Publications by authors named "Andra Curcean"
Objectives: MR fingerprinting (MRF) has the potential to quantify treatment response. This study evaluated the repeatability of MRF-derived T and T relaxation times in bone metastasis, bone, and muscle in patients with metastatic prostate cancer.
Materials And Methods: This prospective single-centre study included same-day repeated MRF acquisitions from 20 patients (August 2019-October 2020).
Article Synopsis
- Sarcopenia, characterized by muscle mass loss, is found in up to 68% of rectal cancer patients and negatively affects survival and tumor response, although research on its impact in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) is limited.
- A study at the Prof. Dr. Ion Chiricuta Institute of Oncology examined 50 LARC patients who underwent total neoadjuvant treatment (TNT), assessing muscle mass via MRI before and after therapy.
- The findings showed that a lower overall complete response rate (oCR) of 18% was significantly tied to post-treatment sarcopenia, and patients who experienced muscle loss during therapy had worse clinical outcomes and higher instances of cystitis and thrombocytopenia.
Background And Objectives: Rectal cancer accounts for approximately one-third of colorectal cancers, with over 340,000 deaths globally in 2022. Despite advancements in treatment, the five-year overall survival for locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) remains at 74%, with significant morbidity. B7H3 (CD276), an immune checkpoint protein, plays a role in tumor progression and resistance to therapy, and correlates with poor prognosis in various cancers, including colorectal cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in rectal cancer management has significantly increased over the last decade, in line with more personalized treatment approaches. Total neoadjuvant treatment (TNT) plays a pivotal role in the shift from traditional surgical approach to non-surgical approaches such as 'watch-and-wait'. MRI plays a central role in this evolving landscape, providing essential morphological and functional data that support clinical decision-making.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Radium-223 is a bone-seeking, ɑ-emitting radionuclide used to treat men with bone metastases from castration-resistant prostate cancer. Sclerotic bone lesions cannot be evaluated using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors. Therefore, imaging response biomarkers are needed.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To establish optimised diffusion weightings ('b-values') for acquisition of whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI (WB-DWI) for estimation of the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) in patients with metastatic melanoma (MM). Existing recommendations for WB-DWI have not been optimised for the tumour properties in MM; therefore, evaluation of acquisition parameters is essential before embarking on larger studies.
Methods: Retrospective clinical data and phantom experiments were used.
Article Synopsis
- - The study evaluated the combined effects of guadecitabine and pembrolizumab on patients with advanced solid tumors, aiming to see if guadecitabine can make tumors more sensitive to pembrolizumab, which targets immune checkpoints.
- - In a phase 1 trial with 34 participants, the recommended dosage was established as guadecitabine 30 mg/m on specific days alongside pembrolizumab; common side effects included neutropenia and fatigue, but there were no treatment-related deaths reported.
- - Preliminary results showed a 7% objective response rate and 37% of patients achieved disease control for 24 weeks or more; notably, a significant reduction in DNA methylation was observed in
Purpose: To use deep learning to improve the image quality of subsampled images (number of acquisitions = 1 [NOA]) to reduce whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI (WBDWI) acquisition times.
Materials And Methods: Both retrospective and prospective patient groups were used to develop a deep learning-based denoising image filter (DNIF) model. For initial model training and validation, 17 patients with metastatic prostate cancer with acquired WBDWI NOA and NOA images (acquisition period, 2015-2017) were retrospectively included.
Background And Aims: The study describes the femoral (FN) and sciatic nerves (SN), explored using ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The aims of the study are: to establish US/MRI correlations and define reference values: for the anteroposterior (AP) and mediolateral (ML) diameters and cross-sectional area (CSA) of the two nerves respectively, in well-defined anatomical measuring sites; to analyze the intraobserver variation; to define the value with least variability; to determine differences between the right-left and male-female reference values.
Methods: A prospective study was carried out on 24 healthy volunteers (11 men and 13 women).
Whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) has evolved since its first introduction in the 1970s as an imaging technique to detect and survey disease across multiple sites and organ systems in the body. The development of diffusion-weighted MRI (DWI) has added a new dimension to the implementation of WB-MRI on modern scanners, offering excellent lesion-to-background contrast, while achieving acceptable spatial resolution to detect focal lesions 5 to 10 mm in size. MRI hardware and software advances have reduced acquisition times, with studies taking 40-50 min to complete.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Drug-induced interstitial lung disease (DILD) is a rare, but potentially fatal toxicity. Clinical and radiological features of DILD in the early experimental setting are poorly described.
Patients And Methods: A total of 2,499 consecutive patients with advanced cancer on phase I clinical trials were included.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to assess the ultrasound visibility of certain neck nerves (vagus, hypoglossal, and greater auricular) and establish reference values for their dimensions in healthy individuals.
- Conducted on 21 healthy volunteers, the researchers used high-frequency ultrasound to measure the nerves at specific anatomical locations and evaluate variations based on gender and physical characteristics.
- Results indicated that the vagus nerve was larger on the right side, while the hypoglossal nerve showed size differences between men and women, alongside correlations between body weight and nerve cross-sectional area.
Background: Metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer is enriched in DNA damage response (DDR) gene aberrations. The TOPARP-B trial aims to prospectively validate the association between DDR gene aberrations and response to olaparib in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer.
Methods: In this open-label, investigator-initiated, randomised phase 2 trial following a selection (or pick-the-winner) design, we recruited participants from 17 UK hospitals.