Publications by authors named "Zan E"

Purpose: External dacryocystorhinostomy (ext-DCR) is still considered the gold standard in the treatment of distal lacrimal duct obstruction. Despite an overall high success rate, some patients do relapse after surgery and the ideal perioperative management has not been identified yet. The purpose of this study is to critically discuss the published evidence in the last five years on the medical and surgical management of external dacryocystorhinostomy.

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The clinical standard of care in the diagnosis of neurodegenerative diseases relies on [F] FDG-PET/CT or PET MR imaging. Limitations of FDG-PET include cost, the need for IV access, radiation exposure, and availability. Arterial spin-labeling MR imaging has been shown in research settings to be useful as a proxy for FDG-PET in differentiating Alzheimer disease from frontotemporal dementia.

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Article Synopsis
  • There are currently no effective treatments for meningioma patients who have already undergone surgery and radiation; the study explores the use of SSTR2-targeting radiopharmaceutical 177Lu-DOTATATE as a potential therapy.
  • In a clinical trial, adult meningioma patients received 177Lu-DOTATATE every eight weeks, with the primary goal of assessing progression-free survival (PFS) and secondary goals including safety and overall survival.
  • Results showed that 50% of participants achieved the PFS-6 target, indicating that the treatment was well tolerated and suggesting the potential for 68Ga-DOTATATE PET as an imaging biomarker for treatment effectiveness.
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Background: Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a lethal disease prone to widespread metastatic dissemination and characterized by a desmoplastic stroma that contributes to poor outcomes. Fibroblast activation protein (FAP)-expressing Cancer-Associated Fibroblasts (CAFs) are crucial components of the tumor stroma, influencing carcinogenesis, fibrosis, tumor growth, metastases, and treatment resistance. Non-invasive tools to profile CAF identity and function are essential for overcoming CAF-mediated therapy resistance, developing innovative targeted therapies, and improved patient outcomes.

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Endogenous Cushing's syndrome (CS) is a rare disease characterized by prolonged glucocorticoid excess. Timely diagnosis is critical to allow prompt treatment and limit long-term disease morbidity and risk for mortality. Traditional biochemical diagnostic modalities each have limitations and sensitivities and specificities that vary significantly with diagnostic cutoff values.

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The radiation-attenuated Plasmodium falciparum sporozoites (PfSPZ) Vaccine has demonstrated safety and immunogenicity in 5-month-old to 50-year-old Africans in multiple trials. Except for one, each trial has restricted enrollment to either infants and children or adults < 50 years old. This trial was conducted in Equatorial Guinea and assessed the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of three direct venous inoculations of 1.

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Purpose: To describe an inversion-recovery T -weighted radial stack-of-stars 3D gradient echo (GRE) sequence with comparable image quality to conventional MP-RAGE and to demonstrate how the radial acquisition scheme can be utilized for additional retrospective motion correction to improve robustness to head motion.

Methods: The proposed sequence, named MP-RAVE, has been derived from a previously described radial stack-of-stars 3D GRE sequence (RAVE) and includes a 180° inversion recovery pulse that is generated once for every stack of radial views. The sequence is combined with retrospective 3D motion correction to improve robustness.

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It is important for radiation oncologists to be able to accurately contour the lingual nerve pathway, as it is commonly involved in oral cavity cases. However, most atlases do not give a detailed account of the entire lingual nerve pathway as it traverses from the oral cavity, through the masticator space, to the base of the skull. Three experienced head and neck cancer specialists (two radiation oncologists and one neuroradiologist) examined anatomy textbooks, institutional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and computed tomography (CT) images of normal anatomy and also recurrences along the lingual nerve pathway to determine "anchor points" to help radiation oncologists contour more confidently.

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Background: A 64-year-old man presented with a 7.8 cm lipomatous thyroid mass discovered on magnetic resonance imaging.

Methods: After two non-diagnostic fine needle aspirations (FNAs) were performed, computed tomography (CT) revealed features concerning for malignancy including central necrosis and infiltrative borders.

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Purpose: To assess the reliability of measuring diffusivity, diffusional kurtosis, and cellular-interstitial water exchange time with long diffusion times (100-800 ms) using stimulated-echo DWI.

Methods: Time-dependent diffusion MRI was tested on two well-established diffusion phantoms and in 5 patients with head and neck cancer. Measurements were conducted using an in-house diffusion-weighted STEAM-EPI pulse sequence with multiple diffusion times at a fixed TE on three scanners.

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We present the case of a 65-year-old male with tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) caused by an FGF23-secreting phosphaturic tumor of C2 treated definitively with stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) and kyphoplasty. The patient exhibited notable reduction in FGF23 6 weeks following radiotherapy. He also received a dose of the FGF23 monoclonal antibody, burosumab.

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The monomorphic antigen-presenting molecule major histocompatibility complex-I-related protein 1 (MR1) presents small-molecule metabolites to mucosal-associated invariant T (MAIT) cells. The MR1-MAIT cell axis has been implicated in a variety of infectious and noncommunicable diseases, and recent studies have begun to develop an understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying this specialized antigen presentation pathway. However, proteins regulating MR1 folding, loading, stability, and surface expression remain to be identified.

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Objective: Tumor-induced osteomalacia (TIO) is a rare osteomalacia characterized by paraneoplastic secretion of fibroblast growth factor 23. Concomitant occurrence of TIO during pregnancy is rarer still. Our objective was to report a young patient with debilitating fractures diagnosed with TIO who became pregnant and subsequently had her tumor localized by gallium-68 (Ga-68) DOTATATE positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET/MRI).

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Importance: Genomic classifiers were developed to better guide clinicians in the treatment of indeterminate thyroid nodules (ITNs). To our knowledge, whether there is variation in the diagnostic accuracy of these tests depending on ITN size has not been previously studied.

Objective: To analyze the diagnostic performance of a genomic classifier in relation to ITN size.

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Article Synopsis
  • Pituitary carcinoma is a rare type of tumor originating from pituitary gland cells that can spread to other parts of the body, with a focus on a specific case of a growth hormone-secreting variant.
  • The study reviewed 25 cases, indicating that these tumors typically affect individuals aged 24 to 69, with an average age of diagnosis around 44, and a significant number of cases occurring in females.
  • The prognosis for patients is poor, with a mean survival of only 3.4 years after diagnosis, and existing treatments show limited effectiveness; further research is needed to identify genetic markers that could help in predicting tumor behavior.
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Background And Purpose: Accurate differentiation of paragangliomas and schwannomas in the jugular foramen has important clinical implications because treatment strategies may vary but differentiation is not always straightforward with conventional imaging. Our aim was to evaluate the accuracy of both qualitative and quantitative metrics derived from dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging using golden-angle radial sparse parallel MR imaging to differentiate paragangliomas and schwannomas in the jugular foramen.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective study of imaging data was performed on patients ( = 30) undergoing MR imaging for jugular foramen masses with the golden-angle radial sparse parallel MR imaging technique.

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Purpose: Nucleoside analogues form the backbone of many therapeutic regimens in oncology and require the presence of intracellular enzymes for their activation. A ProTide is comprised of a nucleoside fused to a protective phosphoramidate cap. ProTides are easily incorporated into cells whereupon the cap is cleaved and a preactivated nucleoside released.

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Most head and neck paragangliomas (PGLs) are biochemically silent and often present with recurrence and metastases in association with hereditary syndromes. Whole-body functional imaging is increasingly used to detect tumor extent and guide treatment planning of PGLs. [68Ga]-DOTATATE, which targets somatostatin receptor 2 (SSTR2) overexpression, has emerged as a sensitive functional imaging modality in PGLs.

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Article Synopsis
  • Forward genetic screens in cells, using tools like RNAi and CRISPR-Cas9, have been valuable for studying signaling pathways, particularly mTORC1, which controls cell growth in response to metabolism.
  • Researchers used human haploid cells for quantitative screenings that validated known mTORC1 signaling interactions and showed its connection to lysosomal function, revealing different roles for regulatory subunits LAMTOR4 and LAMTOR5 based on nutrient availability.
  • The study also discovered a new relationship between the tumor suppressor folliculin and LAMTOR4 that could influence cancer treatments, illustrating how genetic experimentation can uncover complex signaling pathways in mammalian cells.
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Objective: This study was planned to investigate possible alteration in the number of differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in eutopic endometrium before and after laparoscopic removal of the ovarian endometrioma.

Study Design: Six infertile women with ovarian endometrioma who underwent laparoscopic endometrioma cystectomy and six fertile control subjects who underwent tubal sterilization were included the study. Endometrial samples were collected before and 3 months after surgery throughout the mid-luteal phase.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Patients with renal cell carcinoma can develop metastases even after having their kidney removed, so it's important to use imaging to monitor for any recurrence or spread of the disease.
  • - For abdominal and pelvic areas, CT scans and MRIs are the primary imaging tools, while bone and brain scans are only done if the patient shows symptoms.
  • - Research in imaging techniques is ongoing to better understand how to choose treatments and monitor responses in patients with metastatic renal cell carcinoma.
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