Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen-Targeted Therapy in Prostate Cancer: History, Combination Therapies, Trials, and Future Perspective.

In the last decades, the development of PET/CT radiopharmaceuticals, targeting the Prostate-Specific Membrane Antigen (PSMA), changed the management of prostate cancer (PCa) patients thanks to its higher diagnostic accuracy in comparison with conventional imaging both in staging and in recurrence. Alongside molecular imaging, PSMA was studied as a therapeutic agent targeted with various isotopes. In 2021, results from the VISION trial led to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of [Lu]Lu-PSMA-617 as a novel therapy for metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) and set the basis for a radical change in the future perspectives of PCa treatment and the history of Nuclear Medicine.

SARS-CoV-2 Affects Thyroid and Adrenal Glands: An F-FDG PET/CT Study.

Background: Since most endocrine glands express ACE-2 receptors and can be infected by SARS-CoV-2 virus, this retrospective multicentre observational study aims to assess the metabolic activity of thyroid and adrenal glands of COVID-19 patients by F-FDG PET/CT.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the F-FDG PET/CT scans of COVID-19 patients admitted by three different centres, either in a low-intensity department or in the intensive care unit (ICU). A visual assessment and a semi-quantitative evaluation of areas of interest in thyroid and adrenal glands were performed by recording SUVmax and SUVmean.

Lymphopenia in patients affected by SARS-CoV-2 infection is caused by margination of lymphocytes in large bowel: an [F]FDG PET/CT study.

Background: To investigate the cause of lymphopenia in patients with newly diagnosed COVID-19, we measured [F]FDG uptake in several tissues, including the ileum, right colon, and caecum at diagnosis and after recovery and correlated these measurements with haematological parameters.

Methods: We studied, by [F]FDG PET/CT, 18 newly diagnosed patients with COVID-19. Regions of interest were drawn over major organs and in the terminal ileum, caecum, and right colon, where the bowel wall was evaluable.

A Retrospective Analysis of the Correlation between Functional Imaging and Clinical Outcomes in Grade 3 Neuroendocrine Tumors (NETs G3).

Grade 3 (G3) neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are a novel category among digestive neuroendocrine neoplasms, characterized by Ki-67 >20% and a well-differentiated morphology, presenting high intra-tumor heterogeneity. We aimed to explore the role of dual-tracer PET imaging (Gallium (Ga)-DOTATOC and Fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)) as overall survival (OS) predictor in NET G3 patients. We performed a retrospective analysis in NET G3 patients treated at our institution between 2003 and 2021.

First Results of β-Radioguided Surgery in Small Intestine Neuroendocrine Tumors with Y-DOTATOC.

In neuroendocrine tumor (NET), complete surgery could better the prognosis. Radioguided surgery (RGS) with β-radioisotopes is a novel approach focused on developing a new probe that, detecting electrons and operating with low background, provides a clearer delineation of the lesions with low radiation exposition for surgeons. As a first step to validate this procedure, specimens of tumors expressing somatostatin receptors, as small intestine neuroendocrine tumor (SI-NET), were tested.

F-FDG PET/CT in asymptomatic patients with COVID-19: the submerged iceberg surfaces.

Objective: The aim of this case series is to describe our experience in diagnosis and management of oncological asymptomatic patients with COVID-19 who underwent F-FDG PET/CT.

Methods: From March 9 to March 31, 2020, we identified 5 patients who had PET/CT findings suspicious for COVID-19, but no symptom of infection.

Results: The first three patients were administered an SARS-CoV-2 test in a COVID-dedicated center, while the fourth and fifth were tested in our institution, in accordance with a new internal procedure.

PET/CT with Fluorodeoxyglucose During Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy in Locally Advanced Rectal Cancer.

Objective: The aim of the present study is to evaluate the accuracy of Positron Emission Tomography/Computed Tomography (PET/CT) with Fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]FDG) to predict treatment response in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC) during neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy.

Patients And Methods: Forty-one LARC patients performed [18F]FDG-PET/CT at baseline (PET0). All patients received continuous capecitabine concomitant to radiotherapy on the pelvis, followed by intermittent capecitabine until two weeks before curative surgery.

Long-term results of PRRT in advanced bronchopulmonary carcinoid.

Purpose: Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) for the treatment of neuroendocrine tumours (NET) has been explored for almost two decades, but there are still few trials that have exclusively investigated well-differentiated and moderately differentiated NET arising from the respiratory tree. Thus, the aim of this study was to explore the outcome in patients affected by bronchopulmonary carcinoid (BPC) following PRRT.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed 114 patients with advanced stage BPC consecutively treated with PRRT at the European Institute of Oncology, Milan, from 1997 to 2012 and followed until October 2014.

Comparison of whole-body diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance and FDG-PET/CT in the assessment of Hodgkin's lymphoma for staging and treatment response.

Computed tomography (CT), 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), and hybrid FDG-PET/CT are the most commonly used diagnostic tools for the initial staging and treatment response assessment of lymphomas [1]. The aim of this report is to compare the correlations between functional imaging markers derived from FDG-PET/CT and whole-body, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in a young patient affected by Hodgkin's lymphoma (HL).

Atypical primary pulmonary meningioma: a report of a case suspected of being a lung metastasis.

Primary extracranial and extraspinal meningiomas are very rare tumours, and primary pulmonary ones are even more uncommon. They present as a solitary pulmonary nodule, and most of them are benign, except for three cases. We describe a primitive atypical pulmonary meningioma first suspected of being a metastasis in a patient during follow-up ten years after therapy for breast cancer.

Intramedullary spinal cord metastases from breast cancer: detection with (18)F-FDG PET/CT.

A 35-year-old woman, already treated with surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy for a ductal carcinoma of the left breast, underwent an (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) scan for an increase of the serum markers carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and cancer antigen 15.3 (CA15.3).

Ipilimumab-induced immunomediated adverse events: possible pitfalls in (18)F-FDG PET/CT interpretation.

A 42-year-old woman underwent resection of a high-risk melanoma of the right thigh. Adjuvant treatment with ipilimumab was then started within a phase III randomised, double-blind clinical trial. F-FDG PET/CT scan showed intense uptake in mediastinal hilar lymph nodes, bilaterally, and in rectus abdominis muscle.

Autonomous functioning thyroid nodules and 131I in diagnosis and therapy after 50 years of experience: what is still open to debate?

Purpose Of The Report: Autonomous functioning thyroid nodules (AFTN), defined as "hot nodules" at thyroid scan, are often cured by radioiodine treatment. The aim of our study was to investigate the long-term outcome in patients treated with an 131I calculated dose, to identify a possible "size-tailored" dose, and to simplify follow-up procedures.

Patients And Methods: Retrospective analysis was carried out on 1402 cases, covering a period of 50 years, of AFTN treated with an 131I calculated dose.

The relationship between 24 h/4 h radioiodine-131 uptake ratio and outcome after radioiodine therapy in 1402 patients with solitary autonomously functioning thyroid nodules.

Objective: To evaluate the role of 24 h/4 h uptake ratio (UR) in response to radioiodine-131 ((131)I) therapy in patients with autonomously functioning thyroid nodules (AFTN).

Methods: A total of 1402 consecutive hyperthyroid patients were treated with (131)I, between 1958 and 2005. Therapeutic doses (D) were calculated according to the formula: D = weight of nodule x dose per gram of nodular tissue (q)/24 h (131)I uptake.

Age influences TSH serum levels after withdrawal of l-thyroxine or rhTSH stimulation in patients affected by differentiated thyroid cancer.

Recombinant human TSH (rhTSH) has been recently suggested for radioiodine ablation in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC). To date, studies are still not available about the effectiveness of rhTSH stimulation depending on the age, since serum TSH clearance may be different in younger and in older patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of age to serum TSH levels after rhTSH stimulation and thyroid hormone withdrawal (THW).

Radioiodine uptake in non-lactating mammary glands: evidence for a causative role of hyperprolactinemia.

Context: Radioiodine uptake is rarely observed in normal non-lactating breast tissue. Investigation of the in vivo regulation of iodide uptake in breast tissue may be useful for the induction of radioiodine uptake in breast cancer tissue for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes.

Case Reports: We report the cases of two post-menopausal women who underwent radioiodine therapy for papillary thyroid carcinoma and in whom breast uptake of radioiodine on post-therapy whole body scan (WBS) was observed.