PET radiotracers for whole-body in vivo molecular imaging of prostatic neuroendocrine malignancies.

Prostatic neuroendocrine malignancies represent a spectrum of diseases. Treatment-induced neuroendocrine differentiation (tiNED) in hormonally treated adenocarcinoma has been the subject of a large amount of recent research. However, the identification of neuroendocrine features in treatment-naïve prostatic tumor raises a differential diagnosis between prostatic adenocarcinoma with de novo neuroendocrine differentiation (dNED) versus one of the primary prostatic neuroendocrine tumors (P-NETs) and carcinomas (P-NECs).

Beyond Visual Assessment of Basal Ganglia Uptake: Can Automated Method and Pineal Body Uptake Assessment Improve Identification of Nigrostriatal Dysfunction on F-DOPA PET/CT?

The interpretation of F-DOPA PET/CT performed for assessing nigrostriatal dysfunction (NSD) is usually based on visual assessment of the uptake in the basal ganglia (VA-BG). In the present study, we evaluate the diagnostic performance of an automated method that assesses BG uptake (AM-BG) and of methods that assess pineal body uptake, and examine whether these methods can enhance the diagnostic performance of VA-BG alone. We retrospectively included 112 scans performed in patients with clinically suspected NSD who also had a subsequent final clinical diagnosis provided by a movement disorder specialist (69 NSD and 43 non-NSD patients).

Is There a Role for [F]FDG PET-CT in Staging MALT Lymphoma?

The role of F-fluorodeoxyglucose ([F]FDG) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) in assessing mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is debatable. We retrospectively explored the role of [F]FDG PET-CT in staging and predicting progression-free-survival (PFS) of patients with newly-diagnosed MALT lymphoma. Sixty-six studies were included.

A sigh of relief: vaccine-associated hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy following the third COVID-19 vaccine dose is short in duration and uncommonly interferes with the interpretation of [F]FDG PET-CT studies performed in oncologic patients.

Purpose: The incidence of COVID-19 vaccine-associated hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy (VAHL) is high following the administration of the first and second BNT162b2 vaccine doses. The impact of this finding on [F]FDG PET-CT interpretation and its correlation with the induced humoral immunity have been reported. Assuming the amnestic immune response is different following the third vaccine dose, we aimed to explore the incidence of VAHL over time after the third BNT162b2 dose administration, and its relevance to [F]FDG PET-CT interpretation in oncologic patients.

[F]FDG PET-CT in patients with DLBCL treated with CAR-T cell therapy: a practical approach of reporting pre- and post-treatment studies.

Purpose: The introduction of CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor T-cell therapy (CAR-T) for treatment of relapsed/refractory diffuse large B cell lymphoma (R/R DLBCL) gives hope to patients with otherwise dismal prognosis. Therapy outcomes, however, depend upon selection of patients and accurate early identification of non-responders. Patients treated with CAR-T usually undergo [F]FDG PET-CT at time of decision (TD), time of CAR-T transfusion (TT), 1 month (M1), and 3 months (M3) post-therapy.

[STAGING CERVICAL CANCER USING PET-CT AND PET-MRI].

Whole-body Positron Emission Tomography-Computerized Tomography (PET-CT) and pelvic Magnetic Resonance (MR) imaging are included in developed countries in the imaging algorithm of newly diagnosed cervical cancer (CC). In recent years, the novel technology of PET-MR has been introduced in the clinical practice of tumor imaging. We present a patient with newly-diagnosed CC, who was evaluated using whole-body PET-CT and pelvic PET-MR in a single visit in our department.

Correlation between BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine-associated hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy and humoral immunity in patients with hematologic malignancy.

Purpose: Vaccine-associated hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy (VAHL) is frequently observed on [F]FDG PET-CT following BNT162b2 administration. Recent data suggest a prominent B cell germinal-center (GC) response elicited by mRNA vaccines in draining lymph nodes. Thus, in this study we aimed to explore the correlation between VAHL and humoral immunity as reflected by post-vaccination serologic testing and by comparing the incidence of VAHL between lymphoma patients treated recently with B cell depleting therapy and those that were not.

Hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy following administration of BNT162b2 mRNA Covid-19 vaccine: incidence assessed by [F]FDG PET-CT and relevance to study interpretation.

Purpose: Nationwide mass vaccination against Covid-19 started in Israel in late 2020. Soon we identified on [F]FDG PET-CT studies vaccine-associated hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy (VAHL) in axillary or supraclavicular lymph nodes (ASLN) ipsilateral to the vaccination site. Sometimes, differentiation between the malignant and benign nature of the hypermetabolic lymphadenopathy (HLN) could not be made, and equivocal HLN (EqHL) was reported.

When Should a Heat-Tolerance Test Be Scheduled After Clinical Recovery From an Exertional Heat Illness?

Objective: Researchers have produced a hypothesis of transient heat intolerance (HI) after exertional heat stroke (EHS). Based on this hypothesis, heat-tolerance testing (HTT) has been postponed until weeks 6 to 8 after EHS and other types of exertional heat illness (EHI). We compared the HTT results of participants after either EHS or other EHI who were tested earlier (≤6-week group) versus those who were tested later (>6-week group) to verify the hypothesis.