Liver cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide, and its early detection and treatment are crucial for improving morbidity and mortality. Biomarkers have the potential to facilitate the early diagnosis and management of liver cancer, but identifying and implementing effective biomarkers remains a major challenge. In recent years, artificial intelligence has emerged as a promising tool in the cancer sphere, and recent literature suggests that it is very promising in facilitating biomarker use in liver cancer. This review provides an overview of the status of AI-based biomarker research in liver cancer, with a focus on the detection and implementation of biomarkers for risk prediction, diagnosis, staging, prognostication, prediction of treatment response, and recurrence of liver cancers.

Liver cancer, including hepatocellular carcinoma and intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, is increasing in incidence and mortality across the globe. An improved understanding of the complex tumor microenvironment has opened many therapeutic doors and led to the development of novel pharmaceuticals targeting cellular signaling pathways or immune checkpoints. These interventions have significantly improved tumor control rates and patient outcomes, both in clinical trials and in real-world practice. Interventional radiologists play an important role in the multidisciplinary team given their expertise in minimally invasive locoregional therapy, as the bulk of these tumors are usually in the liver. The aim of this review is to highlight the immunological therapeutic targets for primary liver cancers, the available immune-based approaches, and the contributions that interventional radiology can provide in the care of these patients.

Hepatectomy remains the gold standard for curative therapy for patients with limited primary or metastatic hepatic tumors as it offers the best survival rates. In recent years, the indication for partial hepatectomy has evolved away from what will be removed from the patient to the volume and function of the future liver remnant (FLR), i.e., what will remain. With this regard, liver regeneration strategies have become paramount in transforming patients who previously had poor prognoses into ones who, after major hepatic resection with negative margins, have had their risk of post-hepatectomy liver failure minimized. Preoperative portal vein embolization (PVE) via the purposeful occlusion of select portal vein branches to promote contralateral hepatic lobar hypertrophy has become the accepted standard for liver regeneration. Advances in embolic materials, selection of treatment approaches, and PVE with hepatic venous deprivation or concurrent transcatheter arterial embolization/radioembolization are all active areas of research. To date, the optimal combination of embolic material to maximize FLR growth is not yet known. Knowledge of hepatic segmentation and portal venous anatomy is essential before performing PVE. In addition, the indications for PVE, the methods for assessing hepatic lobar hypertrophy, and the possible complications of PVE need to be fully understood before undertaking the procedure. The goal of this article is to discuss the rationale, indications, techniques, and outcomes of PVE before major hepatectomy.

Joints in the human body utilize torque to create movement, where a force F acts at a distance, r, from a rotation point. In biomechanics, F is generated by muscles acting on the joint, and r is the distance between the joint’s center of rotation (COR) and the muscle line of action. This distance r is known as a geometric moment arm (GMA). Changes in GMAs may be correlated with loss of muscle and hand function in people due to aging, injury, or pathology. To comprehensively evaluate GMAs, efficient and inexpensive methods for measuring them in vivo are needed. Thus, this study explores whether ultrasound is a valid imaging modality for quantifying the GMA of muscles crossing the wrist. An agar-gel phantom was used to determine if distance measurements from 20 ultrasound images of the phantom were accurate compared to a set of four baseline distances. A subsequent in vivo case study explored whether ultrasound could measure GMAs within a human wrist. The capitate bone was defined as the wrist’s COR due to its central location in the joint, and the measured GMA was defined between this COR and the flexor digitorum superficialis (FDS) muscle. Both studies returned data that exhibited low measurement variability over consecutive days and provided reasonable proof that ultrasound can accurately measure wrist GMAs.             Keywords: biomechanics, medical imaging, capitate, flexor digitorum superficialis