G, Fanni SC, Fantacci ME, Figini S, Galia M, Gemma P, Grassedonio E, Lascialfari A, Lenardi C, Lionetti A, Lizzi F, Marrale M, Midiri M, Nardi C, Oliva P, Perillo N, Postuma I, Preda L, Rastrelli V, Rizzetto F, Spina N, Talamonti C, Torresin A, Vanzulli A, Volpi F, Neri E, Retico A. A multicenter evaluation of a deep learning software (LungQuant) for lung parenchyma characterization in COVID-19 pneumonia. Eur Radiol Exp 2023; 7:18. [PMID: 37032383 PMCID: PMC10083148 DOI: 10.1186/s41747-023-00334-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2022] [Accepted: 02/27/2023] [Indexed: 04/11/2023] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND The role of computed tomography (CT) in the diagnosis and characterization of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia has been widely recognized. We evaluated the performance of a software for quantitative analysis of chest CT, the LungQuant system, by comparing its results with independent visual evaluations by a group of 14 clinical experts. The aim of this work is to evaluate the ability of the automated tool to extract quantitative information from lung CT, relevant for the design of a diagnosis support model. METHODS LungQuant segments both the lungs and lesions associated with COVID-19 pneumonia (ground-glass opacities and consolidations) and computes derived quantities corresponding to qualitative characteristics used to clinically assess COVID-19 lesions. The comparison was carried out on 120 publicly available CT scans of patients affected by COVID-19 pneumonia. Scans were scored for four qualitative metrics: percentage of lung involvement, type of lesion, and two disease distribution scores. We evaluated the agreement between the LungQuant output and the visual assessments through receiver operating characteristics area under the curve (AUC) analysis and by fitting a nonlinear regression model. RESULTS Despite the rather large heterogeneity in the qualitative labels assigned by the clinical experts for each metric, we found good agreement on the metrics compared to the LungQuant output. The AUC values obtained for the four qualitative metrics were 0.98, 0.85, 0.90, and 0.81. CONCLUSIONS Visual clinical evaluation could be complemented and supported by computer-aided quantification, whose values match the average evaluation of several independent clinical experts. KEY POINTS We conducted a multicenter evaluation of the deep learning-based LungQuant automated software. We translated qualitative assessments into quantifiable metrics to characterize coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia lesions. Comparing the software output to the clinical evaluations, results were satisfactory despite heterogeneity of the clinical evaluations. An automatic quantification tool may contribute to improve the clinical workflow of COVID-19 pneumonia.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilla Scapicchio
- Physics Department, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy.
- Pisa Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pisa, Italy.
| | - Andrea Chincarini
- Genova Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Genova, Italy
| | - Elena Ballante
- Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Pavia Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pavia, Italy
| | - Luca Berta
- Department of Medical Physics, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Milan, Italy
- Milano Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Milan, Italy
| | - Eleonora Bicci
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, Radiodiagnostic Unit n. 2, University of Florence-Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy
| | - Chandra Bortolotto
- Unit of Imaging and Radiotherapy, Department of Clinical-Surgical, Diagnostic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Institute of Radiology, Department of Diagnostic and Imaging Services, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
| | - Francesca Brero
- Pavia Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pavia, Italy
| | - Raffaella Fiamma Cabini
- Pavia Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pavia, Italy
- Department of Mathematics, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Cristofalo
- Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostic (BiND), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | | | - Maria Evelina Fantacci
- Physics Department, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Pisa Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pisa, Italy
| | - Silvia Figini
- Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Pavia Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pavia, Italy
| | - Massimo Galia
- Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostic (BiND), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Pietro Gemma
- Post-graduate School in Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Emanuele Grassedonio
- Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostic (BiND), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | | | - Cristina Lenardi
- Milano Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Milan, Italy
- Department of Physics "Aldo Pontremoli", University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Alice Lionetti
- Unit of Imaging and Radiotherapy, Department of Clinical-Surgical, Diagnostic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
| | - Francesca Lizzi
- Physics Department, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Pisa Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pisa, Italy
| | - Maurizio Marrale
- Department of Physics and Chemistry "Emilio Segrè", University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
- Catania Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Catania, Italy
| | - Massimo Midiri
- Department of Biomedicine, Neuroscience and Advanced Diagnostic (BiND), University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy
| | - Cosimo Nardi
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, Radiodiagnostic Unit n. 2, University of Florence-Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy
| | - Piernicola Oliva
- Cagliari Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Monserrato, Cagliari, Italy
- Department of Chemical, Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, University of Sassari, Sassari, Italy
| | - Noemi Perillo
- Post-graduate School in Radiodiagnostics, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Ian Postuma
- Pavia Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Pavia, Italy
| | - Lorenzo Preda
- Unit of Imaging and Radiotherapy, Department of Clinical-Surgical, Diagnostic and Pediatric Sciences, University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy
- Institute of Radiology, Department of Diagnostic and Imaging Services, Fondazione IRCCS Policlinico San Matteo, Pavia, Italy
| | - Vieri Rastrelli
- Department of Experimental and Clinical Biomedical Sciences, Radiodiagnostic Unit n. 2, University of Florence-Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, Florence, Italy
| | - Francesco Rizzetto
- Department of Radiology, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Milan, Italy
- Postgraduate School of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Nicola Spina
- Department of Translational Research, Academic Radiology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Cinzia Talamonti
- Department Biomedical Experimental and Clinical Science "Mario Serio", University of Florence, Florence, Italy
- Florence Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze, Italy
| | - Alberto Torresin
- Department of Medical Physics, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Milan, Italy
- Milano Division, National Institute for Nuclear Physics, Milan, Italy
- Department of Physics "Aldo Pontremoli", University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Angelo Vanzulli
- Department of Medical Physics, ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda, Milan, Italy
- Department of Oncology and Hemato-Oncology, University of Milan, Milan, Italy
| | - Federica Volpi
- Department of Translational Research, Academic Radiology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
| | - Emanuele Neri
- Department of Translational Research, Academic Radiology, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy
- Italian Society of Medical and Interventional Radiology, SIRM Foundation, Milan, Italy
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Retico A, Avanzo M, Boccali T, Bonacorsi D, Botta F, Cuttone G, Martelli B, Salomoni D, Spiga D, Trianni A, Stasi M, Iori M, Talamonti C. Enhancing the impact of Artificial Intelligence in Medicine: A joint AIFM-INFN Italian initiative for a dedicated cloud-based computing infrastructure. Phys Med 2021; 91:140-150. [PMID: 34801873 DOI: 10.1016/j.ejmp.2021.10.005] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/26/2021] [Revised: 10/04/2021] [Accepted: 10/05/2021] [Indexed: 12/23/2022] Open
Abstract
Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques have been implemented in the field of Medical Imaging for more than forty years. Medical Physicists, Clinicians and Computer Scientists have been collaborating since the beginning to realize software solutions to enhance the informative content of medical images, including AI-based support systems for image interpretation. Despite the recent massive progress in this field due to the current emphasis on Radiomics, Machine Learning and Deep Learning, there are still some barriers to overcome before these tools are fully integrated into the clinical workflows to finally enable a precision medicine approach to patients' care. Nowadays, as Medical Imaging has entered the Big Data era, innovative solutions to efficiently deal with huge amounts of data and to exploit large and distributed computing resources are urgently needed. In the framework of a collaboration agreement between the Italian Association of Medical Physicists (AIFM) and the National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), we propose a model of an intensive computing infrastructure, especially suited for training AI models, equipped with secure storage systems, compliant with data protection regulation, which will accelerate the development and extensive validation of AI-based solutions in the Medical Imaging field of research. This solution can be developed and made operational by Physicists and Computer Scientists working on complementary fields of research in Physics, such as High Energy Physics and Medical Physics, who have all the necessary skills to tailor the AI-technology to the needs of the Medical Imaging community and to shorten the pathway towards the clinical applicability of AI-based decision support systems.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alessandra Retico
- National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Pisa Division, 56127 Pisa, Italy
| | - Michele Avanzo
- Medical Physics Department, Centro di Riferimento Oncologico di Aviano (CRO) IRCCS, 33081 Aviano, Italy
| | - Tommaso Boccali
- National Institute for Nuclear Physics (INFN), Pisa Division, 56127 Pisa, Italy
| | - Daniele Bonacorsi
- University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy; INFN, Bologna Division, 40126 Bologna, Italy
| | - Francesca Botta
- Medical Physics Unit, Istituto Europeo di oncologia IRCCS, 20141 Milan, Italy
| | - Giacomo Cuttone
- INFN, Southern National Laboratory (LNS), 95123 Catania, Italy
| | | | | | | | - Annalisa Trianni
- Medical Physics Unit, Ospedale Santa Chiara APSS, 38122 Trento, Italy
| | - Michele Stasi
- Medical Physics Unit, A.O. Ordine Mauriziano di Torino, 10128 Torino, Italy
| | - Mauro Iori
- Medical Physics Unit, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, 42122 Reggio Emilia, Italy.
| | - Cinzia Talamonti
- Department Biomedical Experimental and Clinical Science "Mario Serio", University of Florence, 50134 Florence, Italy; INFN, Florence Division, 50134 Florence, Italy
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Quantitative Analysis of Residual COVID-19 Lung CT Features: Consistency among Two Commercial Software. J Pers Med 2021; 11:jpm11111103. [PMID: 34834455 PMCID: PMC8623042 DOI: 10.3390/jpm11111103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2021] [Revised: 10/21/2021] [Accepted: 10/25/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022] Open
Abstract
Objective: To investigate two commercial software and their efficacy in the assessment of chest CT sequelae in patients affected by COVID-19 pneumonia, comparing the consistency of tools. Materials and Methods: Included in the study group were 120 COVID-19 patients (56 women and 104 men; 61 years of median age; range: 21–93 years) who underwent chest CT examinations at discharge between 5 March 2020 and 15 March 2021 and again at a follow-up time (3 months; range 30–237 days). A qualitative assessment by expert radiologists in the infectious disease field (experience of at least 5 years) was performed, and a quantitative evaluation using thoracic VCAR software (GE Healthcare, Chicago, Illinois, United States) and a pneumonia module of ANKE ASG-340 CT workstation (HTS Med & Anke, Naples, Italy) was performed. The qualitative evaluation included the presence of ground glass opacities (GGOs) consolidation, interlobular septal thickening, fibrotic-like changes (reticular pattern and/or honeycombing), bronchiectasis, air bronchogram, bronchial wall thickening, pulmonary nodules surrounded by GGOs, pleural and pericardial effusion, lymphadenopathy, and emphysema. A quantitative evaluation included the measurements of GGOs, consolidations, emphysema, residual healthy parenchyma, and total lung volumes for the right and left lung. A chi-square test and non-parametric test were utilized to verify the differences between groups. Correlation coefficients were used to analyze the correlation and variability among quantitative measurements by different computer tools. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was performed. Results: The correlation coefficients showed great variability among the quantitative measurements by different tools when calculated on baseline CT scans and considering all patients. Instead, a good correlation (≥0.6) was obtained for the quantitative GGO, as well as the consolidation volumes obtained by two tools when calculated on baseline CT scans, considering the control group. An excellent correlation (≥0.75) was obtained for the quantitative residual healthy lung parenchyma volume, GGO, consolidation volumes obtained by two tools when calculated on follow-up CT scans, and for residual healthy lung parenchyma and GGO quantification when the percentage change of these volumes were calculated between a baseline and follow-up scan. The highest value of accuracy to identify patients with RT-PCR positive compared to the control group was obtained by a GGO total volume quantification by thoracic VCAR (accuracy = 0.75). Conclusions: Computer aided quantification could be an easy and feasible way to assess chest CT sequelae due to COVID-19 pneumonia; however, a great variability among measurements provided by different tools should be considered.
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