Luca Saba

Luca Saba
University of Cagliari | UNICA · Department of Biomedical Science

Professor

About

1,004
Publications
143,680
Reads
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19,274
Citations
Additional affiliations
January 2011 - December 2012
January 2011 - December 2012
Polytechnic University of Turin
January 2010 - December 2011

Publications

Publications (1,004)
Article
BACKGROUND A modified computed tomography angiography (CTA)–based Carotid Plaque Reporting and Data System (Plaque-RADS) classification was applied to a cohort of patients with embolic stroke of undetermined source to test whether high-risk Plaque-RADS subtypes are more prevalent on the ipsilateral side of stroke. With the widespread use of CTA for...
Article
The purpose of this study was to explore microvascular function impairment using first-pass cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in patients with Takotsubo syndrome (TS). Moreover, we explored myocardial microcirculation in patients with TS and related this to demographic data, cardiovascular risk factors, clinical parameters, cardiac biomarkers...
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Background The introduction of large language models (LLMs) into clinical practice promises to improve patient education and empowerment, thereby personalizing medical care and broadening access to medical knowledge. Despite the popularity of LLMs, there is a significant gap in systematized information on their use in patient care. Therefore, this...
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The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of papillary muscle (PPM) infarction on left atrial and ventricular strain parameters in patients with non-anterior ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NA-STEMI) using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). This retrospective study performed CMR scans on 88 consecutive patients with NA-S...
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Cardiovascular disease remains a prominent cause of disability and premature death worldwide. Within this spectrum, carotid artery atherosclerosis is a complex and multifaceted condition, and a prominent precursor of acute ischaemic stroke and other cardiovascular events. The intricate interplay among inflammation, oxidative stress, endothelial dys...
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Background: Over the past decade, several trials and observational studies have validated the use of minimally invasive cardiac interventions as viable treatment options for various cardiac diseases. Transcatheter techniques for severe aortic valve stenosis have rapidly emerged as alternatives to surgical aortic valve replacement in certain patient...
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Women are disproportionately affected by chronic autoimmune diseases (AD) like systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), scleroderma, rheumatoid arthritis (RA), and Sjögren's syndrome. Traditional evaluations often underestimate the associated cardiovascular disease (CVD) and stroke risk in women having AD. Vitamin D deficiency increases susceptibility t...
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Background Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a severe condition associated with numerous cardiovascular complications, including heart failure. The complex biological and morphological relationship between OSA and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) poses challenges in predicting adverse cardiovascular outcomes. While artificial intellige...
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Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) is a powerful tool to rule out coronary artery disease (CAD). In the last decade, myocardial perfusion CT (CTP) technique has been developed for the evaluation of myocardial ischemia, thereby increasing positive predictive value for diagnosis of obstructive CAD. A diagnostic strategy combining CCTA an...
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Idiopathic orbital inflammation (IOI), or orbital pseudotumor, is a benign, non-infectious condition representing 8–10% of orbital mass lesions. This article presents a rare case of idiopathic orbital myositis (IOM) in a 45-year-old diabetic woman, who presented with acute right eye pain, diplopia, and motility deficits. Magnetic Resonance Imaging...
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Mitral annular disjunction (MAD) was a frequent incidental finding at cardiac MRI examinations performed for various clinical indications; longer MAD length and coexisting bileaflet mitral valve prolapse were associated with a higher prevalence of arrhythmia.
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Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the impact of pericardial T1 mapping as a potential supportive non-contrast cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) parameter in the diagnosis of acute pericarditis. Additionally, we investigated the relationship between T1 mapping values in acute pericarditis patients and their demographic data,...
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Aim To investigate the prognostic implication (mortality at 3 months) of acute kidney injury (AKI) in acute ischemic stroke treated with mechanical thrombectomy (MT). Material and Methods A literature search was performed using PubMed/OVID/Cochran’s CENTRAL database (time frame: inception to January 2023). Study characteristics, patient status, cl...
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Background and Objective Interleukin-6 (IL-6) plays multifaceted roles in cancer and atherosclerosis. Initially recognized for its role in immune response and inflammation, IL-6 promotes tumor progression via the JAK-STAT and MAP kinase pathways and is associated with poor cancer prognoses. In atherosclerosis, IL-6 contributes to endothelial dysfun...
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Background: Men with prostate cancer (PC) who receive androgen-deprivation therapy (ADT), targeting the gonadotropin releasing hormone (GNRH) axis, are at higher risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). However, the pathophysiology behind ADT cardiotoxicity is unclear. Hypothesis: We hypothesize that ADT is associated with accelerated atherosclerosis...
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Β-thalassemia major (TM) patients underwent regular transfusions to prevent complications of chronic anemia. However, these regular transfusions result in progressive iron accumulation in vital organs, including the heart. Myocardial iron overload can lead to cardiac dysfunction and ultimately to heart failure. Diagnosis of cardiac dysfunction in β...
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Background: Embolic stroke of undetermined source (ESUS) may be associated with carotid artery plaques with <50% stenosis. Plaque vulnerability is multifactorial, possibly related to intraplaque hemorrhage (IPH), lipid-rich-necrotic-core (LRNC), perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT), and calcification morphology. Machine-learning (ML) approaches in pl...
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Positive remodeling (PR) is an atherosclerotic plaque feature defined as an increase in arterial caliber at the level of an atheroma, in response to increasing plaque burden. The mechanisms that lead to its formation are incompletely understood, but its role in coronary atherosclerosis has major clinical implications. Indeed, plaques with PR have e...
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Structured reporting (SR) has long been a goal in radiology to standardize and improve the quality of radiology reports. Despite evidence that SR reduces errors, enhances comprehensiveness, and increases adherence to guidelines, its widespread adoption has been limited. Recently, large language models (LLMs) have emerged as a promising solution to...
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Takotsubo syndrome (TS) is a temporary form of left ventricular (LV) dysfunction characterized by a distinct pattern of LV impairment, often triggered by a physical or emotional stressful event. Historically, TS was considered a benign condition due to its prompt restoration of myocardial function and generally excellent outcomes. However, recent s...
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Background The successful integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare depends on the global perspectives of all stakeholders. This study aims to answer the research question: What are the attitudes of medical, dental, and veterinary students towards AI in education and practice, and what are the regional differences in these perceptio...
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The World Health Organization indicated that around 36 million of patients in the European Region showed long COVID associated with olfactory and gustatory deficits. The precise mechanism underlying long COVID clinical manifestations is still debated. The aim of this study was to evaluate potential correlations between odor threshold, odor discrimi...
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Background and purpose: We aimed to evaluate GPT-4's ability to write radiology editorials and to compare these with human-written counterparts, thereby determining their real-world applicability for scientific writing. Materials and methods: Sixteen editorials from eight journals were included. To generate the AI-written editorials, the summary...
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Purpose of review To provide a summary of current understanding of coronary artery calcifications (CACs), outlining the role of calcium in atherosclerosis to comprehend the clinical implications of CAC. Recent findings CAC serves as a reliable indicator of coronary artery disease (CAD) and it is associated with cardiovascular events. In recognitio...
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Photon counting computed tomography (PCCT) represents a paradigm shift from conventional CT imaging, propelled by a new generation of X-ray detectors capable of counting individual photons and measuring their energy. The first part of this narrative review is focused on the technical aspects of PCCT and describes its key advancements and benefits c...
Chapter
The coronary artery diameter is influenced by gender, age, anatomic variation, and certain physiological and pathological processes (Yang et al. 2006; Zhou et al. 2017). Tables 1 and 2 summarizes the average coronary diameters for coronary segments in a healthy population measured with coronary angiography (Dodge et al. 2018). Several papers state...
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The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) is a pivotal clinical tool used to assess patients with acute stroke. However, substantial heterogeneity in the application and interpretation of stroke scale items can occur. This systematic review aimed to elucidate heterogeneity in measuring the NIHSS. A literature search was performed on Pu...
Preprint
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The successful implementation of artificial intelligence (AI) in healthcare is dependent upon the acceptance of this technology by key stakeholders, particularly patients, who are the primary beneficiaries of AI-driven outcomes. This international, multicenter, cross-sectional study assessed the attitudes of hospital patients towards AI in healthca...
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Background: The risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD) has traditionally been predicted via the assessment of carotid plaques. In the proposed study, AtheroEdge™ 3.0HDL (AtheroPoint™, Roseville, CA, USA) was designed to demonstrate how well the features obtained from carotid plaques determine the risk of CVD. We hypothesize that hybrid deep learning...
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To assess the relationship between intravenous iodinated contrast media (ICM) administration usage and radiation doses for contrast-enhanced (CE) CT of head, chest, and abdomen–pelvis (AP) in international, multicenter settings. Our international (n = 16 countries), multicenter (n = 43 sites), and cross-sectional (ConRad) study had two parts. Part...
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Stroke is the second leading cause of death and a major cause of disability around the world, and the development of atherosclerotic plaques in the carotid arteries is generally considered the leading cause of severe cerebrovascular events. In recent years, new reports have reinforced the role of an accurate histopathological analysis of carotid pl...
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Vascular inflammation is widely recognized as an important factor in the atherosclerotic process, particularly in terms of plaque development and progression. Conventional tests, such as measuring circulating inflammatory biomarkers, lack the precision to identify specific areas of vascular inflammation. In this context, noninvasive imaging modalit...
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Cardiovascular imaging is exponentially increasing in the diagnosis, risk stratification, and therapeutic management of patients with cardiovascular disease. The European Society of Cardiovascular Radiology (ESCR) is a non-profit scientific medical society dedicated to promoting and coordinating activities in cardiovascular imaging. The purpose of...
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The fusion of blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) marks a paradigm shift in healthcare, addressing critical challenges in securing electronic health records (EHRs), ensuring data privacy, and facilitating secure data transmission. This study provides a comprehensive analysis of the adoption of blockchain and AI within healthcare, spotlighti...
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Background and Objective: The introduction of photon-counting computed tomography (PCCT) represents the most recent groundbreaking advancement in clinical computed tomography (CT). PCCT has the potential to overcome the limitations of traditional CT and to provide new quantitative imaging information. This narrative review aims to summarize the tec...
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With the advent of whole-slide imaging (WSI), a technology that can digitally scan whole slides in high resolution, pathology is undergoing a digital revolution. Detecting microsatellite instability (MSI) in colorectal cancer is crucial for proper treatment, as it identifies patients responsible for immunotherapy. Even though universal testing for...
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Introduction Patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) commonly experience Olfactory Dysfunction (OD). Our exploratory study examined hippocampal volumetric and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) variations in a Healthy Control (HC) group versus a cognitively normal PD group, further categorized into PD with No/Mild Hyposmia...
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BACKGROUND We assessed whether combinations of cardiometabolic risk factors independently predict coronary plaque progression (PP) and major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with stable coronary artery disease. METHODS Patients with known or suspected stable coronary artery disease (60.9±9.3 years, 55.4% male) undergoing serial coronary c...
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Background: Diagnosing lung diseases accurately is crucial for proper treatment. Convolutional neural networks (CNNs) have advanced medical image processing, but challenges remain in their accurate explainability and reliability. This study combines U-Net with attention and Vision Transformers (ViTs) to enhance lung disease segmentation and classif...
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Citation: Invitto, S.; Boscolo-Rizzo, P.; Spinato, G.; Trinchera, G.; Accogli, G.; Ciccarese, V.; Saba, L.; Caggiula, M.; Barbagallo, G.; Pauciulo, A.; et al. Evaluation of Mild Cognitive Impairment through Perientorhinal/Hippocampal Imaging and Comprehensive Neuropsychological and Psychophysical Assessment. Brain Sci. 2024, 14, 697. https://doi. A...
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Intrusion detection systems (IDS) play a critical role in ensuring the security and integrity of computer networks. There is a constant demand for the development of powerful, novel, and generalized methods for IDS that can accurately detect and classify intrusions. In this study, we aim to evaluate the benefits of linear classifiers (LC) and nonli...
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Recent advancements in computed tomography (CT) technology have introduced a revolutionary innovation to practice known as the Photon-Counting detector (PCD) CT imaging. The pivotal hardware enhancement of the PCD-CT scanner lies in its detectors, which consist of smaller pixels than standard detectors and allow direct conversion of individual x-ra...
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Purpose of Review The article represents the value of imaging including conventional multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) in the evaluation and diagnosis of various pathologies associated with acute abdominal pain in the elderly population. Recent Findings Advances in DECT have dramatically improved t...
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Background and aims: Cardiac ParaGangliomas (PGLs) are rare extra-adrenal tumours that arise from chromaffin cells of the sympathetic ganglia. PGL are often diagnosed incidentally, with no symptoms or symptoms related to cardiovascular dysfunction. Methods: Cardiac Computed Tomography (CCT) and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) can detect the correc...
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Background: The aim of this cross-sectional study was to investigate the association of left ventricular (LV) strain parameters with demographics, clinical data, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) findings, and cardiac complications (heart failure and arrhythmias) in patients with β-thalassemia major (β-TM). Method: We considered 266 β-TM pati...
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Background and novelty When RT-PCR is ineffective in early diagnosis and understanding of COVID-19 severity, Computed Tomography (CT) scans are needed for COVID diagnosis, especially in patients having high ground-glass opacities, consolidations, and crazy paving. Radiologists find the manual method for lesion detection in CT very challenging and t...
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Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is commonly employed to confirm the diagnosis of acute myocarditis (AM). However, the impact of atrial and ventricular function in AM patients with preserved ejection fraction (EF) deserves further investigation. Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore the incremental diagnostic value of combining atrial and...
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Purpose This multicentric study aims to characterize and assess the occurrence of neuroradiological findings among patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first Italian wave of the pandemic outbreak. Materials and Methods Patients’ data were collected between May 2020 and June 2020. Clinical and laboratory data, chest imaging, brain CT, and...
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BACKGROUND This study aimed to develop and validate a computed tomography angiography based machine learning model that uses plaque composition data and degree of carotid stenosis to detect symptomatic carotid plaques in patients with carotid atherosclerosis. METHODS The machine learning based model was trained using degree of stenosis and the vol...
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The introduction of machine learning in digital pathology has deeply impacted the field, especially with the advent of whole slide image (WSI) analysis. In this review, we tried to elucidate the role of machine learning algorithms in diagnostic precision, efficiency, and the reproducibility of the results. First, we discuss some of the most used to...
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Background Research on degenerative abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) is hampered by complex pathophysiology, sub-optimal pre-clinical models, and lack of effective medical therapies. In addition, trustworthiness of existing epidemiological data is impaired by elements of ambiguity, inaccuracy, and inconsistency. Our aim is to foster debate concerni...
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Background Stroke, a leading global cause of mortality and neurological disability, is often associated with atherosclerotic carotid artery disease. Distinguishing between symptomatic and asymptomatic carotid artery disease is crucial for appropriate treatment decisions. Radiomics, a quantitative image analysis technique, and ML have emerged as pro...
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Background The field of precision medicine endeavors to transform the healthcare industry by advancing individualised strategies for diagnosis, treatment modalities, and predictive assessments. This is achieved by utilizing extensive multidimensional biological datasets encompassing diverse components, such as an individual's genetic makeup, functi...