The NCCN Guidelines for Lung Cancer Screening recommend criteria for selecting individuals for screening and provide recommendations for evaluation and follow-up of lung nodules found during initial and subsequent screening. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on recent updates to the NCCN Guidelines for Lung Cancer Screening.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLung cancer is the leading cause of cancer-related mortality in the United States and worldwide. Early detection of lung cancer is an important opportunity for decreasing mortality. Data support using low-dose computed tomography (LDCT) of the chest to screen select patients who are at high risk for lung cancer.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The 2015 American Thyroid Association (ATA) thyroid nodule guidelines recommend selecting nodules for biopsy based on a sonographic pattern classification. These patterns were developed based on features of differentiated thyroid cancer. This study aimed to evaluate the performance and the inter-observer agreement of this classification system in medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: In this study we developed 25 computed tomography descriptors among 117 patients with lung adenocarcinoma to semiquantitatively assess their association with overall survival. Pleural attachment was significantly associated with an increased risk of death and texture was most important for distinguishing histological subtypes. This approach has the potential to support automated analyses and develop decision-support clinical tools.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Natl Compr Canc Netw
January 2015
The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) for Lung Cancer Screening provide recommendations for selecting individuals for lung cancer screening, and for evaluation and follow-up of nodules found during screening, and are intended to assist with clinical and shared decision-making. These NCCN Guidelines Insights focus on the major updates to the 2015 NCCN Guidelines for Lung Cancer Screening, which include a revision to the recommendation from category 2B to 2A for one of the high-risk groups eligible for lung cancer screening. For low-dose CT of the lung, the recommended slice width was revised in the table on "Low-Dose Computed Tomography Acquisition, Storage, Interpretation, and Nodule Reporting.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable cancer. Treatment often is initiated at the time patients experience a progressive increase in tumor burden. The authors of this report investigated magnetic resonance imaging of the bone marrow (BM-MRI) as a novel approach to quantify disease burden and validated a staging system by correlating BM-MRI with common clinical and laboratory parameters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Our objective was to compare a newly developed semiquantitative visual scoring (SVS) method with the current standard, the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) method, in the categorization of treatment response and reader agreement for patients with metastatic lung cancer followed by computed tomography.
Materials And Methods: The 18 subjects (5 women and 13 men; mean age, 62.8 years) were from an institutional review board-approved phase 2 study that evaluated a second-line chemotherapy regimen for metastatic (stages III and IV) non-small cell lung cancer.
Objective: To assess the risk of contrast-induced nephropathy in cancer patients with underlying renal insufficiency receiving the iso-osmolar intravenous contrast agent iodixanol for diagnostic computed tomography (CT) examinations.
Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained with waiver of informed consent. Our study was a retrospective evaluation comparing the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy in consecutive patients with underlying renal insufficiency undergoing diagnostic CT examinations receiving iodixanol from November 2003 to June 2005 with a comparison group of patients with normal baseline renal function over the same period.
For most solid neoplasms, medical imaging is a vital component of tumor staging and surveillance. Imaging strategies vary according to the type and grade of primary neoplasm, tumor stage at diagnosis, tumor markers, previous therapies, and patient symptoms. In this article, we address imaging of individual organs (lung, liver, adrenals) and outline imaging strategies for specific types of neoplasms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: This is a preliminary report of an ongoing prospective bimodality lung cancer surveillance trial for high-risk patients. Bimodality surveillance incorporates autofluorescence bronchoscopy (AFB) and spiral CT (SCT) scanning in high-risk patients as a primary lung cancer surveillance strategy, based entirely on risk factors. AFB was used for surveillance and findings were compared with conventional sputum cytology for the detection of malignancy and pre-malignant central airway lesions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) play an important role in the biology of chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) cells. Thalidomide is a first-generation immuno-modulating agent that down-regulates TNF-alpha and VEGF. We initiated a phase 1/2 clinical trial to determine the safety and efficacy of combining thalidomide with fludarabine in patients with treatment-naïve CLL.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of fludarabine plus rituximab in treatment-naive or relapsed patients with low-grade and/or follicular non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Patients And Methods: This was an open-label, single-arm, single-center phase II study enrolling 40 patients. During the first week of the study, patients received two infusions of rituximab 375 mg/m2 administered 4 days apart.
In the 1970s, four trials failed to demonstrate any mortality reduction using a combination of chest X-ray (CXR) and/or sputum cytology. The recent early lung cancer action project (ELCAP) demonstrated that modern screening is capable of detecting Stage I lung cancers. Bronchial epithelial changes leading up to cancers are now being understood to include histologic changes and genetic alterations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAll previously reported comparative studies of 511 keV single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron emission tomography (PET) have used one fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) dose, followed by PET and SPECT on the same day. This approach is inherently biased against the second imaging study. Therefore, we prospectively compared conventional PET and 511 keV SPECT in 23 patients with proven malignancy using separate 370 MBq FDG doses on different days employing an ECAT 951/31R PET scanner and a Trionix XLT-20 for SPECT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: The efficacy of a Tc99m-labeled anti-lymphoma antibody fragment, bectumomab [LymphoScan], was retrospectively examined in the staging of recurrent or newly diagnosed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) [7 patients] and to assess targeting before radioimmunotherapy (RIT) [14 patients]. Performance was graded relative to conventional imaging. Tumors included 7 low-grade, 11 intermediate-grade, and 3 high-grade histologic subtypes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe combination of computed tomographic (CT) venography and pulmonary angiography (CTVPA) was initially described in 1998 as a single comprehensive noninvasive imaging examination for suspected thromboembolic disease. It allowed the identification of pulmonary embolism as well as deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in the abdomen, pelvis, thighs, and calves. The venographic portion of CTVPA has now been studied by multiple researchers and has been shown to be an accurate imaging study for the thigh veins in comparison with lower extremity sonography.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: To identify a dose and schedule of oxaliplatin (OXP) to be safely administered in combination with protracted-infusion (PI) fluorouracil (5-FU) and external-beam radiation therapy (XRT) for patients with primary esophageal carcinoma (EC).
Patients And Methods: Eligibility included therapeutically naïve EC patients with clinical disease stages II, III, or IV. Initial doses and schedules for cycle 1 consisted of OXP 85 mg/m(2) on days 1, 15, and 29; PI 5-FU 180 mg/m(2) for 24 hours for 35 days; and XRT 1.
Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is composed of a group of lymphoid malignancies that has been increasing in incidence at an annual rate of 4% to 7% over the last 20 years in both the United States and Europe. The reasons for this rise in incidence in NHL are not yet defined but most likely involve environmental exposures. Low-grade and follicular lymphomas account for approximately 40% of the incidences of NHL in the United States.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNon-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) is composed of a group of lymphoid malignancies that has been increasing in incidence at an annual rate of 4% to 7% over the last 20 years in both the United States and Europe. The reasons for this rise in incidence in NHL are not yet defined but most likely involve environmental exposures. Low-grade and follicular lymphomas account for approximately 40% of the incidences of NHL in the United States.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOccult primary breast carcinoma presenting as isolated ipsilateral axillary lymph node metastases in patients with normal mammograms and normal physical exams accounts for less than 1% of all breast carcinomas. Contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may identify the site of primary breast carcinoma and effect management of these patients. We report on eight consecutive women evaluated in our multidisciplinary clinic who had biopsy-proven metastatic adenocarcinomas to axillary lymph nodes and occult primary carcinomas.
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