Testing remote feedback using a virtual semi-automated educational tool for the detection of pancreatic tumour-vessel contact on staging CT

Robert Policelli¹, Aaron Ward², Salma Dammak³, Zahra Kassam⁴, Darryl Ramsewak⁵, Vibhuti Kalia⁶, Abdulrahman Nadrah⁷, David Wang⁸, Henry Madubuobi⁹, Courtney Abbott¹⁰, Cameron Dawson¹¹, Daniel McCarthy¹², Indranil Balki¹³, Imran Ladak¹⁴, Stefan Knezevic¹⁵, Harry Marshall¹⁶

Affiliations

¹ Western University, Department of Medical Biophysics, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: rpolicel@uwo.ca.
² Western University, Department of Medical Biophysics, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; Western University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; Western University, Department of Oncology, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: aaron.ward@uwo.ca.
³ Computational Pathology Group, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA Nijmegen, Netherlands. Electronic address: sdammak@uwo.ca.
⁴ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; St. Joseph's Health Care London, 268 Grosvener St, London, Ontario, N6A 4V2, Canada. Electronic address: Zahra.Kassam@sjhc.london.on.ca.
⁵ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; London Health Sciences Centre, 800 Commissioners Rd E, London, Ontario, N6A 5W9, Canada. Electronic address: Darryl.Ramsewak@lhsc.on.ca.
⁶ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; St. Joseph's Health Care London, 268 Grosvener St, London, Ontario, N6A 4V2, Canada. Electronic address: Vibhuti.Kalia@sjhc.london.on.ca.
⁷ Department of Imaging, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Makkah Al Mukarramah Br Rd, Al Mathar Ash Shamali, Riyadh 12713, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; St. Joseph's Health Care London, 268 Grosvener St, London, Ontario, N6A 4V2, Canada. Electronic address: David.Wang@sjhc.london.on.ca.
⁹ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Henry.Madubuobi@lhsc.on.ca.
¹⁰ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Courtney.Abbott@lhsc.on.ca.
¹¹ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Cameron.Dawson@lhsc.on.ca.
¹² Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Daniel.McCarthy@lhsc.on.ca.
¹³ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Indranil.Balki@lhsc.on.ca.
¹⁴ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Imran.Ladak@lhsc.on.ca.
¹⁵ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Stefan.Knezevic@lhsc.on.ca.
¹⁶ Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1161 Medical Centre Dr, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA. Electronic address: harry.marshall@vumc.org.

PMID: 41162206
DOI: 10.1067/j.cpradiol.2025.10.007

Free article

Testing remote feedback using a virtual semi-automated educational tool for the detection of pancreatic tumour-vessel contact on staging CT

Robert Policelli et al. Curr Probl Diagn Radiol. 2025.

Free article

. 2025 Oct 24:S0363-0188(25)00186-0.

doi: 10.1067/j.cpradiol.2025.10.007. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Western University, Department of Medical Biophysics, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: rpolicel@uwo.ca.
² Western University, Department of Medical Biophysics, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; Western University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; Western University, Department of Oncology, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: aaron.ward@uwo.ca.
³ Computational Pathology Group, Radboud University Medical Center, Geert Grooteplein Zuid 10, 6525 GA Nijmegen, Netherlands. Electronic address: sdammak@uwo.ca.
⁴ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; St. Joseph's Health Care London, 268 Grosvener St, London, Ontario, N6A 4V2, Canada. Electronic address: Zahra.Kassam@sjhc.london.on.ca.
⁵ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; London Health Sciences Centre, 800 Commissioners Rd E, London, Ontario, N6A 5W9, Canada. Electronic address: Darryl.Ramsewak@lhsc.on.ca.
⁶ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; St. Joseph's Health Care London, 268 Grosvener St, London, Ontario, N6A 4V2, Canada. Electronic address: Vibhuti.Kalia@sjhc.london.on.ca.
⁷ Department of Imaging, King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre, Makkah Al Mukarramah Br Rd, Al Mathar Ash Shamali, Riyadh 12713, Saudi Arabia.
⁸ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada; St. Joseph's Health Care London, 268 Grosvener St, London, Ontario, N6A 4V2, Canada. Electronic address: David.Wang@sjhc.london.on.ca.
⁹ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Henry.Madubuobi@lhsc.on.ca.
¹⁰ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Courtney.Abbott@lhsc.on.ca.
¹¹ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Cameron.Dawson@lhsc.on.ca.
¹² Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Daniel.McCarthy@lhsc.on.ca.
¹³ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Indranil.Balki@lhsc.on.ca.
¹⁴ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Imran.Ladak@lhsc.on.ca.
¹⁵ Western University Department of Medical Imaging, 1151 Richmond St, London, Ontario, N6A 3k7, Canada. Electronic address: Stefan.Knezevic@lhsc.on.ca.
¹⁶ Department of Radiology, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, 1161 Medical Centre Dr, Nashville, TN, 37212, USA. Electronic address: harry.marshall@vumc.org.

PMID: 41162206
DOI: 10.1067/j.cpradiol.2025.10.007

Abstract

Purpose: Assessing tumour-vessel contact in pancreatic adenocarcinoma on CT is challenging for trainees and time-intensive for educators. Semi-automating feedback on this task may optimize radiologist time and standardize resident education. We hypothesized that residents who reviewed expert annotations of tumour-vessel contact would outperform those without feedback on an independent test set.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed pre-operative staging CTs from 60 patients who underwent upfront surgical resection for pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Two resident groups (control and test) independently annotated tumour contact with the superior mesenteric artery. The test group received feedback-annotations from three expert radiologists-for the first 30 cases; the control group received none. Resident performance on the remaining 30 cases was compared against both surgical pathology and expert annotations.

Results: Test group residents demonstrated higher sensitivity than control group residents (mean sensitivity = 93 % vs. 79 %), with comparable specificity and accuracy relative to surgical pathology. While both groups performed similarly relative to expert consensus, the test group showed greater consistency in sensitivity (mean variation = 29 % vs. 46 %).

Conclusion: Virtual expert feedback improved resident sensitivity in identifying tumour-vessel contact without compromising specificity or accuracy. These findings support the use of semi-automated educational tools to enhance radiology training efficiency and effectiveness.

Keywords: Computed tomography; Learning effect; Pancreas; Radiology; Resident; Superior mesenteric artery.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest RP’s graduate student funding was provided by the Canadian Institute of Health Research. There are no other interests to declare.

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Testing remote feedback using a virtual semi-automated educational tool for the detection of pancreatic tumour-vessel contact on staging CT

Affiliations

Testing remote feedback using a virtual semi-automated educational tool for the detection of pancreatic tumour-vessel contact on staging CT

Authors

Affiliations

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Research Materials