Ileana Montoya Perez

University of Turku | UTU · Department of Computing

Background Synthetic data have been proposed as a solution for sharing anonymized versions of sensitive biomedical datasets. Ideally, synthetic data should preserve the structure and statistical properties of the original data, while protecting the privacy of the individual subjects. Differential Privacy (DP) is currently considered the gold standa...

Differentially private (DP) synthetic data has emerged as a potential solution for sharing sensitive individual-level biomedical data. DP generative models offer a promising approach for generating realistic synthetic data that aims to maintain the original data’s central statistical properties while ensuring privacy by limiting the risk of disclos...

The use of synthetic data could facilitate data-driven innovation across industries and applications. Synthetic data can be generated using a range of methods, from statistical modeling to machine learning and generative AI, resulting in datasets of different formats and utility. In the health sector, the use of synthetic data is often motivated by...

Purpose The primary aim of this study was to evaluate if exposure to 5-alpha-reductase inhibitors (5-ARIs) modifies the effect of MRI for the diagnosis of clinically significant Prostate Cancer (csPCa) (ISUP Gleason grade ≥ 2). Methods This study is a multicenter cohort study including patients undergoing prostate biopsy and MRI at 24 institutions...

Background: Population-based survival results after radical cystectomy (RC) are limited. Our objective was to report short and long-term survival results after RC for bladder cancer from Finland in a population-based setting. Materials and methods: The Finnish National Cystectomy Database containing retrospectively collected essential RC data co...

Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve analysis and area under the ROC curve (AUC) are commonly used performance measures in diagnostic systems. In this work, we assume a setting, where a classifier is inferred from multivariate data to predict the diagnostic outcome for new cases. Cross-validation is a resampling method for estimating the p...

Background: Although multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has high sensitivity, its lower specificity leads to a high prevalence of false-positive lesions requiring biopsy. Objective: To develop and externally validate a scoring system for MRI-detected Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System (PIRADS)/Likert ≥3 lesions containing c...

Background The European Association of Urology guidelines recommend the use of imaging, biomarkers, and risk calculators in men at risk of prostate cancer. Risk predictive calculators that combine multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging with prebiopsy variables aid as an individualized decision-making tool for patients at risk of prostate cancer...

Introduction European Association of Urology and UK National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guidelines recommend that all men with suspicions of prostate cancer should undergo prebiopsy contrast enhanced, that is, multiparametric prostate MRI. Subsequent prostate biopsies should also be performed if MRI is positive, that is, Prostate Imag...

Background Data regarding patient education and smoking habits among bladder cancer patients are scarce. Objective To investigate awareness of smoking as a risk factor for bladder cancer among bladder cancer patients. Design, setting, and participants This is a substudy of a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase 3 trial (FinnBladder 9, NCT01...

Prostate Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is increasingly being used in men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer (PCa). Performing prostate MRI without the use of an intravenous contrast (IV) agent in men with a clinical suspicion of PCa can lead to reduced MRI scan time. Enabling a large array of different medical providers (from mid-level...

Background Accurate detection of clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa), Gleason Grade Group ≥ 2, remains a challenge. Prostate MRI radiomics and blood kallikreins have been proposed as tools to improve the performance of biparametric MRI (bpMRI). Purpose To develop and validate radiomics and kallikrein models for the detection of csPCa....

PurposeWe aimed to develop and externally validate a nomogram based on MRI volumetric parameters and clinical information for deciding when SBx should be performed in addition to TBx in man with suspicious prostate MRI.Materials and methodsRetrospective analyses of single (IMPROD, NCT01864135) and multi-institution (MULTI-IMPROD, NCT02241122) clini...

We study the combinatorics of cross-validation based AUC estimation under the null hypothesis that the binary class labels are exchangeable, that is, the data are randomly assigned into two classes given a fixed class proportion. In particular, we study how the estimators based on leave-pair-out cross-validation (LPOCV), in which every possible pai...

Background: Previous studies suggested that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) density (PSAd) combined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may help avoid unnecessary prostate biopsy (PB) with a limited risk of missing clinically significant prostate cancer (csPCa; Gleason grade group [GGG] >1). Objective: To define optimal diagnostic strategies b...

The aim of this prospective single-institution clinical trial (NCT02002455) was to evaluate the potential of advanced post-processing methods for ¹⁸F-Fluciclovine PET and multisequence multiparametric MRI in the prediction of prostate cancer (PCa) aggressiveness, defined by Gleason Grade Group (GGG). 21 patients with PCa underwent PET/CT, PET/MRI a...

Background Multiparametric prostate magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) can be considered the gold standard in prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Biparametric prostate MRI (bpMRI) is faster and could be a feasible alternative to mpMRI. Objective To determine the negative predictive value (NPV) of Improved Prostate Cancer Diagnosis (IMPROD)...

Purpose: To investigate the symptoms and delays in the clinical pathway of bladder cancer (BC). Methods: This is a substudy of a prospective, randomized, multicenter phase III study (FinnBladder 9, NCT01675219) where the efficacy of photodynamic diagnosis and 6 weekly optimized mitomycin C instillations are studied in pTa bladder cancer with hig...

Background: The objective of this study was to compare the prevalence of clinically significant prostate cancer (CSPCa) in men with biparametric prebiopsy prostate magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and lesion-targeted biopsies (TBs) to the group of men without prebiopsy MRI in an initial biopsy session. Methods: The MRI group consists of men enrolle...

PURPOSE: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) improves survival in muscle invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). Rate of adverse events (AE) have been reported only in randomized clinical trials (RCT). Purpose was to evaluate incidence, type, and risk factors of AEs during NAC treatment in a population-based setting. MATERIAL AND METHODS: The Finnish national c...

Background: Multiparametric MRI of the prostate has been shown to improve the risk stratification of men with an elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA). However, long acquisition time, high cost, and inter-center/reader variability of a routine prostate multiparametric MRI limit its wider adoption. Purpose: To develop and validate nomograms ba...

Background: Accurate risk stratification of men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer (cSPCa) remains challenging despite the increasing use of MRI. Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of a unique biparametric MRI protocol (IMPROD bpMRI) combined with clinical and molecular markers in men with cSPCa. Study type: Prospective sin...

Background: Biochemical recurrence (BCR) affects a significant proportion of patients who undergo robotic-assisted laparoscopic prostatectomy (RALP). Purpose: To evaluate the performance of a routine clinical prostate multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) and Decipher genomic classifier score for prediction of biochemical recurrence...

Background Biparametric magnetic resonance imaging (bpMRI) combined with prostate-specific antigen density (PSAd) may be an effective strategy for selecting men for prostate biopsy. It has been shown that performing biopsy only for men with bpMRI Likert scores of 4–5 or PSAd ≥0.15 ng/ml/cm³ is the most efficient strategy. Objective To externally v...

Purpose To develop and validate a classifier system for prediction of prostate cancer (PCa) Gleason score (GS) using radiomics and texture features of T2-weighted imaging (T2w), diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) acquired using high b values, and T2-mapping (T2). Methods T2w, DWI (12 b values, 0–2000 s/mm²), and T2 data sets of 62 patients with hist...

Background Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with targeted biopsy (TB) is increasingly used in men with clinically suspected prostate cancer (PCa), but the long acquisition times, high costs, and inter-center/reader variability of routine multiparametric prostate MRI limit its wider adoption. Methods and findings The aim was to validate a...

Abstract Purpose To evaluate the expression of alanine-serine-cysteine-transporter 2 (ASCT2) and L-type amino acid transporter1 (LAT1) in prostate cancer (PCa) and their impact on uptake of 18F-1-amino-3-fluorocyclobutane-1-carboxylic acid (18F-fluciclovine) which is approved for the detection of recurrent PCa. Methods Twenty-five hormone-naïve pat...

In this prospective multicenter trial, a prior developed unique MRI acquisition and reporting protocol, IMPROD bpMRI (NCT01864135), enabled the detection of 97% (143/146) of men with Gleason score ≥3+4. IMPROD bpMRI consists of T2-weighted imaging and three separate diffusion weighted imaging acquisitions with acquisition time <15 minutes. IMPROD b...

We evaluated repeatability and diagnostic performance of commonly used radiomic features for prostate cancer (PCa) DWI obtained using b values up to 2000 s/mm2. Forty-eight men with diagnosed PCa under two repeated 3T MRI examinations performed on the same day. Whole mounts prostatectomy sections were manually matched with in-vivo MRI data. Fourtee...

Eighty men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer (PCa) were enrolled as a part of IMPROD trial (NCT01864135). The performance of 9 clinical parameters, 11 mRNA transcript levels and 4 IMPROD biparametric MRI (bpMRI) parameters for detection of PCa with Gleason score ≥3+4 was evaluated using GreedyRLS feature selection and nested cross-valida...

Nomograms for prediction of prostate biopsy outcomes incorporating qualitative and quantitative findings of IMPROD biparametric MRI (IMPROD bpMRI consists of T2 weighted imaging and three separate DWI acquisitions) were developed using data of 161 men enrolled as a part of the single-institutional IMPROD (NCT01864135) trial and externally validated...

In this prospective single institutional trial (NCT01864135), we evaluated the accuracy of a unique prostate MRI acquisition and reporting protocol, IMPROD biparametric MRI, in men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer who were subsequently diagnosed with prostate cancer and underwent prostatectomy. IMPROD biparametric MRI correctly detected...

Background Prostate MRI is increasingly being used in men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer (PCa). However, development and validation of methods for focal therapy planning are still lagging. Purpose To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy on lesion, region‐of‐interest (ROI), and voxel level of IMPROD biparametric prostate MRI (bpMRI) for P...

A novel microtiter plate array for the quantification and identification of metal ions in drinking water was compared to human taste panel analysis. The array is based on nonspecific interactions between analyte metal ions and lanthanide chelates with non-antenna and antenna ligands, leading to a luminescence signal profile unique to sample compone...

Background: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) is underutilized in the treatment of bladder cancer (BC). Objective: To investigate the effect of NAC on the risk of surgical complications for radical cystectomy (RC) in a population-based setting. Design, setting, and participants: All radical cystectomies performed in Finland during 2005-2014 were...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to evaluate (18)F-FACBC PET/CT, PET/MRI, and multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) in detection of primary prostate cancer (PCa). Methods: Twenty-six men with histologically confirmed PCa underwent PET/CT immediately after injection of 369 ± 10 MBq (18)F-FACBC (fluciclovine) followed by PET/MRI started 55 ± 7 min fro...

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis is widely used for evaluating diagnostic systems. Recent studies have shown that estimating an area under ROC curve (AUC) with standard cross-validation methods suffers from a large bias. The leave-pair-out (LPO) cross-validation has been shown to correct this bias. However, while LPO produces an alm...

Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis is widely used for evaluating diagnostic systems. Recent studies have shown that estimating an area under ROC curve (AUC) with standard cross-validation methods suffers from a large bias. The leave-pair-out (LPO) cross-validation has been shown to correct this bias. However, while LPO produces an alm...

Purpose To evaluate the potential of prostate diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) for Gleason score (GS) prediction in men with a clinical suspicion of prostate cancer. Materials and Methods A total of 315 men with a suspected prostate cancer (PCa) based on elevated PSA (2.5 - 20.0 ng/ml) were enrolled in single institutional registered clinical tria...

We propose a cost-effective system for the determination of metal ion concentration in water, addressing a central issue in water resources management. The system combines novel luminometric label array technology with a machine learning algorithm that selects a minimal number of array reagents (modulators) and liquid sample dilutions, such that en...

Purpose: To evaluate the role of a 3T biparametric magnetic resonance imaging (bpMRI), T2-weighted imaging, and three separate diffusion-weighted imaging acquisitions combined with targeted biopsy (TB) for improving risk stratification of men with elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA). Materials and methods: Between March 2013 and February 20...

PURPOSE To evaluate diagnostic accuracy of biparametric MRI (bpMRI) and expression levels of 11 genes in apparently benign tissue for detection of clinically significantly prostate cancer (SPCa). METHOD AND MATERIALS Eighty patients with an elevated PSA (2.5 20.0 ng/ml) and/or abnormal digital rectal examination (DRE) underwent bpMRI examination p...

PURPOSE To evaluate negative predictive value of biparametric MRI (bpMRI) and bpMRI targeted TRUS-guided biopsy in patients with elevated PSA before their first biopsy in a multiinstitutional prospective registered clinical trial. METHOD AND MATERIALS Between February 2015 and March 2016, 184 patients with elevated PSA (2.5 20.0 ng/ml) and/or abno...

In this prospective single institutional registered clinical trial we aimed to evaluate the role of rapid pre-biopsy prostate MRI consisting of T2-weighted imaging and DWI, no endorectal coil, no iv contrast. The primary end point was the diagnostic accuracy of the models incorporating clinical variables, PSA, and MRI findings. In total 175 patient...

Eighty-one patients with historically confirmed PCa underwent two repeated 3T DWI examinations performed using 14 b-values in the range of 0-500 s/mm2 and diffusion time of 19.004 ms. Various fitting methods for IVIM and mathematical models were evaluated in the terms of fitting quality (Akaike information criteria), repeatability, and Gleason scor...

Quantification and identification of metal ions has gained interest in drinking water and environmental analyses. We have developed a novel label array method for the quantification and identification of metal ions in drinking water. This simple ready-to-go method is based on the nonspecific interactions of multiple unstable lanthanide chelates and...

Purpose: To evaluate different fitting methods for intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) imaging of prostate cancer in the terms of repeatability and Gleason score prediction. Methods: Eighty-one patients with histologically confirmed prostate cancer underwent two repeated 3 Tesla diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) examinations performed using 14 b-...