Purpose Human papillomavirus (HPV) status assessment is crucial for decision making in oropharyngeal cancer patients. In last years, several articles have been published investigating the possible role of radiomics in distinguishing HPV-positive from HPV-negative neoplasms. Aim of this review was to perform a systematic quality assessment of radiomic studies published on this topic. Methods Radiomics studies on HPV status prediction in oropharyngeal cancer patients were selected. The Radiomic Quality Score (RQS) was assessed by three readers to evaluate their methodological quality. In addition, possible correlations between RQS% and journal type, year of publication, impact factor, and journal rank were investigated. Results After the literature search, 19 articles were selected whose RQS median was 33% (range 0–42%). Overall, 16/19 studies included a well-documented imaging protocol, 13/19 demonstrated phenotypic differences, and all were compared with the current gold standard. No study included a public protocol, phantom study, or imaging at multiple time points. More than half (13/19) included feature selection and only 2 were comprehensive of non-radiomic features. Mean RQS was significantly higher in clinical journals. Conclusion Radiomics has been proposed for oropharyngeal cancer HPV status assessment, with promising results. However, these are supported by low methodological quality investigations. Further studies with higher methodological quality, appropriate standardization, and greater attention to validation are necessary prior to clinical adoption.

Currarino syndrome is a rare congenital disorder characterized by the triad of anorectal anomalies, sacrococcygeal dysgenesis and presacral mass. Because of the anorectal anomalies, the extrinsic compression due to the presacral mass and neurologic deficits, patients usually present with gastrointestinal symptoms, most commonly chronic constipation. Most cases of Currarino syndromes are diagnosed in childhood, at birth or in the pre-birth period and, even if adult presentation has been reported in few sporadic case reports, the diagnosis in the late stages of life remains extremely rare. In this paper, we describe the imaging findings of an elderly man with a past medical history of megacolon surgically treated in his childhood, who was diagnosed with Currarino syndrome at the age of 72.

No abstract