Role of Radiologists in Contract Research Organizations (CROs).

Clinical trials play a vital role in advancing technology and novel therapies in the healthcare world. However, the increasing scale of trials and the complexity of the regulatory approval process is often a barrier for those interested in conducting research. Contract research organizations (CROs) aim to address this problem by offering their infrastructure and expertise to bring a therapy from conception to approval without the need for in-house staff.

Intraprocedural Ablation Margin Assessment by Using Ammonia Perfusion PET during FDG PET/CT-guided Liver Tumor Ablation: A Pilot Study.

Purpose To prospectively determine whether nitrogen 13 (N) ammonia perfusion positron emission tomography (PET) during fluorine 18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT)-guided liver tumor ablation can be used to intraprocedurally assess ablation margins. Materials and Methods Eight patients (five women and three men; age range, 36-74 years; mean age, 57 years) were enrolled in this pilot study and underwent FDG PET/CT-guided microwave ablation of 11 FDG-avid liver metastases (mean diameter, 22 mm; range, 11-34 mm). All procedures were performed between March 2014 and December 2016.

Immune-related tumour response assessment criteria: a comprehensive review.

Growing emphasis on precision medicine in oncology has led to increasing use of targeted therapies that encompass a spectrum of drug classes including angiogenesis inhibitors, immune modulators, signal transduction inhibitors, DNA damage modulators, hormonal agents etc. Immune therapeutic drugs constitute a unique group among the novel therapeutic agents that are transforming cancer treatment, and their use is rising. The imaging manifestations in patients on immune therapies appear to be distinct from those typically seen with conventional cytotoxic therapies.

LesionTracker: Extensible Open-Source Zero-Footprint Web Viewer for Cancer Imaging Research and Clinical Trials.

Oncology clinical trials have become increasingly dependent upon image-based surrogate endpoints for determining patient eligibility and treatment efficacy. As therapeutics have evolved and multiplied in number, the tumor metrics criteria used to characterize therapeutic response have become progressively more varied and complex. The growing intricacies of image-based response evaluation, together with rising expectations for rapid and consistent results reporting, make it difficult for site radiologists to adequately address local and multicenter imaging demands.

Bladder cancer diagnosis with CT urography: test characteristics and reasons for false-positive and false-negative results.

Purpose: To determine test characteristics of CT urography for detecting bladder cancer in patients with hematuria and those undergoing surveillance, and to analyze reasons for false-positive and false-negative results.

Methods: A HIPAA-compliant, IRB-approved retrospective review of reports from 1623 CT urograms between 10/2010 and 12/31/2013 was performed. 710 examinations for hematuria or bladder cancer history were compared to cystoscopy performed within 6 months.

Interreader Agreement of Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System Version 2 Using an In-Bore MRI-Guided Prostate Biopsy Cohort: A Single Institution's Initial Experience.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to determine the interobserver agreement of the Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System version 2 (PI-RADSv2) for diagnosing prostate cancer using in-bore MRI-guided prostate biopsy as the reference standard.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-nine patients underwent in-bore MRI-guided prostate biopsy between January 21, 2010, and August 21, 2013, and underwent diagnostic multiparametric MRI 6 months or less before biopsy. A single index lesion per patient was selected after retrospective review of MR images.

Imaging appearance of topical haemostatic agents: pictorial review.

Topical haemostatic agents have become an essential tool to assist with the control of bleeding during surgery as well as to facilitate wound closure. The imaging appearance of these agents can overlap that of abscess or tumour. Knowledge of the appearance of these various agents on ultrasound and CT is crucial to avoid misdiagnosing pathology, potentially resulting in unnecessary interventional procedures.

CT restaging of testicular germ cell tumors: The incidence of isolated pelvic metastases.

Purpose: We determined the incidence of isolated pelvic metastases at restaging computed tomography (CT) in patients with testicular germ cell tumors to consider if imaging the pelvis could be omitted.

Methods: After receiving IRB approval for this HIPAA-compliant retrospective study, medical records of 560 men (mean age 32.8) with 583 testicular germ cell tumors who underwent 3683 restaging CT scans of the abdomen and pelvis were reviewed to determine the proportion of patients with metastatic disease in the pelvis alone, as verified by histology or by resolution after therapy.

Radiogenomics of clear cell renal cell carcinoma: preliminary findings of The Cancer Genome Atlas-Renal Cell Carcinoma (TCGA-RCC) Imaging Research Group.

Purpose: To investigate associations between imaging features and mutational status of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (ccRCC).

Materials And Methods: This multi-institutional, multi-reader study included 103 patients (77 men; median age 59 years, range 34-79) with ccRCC examined with CT in 81 patients, MRI in 19, and both CT and MRI in three; images were downloaded from The Cancer Imaging Archive, an NCI-funded project for genome-mapping and analyses. Imaging features [size (mm), margin (well-defined or ill-defined), composition (solid or cystic), necrosis (for solid tumors: 0%, 1%-33%, 34%-66% or >66%), growth pattern (endophytic, <50% exophytic, or ≥50% exophytic), and calcification (present, absent, or indeterminate)] were reviewed independently by three readers blinded to mutational data.

Yield of urinary tract cancer diagnosis with repeat CT urography in patients with hematuria.

OBJECTIVE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the yield of repeat CT urography (CTU) in detecting urinary tract malignancies in patients with hematuria. MATERIALS AND METHODS.

A prospective feasibility study of radiation and concurrent bevacizumab for recurrent endometrial cancer.

Objectives: To determine the toxicity and survival rates in a trial of concurrent bevacizumab and external beam radiation (EB) for patients with recurrent endometrial or ovarian cancer.

Methods: Nineteen women with recurrent endometrial (n = 15) or ovarian (n = 4) cancer with gross disease involving the vaginal cuff, and/or pelvic nodes and/or para-aortic nodes, cancer were enrolled between 2008 and 2010. All patients received bevacizumab during radiation.

Imaging female infertility.

The purpose of this pictorial review is to discuss causes of female infertility, in particular, those etiologies in which imaging plays a key role in detection. Included are disorders of cervical, ovarian, fallopian tube, and uterine origin. We also discuss the role of various imaging modalities including hysterosalpingography, pelvic ultrasonography, hysterosonography, and pelvic MR imaging in elucidating the cause of female infertility.

Surveillance of patients with bladder cancer following cystectomy: yield of CT urography.

Purpose: To determine the yield of CT urography (CTU) in the surveillance of patients with bladder cancer following cystectomy.

Materials And Methods: In this IRB-approved, HIPAA-compliant, retrospective study of 5,404 CT urograms performed at our institution between March 2000 and February 2011, 225 CT urograms were performed in 105 patients [79 men, 26 women; mean age 65 years (43-85)] following cystectomy for bladder cancer. Median follow-up after cystectomy was 63 months (range 1-234), median time between cystectomy and CTU was 39 months (range 0-229), median follow-up after CTU was 34 months (range 1-111).

Body CT scanning in young adults: examination indications, patient outcomes, and risk of radiation-induced cancer.

Purpose: To quantify patient outcome and predicted cancer risk from body computed tomography (CT) in young adults and identify common indications for the imaging examination.

Materials And Methods: This retrospective multicenter study was HIPAA compliant and approved by the institutional review boards of three institutions, with waiver of informed consent. The Research Patient Data Registry containing patient medical and billing records of three university-affiliated hospitals in a single metropolitan area was queried for patients 18-35 years old with a social security record who underwent chest or abdominopelvic CT from 2003 to 2007.

Duodenal and other gastrointestinal toxicity in cervical and endometrial cancer treated with extended-field intensity modulated radiation therapy to paraaortic lymph nodes.

Purpose: To characterize the rates of acute and late duodenal and other gastrointestinal (GI) toxicities among patients treated for cervical and endometrial cancers with extended-field intensity modulated radiation therapy (EF-IMRT) to the paraaortic nodes and to analyze dose-volume relationships of GI toxicities.

Methods And Materials: Fifty-three patients with endometrial or cervical cancer underwent EF-IMRT to the paraaortic nodes, of whom 46 met the inclusion criteria for GI toxicity and 45 for duodenal toxicity analysis. The median prescribed dose to the paraaortic nodes was 54 Gy (range, 41.

MRI assessment of percutaneous ablation of liver tumors: value of subtraction images.

Purpose: To evaluate the value of subtraction images when using MRI to assess liver tumors treated with percutaneous ablation.

Materials And Methods: Following percutaneous ablation of 35 liver tumors, two abdominal radiologists, blinded to outcomes, independently reviewed follow-up MRI examinations for tumoral enhancement suggestive of residual/recurrent tumor and rated their confidence level. After one year, the readers reviewed the same examinations with added subtraction images.

Renal cell carcinoma containing abundant non-calcified fat.

Renal masses found to contain macroscopic fatty elements on CT or MRI imaging can generally be classified as benign angiomyolipomas. Rarely, renal cell carcinomas may also contain evidence of macroscopic fat. When true adipocytic elements are present, this is generally due to a process of osseous metaplasia in which both fat cells and calcification are co-localized within the mass.

Sonographic and magnetic resonance imaging findings in uterine incarceration.

We show the sonographic and magnetic resonance imaging features of uterine incarceration. Clinical data and imaging findings were retrospectively reviewed for 8 confirmed cases identified by sonography from 2000 to 2010. Two patients had magnetic resonance imaging.

Mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma of the kidney: imaging features.

This article describes the features on sonography, computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma of the kidney. Six pathologically proven cases of mucinous tubular and spindle cell carcinoma of the kidney were identified (5 females, 1 male); all patients underwent preoperative imaging. The mean age of the patients was 58.

Diagnostic yield of CT urography in the evaluation of young adults with hematuria.

Objective: CT urography is increasingly used as the initial imaging test in patients with hematuria. The aim of our study was to determine the yield of CT urography in young adults with hematuria to see whether single phase unenhanced CT would have been sufficient.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed medical records of consecutive patients undergoing CT urography between March 2000 and July 2009 at our tertiary medical center.

Feasibility of low-tube-voltage excretory phase images during CT urography: assessment using a dual-energy CT scanner.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to assess the feasibility of low-tube-voltage images during excretory phase CT urography.

Materials And Methods: In this retrospective study, we examined 70 consecutive CT urograms (35 men and 35 women; mean age, 58.5 years) performed on a dual-energy CT scanner and compared excretory phase images obtained at 80 kVp and 340 mAs with blended images (0.

Urinary bladder: normal appearance and mimics of malignancy at CT urography.

The objective of this review article is to learn how to recognize anatomic variants and benign entities that mimic bladder cancer at computed tomography (CT) urography. Building on recent data that suggest that CT urography can be used to diagnose bladder cancer, recognition of anatomic variants and benign entities will help improve radiologists' ability to diagnose bladder cancer.

Frequent body CT scanning of young adults: indications, outcomes, and risk for radiation-induced cancer.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to define the magnitude of frequent body CT scanning of young adults and to determine associated patient diagnoses, examination indications, short-term outcomes, and estimated radiation-induced cancer risk.

Methods: Patients aged 18 to 35 years who underwent chest or abdominopelvic CT between 2003 and 2007 at any of 3 hospitals were identified and categorized by total number of scans per body part as rarely (<5), intermediately (>5 and <15), or frequently (>15) scanned. Medical records of the frequently scanned were reviewed.

Hepatic arterial chemoembolization using drug-eluting beads in gastrointestinal neuroendocrine tumor metastatic to the liver.

Purpose: This study was designed to evaluate short (<3 months) and intermediate-term (>3 months) follow-up in patients with metastatic neuroendocrine tumor to the liver who underwent hepatic arterial chemoembolization with drug-eluting beads at a single institution.

Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained for this retrospective review. All patients who were treated with 100-300 or 300-500 μm drug-eluting LC Beads (Biocompatibles, UK) preloaded with doxorubicin (range, 50-100 mg) for GI neuroendocrine tumor metastatic to the liver from June 2004 to June 2009 were included.