Imaging findings of prostate tuberculosis by transrectal contrast-enhanced ultrasound and comparison with 2D ultrasound and pathology

Diagnostic accuracy of qualitative and quantitative magnetic resonance imaging-guided contrast-enhanced ultrasound (MRI-guided CEUS) for the detection of prostate cancer: a prospective and multicenter study

PURPOSE

To evaluate the diagnostic value of MRI-guided contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) for prostate cancer (PCa) diagnosis, and characteristics of PCa in qualitative and quantitative CEUS.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

This prospective and multicenter study included 250 patients (133 in the training cohort, 57 in the validation cohort and 60 in the test cohort) who underwent MRI, MRI-guided CEUS and prostate biopsy between March 2021 and February 2023. MRI interpretation, qualitative and quantitative CEUS analysis were conducted. Multitree extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) machine learning-based models were applied to select the eight most important quantitative parameters. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression models were constructed to select independent predictors of PCa. Diagnostic value was determined for MRI, qualitative and quantitative CEUS using the area under receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC).

RESULTS

The performance of quantitative CEUS was superior to that of the qualitative CEUS and MRI in predicting PCa. The AUC was 0.779 (95%CI 0.70-0.849), 0.756 (95%CI 0.638-0.874) and 0.759 (95%CI 0.638-0.879) of qualitative CEUS, and 0.885 (95%CI 0.831-0.940), 0.802 (95%CI 0.684-0.919) and 0.824 (95%CI 0.713-0.936) of quantitative CEUS in training, validation and test cohort, respectively. Compared with quantitative CEUS, MRI achieved less well performance for AUC 0.811 (95%CI 0.741-0.882, p = 0.099), 0.748 (95%CI 0.628-0.868, p = 0.539) and 0.737 (95%CI 0.602-0.873, p = 0.029), respectively. Moreover, the highest specificity of 80.6% was obtained by quantitative CEUS.

CONCLUSION

We developed a reliable method of MRI-guided CEUS that demonstrated enhanced performance compared to MRI. The qualitative and quantitative CEUS characteristics will contribute to improved diagnosis of PCa.

Comments and Illustrations of Ultrasound Findings in Extrapulmonary Tuberculosis Manifestations

This review describes the appearance of extrapulmonary tuberculosis manifestations in comprehensive and multiparametric ultrasound imaging. The aim is to increase awareness of typical ultrasound findings regarding extrapulmonary tuberculosis, correlate those with pathological features, and facilitate differential diagnosis. Point of care ultrasound protocols can be used as a screening method in high-risk populations, although the negative findings do not exclude tuberculosis. Conversely, the diagnosis of extrapulmonary tuberculosis can never be made using ultrasound alone, as many ultrasound findings in extrapulmonary tuberculosis are non-specific. However, ultrasound-based sampling techniques can significantly facilitate the collection of samples for microbiological or molecular proof of tuberculosis, as well as facilitating the establishment of alternative diagnoses.

Prostate tuberculosis mimicking prostate cancer: Case report and literature review

RATIONALE

Prostate tuberculosis (PTB) has no specific symptoms, or insidious presentation in male reproductive system tuberculosis, and is difficult to detect in the early stage. When PTB develops to the late stage, it leads to disease progression and irreversible organ and tissue damage. At present, the imaging manifestations of prostate tuberculosis vary and are not well known to imaging physicians and urologists.

DIAGNOSES AND INTERVENTIONS

This case was a PTB patient, whose main manifestation was elevated serum prostate-specific antigen and the diagnosis was confirmed by ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy. We analyzed the imaging performance of various imaging techniques, and summarized and explored the imaging characteristics reported in the previous literature, with the aim of improving the early detection rate and providing evidence-based practice for early regular antituberculosis treatment in PTB.

OUTCOMES

The multiparametric transrectal ultrasound performance of PTB is characteristic, and can be used for the differential diagnosis of prostate cancer causing elevated prostate-specific antigen levels in aged men.

Value of Contrast-Enhanced Ultrasound in the Ultrasound Classification of Cervical Tuberculous Lymphadenitis

Purpose

The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical value of contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) in the ultrasound (US) classification of cervical tuberculous lymphadenitis (CTL).

Materials and Methods

This retrospective study included 70 patients diagnosed with CTL. All patients underwent both conventional US and CEUS. Both methods were compared to determine their agreement with pathological CTL results.

Results

The results of conventional US classification were as follows: 18 patients (25.7%) were type I, 25 patients (35.7%) type II, 21 patients (30.0%) type III, and 6 patients (8.6%) type IV, respectively. The results of CEUS classification were as follows: 9 patients (12.9%) were type I, 33 patients (47.1%) type II, 22 patients (31.4%) type III, and 6 patients (8.6%) type IV. Conventional US classification and pathological results showed moderate agreement in terms of US classification results for CTL (Kappa = 0.693); the accuracy of conventional US classification was 78.6% (55/70), and the accuracy of types II and III were 71.0% (22/31) and 82.6% (19/23), respectively. CEUS classification and pathological results showed strong agreement (Kappa = 0.871); the accuracy of CEUS classification was 91.4% (64/70), and the accuracy of types II and III were 93.6% (29/31) and 87.0% (20/23), respectively.

Conclusion

In combined with conventional US, CEUS could provide more information on blood flow enhancement patterns and identify the area of lymph node necrosis in CTL. This could contribute to a more accurate US classification of CTL.

Recent advances of multi-modal ultrasound in image-guided prostate-targeted biopsy

Prostate-targeted biopsy is usually the preferred method over systematic biopsy because it can effectively detect prostate cancer using only a few puncture cores with fewer complications. With the development of ultrasound, it has gained multimodal technological upgrades, such as the emergence of contrast-enhanced ultrasound, ultrasound elastography, and three-dimensional ultrasonography. Moreover, multimodal ultrasound has played an increasingly significant role in prostate-targeted biopsies.