Soft Tissue Response on 18F-Fluorocholine PET/CT in Metastatic Castrate-Resistant Prostate Cancer Treated With 223Ra-Dichloride: A Possible Abscopal Effect?

Two patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer and symptomatic skeletal metastases underwent F-fluorocholine PET/CT prior to treatment with Ra-dichloride to reveal additional active lesions in the prostate gland and lymph nodes. Subsequent scans performed at the midpoint and end of Ra-dichloride therapy showed resolution of this soft tissue activity alongside declining bone lesion activity. Concomitant increases in plasma interleukin 6 were detected, suggesting that immune system activation may have mediated the soft tissue response.

Comparison of image quality between step-and-shoot and continuous bed motion techniques in whole-body F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with the same acquisition duration.

Objective: This study aimed to compare the qualities of whole-body positron emission tomography (PET) images acquired by the step-and-shoot (SS) and continuous bed motion (CBM) techniques with approximately the same acquisition duration, through phantom and clinical studies.

Methods: A body phantom with 10-37 mm spheres was filled with F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) solution at a sphere-to-background radioactivity ratio of 4:1 and acquired by both techniques. Reconstructed images were evaluated by visual assessment, percentages of contrast (%Q ) and background variability (%N) in accordance with the Japanese guideline for oncology FDG-PET/computed tomography (CT).

18F-FDG PET/CT imaging of atypical subacute thyroiditis in thyrotoxicosis: A case report.

Background: In addition to its established role in oncologic imaging, F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) is useful for the assessment of inflammatory activity. However, subacute thyroiditis (SAT) in thyrotoxicosis is rarely detected during these scans.

Case: A 66-year-old man with SAT in thyrotoxicosis demonstrated symptoms of transient fatigue, headache, and fever, without typical neck pain.

Cross calibration of I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine heart-to-mediastinum ratio with D-SPECT planogram and Anger camera.

Background: Cardiac I-meta-iodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) uptake is quantified using the heart-to-mediastinum ratio (HMR) with an Anger camera. The relationship between HMR determined using D-SPECT with a cadmium-zinc-telluride detector and an Anger camera is not fully understood. Therefore, the present study aimed to define this relationship using images derived from a phantom and from patients.

Validation of the "smart" minimum FFR Algorithm in an unselected all comer population of patients with intermediate coronary stenoses.

Using data from a commercial pressure wire system (St. Jude Medical) we previously developed an automated "smart" algorithm to determine a reproducible value for minimum FFR (smFFR) and confirmed that it correlated very closely with measurements made off-line by experienced coronary physiology core laboratories. In this study we used the same "smart" minimum algorithm to analyze data derived from a different, commercial pressure wire system (Philips Volcano) and compared the values obtained to both operator-defined steady state FFR and the online automated minimum FFR reported by the pressure wire analyser.

Diffusion-weighted whole-body imaging with background body signal suppression/T2 image fusion for the diagnosis of colorectal polyp and cancer.

Diffusion-weighted whole-body imaging with background body signal suppression/T2 image fusion (DWIBS/T2) is useful for the diagnosis of cancer as it presents a clear contrast between cancerous and non-cancerous tissue. The present study investigated the limitations and advantages of DWIBS/T2 with regards to the diagnosis of colorectal polyp (CP) or cancer (CRC). The current study included patients diagnosed with CP or CRC following colonoscopy, who were subjected to DWIBS/T2 between July 2012 and March 2015.

Discordance Between Resting and Hyperemic Indices of Coronary Stenosis Severity: The VERIFY 2 Study (A Comparative Study of Resting Coronary Pressure Gradient, Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio and Fractional Flow Reserve in an Unselected Population Referred for Invasive Angiography).

Background: Distal coronary to aortic pressure ratio (Pd/Pa) and instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) are indices of functional significance of a coronary stenosis measured without hyperemia. It has been suggested that iFR has superior diagnostic accuracy to Pd/Pa when compared with fractional flow reserve (FFR).We hypothesized that in comparison with FFR, revascularization decisions based on either binary cutoff values for iFR and Pd/Pa or hybrid strategies incorporating iFR or Pd/Pa will result in similar levels of disagreement.

FDG PET Imaging of Extremities in Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Background: The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the utility of fluorodeoxyglucose positive emission tomography imaging in assessing the degree of joint inflammation and response to therapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis using standard PET parameters.

Methods: Five subjects with newly diagnosed RA were enrolled in this IRB-approved prospective study. After standard conventional workup that included clinical and laboratory evaluation and disease activity score (DAS3v) calculation, subjects underwent baseline FDG PET scans of their hands and feet prior to initiation of treatment and after six months of standard treatment.

[F]Fluorocholine PET/CT Imaging of Liver Cancer: Radiopathologic Correlation with Tissue Phospholipid Profiling.

Purpose: [F]fluorocholine PET/CT can detect hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) based on imaging the initial steps of phosphatidylcholine synthesis. To relate the diagnostic performance of [F]fluorocholine positron emission tomography (PET)/x-ray computed tomography (CT) to the phospholipid composition of liver tumors, radiopathologic correspondence was performed in patients with early-stage liver cancer who had undergone [F]fluorocholine PET/CT before tumor resection.

Procedures: Tumor and adjacent liver were profiled by liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, quantifying phosphatidylcholine species by mass-to-charge ratio.

Residual FDG uptake of primary thyroid lymphoma after treatment may overestimate residual lymphoma.

Objective: To assess F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) images in primary thyroid lymphoma (PTL) patients before and after treatment.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of data for ten patients (four men, six women) of mean age 65 (range 48-88) years, with histopathologically confirmed malignant thyroid lymphoma who underwent pre-treatment and post-treatment F-FDG PET between January 2005 and December 2014. Thyroid uptake was assessed by the 5-point scale score based on maximum intensity projection images.

Importance of Defect Detectability in Positron Emission Tomography Imaging of Abdominal Lesions.

Objectives: This study was designed to assess defect detectability in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging of abdominal lesions.

Methods: A National Electrical Manufactures Association International Electrotechnical Commission phantom was used. The simulated abdominal lesion was scanned for 10 min using dynamic list-mode acquisition method.

Comparison of genome-scale DNA methylation profiles in hepatocellular carcinoma by viral status.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) incidence has steadily increased in the US over the past 30 years. Our understanding of epigenetic regulation in HCC is still limited, especially the impact of hepatitis B virus (HBV) or hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on aberrant DNA methylation. We performed genome-wide DNA methylation profiling in 33 fresh frozen tumor samples, including 10 HBV-HCC, 13 HCV-HCC, and 10 non-infected (NIV-HCC) using the Illumina HumanMethylation450 BeadChip.

Proposed diagnostic criteria, disease severity classification and treatment strategy for TAFRO syndrome, 2015 version.

TAFRO syndrome is a systemic inflammatory disorder characterized by thrombocytopenia, anasarca including pleural effusion and ascites, fever, renal insufficiency, and organomegaly including hepatosplenomegaly and lymphadenopathy. Its onset may be acute or sub-acute, but its etiology is undetermined. Although several clinical and pathological characteristics of TAFRO syndrome resemble those of multicentric Castleman disease (MCD), other specific features can differentiate between them.

Metabolic characteristics distinguishing intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma: a negative pilot study of (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT clarified by transcriptomic analysis.

PET using fluorine-18 fluorocholine ((18)F-fluorocholine) may detect malignancies that involve altered choline metabolism. While (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT has shown greater sensitivity for detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) than (18)F-fluoro-D-deoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT, it is not known whether it can also detect intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC), a less common form of primary liver cancer. Clinical, radiographic, and histopathologic data from 5 patients with ICC and 23 patients with HCC from a diagnostic trial of liver (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT imaging were analyzed to preliminarily evaluate (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT for ICC.

Prediction of PSA Progression in Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer Based on Treatment-Associated Change in Tumor Burden Quantified by 18F-Fluorocholine PET/CT.

Unlabelled: Measurements of metabolically active tumor volume (MATV) can be applied to (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT to quantify whole-body tumor burden. This study evaluated the serial application of these measurements as systemic treatment response markers and predictors of disease progression in patients with castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC).

Methods: Forty-two patients completed sequential (18)F-fluorocholine PET/CT scans before and 1-3 mo after starting treatment for CRPC.

Erratum to: Changes in Skeletal Tumor Activity on (18)F-choline PET/CT in Patients Receiving (223)Radium Radionuclide Therapy for Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1007/s13139-014-0314-0.].

(18)F-FDG uptake of the spinal cord was decreased after conventional dose radiotherapy in esophageal cancer patients.

Objective: We retrospectively investigated changes of (18)F-fluorodeocyglucose ((18)F-FDG) uptake in the spinal cord, inside and outside the radiation fields, in patients with esophageal cancer before and after conventional dose radiotherapy.

Methods: A total of 17 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer (16 males, one female; age 50-83 years, mean 67.0 years), who underwent conventional dose radiotherapy and (18)F-FDG PET/CT before and 5.

Diffusion-weighted whole-body imaging with background body signal suppression/T2 image fusion and positron emission tomography/computed tomography of upper gastrointestinal cancers.

Purpose: Diffusion-weighted whole-body imaging with background body signal suppression/T2 image fusion (DWIBS/T2) strongly contrasts cancerous tissue against background healthy tissues. Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) applies the uptake of 18-fluorodeoxyglucose in the diagnosis of cancer. Our aim was to compare DWIBS/T2 and PET/CT in patients with upper gastrointestinal cancers.

Chronic Liver Disease and the Detection of Hepatocellular Carcinoma by [(18)F]fluorocholine PET/CT.

Positron emission tomography (PET) using the radiopharmaceutical tracer fluorine-18 fluorocholine (FCh) can elucidate tumors based on differences in choline phospholipid metabolism between tumor and surrounding tissue. The feasibility of detecting hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using FCh PET has been shown despite constitutively high parenchymal choline metabolism in the liver. Since HCC frequently develops in the setting of chronic liver disease, we comparatively evaluated FCh PET/CT between cirrhotic and non-cirrhotic patients with HCC to investigate the effects of hepatic dysfunction on tumor detection and the tumor-to-background ratio (TBR) of FCh uptake.

Changes in Skeletal Tumor Activity on (18)F-choline PET/CT in Patients Receiving (223)Radium Radionuclide Therapy for Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

Radium-223 dichloride is an alpha-emitting radiopharmaceutical shown to prolong survival in patients with castrate-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC) and symptomatic skeletal metastases. This report describes in two patients the acute changes in bone metastatic activity detected by F-18 choline PET/CT imaging midway during treatment with radium-223 dichloride. In addition to visual and standardized uptake value analysis, changes in the whole-body tumor burden were quantified by measuring the difference in net metabolically active tumor volume (MATV) and total lesion activity (TLA) between pre- and mid-treatment PET scans.

Volumetric modulated arc therapy planning for primary prostate cancer with selective intraprostatic boost determined by 18F-choline PET/CT.

Purpose: This study evaluated expected tumor control and normal tissue toxicity for prostate volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) with and without radiation boosts to an intraprostatically dominant lesion (IDL), defined by (18)F-choline positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT).

Methods And Materials: Thirty patients with localized prostate cancer underwent (18)F-choline PET/CT before treatment. Two VMAT plans, plan79 Gy and plan100-105 Gy, were compared for each patient.

Correlation between 18F-FDG-uptake and in vitro chemosensitivity of cisplatin in head and neck cancer.

Aim: High [18F]-2-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) -uptake of primary tumor, assessed by pretreatment positron emission tomography combined computed tomography (PET/CT), has indicated poor overall survival (OS) in head and neck cancer (HNC).We investigated the correlation between 18F-FDG-uptake and in vitro chemosensitivity of cisplatin using histoculture drug response assay in HNC.

Patients And Methods: Twenty-eight patients were evaluated.

Radium-223 dichloride bone-targeted alpha particle therapy for hormone-refractory breast cancer metastatic to bone.

Background: Hormone-refractory breast cancer metastatic to bone is a clinically challenging disease associated with high morbidity, poor prognosis, and impaired quality of life owing to pain and skeletal-related events. In a preclinical study using a mouse model of breast cancer and bone metastases, Ra-223 dichloride was incorporated into bone matrix and inhibited proliferation of breast cancer cells and differentiation of osteoblasts and osteoclasts (all P values < .001) in vitro.