Publications by authors named "Gerlinde Dahmen"

Purpose: To evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of contrast-enhanced FDG-PET/CT (ce-PET/CT), PET-only, and CT-only in patients with newly diagnosed and resected cutaneous malignant melanoma.

Methods: A final group of 56 patients (mean age 62 years, range 23-86 years; 29 women, 27 men) were staged with ce-PET/CT after resection of the primary tumour. Histopathology as well as clinical follow-up (mean 780 days, range 102-1,390 days) served as the standards of reference.

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Background: The noninvasive detection of RNA tumor markers in body fluids represents an attractive diagnostic option, but diagnostic performance of tissue-derived markers is often poorer when measured in body fluids rather than in tumors. We aimed to develop a procedure for measurement of tumor RNA in urine that would minimize donor-dependent influences on the results.

Methods: RNA isolated from urinary cell pellet, cell-depleted fraction, and whole urine was quantified by reverse transcription quantitative-PCR.

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Purpose: PET/CT, PET+CT, and CT were compared concerning accuracies in TNM staging and malignancy detection in head and neck cancer. The impact of PET/CT compared to the other imaging modalities on therapy management was assessed.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-five patients with suspected head and neck primary cancer underwent whole-body FDG-PET/CT.

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Objective: To report on anatomical and visual outcomes after vitrectomy and internal limiting membrane peeling for idiopathic macular hole repair.

Methods: Forty patients with stage II to IV idiopathic macular holes were randomly assigned (1:1) in a 2-arm, single-center, randomized controlled . Internal limiting membrane delamination was performed using indocyanine green (ICG) solution (n = 20) or trypan blue (TB) (n = 20).

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Objective: The Ross procedure has gained increasing interest as an attractive alternative for aortic valve replacement. Despite its advantages, there is a certain risk of structural valve deterioration, especially of the pulmonary homograft as a result of shrinkage and subsequent stenosis predominantly at the muscular annulus. Theoretically, reduction of homograft muscle tissue could reduce this risk.

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Background: The Ross procedure has gained increasing interest as an attractive alternative to a prosthetic aortic valve substitute within the last decade. Because of a probably better resistance to infection as one of its advantages, the pulmonary autograft is theoretically preferable for active endocarditis.

Methods: Between June 1994 and July 2003, the Ross procedure was performed using the subcoronary and inclusion technique in 296 patients (231 male, 65 female).

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Context: Staging of patients with colorectal cancer often requires a multimodality, multistep imaging approach. Colonography composed of a combined modality of positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) provides whole-body tumor staging in a single session.

Objectives: To determine the staging accuracy of whole-body PET/CT colonography compared with the staging accuracies of CT followed by PET (CT + PET) and CT alone and to evaluate the effect of PET/CT colonography on therapy planning compared with conventional staging (CT of the abdomen and thorax and optical colonoscopy).

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Purpose: To assess intraobserver and interobserver variability of anterior segment optical coherence tomography (AS-OCT) as an objective diagnostic tool to quantify the anterior chamber angle and opening width.

Setting: University Eye Clinic, Lübeck, Germany.

Methods: The anterior chamber angle and opening width were assessed in 18 eyes of 9 healthy volunteers by 2 observers.

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Purpose: To assess the accuracy of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) when staging different malignant diseases.

Patients And Methods: This was a retrospective, blinded, investigator-initiated study of 260 patients with various oncological diseases who underwent fluorine-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose PET/CT for tumor staging. CT images alone, PET images alone, PET + CT data viewed side by side, and fused PET/CT images were evaluated separately according to the tumor-node-metastasis system.

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Purpose: To evaluate the effect of photodynamic therapy with verteporfin on the maintenance of central visual field function.

Design: Randomized controlled clinical trial.

Participants: Forty-six consecutive patients with subfoveal choroidal neovascularization (CNV) caused by age-related macular degeneration including a classic component were randomly assigned.

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Context: Deciding on the appropriate therapy for patients with malignant diseases mandates accurate tumor staging with whole-body coverage. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a combined modality including positron emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) provide whole-body tumor staging in a single session.

Objective: To determine the staging accuracies of both whole-body PET/CT and whole-body MRI for different malignant diseases.

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This report summarizes the contributions of Genetic Analysis Workshop 13 (GAW13) related to the use of covariates in genetic analysis. Seven papers are summarized, five of which analyzed the Framingham Heart Study Data, and two the simulated data. Five papers examined the role of covariates in linkage analysis, using a variety of statistical approaches including affected sibling pair analysis, conditional logistic regression, and variance components methods.

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Background: Since the early 1990s, the pulmonary autograft is predominantly implanted as a freestanding root for less aortic valve regurgitation is reported. However, there is a certain risk of dilatation of the root over time potentially impairing valve function. We favor since 8 years the original subcoronary or inclusion technique to preserve the root of the patient as a restrain to dilatation.

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