Effect of chemotherapy on somatostatin receptor detection with octreotide scintigraphy in hormone-refractory prostate cancer patients.

Background: Neuroendocrine cells have been found in all stages of prostate cancer. Neuroendocrine differentiation of prostate adenocarcinoma is a possible target for therapeutic strategies, such as administration of GH analogs (e.g.

Long-term follow-up of two children with a variant of mild autosomal recessive osteopetrosis undergoing bone marrow transplantation.

Malignant autosomal recessive (AR) osteopetrosis represents an absolute indication for bone marrow transplantation (BMT). Over the last 15 years, almost 100 BMTs for osteopetrosis have been reported. The median age at transplant of most patients is 4 months.

131I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (131I-MIBG) therapy for residual neuroblastoma: a mono-institutional experience with 43 patients.

Incomplete response to therapy may compromise the outcome of children with advanced neuroblastoma. In an attempt to improve tumour response we incorporated 131I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (131I-MIBG) in the treatment regimens of selected stage 3 and stage 4 patients. Between 1986 and 1997, 43 neuroblastoma patients older than 1 year at diagnosis, 13 with stage 3 (group A) and 30 with stage 4 disease (group B) who had completed the first-line protocol without achieving complete response entered in this study.

A Cys634Gly substitution of the RET proto-oncogene in a family with recurrence of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A and cutaneous lichen amyloidosis.

Germ-line mutations of the RET proto-oncogene, involving five cysteine residues at codons 609, 611, 618, 620 and 634, are associated with two variants of the inherited cancer syndrome multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2: type 2A and familial medullary thyroid carcinoma. The association of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A with the dermatological disorder cutaneous lichen amyloidosis has already been reported, and mutations in the Cys634 have been identified in different families. We describe here an additional pedigree in which multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2A and cutaneous lichen amyloidosis cosegregate.

Place of meta-[131I]iodobenzylguanidine in the treatment of neuroblastoma: the Genoa experience.

The aim of this paper is to focus on our previous experience with the treatment of Group 3 and 4 neuroblastoma patients and on the therapeutic use of [131I]MIBG, to better define the role of this radioactive drug in the treatment of neuroblastoma (NB). Analysis of the studies on Group 3 patients treated with chemotherapy and surgery showed that the progression-free survival (PFS) increased from 45% for patients treated before 1985 to 63% for patients treated in the period of 1985-1989 and to 78% for patients treated after 1989. [131I]MIBG administered in 17 Group 3 patients who did not achieve a radical excision of the primary resulted in 7 partial response (PR) and 5 minor response (MR), with 10 cases of long term survival.

Radioiodinated meta-iodobenzylguanidine in the diagnosis of childhood neuroblastoma.

In a group of 97 patients aged from 6 months to 12 years, all with suspected or proven neural crest tumours, metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy was performed at the time of diagnosis and, in some instances, after induction chemotherapy. All the patients underwent a tumour biopsy with cytological and histological analysis, in addition to imaging examinations such as X-rays, ultrasound, computed tomography and magnetic resonance, within a short period before or after scintigraphy. In 82 of 97 cases MIBG was effective in detecting the primary tumour, hence the technique's sensitivity was 84%.

Primary hypothyroidism as a consequence of 131-I-metaiodobenzylguanidine treatment for children with neuroblastoma.

Background: 131-I-metaiodobenzylguanidine is a radioiodinated compound selectively concentrated by cells of neuroectodermal origin, including neuroblastoma cells, for this reason it may represent a promising treatment modality for neuroblastoma in childhood. Although a potential side effect of 131-I-MIBG administration is thyroid dysfunction, relatively few data are reported about this issue.

Methods: A series of 14 long term surviving patients with neuroblastoma who had been treated with 131-I-MIBG courses ranging from 2.

Evidence of healing of secondary hyperparathyroidism in chronically hemodialyzed uremic patients treated with long-term intravenous calcitriol.

The aim of this study was to assess the effect of a long-term course of high-dose i.v. pulses of calcitriol (CLT) on hyperparathyroid bone disease (HBD) and functional mass of parathyroid glands of chronically hemodialyzed uremic (CHU) patients.

Semiquantitative evaluation of regional cerebral flow by means of SPECT with 99mTc-hexamethyl-propylene amine oxime in hypertensive patients under treatment.

Cerebral SPECT with 99mTc-HM-PAO allows a semiquantitative evaluation of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF). Using this method we studied 25 patients affected by slight-to-moderate degree hypertension, in effective pharmacological treatment, and a control group of normotensives. On the cross-sections symmetrical ROIs were traced at the level of the cerebral lobes and the cerebellum.

Predicting cardiac mortality after uncomplicated myocardial infarction by exercise radionuclide ventriculography and exercise-induced ST segment elevation.

In 183 consecutive patients with recent, uncomplicated myocardial infarction, the following variables were associated with 4-year cardiac death: haemodynamic decompensation with exercise (P = 0.01), left ventricular ejection fraction at rest (P = 0.004) and at peak exercise (P = 0.

[131I]metaiodobenzylguanidine therapy in advanced neuroblastoma.

Forty-two children with advanced neuroblastoma who either failed with first-line therapy or relapsed after achieving a complete remission, were considered for treatment with [131I]metaiodobenzylguanidine (131I-MIBG). We subdivided 42 cases into 5 groups, in accordance with the stage of disease at diagnosis, response to first-line therapy and relapse. A total of 99 courses of 131I-MIBG were administered with doses ranging from 2.

Treatment of advanced neuroblastoma with I-131 meta-iodobenzylguanidine.

From February 1986 to December 1988, 31 children with advanced pretreated neuroblastoma were treated with 131-I meta-Iodobenzylguanidine (131-MIBG). Thirteen children had been resistant to first-line therapy, three had suffered a local relapse, and fourteen had suffered a disseminated relapse without over bone marrow infiltration. One child was treated initially because of resistance to first-line therapy, and subsequently for a local relapse.

Scinticisternography in presenile and senile degenerative disease.

86 patients suffering from various senile and presenile degenerative diseases were studied using scinticisternography with In111-DTPA. Flow reversal and delayed clearance were observed in 62 of these patients. These alterations, possibly related to the cerebrospinal fluid dynamics, show the aspecificity of the SC picture.

Left ventricular thrombi: changes in size and in platelet deposition during treatment with indobufen and ticlopidine.

This study was designed to evaluate whether indobufen and ticlopidine can induce changes in the size of left ventricular thrombi and variations in the deposition of platelets on thrombus surface. Forty-seven patients with left ventricular thrombosis, who were not treated with antithrombotic drugs, were prospectively evaluated with 111In-oxine platelet imaging and two-dimensional echocardiography. The first scintigraphic examination was negative in 15 of the 47 patients with left ventricular thrombosis, thus they were excluded from further evaluation.

Changes in vascularity of liver tumours after hepatic arterial embolization with degradable starch microspheres.

The role of vascularity as a prognostic factor was investigated in 35 patients undergoing arterial chemotherapy for liver tumours. Compared with parenchyma, tumour vascularity was classified as hot (18 cases), cold (12 cases), and mixed (12 cases) using 99mTc-macroaggregated albumin (MAA) hepatic arterial scans. The proportion of patients showing complete and partial responses to treatment was higher in the hot group (56 per cent) than in the combined cold and mixed group (12 per cent).

[The role of endorectal echography for determining the extent of an operation].

The paper discusses the usefulness of endorectal echotomography and adenolymphoscintigraphy--two new diagnostic methods which allow surgeons to know preoperatively tumor extension beyond the rectal wall and lymph nodes involvement. Though the statistical data presented are not numerous, it is hoped that, using these two diagnostic methods in cases of rectal tumors, surgeons will be able to choose better between local excision and abdominoperineal resection thus avoiding unnecessary and mutilating operations.

Radioimmunoimaging in malignant melanoma with monoclonal antibodies.

Twenty-five patients with cutaneous melanoma were imaged with F(ab')2 fragments of antimelanoma monoclonal antibody (MoAb) 225.28S labeled with 99mTc and 131I or 111In. Out of 16 patients without evidence of metastatic lesions, 6 false-positive cases were observed.

Activity of left ventricular thrombi of different ages. Assessment with indium-oxine platelet imaging and cross-sectional echocardiography.

To evaluate the possible relation between the age of intracardiac thrombi and the presence and degree of their activity, 29 patients with left ventricular thrombi that developed after an anterior myocardial infarction were evaluated by means of 111In-oxine autologous platelet imaging. None of the patients was treated with anticoagulants or platelet inhibitors during either the acute phase of infarction or the follow-up. The time of appearance and the shape of left ventricular thrombi were assessed by serial cross-sectional echocardiograms, obtained within 24 hours of onset of the chest pain, every 24 hours until the fifth day, every 48 hours until the 15th day, and then every month for a follow-up of 1 to 17 months (mean: 8 months).