Looking for a specific word

[Function]

Hello

Since English is not my native language, I'd like to ask you guys to find a word that describes the following:

A threshold for a positron emission tomography isocontour (that is, all voxels [cf. three-dimensional pixels] with a same standardised uptake value, or SUV) could be e.g. 50 % of the SUVmax (that is, the maximal SUVmax within the region that is bordered by this "A50" isocontour).

Several authors have described that the A50 isocontour may be a good cut-off to get a certain metabolic tumour volume (MTV50).

However, delineation with this A50 isocontour is not fully objective or automatically done, since a cut-off value (threshold) of 50 % of the SUVmax must still be set manually.

I don't like to say that the 50 % threshold is "arbitrarily" chosen (since it's not completely random, though based on several observations and author-specific findings and consensus), but what could I say?

Thanks

F

[Prometheus]

Subjective? Qualitative? 'Somewhat' arbitrary?

[koti]

Exhaustingly ?

[Function]

What about "semiquantitatively"?

[koti]

2 minutes ago, Function said:

What about "semiquantitatively"?

A little pretentious but that's just me.

[Function]

4 minutes ago, koti said:

A little pretentious but that's just me.

In what way? It's for my Master's thesis :/ 

[dimreepr]

29 minutes ago, Function said:

Hello

Since English is not my native language, I'd like to ask you guys to find a word that describes the following:

A threshold for a positron emission tomography isocontour (that is, all voxels [cf. three-dimensional pixels] with a same standardised uptake value, or SUV) could be e.g. 50 % of the SUVmax (that is, the maximal SUVmax within the region that is bordered by this "A50" isocontour).

Several authors have described that the A50 isocontour may be a good cut-off to get a certain metabolic tumour volume (MTV50).

However, delineation with this A50 isocontour is not fully objective or automatically done, since a cut-off value (threshold) of 50 % of the SUVmax must still be set manually.

I don't like to say that the 50 % threshold is "arbitrarily" chosen (since it's not completely random, though based on several observations and author-specific findings and consensus), but what could I say?

Thanks

F

probably possible?

[Strange]

“Conventionally”? Implies that there is no absolute/objective meaning, but the convention is to use that value. 

[studiot]

42 minutes ago, Function said:

Hello

Since English is not my native language, I'd like to ask you guys to find a word that describes the following:

A threshold for a positron emission tomography isocontour (that is, all voxels [cf. three-dimensional pixels] with a same standardised uptake value, or SUV) could be e.g. 50 % of the SUVmax (that is, the maximal SUVmax within the region that is bordered by this "A50" isocontour).

Several authors have described that the A50 isocontour may be a good cut-off to get a certain metabolic tumour volume (MTV50).

However, delineation with this A50 isocontour is not fully objective or automatically done, since a cut-off value (threshold) of 50 % of the SUVmax must still be set manually.

I don't like to say that the 50 % threshold is "arbitrarily" chosen (since it's not completely random, though based on several observations and author-specific findings and consensus), but what could I say?

Thanks

F

Well I don't like the word 'isocontour', since that is saying the same thing twice.

 

I suppose the choice will depend upon the purpose of the procedure.

Is this for standardisation or to set a baseline for future measurements/treatments?

Edited November 10, 2017 by studiot

[Function]

23 minutes ago, studiot said:

Well I don't like the word 'isocontour', since that is saying the same thing twice.

 

I suppose the choice will depend upon the purpose of the procedure.

Is this for standardisation or to set a baseline for future measurements/treatments?

In my thesis I will define the MTVs of tumours based on 5 such "experience-based" thresholds to compare these between different tumour types.

[koti]

36 minutes ago, Function said:

In what way? It's for my Master's thesis :/ 

Its just my subjective opinion, dont worry about it. I’d preffer „Aproximately”

[Function]

Just now, koti said:

Its just my subjective opinion, dont worry about it. I’d preffer „Aproximately”

But it's not approximately. It's exactly, e.g., "50 % of the SUVmax" that would be the threshold of the MTV50 delineative isocontour A50. It's just that some researches have arbitrarily chosen this value and seen that this value may indeed correspond with true tumoural metabolic volume. However, I cannot say that we have chosen this threshold arbitrarily, because other authors have already shown that it may indeed, to some degree, correspond to some metabolic tumour volume.

Additionally, multiple such thresholds have been described: the most important thresholds are 50 % of the SUVmax, 41 % of the SUVmax, 1.3 times the SUVbackground, 1.5 times the SUVbackground (that is, the mean SUV of random background - normal - tissues), and 1.6 times the SUVbackground. And I will define all these isocontour-delineated MTVs. But thus, these isocontours are not generated fully automatically, yet semiautomatically, that is, still based on a manual input of values that are "..." (?) chosen.

[koti]

12 minutes ago, Function said:

But it's not approximately. It's exactly, e.g., "50 % of the SUVmax" that would be the threshold of the MTV50 delineative isocontour A50. It's just that some researches have arbitrarily chosen this value and seen that this value may indeed correspond with true tumoural metabolic volume. However, I cannot say that we have chosen this threshold arbitrarily, because other authors have already shown that it may indeed, to some degree, correspond to some metabolic tumour volume.

Additionally, multiple such thresholds have been described: the most important thresholds are 50 % of the SUVmax, 41 % of the SUVmax, 1.3 times the SUVbackground, 1.5 times the SUVbackground (that is, the mean SUV of random background - normal - tissues), and 1.6 times the SUVbackground. And I will define all these isocontour-delineated MTVs. But thus, these isocontours are not generated fully automatically, yet semiautomatically, that is, still based on a manual input of values that are "..." (?) chosen.

I don't know man, I just know that "semiquantitatively" is a synonym to "approximately"  and I prefer approximately because I do

Semiquantitatively -adverb to semiquantitative"
constituting or involving less than quantitative precision

The only suggestion I can make - Don't put anything in your thesis which you could not discuss in detail when asked and avoid using sentence/word constructions which might be ambiguous. 
 

Edited November 10, 2017 by koti

[studiot]

Thank you for the clarification.

I understand you to be saying that

Since there is no current standardisation of the tumour delineation I (we?) have compared (the region? volume? described by? )

1. the 50% of SUVmax isosurface
2. the 41% of SUVmax isosurface
3. etc
4. etc

to measure the MTV.

 

I don't see the use of threshold as quite appropriate?

 

[Function]

6 hours ago, Strange said:

“Conventionally”? Implies that there is no absolute/objective meaning, but the convention is to use that value. 

I missed out on this one. Thanks, Strange. "Conventionally" might just do fine!