Editorial

Dear colleagues,

Adrian Saftoiu

It is my great pleasure and honor to introduce the September 2017 Issue of Ultrasound International Open (UIO), already in its eight number from the initial appearance of the journal in 2015. Recently, UIO has reached the antechamber of journals applying for Impact Factor, being accepted in ESCI (Emerging Sources Citation Index). Consequently, UIO will soon appear in the Web of Science, a major step forward for the journal. The enthusiasm and hard work of the editors, as well as of the entire Thieme support team was invaluable for this endeavor! Three landmark papers are published in the issue, along with 4 case presentations and 1 letter to the editor.

First original article deals with the cut-off values for tumour size or patient age in breast ultrasound, used to reduce unnecessary biopsies. The authors included a large number of patients (684) and biopsies (763) and found a direct correlation between malignancy and lesion size, without finding a proper cut-off in order to obviate biopsies. Nevertheless, the lesions with round or oval shape, with sharp delineation and no echogenic rim were benign, with a negative predictive value of over 99%, which allows the classification of such lesions as BIRADS-2.

Secondly, a very interesting article addressed the highly debated topic of dynamic contrast-enhanced ultrasound (DCE-US) quantification. The authors described a new combination of bolus injection with burst replenishment, which allows the calculation of the mean transit time (MTT) and then estimation of the blood volume (BV). There was an excellent inter-observer agreement for BV, although the agreement was not acceptable for MTT. Improvement of quantification techniques for DCE-US will certainly enhance the utility of ultrasound techniques for the assessment of perfusion.

Thirdly, a pictorial essay clarifies the shoulder pathologies of the rotator cuff of the shoulder emphasizing the role of musculoskeletal ultrasound as a high resolution imaging method that analyzes the structures dynamically. Last, but not least, 4 case reports with incredible images are depicted in this issue.

We sincerely hope you enjoy the reading of this issue!

On behalf of the Editors of UIO
Adrian Saftoiu