European Radiology

Expanding the Boundaries of Minimally Invasive Spine Intervention: SpineJack Spondyloplasty in Thin Pedicles 🦴

SpineJack spondyloplasty has become an established minimally invasive treatment for vertebral compression fractures, but its use is traditionally limited by pedicle size. This study evaluates the feasibility of performing the procedure in patients with thin vertebral pedicles, beyond the manufacturer's recommended threshold. Despite these anatomical challenges, the authors achieved 100% correct implant positioning, with complication rates, vertebral height restoration, and procedural outcomes comparable to those observed in patients with standard pedicle dimensions.

"These findings suggest that careful pre-procedural planning and image-guided intervention may safely expand the indications for SpineJack spondyloplasty to a broader patient population. As minimally invasive spine procedures continue to evolve, evidence supporting individualized, anatomy-based treatment strategies will be essential for improving patient access while maintaining procedural safety. ✨" - Sonja Jankovic



https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00330-026-12719-w (Marion Bouchet et al.)

Deep Learning Meets PET/CT: Improving Malignancy Risk Assessment of Pulmonary Nodules 🤖🫁

Accurate characterization of indeterminate pulmonary nodules remains essential for guiding patient management. This study presents AITO-PETCT-MP, a deep learning model that estimates the probability of malignancy directly from FDG PET/CT imaging, demonstrating non-inferior performance to the guideline-recommended Herder model while relying solely on imaging data. Its diagnostic performance also fell within the range achieved by experienced clinicians, highlighting the growing potential of AI to support clinical decision-making.

"These findings illustrate how AI-powered PET/CT analysis can complement established risk stratification strategies by providing quantitative, imaging-based malignancy estimates. As AI continues to evolve, robust validation against clinical standards and seamless integration into diagnostic workflows will be key to realizing its full potential in thoracic oncology. ✨" - Sonja Jankovic



https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00330-026-12744-9 (Lars Leijten et al.)

European Radiology Experimental is delighted to announce the appointment of
Professor Jaap Stoker as the incoming Editor-in-Chief. Prof. Stoker is an abdominal radiologist at the Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine of Amsterdam UMC, the Netherlands, Professor at the University of Amsterdam, and the 2025-2027 President of ESGAR.

Following a gradual handover, Prof. Stoker will take over the duties from Prof. Francesco Sardanelli starting from January 2027.

AI for Pulmonary Nodule Assessment: Are Commercial Solutions Ready for Clinical Practice? 🤖🫁

Artificial intelligence is increasingly integrated into thoracic imaging, but how strong is the evidence supporting commercial AI products for pulmonary nodule assessment? This systematic review evaluates 95 studies on CE-marked and/or FDA-cleared AI solutions, revealing a clear evolution from technical validation toward clinically relevant applications. While evidence for diagnostic accuracy and decision support continues to grow, robust data on patient outcomes, cost-effectiveness, and real-world implementation remain limited.

"This review highlights an important message for the radiology community: AI should be evaluated not only by how well it performs, but by how much it improves clinical care. As commercial AI solutions mature, generating high-quality evidence on patient benefit, workflow integration, and healthcare impact will be essential to support widespread adoption. ✨" - Sonja Jankovic



https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00330-026-12745-8 (Jasika Paramasamy et al.)

The authors evaluated ex vivo feasibility of ice-ball visualisation during bone cryoablation using DECT (Djamel Dabli et al.)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41747-026-00711-4

Coronary Plaque Quantification Across CT Platforms: Toward Standardized Mixed-Platform Trials 🫀📊

Quantitative coronary plaque assessment is increasingly used as a surrogate imaging biomarker in cardiovascular research, but variability between energy-integrating detector CT (EID-CT) and photon-counting detector CT (PCD-CT) remains a key challenge. This study demonstrates high inter-scanner reproducibility when optimized reconstruction settings and automated deep learning–based plaque quantification are applied, while introducing a practical power-modeling framework to support sample-size estimation for mixed-platform clinical trials.

"These findings represent an important step toward harmonized quantitative coronary CT imaging. Standardized plaque quantification across CT technologies may improve reproducibility, facilitate multicenter longitudinal studies, and strengthen the use of quantitative plaque burden as a reliable imaging endpoint in cardiovascular research. ✨" - Sonja Jankovic



https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00330-026-12773-4 (Milan Vecsey-Nagy et al.)

AI-generated LGE from cine MRI: synthesis or prediction? 🔮🫀🤖

Generating late gadolinium enhancement-like images from contrast-free cine MRI is an exciting concept, particularly for patients who cannot receive gadolinium

But this Letter to the Editor raises an important caution: cine MRI and LGE are based on fundamentally different physical signals. Cine reflects morphology and function, while LGE reflects gadolinium accumulation related to fibrosis or necrosis.

This means cine-to-LGE models may be better understood as morphofunctional predictors rather than true synthesis of contrast enhancement.

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00330-026-12747-6 (Clemente García-Hidalgo)

Letter to the Editor: Late gadolinium enhancement synthesis from cardiac cine MRI: physical, methodological, and editorial considerations - European Radiology Home European Radiology Article Letter to the Editor: Late gadolinium enhancement synthesis from cardiac cine MRI: physical, methodological, and editorial considerations Letter to the Editor Published: 14 July 2026 (2026) Cite this article Save article View saved research European Radiology Aims and...

The biophysical properties of the seminal vesicles remain largely unexplored. This article investigates their vicoelastic properties across healthy subjects, men with benign prostatic hyperplasia, and patients with prostate cancer (Kevin Vatter Davis et al.)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41747-026-00713-2

DCE-MRI can assess kidney function, but artifacts and complex post-processing limit its use. The authors combined a population-based arterial input function with a whole-kidney pharmacokinetic model to calculate estimate glomerular filtration rate and renal plasma flow (Xin Mu et al.)

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s41747-026-00704-3

MR-guided microwave ablation of liver tumors: does precision improve local control? 🧲🔥

Microwave ablation is increasingly used for primary and secondary liver malignancies, but successful treatment depends on accurate targeting, complete lesion coverage, and adequate safety margins.

In this single-center study, Schmidt et al. evaluated MR-guided microwave ablation in 48 liver tumors. The technique achieved high technical success, low complication rates, and favorable local tumor control, with no local recurrence observed in lesions smaller than 20 mm.

Importantly, adjacent vascular structures were associated with higher local recurrence, highlighting the continued relevance of the heat-sink effect, even with microwave ablation.

"MR guidance offers excellent soft-tissue visualization and real-time procedural monitoring for liver ablation. Careful lesion selection, vessel assessment, and device-specific planning remain essential to maximize local tumor control." - Kevin Fung



https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00330-026-12725-y (Vanessa F. Schmidt et al.)