Publications by authors named "Carolin Knebel"

Background/objectives: One of the most important diagnostic tools in bone tumors is X-rays. Preliminary and, in the case of some benign lesions, definitive diagnoses are formed using this basic tool. Part of the decision making in this stage is based on statistical probability using the patient's age, as well as the incidence and predilection sites of different entities.

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Background: Chondrosarcomas (CS) are a rare and heterogenic group of primary malignant bone tumors. In the literature, data on prognostic factors in chondrosarcomas are scarce, and most studies are limited by a short follow-up. The aim of this retrospective study was therefore to determine factors associated with the survival and local recurrence of chondrosarcomas and to compare the results with previous studies.

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Background: Local ablative therapies (LAT) are increasingly used in patients with metastatic soft tissue sarcoma (STS), yet evidence-based standards are lacking. This study aimed to assess the impact of LAT on survival of metastatic STS patients and to identify prognostic factors.

Methods: In this retrospective multicenter study, 246 STS patients with metastatic disease who underwent LAT on tumor board recommendation between 2017 and 2021 were analyzed.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study analyzes the distribution and types of benign and malignant lesions in the hindfoot and ankle over a 12.5-year period, showing that the majority of cases (81.9%) were soft tissue lesions, with a smaller portion being osseous lesions (18.1%).
  • Of the reviewed cases, 77 were benign and 9 were malignant, leading to an overall malignancy rate of 8.6%, with malignant cases seen primarily in older patients (mean age of 59.2 years).
  • The findings emphasize the importance of accurate imaging and pathology assessment, as benign lesions are more common but malignant tumors can present similarly and should be taken seriously, especially in ambiguous cases
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The diagnostic work-up of musculoskeletal tumors is a multifactorial process. During the early phase, differential diagnoses are made using basic radiological imaging. In this phase, part of the decision making is based on the patient's age, as well as the incidence and predilection sites of different entities.

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Background: An aberrant cellular microenvironment characterized by pathological cells or inflammation represents an added risk factor across various cancer types. While the significance of chronic inflammation in the development of most diffuse tumors has been extensively studied, an exception to this analysis exists in the context of chondrosarcomas. Chondrosarcomas account for 20-30% of all bone sarcomas, with an estimated global incidence of 1 in 100,000.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study focuses on developing a Deep Learning-based automatic segmentation (DLBAS) algorithm to improve the process of defining volume of interest (VOI) for radiomic analyses in extremity soft tissue sarcomas, addressing issues like time consumption and variability among observers.* -
  • The DLBAS was trained on 157 patients and tested on 87, comparing its automatic segmentations to manual delineations by radiation oncologists and residents, showing promising median dice similarity coefficients that indicate high accuracy in VOI predictions.* -
  • Despite achieving high reproducibility for radiomics feature extraction, the clinical applicability of the DLBAS predictions for radiotherapy planning was found to be limited, with radiation oncologists deeming them suitable in only
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Article Synopsis
  • Chondrosarcomas are unusual malignant bone tumors diagnosed through imaging and histological analysis, focusing on specific tumor features like calcification and bone invasion.
  • The study involved analyzing tissue samples from three patients with different types of chondrosarcoma, utilizing advanced techniques like hematein-based x-ray staining and 3D micro-CT for detailed examination without damaging the samples.
  • Results indicated effective visualization of tumor characteristics and differences in tumor area measurements between micro-CT and traditional histology, suggesting that combining these methods could enhance diagnostic accuracy in clinical settings.
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Primary leiomyosarcoma of bone (LMSoB) is extremely rare, comprising only <0.7% of primary malignant bone tumors, and is therefore considered an ultra-rare tumor entity. There is currently no consensus as to whether therapeutic strategies should be based on the biological characteristics of soft tissue leiomyosarcoma or on primary tumor localization in the bone.

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Undifferentiated small round cell sarcomas (USRS) of bone and soft tissue are a group of tumors with heterogenic genomic alterations sharing similar morphology. In the present study, we performed a comparative large-scale proteomic analysis of USRS (n = 42) with diverse genomic translocations including classic Ewing sarcomas with EWSR1::FLI1 fusions (n = 24) or EWSR1::ERG fusions (n = 4), sarcomas with an EWSR1 rearrangement (n = 2), CIC::DUX4 fusion (n = 8), as well as tumors classified as USRS with no genetic data available (n = 4). Proteins extracted from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded pretherapeutic biopsies were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively using shotgun mass spectrometry (MS).

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Overweight patients have higher complication rates during and after surgical procedures. In total hip arthroplasty (THA), postoperative infection is a major complication. In this study, we show that the patient's body mass index (BMI) can be approximated by a newly developed grading system using preoperative X-rays.

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Even though tumors in children are rare, they cause the second most deaths under the age of 18 years. More often than in other age groups, underage patients suffer from malignancies of the bones, and these mostly occur in the area around the knee. One problem in the treatment is the early detection of bone tumors, especially on X-rays.

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Background: The aim of this study was to develop and validate radiogenomic models to predict the MDM2 gene amplification status and differentiate between ALTs and lipomas on preoperative MR images.

Methods: MR images were obtained in 257 patients diagnosed with ALTs ( = 65) or lipomas ( = 192) using histology and the MDM2 gene analysis as a reference standard. The protocols included T2-, T1-, and fat-suppressed contrast-enhanced T1-weighted sequences.

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Background: Soft tissue sarcomas (STS) are a relatively rare group of malignant tumors. Currently, there is very little published clinical data, especially in the context of curative multimodal therapy with image-guided, conformal, intensity-modulated radiotherapy.

Methods: Patients who received preoperative or postoperative intensity-modulated radiotherapy for STS of the extremities or trunk with curative intent were included in this single centre retrospective analysis.

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Background: A pathological/inflamed cellular microenvironment state is an additional risk factor for any cancer type. The importance of a chronic inflammation state in most diffuse types of tumour has already been analysed, except for in Ewing’s sarcoma. It is a highly malignant blue round cell tumour, with 90% of cases occurring in patients aged between 5 and 25 years.

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The differentiation between the atypical cartilaginous tumor (ACT) and the enchondromas is crucial as ACTs require a curettage and clinical as well as imaging follow-ups, whereas in the majority of cases enchondromas require neither a treatment nor follow-ups. Differentiating enchondromas from ACTs radiologically remains challenging. Therefore, this study evaluated imaging criteria in a combination of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging for the differentiation between enchondromas and ACTs in long bones.

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Background/aim: Ewing sarcoma is a highly malignant tumour predominantly found in children. The radiological signs of this malignancy can be mistaken for acute osteomyelitis. These entities require profoundly different treatments and result in completely different prognoses.

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In this study, we sought to determine the prognostic value of both the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer-Soft Tissue and Bone Sarcoma Group (EORTC-STBSG) score and the histologic parameters viable tumor, coagulative necrosis, hyalinization/fibrosis, and infarction in patients (n=64) with localized, nonmetastatic high-grade soft-tissue sarcomas after preoperative radiomonotherapy. A standardized macroscopic workup for pretreated surgical specimen including evaluation of a whole section of high-grade soft tissue sarcomas in the largest diameter, was used. Association with overall survival and disease-free survival was assessed.

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Objectives: To develop and validate machine learning models to distinguish between benign and malignant bone lesions and compare the performance to radiologists.

Methods: In 880 patients (age 33.1 ± 19.

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Objectives: To evaluate the performance and reproducibility of MR imaging features in the diagnosis of joint invasion (JI) by malignant bone tumors.

Methods: MR images of patients with and without JI (n = 24 each), who underwent surgical resection at our institution, were read by three radiologists. Direct (intrasynovial tumor tissue (ITT), intraarticular destruction of cartilage/bone, invasion of capsular/ligamentous insertions) and indirect (tumor size, signal alterations of epiphyseal/transarticular bone (bone marrow replacement/edema-like), synovial contrast enhancement, joint effusion) signs of JI were assessed.

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Purpose: In high-grade soft-tissue sarcomas (STS) the standard of care encompasses multimodal therapy regimens. While there is a growing body of evidence for prognostic pretreatment radiomic models, we hypothesized that temporal changes in radiomic features following neoadjuvant treatment ("delta-radiomics") may be able to predict the pathological complete response (pCR).

Methods: MRI scans (T1-weighted with fat-saturation and contrast-enhancement (T1FSGd) and T2-weighted with fat-saturation (T2FS)) of patients with STS of the extremities and trunk treated with neoadjuvant therapy were gathered from two independent institutions (training: 103, external testing: 53 patients).

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Background An artificial intelligence model that assesses primary bone tumors on radiographs may assist in the diagnostic workflow. Purpose To develop a multitask deep learning (DL) model for simultaneous bounding box placement, segmentation, and classification of primary bone tumors on radiographs. Materials and Methods This retrospective study analyzed bone tumors on radiographs acquired prior to treatment and obtained from patient data from January 2000 to June 2020.

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Background: In patients with soft-tissue sarcomas, tumor grading constitutes a decisive factor to determine the best treatment decision. Tumor grading is obtained by pathological work-up after focal biopsies. Deep learning (DL)-based imaging analysis may pose an alternative way to characterize STS tissue.

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