The Role of FDG-PET in the Diagnosis and Staging of Ocular Adnexal Lymphoproliferative Disease

Purpose: To further evaluate fluorine 18 fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET) in the staging of ocular adnexal lymphoproliferative disease (OALD).

Methods: Retrospective and prospective case series with review of clinical and imaging records including computed tomography (CT), FDG PET (±PET/CT) and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Results: Thirty-four patients had FDG PET and CT scans at initial staging. Eleven were retrospectively reviewed and 23 were prospectively enrolled. Of 34 patients, 17 (50%) had primary disease, 17 (50%) had secondary and of these, 13 patients (38%) had OALD as their initial manifestation. Sixteen patients had active systemic disease in conjunction with their orbital disease. Systemic disease was demonstrated by FDG PET (± CT) in 15 of 16 (94%) patients and 11 of 16 (69%) patients with CT. FDG PET found orbital disease in 27 of 34 patients (79%) versus 33 of 34 patients with orbital CT (97%). Four of 16 patients in which FDG-PET detected systemic disease where CT did not were upstaged and their management changed significantly in 5 cases.

Conclusions: This study reaffirms FDG PET as an important part of initial staging. Our study suggests FDG PET detects systemic disease more reliably than CT alone and results in significant changes in management. Our findings suggest FDG PET detection for local OALD is less sensitive than CT. MRI is helpful in augmenting other imaging modalities in further identifying disease. Given the prevalence of simultaneous systemic presentations of OALD, FDG PET in this regard is especially important and highlights the need for coordinated multidisciplinary care.     

Colorectal Cancer Staging: Reappraisal of N/PN Classification

PURPOSE: Current American Joint Committee on Cancer and the Union Internationale Contre le Cancer TNM classification disregards location of positive nodes, discontinuing N3 category, which constitutes a major modification to 1987 version. This study was designed to assess the impact of the recategorization of former N3 cases and the reliability of the current N1-N2 subcategorization of Stage III patients. METHODS: Prospectively collected data from 1,391 patients (55.8 percent males; median age, 64 (range, 21–97) years), operated on with curative intent between 1980 and 1999, were analyzed. The median follow-up was 60 (interquartile range, 27–97) months with 129 cases lost to follow-up. RESULTS: Of positive node cases, 25.3 percent were former N3. Among them, 30.5 percent migrated to the N1 group and 69.5 percent to the N2 group. The proportions of former N3 cases in N1 and N2 groups were 12.5 percent and 46.1 percent, respectively (P < 0.001). Node-positive patients had an actuarial five-year survival rate of 56.7 percent (95 percent confidence interval, 53–59), with a significant difference between N1/N2 categories (63.6 vs. 44.1 percent, respectively; P < 0.001). Although apical node involvement and more than three positive nodes were associated with poorer outcomes in univariate analysis, only the number of positive nodes had independent association (hazard ratio, 1.6 (range, 1.2–2.2); P < 0.001). Integration of former N3 cases did not modify outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: The recategorization of former N3 involved a high proportion of positive node cases. Current N1/N2 categories clearly defined different outcomes and were not modified by the integration of former N3.     

Regional amyloid distribution and impact on mortality in light-chain amyloidosis: a T1 mapping cardiac magnetic resonance study

Background: T1 mapping allows quantitative assessment of “diffuse” deposition of amyloid protein in the myocardium. Early detection of cardiac involvement and potential prognostic improvement could benefit patients with AL amyloidosis.

Objectives: This study aims to evaluate the regional variation of amyloid infiltration in the left ventricle and the prognostic value of T1 mapping in patients with AL amyloidosis.

Methods: We prospectively enrolled 77 patients with AL amyloidosis who underwent cardiac magnetic resonance on a 3.0-T scanner. Native T1 and extracellular volume (ECV) were quantitated on the basal, mid, and apical levels of the left ventricle. Late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) pattern (no or non-specific LGE, sub-endocardial LGE, and transmural LGE) was also assessed. Forty healthy subjects served as controls. The primary end point was all-cause mortality.

Results: Basal ECV (26.9?±?2.8% versus 31.1?±?4.9%, p?<?.001) were lower than apical ECV in the healthy controls; however, basal ECV (60.6?±?11.5% versus 53.0?±?9.6%, p?=?.003) were significantly higher than apical ECV in patients with transmural LGE. During the follow-up period (median duration, 28?months; 25th–75th percentile, 13.5–38.0?months), 46 patients died. Basal ECV has the largest area under the curve of 0.845 (95% CI, 0.747–0.917) to predict all-cause mortality. Multivariable Cox analysis indicated that basal ECV was an independent prognostic factor and showed incremental prognostic value beyond NYHA class, Mayo stage, and LGE pattern.

Conclusion: We demonstrated that T1 mapping may have the potential to detect a characteristic amyloid deposition with a decreasing gradient from base to apex. Furthermore, myocardial ECV indicated that basal amyloid infiltration provided robust and incremental prognostic value in patients with AL amyloidosis.     

Staging Dementia From Symptom Profiles on a Care Partner Website

Background

The World Wide Web allows access to patient/care partner perspectives on the lived experience of dementia. We were interested in how symptoms that care partners target for tracking relate to dementia stage, and whether dementia could be staged using only these online profiles of targeted symptoms.

Objectives

To use clinical data where the dementia stage is known to develop a model that classifies an individual’s stage of dementia based on their symptom profile and to apply this model to classify dementia stages for subjects from a Web-based dataset.

Methods

An Artificial Neural Network (ANN) was used to identify the relationships between the dementia stages and individualized profiles of people with dementia obtained from the 60-item SymptomGuide (SG). The clinic-based training dataset (n=320), with known dementia stages, was used to create an ANN model for classifying stages in Web-based users (n=1930).

Results

The ANN model was trained in 66% of the 320 Memory Clinic patients, with the remaining 34% used to test its accuracy in classification. Training and testing staging distributions were not significantly different. In the 1930 Web-based profiles, 309 people (16%) were classified as having mild cognitive impairment, 36% as mild dementia, 29% as moderate, and 19% as severe. In both the clinical and Web-based symptom profiles, most symptoms became more common as the stage of dementia worsened (eg, mean 5.6 SD 5.9 symptoms in the MCI group versus 11.9 SD 11.3 in the severe). Overall, Web profiles recorded more symptoms (mean 7.1 SD 8.0) than did clinic ones (mean 5.5 SD 1.8). Even so, symptom profiles were relatively similar between the Web-based and clinical datasets.

Conclusion

Symptoms targeted for online tracking by care partners of people with dementia can be used to stage dementia. Even so, caution is needed to assure the validity of data collected online as the current staging algorithm should be seen as an initial step.     

Prognostic value of the pretreatment albumin:globulin ratio combined with adult comorbidity evaluation 27 and TMN staging in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the maxillary sinus

The albumin:globulin (A:G) ratio, adult comorbidity evaluation 27 (ACE-27), and TMN staging have been shown to be strong predictive indicators of the survival of patients with many types of tumours. We have investigated the prognostic value of pretreatment based on the A:G ratio combined with TMN staging and ACE-27 in patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the maxillary sinus. We studied 196 patients, and the prognostic value was explored by univariate and multivariate Cox’s hazards analysis. Multivariate analyses suggested that pretreatment A:G ratio was independently associated with overall survival (hazard ratio (HR) 1.542, 95% CI 1.219 to 1.991, p = 0.002); disease-specific survival, (HR 1.499, 95% CI 1.197 to 1.842, p = 0.001); and disease-free survival (HR 1.452, 95% CI 1.207 to 1.834, p < 0.001). Additional prognostic factors shown in the survival analyses included ACE-27, pathological T stage, and pathological N stage. Pretreatment A:G ratio combined with ACE-27 and TMN staging were powerful prognostic indicators of outcome in patients with SCC of the maxillary sinus, which has potentially important ramifications for stratification of the disease in the future.     

MRI平扫结合扩散加权成像在直肠癌中的临床应用价值

目的:探讨MRI平扫结合扩散加权成像(DWI)在直肠癌中的临床应用价值.方法:对28例直肠癌患者行MRI平扫及DWI检查,评价肿瘤形态、T分期、淋巴结转移、环周切缘(CRM)状态、肿瘤下缘距肛缘的距离,并与术后病理结果进行对照.MRI与病理对T分期、N分期及环周切缘受累评估的一致性采用Kappa检验.结果:MRI平扫及DWI能准确显示肿瘤的部位及形态.MRI平扫结合DWI对28例直肠癌T分期总的诊断符合率为78.57％(22/28),T1～T2期、T3期、T4期的诊断符合率分别为85.71％、78.57％、92.86％,MRI与病理对T分期的诊断具有较高的一致性(Kappa值=0.656).MRI平扫结合DWI对判断N分期的符合率为71.43％ (20/28),判断淋巴结转移的敏感度为66.67％(6/9),特异度为73.68％(14/19),MRI与病理对N分期的诊断具有中度一致性(Kappa值=0.489).MRI判定CRM状态的总体符合率为85.71％ (24/28),敏感度为90.90％(10/11),特异度为82.35％(14/17),阳性预测值为76.92％(10/13),阴性预测值为93.33％(14/15),MRI与病理对环周切缘受累的评估具有较高的一致性(Kappa值=0.710).MRI矢状面图像能测量18例下段直肠癌肿瘤下缘距肛缘的曲线距离.结论:MRI平扫结合DWI对直肠癌、T分期、环周切缘状态的判断及肿瘤下缘距肛缘的距离的测量有重要临床价值.     

CT测量胃癌体积对N分期评估的初步研究

目的：探讨多层螺旋 CT 测量胃癌体积在 N 分期预测方面的价值。方法收集经病理证实的胃癌患者(n=193)CT 资料,测量门脉期肿瘤体积,比较该结果和相应 N 分期的相关性并用 ROC 曲线分析其区分不同 N 分期的诊断效能。结果肿瘤体积测量结果具有较好的一致性(Kappa 值分别为0.77、0.72、0.69,P <0.05),且与相应的 N 分期呈正相关(r =0.568,P <0.05)。区分 N0和 N1~N3组、N0~N1和 N2~N3组、N0~N2和 N3组曲线下面积分别为0.79、0.80、0.82,体积阈值12.06 cm3、22.35 cm3、25.95 cm3,敏感度55%、66%、62%,特异度95%、86%、89%。结论CT 测量胃癌体积对 N 分期评估有一定应用价值,有利于指导临床选择个体化的治疗方案。     

不同肿瘤分期方法对胃癌术后患者预后评估的影响

目的分析影响胃癌手术患者预后的相关因素,比较采取不同肿瘤分期方法对胃癌手术患者预后评估的影响。方法对143例胃癌手术患者进行术后随访并收集相关临床资料,采用简单TNM分期及具体TNM分期对胃癌手术患者预后因素的影响进行评估。结果肿瘤浸润深度(T分期)、淋巴结转移数(N分期)、远处转移情况(M分期)、TNM分期与胃癌患者预后有显著相关性。采用TNM分期来表示肿瘤分期,简单TNM分期的肿瘤大小、肿瘤分化程度是胃癌手术患者预后的独立因素,而采用具体的TNM分期(ⅠA、ⅠB、ⅡA、ⅡB、ⅢA、ⅢB、ⅢC、Ⅳ期)来表示肿瘤分期时,具体TNM分期是胃癌手术患者预后的独立因素。结论 TNM肿瘤分期是影响胃癌手术患者预后的重要因素。