Necrotizing Enterocolitis: Clinical Features, Histopathological Characteristics, and Genetic Associations.

Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is an inflammatory bowel necrosis seen in premature infants. Although the etiopathogenesis of NEC is unclear, genetic factors may alter a patient's susceptibility, clinical course, and outcomes. This review draws from existing studies focused on individual genes and others based on microarray-based high-throughput discovery techniques.

Pilot study of cerebral and somatic autoregulation using NIRS in preterm neonates.

Background: As neonates transition from a relatively hypoxic environment to extra-uterine life, arterial oxygen saturation dramatically increases. This transition occurs while most organs have not fully matured. The ability for immature tissue to adequately extract and utilize oxygen remains largely unknown.

Carbon dioxide and retinopathy of prematurity in extremely low birth weight infants.

To evaluate the relationship between partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PCO) during the first 3 days of life and retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) in extremely low birthweight (ELBW) infants. A retrospective evaluation of data on ELBW infants were collected over a period of 4 years. Data during the first 72 hours of life was divided into six, 12-hour epochs.

DHTKD1 mutations cause 2-aminoadipic and 2-oxoadipic aciduria.

Abnormalities in metabolite profiles are valuable indicators of underlying pathologic conditions at the molecular level. However, their interpretation relies on detailed knowledge of the pathways, enzymes, and genes involved. Identification and characterization of their physiological function are therefore crucial for our understanding of human disease: they can provide guidance for therapeutic intervention and help us to identify suitable biomarkers for monitoring associated disorders.

Bone lesion detection with carrier-added 99mTc-EDTMP in comparison with 99mTc-DPD.

An increased uptake of bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals into malignant bone lesions could further improve the diagnostic accuracy of routine bone scanning. The tracers used in clinical routine for bone scanning are methylene-diphosphonate (MDP), dicarboxypropane-diphosphonate (DPD) and ethylenediaminetetramethylene-phosphonate (EDTMP). MDP and DPD are usually labelled with 99mTc for diagnostic use, whereas EDTMP is labelled with 153Sm for therapeutic purposes.

[Radiation exposure around patients after administration of 123-MIBG].

Aim: Estimation of the radiation exposure to neighbouring patients, personnel and relatives deriving from patients undergoing 123I-MIBG scintigraphy.

Methods: For scintigraphic studies, 16 patients with suspected pheocromocytoma were injected with 340 +/- 30 MBq 123I-MIBG. Dose rates were measured at a distance of 0.

Experience with indium-111 and yttrium-90-labeled somatostatin analogs.

The high level expression of somatostatin receptors (SSTR) on various tumor cells has provided the molecular basis for successful use of radiolabeled octreotide / lanreotide analogs as tumor tracers in nuclear medicine. Other (nontumoral) potential indications for SSTR scintigraphy are based on an increased lymphocyte binding at sites of inflammatory or immunologic diseases such as thyroid-associated ophthalmology. The vast majority of human tumors seem to over-express the one or the other of five distinct hSSTR subtype receptors.

Absence of therapeutic efficacy of the somatostatin analogue lanreotide in advanced primary hepatic cholangiocellular cancer and adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder despite in vivo somatostatin-receptor expression.

Background: Carcinoma of the biliary system is a rare tumour entity, and patients with advanced disease face a dismal prognosis. Because of the absence of standard chemotherapy for advanced biliary carcinoma and reports of expression of receptors for somatostatin (SST), we performed a phase II study to evaluate the clinical potential of the long-acting SST analogue lanreotide (LAN) for treatment of this disease.

Methods: Twenty consecutive patients with histologically verified primary hepatic cholangiocellular cancer or primary adenocarcinoma of the gallbladder were enrolled in the study.

Scintigraphic imaging of the adrenal glands.

This article presents the well established scintigraphic imaging techniques of the adrenal glands. Both adrenocortical scintigraphy with [131]6beta-iodomethylnorcholesterol (NP-59) and adrenomedullary imaging with 131I or 123I-labelled metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) as function-dependant imaging techniques provide functional metabolic information for lesion characterization. They enable the distinction between unilateral and bilateral adrenal lesions.

Comparative somatostatin receptor scintigraphy using in-111-DOTA-lanreotide and in-111-DOTA-Tyr3-octreotide versus F-18-FDG-PET for evaluation of somatostatin receptor-mediated radionuclide therapy.

Background: Based on the high number of somatostatin (SST) receptors expressed by neuroendocrine tumors, long-acting SST analogs have been successfully used for tumor detection. New developments point to the potential use of these types of radioligands for tumor-specific radionuclide therapy.

Patients And Methods: We have comparatively investigated the diagnostic capacity of the SST analog.

Effects of chemotherapeutic agents on expression of somatostatin receptors in pancreatic tumor cells.

Unlabelled: Specific tumors express high amounts of receptors for somatostatin (SST), providing the basis for imaging and treatment using radiolabeled SST analogs. However, little is known about the potential influence of cytotoxic drugs on SST receptor (SSTR) expression in malignant cells.

Methods: To study the interaction between cytotoxic drugs and SSTR expression, the pancreatic cancer-derived tumor cell lines BxPC-3, Panc-1, Capan-1, and ASPC-1 were exposed to a range of cytotoxic drugs in vitro: Gemcitabine, 5-fluorouracil, cisplatin (cis-diaminedichloroplatinum [II]), camptothecin, mitomycin C, and doxorubicin were checked for changes in binding characteristics of the SSTR ligand (111)In-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane- N,N',N",N"'-tetraacetic acid-lanreotide (DOTA-LAN).

Somatostatin-receptor scintigraphy for staging and follow-up of patients with extraintestinal marginal zone B-cell lymphoma of the mucosa associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)-type.

The majority of lymphomas of the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT)-type arise in the stomach, but extragastric locations are also frequently encountered. Due to previous results indicating that somatostatin receptor (SSTR)-expression distinguishes between gastric and extragastric MALT-type lymphoma, we have initiated a study to evaluate the role of SSTR-scintigraphy for staging and follow-up of patients with extragastric manifestations of MALT-type lymphoma. A total of 30 consecutive patients, including 24 with primary extragastric MALT-type lymphoma, 5 patients with dissemination to extragastric sites (including colon, lung, parotid, ocular adnexa and breast) following an initial gastric MALT-lymphoma and one patient with spread to stomach, lung and lymph nodes following parotid lymphoma were prospectively studied.

111In-DOTA-lanreotide scintigraphy in patients with tumors of the lung.

Unlabelled: Imaging with radiolabeled somatostatin (SST) analogs has recently been established for the localization of various human SST receptor (hsstr)-positive tumors, including neuroendocrine tumors, lymphomas, and non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: 111In-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane-N,N',N",N"'-tetraacetic acid-lanreotide (DOTA-LAN) scintigraphy (150 MBq; 7 nmol per patient) was performed on 47 patients (28 patients with primary tumors, 19 patients with lung metastases from other tumors) to evaluate the tumor binding in patients with histologically confirmed lung cancer. A group of 27 tumor patients without documented lung lesions served as the control group.

New trends in peptide receptor radioligands.

The high level expression of somatostatin receptors (SSTR) on various tumor cells has provided the molecular basis for successful use of radiolabeled octreotide/lanreotide analogs as tumor tracers in nuclear medicine. The vast majority of human tumors seem to overexpress the one or the other of five distinct hSSTR sub-type receptors. Whereas neuroendocrine tumors frequently overexpress hSSTR2, intestinal adenocarcinomas seem to over-express more often hSSTR3 or hSSTR4, or both of these hSSTR.

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET features of focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) of the liver.

Aim: The aim of this paper is to describe the imaging pattern of focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH) by l8F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET).

Methods: Eight consecutive asymptomatic patients with histologic proof of FNH underwent 18F-FDG PET imaging. The lesions were found incidentally.

New radiopharmaceuticals for receptor scintigraphy and radionuclide therapy.

In vitro data have demonstrated a high amount of receptors for various hormones and peptides on malignant cells of neuroendocrine origin. Among these, binding sites for members of the SST-family (hSSTR1-5) are frequently found, and their expression has led to therapeutic and diagnostic attempts to specifically target these receptors. Receptor scintigraphy using radiolabeled peptide ligands has proven its effectiveness in clinical practice.

DOTA-lanreotide: a novel somatostatin analog for tumor diagnosis and therapy.

Long acting somatostatin-14 (SST) analogs are used clinically to inhibit tumor growth and proliferation of various tumor types via binding to specific receptors (R). We have developed a 111In-/90Y-labeled SST analog, DOTA-(D)betaNal1-lanreotide (DOTALAN), for tumor diagnosis and therapy. 111In-/90Y-DOTALAN bound with high affinity (dissociation constant, Kd, 1-12 nM) to a number of primary human tumors (n = 31) such as intestinal adenocarcinoma (n = 17; 150-4000 fmol/mg protein) or breast cancer (n = 4; 250-9000 fmol/mg protein).