Involving patients as research partners exemplified by the development and evaluation of a communication-skills training programme (KOKOS-Rheuma).

Despite widespread recommendations for involving patient research partners (PRPs), there is little information about how patients have been involved in research. Our aim was to describe and assess the contributions of four PRPs in a project on communication-skills training funded by Deutsche Rheuma-Liga Bundesverband e. V.

Intra- and inter-rater reliability of endonasal activity estimation in granulomatosis with polyangiitis (Wegener´s).

Objectives: Granulomatosis with polyangiitis (GPA) frequently starts with an affection of the nasal and paranasal mucosa. Localised GPA of the nasal mucosa or persistent disease activity ('grumbling disease') is often encountered even under immunosuppressive therapy. Necessity for reconstructive surgery is common and careful scheduling to prevent failure and minimise revision rates is crucial.

Lessons on Tumour Response: Imaging during Therapy with (177)Lu-DOTA-octreotate. A Case Report on a Patient with a Large Volume of Poorly Differentiated Neuroendocrine Carcinoma.

Favourable outcomes of peptide receptor radiotherapy (PRRT) of neuroendocrine tumours have been reported during the last years. Still, there are uncertainties on the radionuclides to be used, the treatment planning, and the indication in patients with a high proliferation rate.This case report describes a patient with a high tumour burden of poorly differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma of unknown primary with a proliferation rate in liver metastases up to 50%, undergoing fractionated treatment with 7 cycles of (177)Lu-DOTA-octreotate (7.

Comparative evaluation of synthetic anti-HER2 Affibody molecules site-specifically labelled with 111In using N-terminal DOTA, NOTA and NODAGA chelators in mice bearing prostate cancer xenografts.

Purpose: In disseminated prostate cancer, expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2) is one of the pathways to androgen independence. Radionuclide molecular imaging of HER2 expression in disseminated prostate cancer might identify patients for HER2-targeted therapy. Affibody molecules are small (7 kDa) targeting proteins with high potential as tracers for radionuclide imaging.

Minor changes in effective half-life during fractionated 177Lu-octreotate therapy.

Aims: Fractionated (177)Lu-DOTA-octreotate therapy has been reported to be an effective treatment option for patients with generalized neuroendocrine tumors. In our clinic, full individual dosimetry is performed during the first therapy cycle, while dosimetry at later cycles is based on the 24 h uptake measurement assuming an unchanged effective half-life. Our aim was to evaluate this assumption and the variation in the 24 h uptake during therapy.

Individualized dosimetry in patients undergoing therapy with (177)Lu-DOTA-D-Phe (1)-Tyr (3)-octreotate.

Purpose: In recent years, targeted radionuclide therapy with [(177)Lu-DOTA(0), Tyr(3)]octreotate for neuroendocrine tumours has yielded promising results. This therapy may be further improved by using individualized dosimetry allowing optimization of the absorbed dose to the tumours and the normal organs. The aim of this study was to investigate the feasibility and reliability of individualized dosimetry based on SPECT in comparison to conventional planar imaging.

Early prediction of response to first-line chemotherapy by sequential [18F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography in patients with advanced colorectal cancer.

Background: To evaluate [(18)F]-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET), for early evaluation of response to palliative chemotherapy and for prediction of long-term outcome, in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).

Patients And Methods: In a randomized trial, patients with mCRC received irinotecan-based combination chemotherapy. FDG-PET was carried out before treatment and after two cycles in 51 patients at two centers.

High success rate of parathyroid reoperation may be achieved with improved localization diagnosis.

Introduction: Because of the difficulty of reoperative parathyroid surgery, preoperative imaging studies have been increasingly adopted. We report the use of consistently applied localization diagnosis to yield high success rates in parathyroid reoperations.

Methods: Parathyroid reoperation was performed after previous parathyroid surgery in 144 patients with nonmalignant hyperparathyroidism (HPT) between 1962 and 2007.

Segmental colonic transit studies: comparison of a radiological and a scintigraphic method.

Objective: Colonic transit studies are used to diagnose slow transit constipation (STC) and to evaluate segmental colonic transit before segmental or subtotal colectomy. The aim of the study was to compare a single X-ray radio-opaque marker method with a scintigraphic technique to assess total and segmental colonic transit in patients with STC.

Method: Thirty-one female patients (median age 46 years) with severe constipation and a prolonged or borderline prolonged colonic transit time on radio-opaque marker study were included in the study.

Nuclear imaging of neuroendocrine tumours.

The diagnosis of neuroendocrine tumours (NETs) and monitoring of therapy in many patients relies mainly on morphological imaging techniques such as computed tomography (CT), ultrasound (US) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, functional imaging modalities--such as somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS)--have great impact on patient management by providing tools for better staging of the disease, visualization of occult tumour, and evaluation of eligibility for somatostatin analogue treatment. Positron emission tomography (PET) using (18)F-fluoro-deoxy-glucose (FDG) is a powerful functional modality for oncological imaging.

Hybrid SPECT-CT: an additional technique for sentinel node detection of patients with invasive bladder cancer.

Objectives: To explore the feasibility of performing lymphoscintigraphy combined with computed tomography (CT) for preoperative detection of sentinel lymph nodes in patients with invasive bladder cancer.

Materials: Six consecutive patients scheduled for radical cystectomy underwent lymphoscintigraphy after transurethral injection of Albures-technetium 99m in the detrusor muscle peritumourally both with planar imaging and with single-photon emission computed tomography/CT (SPECT/CT). CT for anatomic fusion was performed directly after the SPECT/CT and both investigations were combined to a fused image.

Malignant insulinoma in ectopic pancreatic tissue.

Background: Both ectopic pancreatic tissue and malignant insulinoma are rare. We encountered the combination of these rare entities in a patient demonstrating hypoglycemic symptoms.

Method: A patient with episodic hypoglycemia, non-suppressed serum insulin levels, positive fasting test and a positive localization on both ultrasound and somatostatin receptor scintigraphy by (111)I-labelled octreotide, was operated and investigated.

Detection of immune responses against urinary bladder cancer in sentinel lymph nodes.

Objective: The lymphatic drainage from a tumour is received in the sentinel node where the immune system encounters tumour derived antigens. We investigated anti-tumoural lymphocyte function in sentinel nodes from patients with urinary bladder cancer.

Methods: In 14 patients undergoing cystectomy due to bladder cancer, radioactive tracer and blue dye were used to identify the sentinel node.

Whole-body (11)C-5-hydroxytryptophan positron emission tomography as a universal imaging technique for neuroendocrine tumors: comparison with somatostatin receptor scintigraphy and computed tomography.

Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) can be small and situated almost anywhere throughout the body. Our objective was to investigate whether whole-body (WB) positron emission tomography (PET) with (11)C-5-hydroxytryptophan (5-HTP) can be used as a universal imaging technique for NETs and to compare this technique with established imaging methods. Forty-two consecutive patients with evidence of NET and a detected lesion on any conventional imaging (six bronchial, two foregut, 16 midgut, and two thymic carcinoids; one ectopic Cushing's syndrome; four gastrinomas; one insulinoma; six nonfunctioning endocrine pancreatic tumors; one gastric carcinoid, one paraganglioma; and two endocrine-differentiated pancreatic carcinomas) were studied.

[Radionuclide therapy--a possible way toward an improved treatment of cancer. The obstacle is the shortage of commercially available radionuclides for clinical use].

About one third of all cancer develops into a spread disease that is difficult to treat. Radioimmunotherapy has during the last years proven to be of help when other therapy modalities fail in e.g.

Calystegines in root cultures of Atropa belladonna respond to sucrose, not to elicitation.

Calystegines are norpseudotropine alkaloids accumulating in root cultures of Atropa belladonna, together with tropine derivatives, e.g. hyoscyamine.

Objective responses after fractionated infusional brachytherapy of unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinomas.

Background: The prognosis of unresectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma is poor. Therefore, the treatment potential of an intratumoral infusional brachytherapy using macroaggregated human albumin in combination with radioactive chromic phosphate [32P] was investigated in this group of patients.

Methods: Seventeen patients with unresectable tumors received intratumoral infusional brachytherapy.

[Atypical hyperplasia of the prostate: coincidence with invasive carcinoma. A study of 69 prostatectomy preparations].

In a series of 69 prostatectomy specimens, including 62 invasive carcinomas, we studied the prevalence of atypical hyperplasia of small acinar, large acinar and cribriform type, diagnosed according to the criteria of J. Kovi, 1989. The study was performed on serial whole sections of 5 mm thick slices.