Research & Scientific Publications

🔬 Our research activity

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The Imaging Department at Cochin Hospital (Interventional Radiology and Radiology A) conducts an active clinical and fundamental research programme, recognised internationally, with more than 1,000 publications indexed in PubMed. Our work covers multimodal imaging, percutaneous ablation techniques, embolization, artificial intelligence applied to radiology, and the development of new minimally invasive approaches.

🧪 Clinical trials open to patients

🎯 Main research axes

📚 Recent publications: Cochin Imaging Team

Publications by the Cochin Hospital imaging team (Interventional Radiology and Radiology A), listed in reverse chronological order: Pr Revel, Pr Soyer, Dr Dohan, Dr Barat, Dr Dautry, Dr Chassagnon, Dr Talabard and the whole team.

🏛️ Reference learned societies

Our practice follows the recommendations and guidelines of the French and European radiology and interventional radiology learned societies.

🎓 A French school behind an international body of scientific literature

The history of uterine fibroid embolization is also the history of a substantial body of French scientific work, which turned a clinical observation into a validated technique, standardised and now used worldwide.

The founding work of Jean-Jacques Merland and his school

The first observations made during uterine embolizations for obstetric haemorrhage, within Jean-Jacques Merland's interventional neuroradiology school at Lariboisière Hospital, opened the way to the concept of therapeutic embolization of fibroids. This expertise was then developed by several generations of interventional radiologists trained in this school, notably Olivier Le Dref, Philippe Soyer and Jean-Pierre Pelage.

Olivier Le Dref: clinical structuring and dissemination of the technique

Olivier Le Dref made a major contribution to spreading uterine embolization, in particular regarding indications, patient selection, the importance of pre-therapeutic imaging and clinical outcomes. With Jean-Pierre Pelage and Philippe Soyer, he co-published a reference work on the arterial anatomy of the female genital tract as applied to transcatheter embolization (Pelage et al., AJR 1999, PubMed).

Jean-Pierre Pelage: from experimental research to technical optimisation

Jean-Pierre Pelage played a major role in the scientific understanding of the technique. His experimental work in a sheep model studied the effect of different embolic agents on the uterus, to better define the trade-off between effective obstruction of the fibroid's vascular network, necrosis of the fibromatous tissue and preservation of healthy myometrium. The reference study, published in Radiology in 2002, compared the effects of PVA particles and calibrated microspheres on the ewe uterus (Pelage et al., PubMed). Further work then explored microsphere distribution, their vascular location, recanalisation and the preservation of uterine function — contributing to the now widespread adoption of calibrated microspheres in clinical practice.

Philippe Soyer, Anthony Dohan and Raphaël Dautry: continuity at Cochin

At Cochin Hospital, this tradition is carried on under the impetus of Philippe Soyer, Anthony Dohan and Raphaël Dautry, through an approach combining expertise in abdomino-pelvic imaging, MRI assessment of patients, modern interventional radiology and technological innovation. Their work continues this historical thread: combining high-precision imaging, a well-reasoned indication and an interventional technique tailored to each patient.

Passing it on to new generations

This school continues today to pass on its expertise to young interventional radiologists, among them Maxime Barat. So, from Merland to Cochin, several generations of physicians have helped make fibroid embolization an emblematic technique of French interventional radiology.

Key historical publications (1996-2024)

🔬 Imaging of peritoneal carcinomatosis and rare peritoneal diseases

Imaging of peritoneal carcinomatosis and rare peritoneal diseases, including pseudomyxoma peritonei, is a longstanding research axis for Pr Anthony Dohan, who devoted his Science doctorate (Doctoral School of Haematology-Oncology-Biotherapies, 2017) to it, under the supervision of Pr Marc Pocard, on the diagnosis, characterisation and follow-up of peritoneal carcinomatosis by functional imaging.

A national and European network

Pr Dohan co-founded, with Pr Pascal Rousset (Hospices Civils de Lyon), the RENA-RAD group (the radiology arm of RENAPE, the French National Network of Rare Primary Malignant Peritoneal Tumours) and the European PSOGI group (Peritoneal Surface Oncology Imaging Group European). He is also the radiology lead for the European CureForPMP network (COST Action CA17103) and was a member of the organising committee of the international PSOGI congress (Paris, 2018).

Funded and published work

Principal investigator of the Hospital Clinical Research Programme in Oncology (PHRC-K 2016) POSITIF01, a prospective national multicentre study assessing 3-year prognosis and response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy of digestive-origin peritoneal carcinomatosis by functional imaging. His work with Pr Marc Pocard's team notably focused on a CT-based score predicting the resectability of pseudomyxoma peritonei, and on the value of MRI in its extent work-up.

Radiomics and predicting response to treatment

Building on this work, Pr Dohan developed, with a multicentre team (McGill, University of Burgundy, PRODIGE 9), CT texture analysis methods to predict chemotherapy response and survival in patients with colorectal-origin peritoneal carcinomatosis, presented notably at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) and the American Society of Hematology (ASH) for comparable applications in onco-haematology.

🤝 Academic and scientific collaborations

For any question relating to research, a scientific collaboration, a request for expertise or participation in an academic project, Pr Anthony Dohan can be contacted directly: anthony.dohan@aphp.fr.

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