Pretreatment Prognostic Value of Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging Vascular, Texture, Shape, and Size Parameters Compared With Traditional Survival Indicators Obtained From Locally Advanced Breast Cancer Patients.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine if associations exist between pretreatment dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based metrics (vascular kinetics, texture, shape, size) and survival intervals. Furthermore, the aim of this study was to compare the prognostic value of DCE-MRI parameters against traditional pretreatment survival indicators.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study was undertaken.

High proportion of cactus species threatened with extinction.

A high proportion of plant species is predicted to be threatened with extinction in the near future. However, the threat status of only a small number has been evaluated compared with key animal groups, rendering the magnitude and nature of the risks plants face unclear. Here we report the results of a global species assessment for the largest plant taxon evaluated to date under the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List Categories and Criteria, the iconic Cactaceae (cacti).

Prognostic value of DCE-MRI in breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy: a comparison with traditional survival indicators.

Objectives: To determine associations between dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging (DCE-MRI) parameters and survival intervals in patients with locally advanced breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), surgery, and adjuvant therapies. Further, to compare the prognostic value of DCE-MRI parameters against traditional survival indicators.

Methods: DCE-MRI and MR tumour volume measures were obtained prior to treatment and post 2nd NAC cycle.

Analysis of prostate DCE-MRI: comparison of fast exchange limit and fast exchange regimen pharmacokinetic models in the discrimination of malignant from normal tissue.

Objectives: The ability to detect and identify malignant lesions within the prostate with conventional T2-weighted imaging is still limited. Although lesion conspicuity is improved with dynamic contrast-enhanced imaging there still remains some ambiguity as all tissues within the prostate may enhance. The aim of the current study was to take advantage of the improved signal-to-noise ratio at 3 T and assess the ability of 2 alternative pharmacokinetic models to clearly identify malignant areas within the prostate.

Description of magnetic resonance imaging-derived enhancement variables in pathologically confirmed prostate cancer and normal peripheral zone regions.

Objective: To assess the use of a semiquantitative analysis of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to produce indices for enhancement curves that might enable differentiation between malignant prostatic lesions and normal peripheral zone (PZ).

Patients And Methods: Fifty-two patients scheduled for radical prostatectomy underwent DCE-MRI before surgery using a 3 T scanner. The DCE images were used to generate variables from changes in signal intensity for pathologically confirmed malignant areas and the normal PZ, using whole-mounted pathology specimens as a reference to delineate regions of interest (ROI).

Prognostic value of pre-treatment DCE-MRI parameters in predicting disease free and overall survival for breast cancer patients undergoing neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) data, both pharmacokinetic and empirical, can predict, prior to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, which patients are likely to have a shorter disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) interval following surgery. Traditional prognostic parameters were also included in the survival analysis. Consequently, a comparison of the prognostic value could be made between all the parameters studied.

Lesion T(2) relaxation times and volumes predict the response of malignant breast lesions to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

The aim of this study was to investigate the utility of the water T(2) values of malignant breast lesions in predicting response after the first and second cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), both alone and in combination with lesion volumes. Thirty-five patients were scanned before the commencement of chemotherapy and again after the first, second and final treatment cycles. Two methods of obtaining lesion T(2) were used: imaging, where a series of T(2)-weighted images was acquired (T(R)/T(E)=1000/30, 60, 90 and 120 ms), and spectroscopy, where the T(2) value of unsuppressed water signal was determined with a multiecho sequence (T(R)=1.

Effect of dopamine agonists on prolactinomas and normal pituitary assessed by dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI).

Context: Dopamine agonists (DA) may act on prolactinoma size and secretion through additional effects on adenoma vascularity that can be visualized using dynamic contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI).

Objective: We hypothesized that DAs may exert their effect through a change in tumour functional vascularity leading to a reduction of prolactin (PRL) levels and tumour size.

Subjects And Methods: To investigate this, 23 subjects were studied comprising five with macroprolactinomas, 11 with microprolactinomas, seven with non-lesion hyperprolactinemia and 15 normal volunteers (including five females on oral contraceptive pills).

Mechanism of action of octreotide in acromegalic tumours in vivo using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging.

Context: Octreotide causes significant tumour shrinkage in patients with acromegaly but the exact mechanism of action is unclear in vivo.

Objective: To determine the mechanism of action of octreotide in vivo using dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (DCE-MRI).

Design: Five patients with acromegaly were treated with octreotide as primary medical therapy.

Diffusion changes precede size reduction in neoadjuvant treatment of breast cancer.

Traditionally, tumor response has been assessed via tumor size measurements during the course of a treatment. However, changes in these morphologically based measures occur relatively late in the course of a treatment. Alternative biomarkers are currently being evaluated to enable an earlier assessment of treatment to facilitate early cessation and cost savings.

Role of dynamic contrast enhanced MRI in monitoring early response of locally advanced breast cancer to neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy has become the standard treatment for patients with locally advanced breast cancer; however a technique that can accurately differentiate responders from non-responders at an early time point during treatment has still to be identified. The purpose of this work was to evaluate the ability of pharmacokinetically modelled dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI data to predict and monitor response of patients diagnosed with locally advanced breast cancer to neoadjuvant chemotherapy, at an early time point during treatment. Sixty-eight patients with histology proven breast cancer underwent MRI examination prior to treatment, early during treatment and following the final cycle of chemotherapy.