Investigation of the Role of Dinutuximab Beta-Based Immunotherapy in the SIOPEN High-Risk Neuroblastoma 1 Trial (HR-NBL1).

To explore the effects of immunotherapy in the International Society of Paediatric Oncology Europe Neuroblastoma Group SIOPEN high-risk neuroblastoma 1 trial (HR-NBL1 trial), two cohorts were studied: one prior to and one after the introduction of dinutuximab beta. All patients received standard induction and high-dose therapy (HDT) with autologous stem cell rescue (ASCR); the local control comprised surgery and radiotherapy to the primary tumour site, followed by isotretinoin. A landmark timepoint of 109 days, resulting from the median time between ASCR and initiation of immunotherapy, was used to define patients' eligibility in the pre-immunotherapy analysis cohort.

Interleukin 2 with anti-GD2 antibody ch14.18/CHO (dinutuximab beta) in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma (HR-NBL1/SIOPEN): a multicentre, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: Immunotherapy with the chimeric anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody dinutuximab, combined with alternating granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor and intravenous interleukin-2 (IL-2), improves survival in patients with high-risk neuroblastoma. We aimed to assess event-free survival after treatment with ch14.18/CHO (dinutuximab beta) and subcutaneous IL-2, compared with dinutuximab beta alone in children and young people with high-risk neuroblastoma.

Validation of the mIBG skeletal SIOPEN scoring method in two independent high-risk neuroblastoma populations: the SIOPEN/HR-NBL1 and COG-A3973 trials.

Background: Validation of the prognostic value of the SIOPEN mIBG skeletal scoring system in two independent stage 4, mIBG avid, high-risk neuroblastoma populations.

Results: The semi-quantitative SIOPEN score evaluates skeletal meta-iodobenzylguanidine (mIBG) uptake on a 0-6 scale in 12 anatomical regions. Evaluable mIBG scans from 216 COG-A3973 and 341 SIOPEN/HR-NBL1 trial patients were reviewed pre- and post-induction chemotherapy.

Validation of Postinduction Curie Scores in High-Risk Neuroblastoma: A Children's Oncology Group and SIOPEN Group Report on SIOPEN/HR-NBL1.

A semiquantitative I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (I-MIBG) scoring method (the Curie score, or CS) was previously examined in the Children's Oncology Group (COG) high-risk neuroblastoma trial, COG A3973, with a postinduction CS of more than 2 being associated with poor event-free survival (EFS). The validation of the CS in an independent dataset, International Society of Paediatric Oncology European Neuroblastoma/High-Risk Neuroblastoma 1 (SIOPEN/HR-NBL1), is now reported. A retrospective analysis of I-MIBG scans obtained from patients who had been prospectively enrolled in SIOPEN/HR-NBL1 was performed.

Neuroblastoma (Peripheral neuroblastic tumours).

Peripheral neuroblastic tumours (PNTs), a family of tumours arising in the embryonal remnants of the sympathetic nervous system, account for 7-10% of all tumours in children. In two-thirds of cases, PNTs originate in the adrenal glands or the retroperitoneal ganglia. At least one third present metastases at onset, with bone and bone marrow being the most frequent metastatic sites.

Pitfalls in oncology: a unique case of thoracic splenosis mimicking malignancy in a patient with resected breast cancer.

Thoracic splenosis (TS) is a condition of autotransplantation of splenic tissue into the pleural cavity after thoraco-abdominal trauma, with diaphragmatic and spleen injury. It is usually asymptomatic and discovered as an incidental finding at imaging performed for other reasons. Its differential diagnosis regards different benign and malignant conditions and should be discerned avoiding invasive procedures.

Matched pairs dosimetry: 124I/131I metaiodobenzylguanidine and 124I/131I and 86Y/90Y antibodies.

The technological advances in imaging and production of radiopharmaceuticals are driving an innovative way of evaluating the targets for antineoplastic therapies. Besides the use of imaging to better delineate the volume of external beam radiation therapy in oncology, modern imaging techniques are able to identify targets for highly specific medical therapies, using chemotherapeutic drugs and antiangiogenesis molecules. Moreover, radionuclide imaging is able to select targets for radionuclide therapy and to give the way to in vivo dose calculation to target tissues and to critical organs.

Neuroblastoma in patients over 12 years old: a 20-year experience at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan.

Aims And Background: Neuroblastoma is the most common solid extracranial tumor in children. The median age of onset is 2 years, with more than 95% of patients younger than 10 years at diagnosis. As neuroblastoma is rare in adolescents and exceedingly rare in adults, few series are reported in the literature.

Papillary thyroid carcinoma of childhood and adolescence: a 30-year experience at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori in Milan.

Background: Survival rates are reportedly excellent for papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) in childhood/adolescence, despite their strong tendency to spread. The aim of this study was to verify this assumption in a single-institution series spanning a 30-year period with a very long follow-up.

Procedure: From 1968 to 2001, 74 cases of thyroid carcinoma were collected.

Conservative surgical approach for thyroid and lymph-node involvement in papillary thyroid carcinoma of childhood and adolescence.

Background: Prior to 1990s, papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) in childhood/adolescence underwent a standard therapeutic approach (total thyroidectomy plus elective neck dissection, followed by radioactive iodine (RAI) ablation), with an overall survival of about 100%. The aim of this study is to outline the possibility of a conservative approach (hemithyroidectomy plus selective neck dissection of clinically involved nodes, followed by TSH-suppressive therapy) in a selected group of patients.

Procedure: From 1968 to 2001, 42 pediatric PTC patients were treated at our institution.

Sentinel lymph node detection following the hysteroscopic peritumoural injection of 99mTc-labelled albumin nanocolloid in endometrial cancer.

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of sentinel lymph node (SLN) detection in endometrial cancer patients with a dual-tracer procedure after hysteroscopic peritumoural injection.

Methods: Twenty-six women with previously untreated endometrial adenocarcinoma underwent the hysteroscopic injection of 111 MBq 99mTc-Nanocoll and blue dye administered subendometrially around the lesion. On the same day, all 26 patients underwent lymphoscintigraphy, followed 3-4 h later by hysterotomy with bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy.

Diagnostic procedures in the follow-up of patients affected by MEN type 2.

Multiple endocrine neoplasia type 2 (MEN 2) is an inherited disease caused by germline mutations in the RET proto-oncogene. The most distinctive MEN 2 variants are MEN 2A, MEN 2B and familial medullary thyroid cancer (FMTC). The hallmark of these syndromes is the development of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC), which occurs in almost all patients with MEN 2 syndromes.

The role of radionuclide therapy in medullary thyroid cancer.

In medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) the detection of occult metastases is difficult and the prognosis of widespread disease is poor. In recent years several radiopharmaceuticals have become available for the diagnosis of this tumor. None of these tracers, however, has satisfactory diagnostic sensitivity and specificity.