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Diagnostics
Special Issues
Multimodal Imaging in Clinical Diagnostics: Advances and Perspectives
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Multimodal Imaging in Clinical Diagnostics: Advances and Perspectives

A Special Issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418) belonging to the section "Medical Imaging and Theranostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 May 2027 | Viewed by 758

Editors

Dr. Alfonso Reginelli

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: multimodal imaging; CT; MRI; oncologic imaging; radiomics; contrast media; gastrointestinal imaging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Vittorio Patanè

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Precision Medicine, University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: multimodal imaging; CT; MRI; oncologic imaging; radiomics; contrast media; gastrointestinal imaging
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Multimodal imaging is transforming clinical diagnostics by integrating complementary anatomical, functional, molecular, and quantitative information from techniques such as ultrasound, CT, MRI, PET/SPECT, optical imaging, endoscopy, and pathology-related imaging. By combining data across modalities, clinicians and researchers can improve lesion characterization, disease staging, treatment planning, image-guided intervention, prognosis, and follow-up, while also supporting precision medicine and patient-centered care.

We are pleased to invite submissions for a Special Issue, “Multimodal Imaging in Clinical Diagnostics: Advances and Perspectives”. We aim to highlight recent methodological, technological, and clinical advances that enhance diagnostic accuracy, workflow efficiency, reproducibility, and translational impact. This topic is closely aligned with the scope of Diagnostics, particularly regarding radiology, nuclear medicine, medical imaging, optical diagnostics, theranostics, clinical decision support, biomarkers, and artificial intelligence.

Original research articles, reviews, short communications, case reports, and interesting images are welcome. Potential topics include, but are not limited to, hybrid imaging, radiomics, AI-assisted image analysis, image fusion, quantitative imaging biomarkers, multimodal diagnostic pathways, interventional imaging, and applications across oncology, neurology, cardiology, musculoskeletal, infectious, and inflammatory diseases.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Alfonso Reginelli
Dr. Vittorio Patanè
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • multimodal imaging
  • clinical diagnostics
  • medical imaging
  • hybrid imaging
  • radiomics
  • artificial intelligence
  • imaging biomarkers
  • precision medicine
  • diagnostic accuracy
  • image fusion

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

20 pages, 18652 KB  
Article
The Stalk Sign in Bladder Cancer: CEUS Versus MRI
by Fabrizio Urraro, Nicoletta Giordano, Vittorio Patanè, Maria Chiara Brunese, Giuseppe Ambrosio, Anna Russo, Roberto Calbi, Antonio Cioffi and Alfonso Reginelli
Diagnostics 2026, 16(17), 2687; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics16172687 - 22 Aug 2026
Viewed by 278
Abstract
Background: The fibrovascular stalk is characteristic of papillary bladder tumors and may be visualized on MRI as the inchworm sign. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) may depict the same structure dynamically by demonstrating pedicle perfusion before tumor enhancement. We hypothesized that CEUS would be [...] Read more.
Background: The fibrovascular stalk is characteristic of papillary bladder tumors and may be visualized on MRI as the inchworm sign. Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) may depict the same structure dynamically by demonstrating pedicle perfusion before tumor enhancement. We hypothesized that CEUS would be more sensitive than the MRI inchworm sign for detecting a histologically confirmed fibrovascular stalk and that stalk presence would be associated with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer without completely excluding detrusor muscle invasion. Methods: This retrospective study assessed 80 consecutive patients with one focal bladder lesion; 69 patients with technically adequate imaging and an adequate TURBT reference standard were included in the final paired analysis. Dedicated retrospective rereads of anonymized stored CEUS cine loops and complete mpMRI datasets were independently performed by two experienced readers per modality, who were blinded to the other imaging modality, histopathology, and each other’s assessments. A blinded pathologist assessed fibrovascular stalk presence and detrusor muscle invasion. Paired performance was evaluated using exact McNemar testing. Results: Histopathology identified a stalk in 48 lesions. CEUS detected 46 of 48 stalks, and MRI detected 36, corresponding to sensitivities of 95.8% and 75.0%, specificities of 90.5% and 81.0%, and accuracies of 94.2% and 76.8%, respectively. Interobserver agreement was 94.2% for both signs, with almost-perfect agreement for the CEUS vascular stalk sign (κ = 0.86) and the MRI inchworm sign (κ = 0.88). For MIBC detection, overall CEUS impression and VI-RADS 4–5 showed sensitivities of 66.7% and 87.5% (paired p = 0.063), specificities of 88.9% and 68.9% (paired p = 0.004), and accuracies of 81.2% and 75.4% (paired p = 0.424), respectively. Conclusions: However, the two signs are not operationally equivalent because the MRI inchworm sign additionally requires preservation of the underlying muscular layer, a criterion that may have contributed to its lower observed sensitivity. The stalk strongly favored non-muscle-invasive disease but did not exclude detrusor invasion. CEUS provides complementary perfusion information, whereas MRI-based VI-RADS remains central to local staging. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multimodal Imaging in Clinical Diagnostics: Advances and Perspectives)
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17 pages, 2220 KB  
Article
Multimodal MRI Characterization of Structural and Resting-State Functional Brain Alterations in Patients with Low Back Pain: A Retrospective Study
by Xiaopei Sun, Yazhou Lin, Jing Zhang, Weihuan Fang, Zhe Chen, Peng Cao and Yuehuan Zheng
Diagnostics 2026, 16(16), 2546; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics16162546 - 12 Aug 2026
Viewed by 217
Abstract
Background/Objectives: Low back pain (LBP) is associated with central alterations, but convergence across structural, functional, and network measures remains unclear. We characterized multimodal differences. Methods: Resting-state fMRI included 69 participants (37 patients, 32 controls); VBM retained 23 patients and 32 controls after structural-image [...] Read more.
Background/Objectives: Low back pain (LBP) is associated with central alterations, but convergence across structural, functional, and network measures remains unclear. We characterized multimodal differences. Methods: Resting-state fMRI included 69 participants (37 patients, 32 controls); VBM retained 23 patients and 32 controls after structural-image quality control. Structural, local functional, and thalamic-connectivity measures were assessed. Motion control used realignment-based exclusion and Friston-24 nuisance regression. Mean Power framewise displacement was additionally calculated for all participants and compared between groups, and VBM-retained and excluded patients were compared. Models adjusted for age and sex, plus total intracranial volume for VBM. Directional maps underwent one-tailed Gaussian random field correction (voxel p < 0.001; cluster p < 0.05), without cross-direction or cross-family correction. Extracted-value and imaging–clinical analyses were exploratory. Results: Mean framewise displacement did not differ between groups. Patients showed lower gray matter volume in thalamic–hippocampal regions and right cerebellar lobule VIII and lower local functional measures in thalamic, orbitofrontal–striatal, and right temporal regions. Thalamic connectivity with sensorimotor, parietal, supplementary motor, and middle cingulate regions was higher. Nominal analyses showed positive left thalamic connectivity cluster 1–VAS and negative left cluster 1–JOA and right clusters 1/2–JOA; none survived false-discovery-rate correction. Conclusions: Multimodal MRI delineated lower thalamic structural and local functional measures alongside higher thalamo-sensorimotor and thalamo-parietal connectivity. Nominal, directionally coherent clinical associations remain hypothesis-generating. This thalamus-centered pattern warrants replication in prospectively matched, clinically stratified cohorts. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Multimodal Imaging in Clinical Diagnostics: Advances and Perspectives)
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