A Monte Carlo study of the effect of an ultrasound transducer on surface dose during intrafraction motion imaging for external beam radiation therapy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to estimate changes in surface dose due to the presence of the Clarity Autoscan™ ultrasound (US) probe during prostate radiotherapy using Monte Carlo (MC) methods.

Methods: MC models of the Autoscan US probe were developed using the BEAMnrc/DOSXYZnrc code based on kV and MV CT images. CT datasets were converted to voxelized mass density phantoms using a CT number-to-mass density calibration.

Management of Patients with Advanced Prostate Cancer: The Report of the Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference APCCC 2017.

Background: In advanced prostate cancer (APC), successful drug development as well as advances in imaging and molecular characterisation have resulted in multiple areas where there is lack of evidence or low level of evidence. The Advanced Prostate Cancer Consensus Conference (APCCC) 2017 addressed some of these topics.

Objective: To present the report of APCCC 2017.

Risks of Breast, Ovarian, and Contralateral Breast Cancer for BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers.

Importance: The clinical management of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers requires accurate, prospective cancer risk estimates.

Objectives: To estimate age-specific risks of breast, ovarian, and contralateral breast cancer for mutation carriers and to evaluate risk modification by family cancer history and mutation location.

Design, Setting, And Participants: Prospective cohort study of 6036 BRCA1 and 3820 BRCA2 female carriers (5046 unaffected and 4810 with breast or ovarian cancer or both at baseline) recruited in 1997-2011 through the International BRCA1/2 Carrier Cohort Study, the Breast Cancer Family Registry and the Kathleen Cuningham Foundation Consortium for Research into Familial Breast Cancer, with ascertainment through family clinics (94%) and population-based studies (6%).

Guideline for PET/CT imaging of neuroendocrine neoplasms with Ga-DOTA-conjugated somatostatin receptor targeting peptides and F-DOPA.

Purpose & Methods: Neuroendocrine neoplasms are a heterogenous group of tumours, for which nuclear medicine plays an important role in the diagnostic work-up as well as in the targeted therapeutic options. This guideline is aimed to assist nuclear medicine physicians in recommending, performing, reporting and interpreting the results of somatostatin receptor (SSTR) PET/CT imaging using Ga-DOTA-conjugated peptides, as well as F-DOPA imaging for various neuroendocrine neoplasms.

Results & Conclusion: The previous procedural guideline by EANM regarding the use PET/CT tumour imaging with Ga-conjugated peptides has been revised and updated with the relevant and recent literature in the field with contribution of distinguished experts.

Towards ultrasound-guided adaptive radiotherapy for cervical cancer: Evaluation of Elekta's semiautomated uterine segmentation method on 3D ultrasound images.

Purpose: 3D ultrasound (US) images of the uterus may be used to adapt radiotherapy (RT) for cervical cancer patients based on changes in daily anatomy. This requires accurate on-line segmentation of the uterus. The aim of this work was to assess the accuracy of Elekta's "Assisted Gyne Segmentation" (AGS) algorithm in semi-automatically segmenting the uterus on 3D transabdominal ultrasound images by comparison with manual contours.

Prediction of Breast and Prostate Cancer Risks in Male BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers Using Polygenic Risk Scores.

Purpose BRCA1/2 mutations increase the risk of breast and prostate cancer in men. Common genetic variants modify cancer risks for female carriers of BRCA1/2 mutations. We investigated-for the first time to our knowledge-associations of common genetic variants with breast and prostate cancer risks for male carriers of BRCA1/ 2 mutations and implications for cancer risk prediction.

The potential role of three-dimensional surface imaging as a tool to evaluate aesthetic outcome after Breast Conserving Therapy (BCT).

Purpose: To establish whether objective measurements of symmetry of volume and shape using three-dimensional surface imaging (3D-SI) can be used as surrogate markers of aesthetic outcome in patients who have undergone breast conserving therapy (BCT).

Methods: Women who had undergone unilateral BCT in the preceding 1-6 years were invited to participate. Participants completed a satisfaction questionnaire (BREAST-Q) and underwent 3D-SI.

Diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI in lung cancers: ADC test-retest repeatability.

Purpose: To determine the test-retest repeatability of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) measurements across institutions and MRI vendors, plus investigate the effect of post-processing methodology on measurement precision.

Methods: Thirty malignant lung lesions >2 cm in size (23 patients) were scanned on two occasions, using echo-planar-Diffusion-Weighted (DW)-MRI to derive whole-tumour ADC (b = 100, 500 and 800smm). Scanning was performed at 4 institutions (3 MRI vendors).

Identification of 12 new susceptibility loci for different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer.

To identify common alleles associated with different histotypes of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), we pooled data from multiple genome-wide genotyping projects totaling 25,509 EOC cases and 40,941 controls. We identified nine new susceptibility loci for different EOC histotypes: six for serous EOC histotypes (3q28, 4q32.3, 8q21.

F-FDG PET/CT Optimizes Treatment in Bacteremia and Is Associated with Reduced Mortality.

Metastatic infection is an important complication of bacteremia (SAB). Early diagnosis of metastatic infection is crucial, because specific treatment is required. However, metastatic infection can be asymptomatic and difficult to detect.

Adding Celecoxib With or Without Zoledronic Acid for Hormone-Naïve Prostate Cancer: Long-Term Survival Results From an Adaptive, Multiarm, Multistage, Platform, Randomized Controlled Trial.

Purpose Systemic Therapy for Advanced or Metastatic Prostate Cancer: Evaluation of Drug Efficacy is a randomized controlled trial using a multiarm, multistage, platform design. It recruits men with high-risk, locally advanced or metastatic prostate cancer who were initiating long-term hormone therapy. We report survival data for two celecoxib (Cel)-containing comparisons, which stopped accrual early at interim analysis on the basis of failure-free survival.

Correlation of Ultrasound Shear Wave Elastography with Pathological Analysis in a Xenografic Tumour Model.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the potential value of ultrasound (US) shear wave elastography (SWE) in assessing the relative change in elastic modulus in colorectal adenocarcinoma xenograft models in vivo and investigate any correlation with histological analysis. We sought to test whether non-invasive evaluation of tissue stiffness is indicative of pathological tumour changes and can be used to monitor therapeutic efficacy. US-SWE was performed in tumour xenografts in 15 NCr nude immunodeficient mice, which were treated with either the cytotoxic drug, Irinotecan, or saline as control.

Association Between Telomere Length and Risk of Cancer and Non-Neoplastic Diseases: A Mendelian Randomization Study.

Importance: The causal direction and magnitude of the association between telomere length and incidence of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases is uncertain owing to the susceptibility of observational studies to confounding and reverse causation.

Objective: To conduct a Mendelian randomization study, using germline genetic variants as instrumental variables, to appraise the causal relevance of telomere length for risk of cancer and non-neoplastic diseases.

Data Sources: Genomewide association studies (GWAS) published up to January 15, 2015.

gsSKAT: Rapid gene set analysis and multiple testing correction for rare-variant association studies using weighted linear kernels.

Next-generation sequencing technologies have afforded unprecedented characterization of low-frequency and rare genetic variation. Due to low power for single-variant testing, aggregative methods are commonly used to combine observed rare variation within a single gene. Causal variation may also aggregate across multiple genes within relevant biomolecular pathways.

Ultrasound Tomography Evaluation of Breast Density: A Comparison With Noncontrast Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Objectives: Ultrasound tomography (UST) is an emerging whole-breast 3-dimensional imaging technique that obtains quantitative tomograms of speed of sound of the entire breast. The imaged parameter is the speed of sound which is used as a surrogate measure of density at each voxel and holds promise as a method to evaluate breast density without ionizing radiation. This study evaluated the technique of UST and compared whole-breast volume averaged speed of sound (VASS) with MR percent water content from noncontrast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Multi-Channel Optical Coherence Elastography Using Relative and Absolute Shear-Wave Time of Flight.

Elastography, the imaging of elastic properties of soft tissues, is well developed for macroscopic clinical imaging of soft tissues and can provide useful information about various pathological processes which is complementary to that provided by the original modality. Scaling down of this technique should ply the field of cellular biology with valuable information with regard to elastic properties of cells and their environment. This paper evaluates the potential to develop such a tool by modifying a commercial optical coherence tomography (OCT) device to measure the speed of shear waves propagating in a three-dimensional (3D) medium.

Adolescent and young adult (AYA) lymphoma survivors report lower health-related quality of life compared to a normative population: results from the PROFILES registry.

Background: Trying to simultaneously achieve developmental milestones and cope with a life-threatening disease may place adolescents and young adults (AYAs) at risk for impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL) later in life. The aim of this study was to examine differences in HRQoL between AYA lymphoma survivors and a normative population and to determine sociodemographic, clinical and long-term symptom-related factors associated with HRQoL.

Material And Methods: This study was part of a longitudinal, population-based survey among lymphoma survivors diagnosed between 1999 and 2012.

Volumetry of the dominant intraprostatic tumour lesion: intersequence and interobserver differences on multiparametric MRI.

Objective: To establish the interobserver reproducibility of tumour volumetry on individual multiparametric (mp) prostate MRI sequences, validate measurements with histology and determine whether functional to morphological volume ratios reflect Gleason score.

Methods: 41 males with prostate cancer treated with prostatectomy (Cohort 1) or radical radiotherapy (Cohort 2), who had pre-treatment mpMRI [T weighted (T2W) MRI, diffusion-weighted (DW)-MRI and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE)-MRI], were studied retrospectively. Dominant intraprostatic lesions (DIPLs) were manually delineated on each sequence and volumes were compared between observers (n = 40 analyzable) and with radical prostatectomy (n = 20).

The Impact of Optimal Respiratory Gating and Image Noise on Evaluation of Intratumor Heterogeneity on 18F-FDG PET Imaging of Lung Cancer.

Unlabelled: Accurate measurement of intratumor heterogeneity using parameters of texture on PET images is essential for precise characterization of cancer lesions. In this study, we investigated the influence of respiratory motion and varying noise levels on quantification of textural parameters in patients with lung cancer.

Methods: We used an optimal-respiratory-gating algorithm on the list-mode data of 60 lung cancer patients who underwent F-FDG PET.

Association of breast cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers with genetic variants showing differential allelic expression: identification of a modifier of breast cancer risk at locus 11q22.3.

Purpose: Cis-acting regulatory SNPs resulting in differential allelic expression (DAE) may, in part, explain the underlying phenotypic variation associated with many complex diseases. To investigate whether common variants associated with DAE were involved in breast cancer susceptibility among BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers, a list of 175 genes was developed based of their involvement in cancer-related pathways.

Methods: Using data from a genome-wide map of SNPs associated with allelic expression, we assessed the association of ~320 SNPs located in the vicinity of these genes with breast and ovarian cancer risks in 15,252 BRCA1 and 8211 BRCA2 mutation carriers ascertained from 54 studies participating in the Consortium of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2.

Initial experience of the BREAST-Q breast-conserving therapy module.

Purpose: The most recently developed module of the BREAST-Q, a validated patient outcome measure, is for patients who have undergone breast-conserving therapy (BCT) for cancer. This aim of this study was to assess patient satisfaction and quality of life after BCT using BREAST-Q, investigate clinical risk factors for lower satisfaction and explore the relationship between patient satisfaction with the appearance of their breasts and the other domains of the BREAST-Q.

Methods: Women who had undergone unilateral BCT in the preceding 1-6 years were invited to participate at the time of their annual surveillance mammogram.

Fine-Scale Mapping at 9p22.2 Identifies Candidate Causal Variants That Modify Ovarian Cancer Risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutation Carriers.

Population-based genome wide association studies have identified a locus at 9p22.2 associated with ovarian cancer risk, which also modifies ovarian cancer risk in BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutation carriers. We conducted fine-scale mapping at 9p22.

Telomere structure and maintenance gene variants and risk of five cancer types.

Telomeres cap chromosome ends, protecting them from degradation, double-strand breaks, and end-to-end fusions. Telomeres are maintained by telomerase, a reverse transcriptase encoded by TERT, and an RNA template encoded by TERC. Loci in the TERT and adjoining CLPTM1L region are associated with risk of multiple cancers.

The effectiveness of a nurse-led intervention with the distress thermometer for patients treated with curative intent for breast cancer: design of a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Distress in patients with cancer influences their quality of life. Worldwide, screening on distress with the Distress Thermometer (DT) in patients with cancer is recommended. However, the effects of the use of the DT on the psychosocial wellbeing of the patient are unknown.