Publications by authors named "Piccardo A"

Background: In relapsing differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC), the in vivo evaluation of natrium-iodine symporter (NIS) expression is pivotal in the therapeutic planning and is achieved by [131/123I]Iodine whole-body scan. However, these approaches have low sensitivity due to the low sensitivity due to the low resolution of SPECT. [18F]Tetrafluoroborate (TFB) has been proposed as a viable alternative, which could outperform [131/123I]Iodine scans owing to the superior PET resolution.

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Recent research has proposed using positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) along with the administration of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-targeting radiopharmaceuticals to identify breast cancer (BC) lesions. An extensive literature review to investigate the possible diagnostic utility of PET/CT with PSMA-targeting radiopharmaceuticals in BC patients was performed. The research comprised different clinical scenarios, including both newly diagnosed BC patients and those who had experienced disease relapse.

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  • Cardiac neuroendocrine tumour metastases (CNTM) are uncommon, but advances in SSTR-PET/CT imaging may help detect them more frequently, prompting this systematic review and meta-analysis.
  • A total of ten studies with 163 patients showed that SSTR-PET/CT detects CNTM earlier than other imaging methods, with a pooled prevalence of 1.5% among neuroendocrine neoplasm (NEN) patients undergoing the procedure.
  • The findings suggest that SSTR-PET/CT improves early detection of CNTM but indicate a need for more thorough studies to assess its effects on patient outcomes and treatment decisions in NEN cases.
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  • PET imaging with [F]F-DOPA shows promise for assessing pediatric brain gliomas, but manual extraction of data is slow and inconsistent.
  • A new semi-automated Python framework was developed to streamline the processing of PET images and improve efficiency and accuracy in calculating clinical scores.
  • The study found that this new method significantly improved reproducibility in extracting important tumor metrics and reduced the variability associated with human input.
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Introduction: The article aims to outline the features of the efforts for smallpox eradication within the pre-unitary context of the Kingdom of Sardinia, characterized by a long tradition in medical-health prevention. This tradition is partly inherited from the health magistracies of the Italian states during the ancient regime and partly adopted from policies initially outlined by Napoleon and later by other European states. In addition to prevention activities, authorities also engage in a vigorous information and awareness campaign aimed at eliminating common prejudices and doubts about vaccination among the population.

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  • A study evaluated the effectiveness of a diagnostic strategy combining [F]Fluorocholine PET/CT with 4D-CT for patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT) undergoing surgery.
  • The results showed that PET/CT was significantly more accurate than 4D-CT, with high sensitivity and specificity rates (83% and 97%, respectively), whereas 4D-CT had lower rates (53% sensitivity).
  • When PET/CT results were inconclusive, using the two imaging methods together improved diagnostic accuracy, making it a recommended personalized imaging approach for pHPT patients.
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  • Pediatric brain tumors are the second most common tumors after leukemia, with an incidence of 6.13 per 100,000 annually.
  • Conventional MRI and CT scans are essential for diagnosing, planning surgery, and evaluating treatment, but they have limitations in providing detailed histopathological information.
  • New advanced MRI techniques and molecular imaging methods, like PET scans, are enhancing diagnosis and prognosis, while radiomics and radiogenomics offer innovative ways to tailor treatment strategies based on individual biomarkers.
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Purpose: This updated systematic review and bivariate meta-analysis aimed to investigate the diagnostic performance of 2-[F]FDG PET/CT for the detection of recurrent disease in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) who have negative I whole body scintigraphy and increased antithyroglobulin antibodies (TgAb) levels.

Methods: The current systematic review was carried out following a preset protocol, and the "Preferred Reporting Items for a Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis" served as a guideline for its development and reporting. A comprehensive research of the PubMed/MEDLINE, Embase and Cochrane library databases was conducted until June 2024.

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Molecular imaging of muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MBC) is restricted to its locoregional and distant metastases, since most radiopharmaceuticals have a urinary excretion that limits the visualization of the primary tumor. CuCl a positron-emitting radiotracer with nearly exclusive biliary elimination, could be well suited to exploring urinary tract neoplasms. In this study, we evaluated the feasibility of CuCl-based staging of patients with MBC; furthermore, we compared the diagnostic capability of this method with those of the current gold standards, that is, contrast-enhanced CT (ceCT) and F-FDG PET/CT.

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  • - A 52-year-old woman had a neck lump and voice changes, leading to an ultrasound that revealed a large cystic nodule in her right thyroid lobe, later confirmed by a fine-needle aspiration.
  • - Although her thyroid function and calcitonin levels were normal, a PET/CT scan showed abnormal activity in the nodule, which prompted surgery.
  • - During a right hemithyroidectomy, doctors found a type of cancer (papillary thyroid carcinoma), resulting in a completion thyroidectomy; the PET/CT scan is noted as helpful for assessing suspicious cystic thyroid nodules.
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Thyroid nodules (TNs) are a common entity, with the majority being benign. Therefore, employing an accurate rule-out strategy in clinical practice is essential. In the thyroid field, the current era is significantly marked by the worldwide diffusion of ultrasound (US)-based malignancy risk stratification systems of TN, usually reported as Thyroid Imaging Reporting And Data System (TIRADS).

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Background: Several recent studies have proposed the possible application of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) administering radiolabelled fibroblast-activation protein (FAP) inhibitors for various forms of thyroid cancer (TC), including differentiated TC (DTC), and medullary TC (MTC).

Methods: The authors conducted an extensive literature search of original studies examining the effectiveness of FAP-guided PET/CT in patients with TC. The papers included were original publications exploring the use of FAP-targeted molecular imaging in restaging metastatic DTC and MTC patients.

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Patients with Crohn's disease (CD) are at increased risk of developing small bowel cancer, since chronic inflammation may trigger the histopathological sequence that begins from low-grade dysplasia of the intestinal epithelium and may eventually lead to malignant transformation. Owing to their location in a portion of the gastrointestinal tract which is not easily accessible to conventional endoscopic techniques, the detection of CD-related small bowel cancers is still a clinical challenge. The radiological features of CD-related small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) in patients with CD have been described in some previous studies, including its appearance in both CT and MRI examinations.

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Background: F-fluoroestradiol (FES) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) is considered an accurate diagnostic tool to determine whole-body endocrine responsiveness. In the endocrine therapy (ET)-FES trial, we evaluated F-FES PET/CT as a predictive tool in estrogen receptor-positive (ER+)/human epidermal growth factor receptor 2-negative (HER2-) metastatic breast cancer (MBC).

Patients And Methods: Eligible patients underwent an F-FES PET/CT at baseline.

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Objective: Calcitonin (Ctn) measurement is crucial for the early diagnosis of medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC). However, Ctn levels can be skewed/elevated due to other reasons, and the Ctn upper reference value remains controversial. In this field, studies have heterogeneous settings, published data are controversial, and no evidence has been achieved.

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Introduction: Treatment with [I]mIBG is commonly used in pediatric metastatic neuroblastoma (NB); however, unbound [I]I might be taken up by the thyroid, causing hypothyroidism. To prevent this occurrence, thyroid blockade with iodine salts is commonly used; despite this precaution, thyroid dysfunction still occurs. This review and meta-analysis aim to clarify the mean frequency of hypothyroidism in children with NB treated with [I]mIBG and to investigate the possible causes.

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Background: I-metaiodobenzylguanidine ( I-mIBG) effectiveness in children with metastasised neuroblastoma (NB) is linked to the effective dose absorbed by the target; a target of 4 Gy whole-body dose threshold has been proposed. Achieving this dose often requires administering I-mIBG twice back-to-back, which may cause haematological toxicity. In this study, we tried identifying the factors predicting the achievement of 4 Gy whole-body dose with a single radiopharmaceutical administration.

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  • Scientists are studying different types of imaging to see how well they can find and assess neuroblastoma in kids, especially comparing a method called mIBG with new PET scans.!
  • They looked at 10 studies involving 181 patients and found that the PET scans could detect more tumors than the mIBG method in many cases.!
  • Although PET scans seem to work better, doctors are still figuring out if this will really change how they treat patients in the future.!
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Background: Although differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is the most frequent endocrine pediatric cancer, it is rare in childhood and adolescence. While tumor persistence and recurrence are not uncommon, mortality remains extremely low. Complications of treatment are however reported in up to 48% of the survivors.

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