Preoperative Staging Of Patients Research Articles

Abstract PO5-07-10: CONTRAST MAMMOGRAPHY FOR PREOPERATIVE STAGING OF PATIENTS WITH EARLY BREAST CANCER: PRELIMINARY RESULTS

Abstract a) Brief description of the objective(s) The aim of this study is to compare contrast-enhanced mammography (CM) with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for preoperative locoregional staging of patients with early-stage breast cancer. b) Material(s) and method(s) Prospective, single-center study, approved by the Research Ethics Committee, which included patients with a histological diagnosis of invasive breast carcinoma, candidates for initial medical treatment. Patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy and those in whom the tumor was completely resected in the initial biopsy were excluded. CM and MRI were performed in the week before surgery and the anatomopathological result of the surgical specimen was considered the gold standard. Pearson's modification (r) was used to compare tumor size between different methods. c) Results and discussion Thirty-seven patients were included, with a mean age of 54.5±6.9 years (43-70 years). The mean size of the tumors in pathology was 2.9±1.4 cm (1.1-8.0 cm) and the most common histological type was invasive ductal carcinoma (n=34;87.2%). The clinical stage was IA for 14 patients (37.8%) and IIA for 23 patients (62.2%). The main tumor was identified in 33 cases (89.2%) on conventional mammography and in all cases (100%) on both CM and MRI. There was excellent elasticity between tumor size measured on CM and MRI (r=0.897;p< 0.01). When compared with tumor size in pathology, both methods were adopted in a good way (p< 0.01), however, MRI was functionally superior to CM (r=0.847 vs. 0.683), while mammography conventional showed no therapeutic effect (r=0.222;p=0.21). Multifocal lesions were observed on CM in 2 cases (5.4%) and on MRI in 6 cases (16.2%), with 1 case confirmed as multifocal and the others presenting DCIS associated with the surgical specimen. Suspicious additional lesions were seen in 4 patients (10.8%) on CM and in 3 patients (8.1%) on MRI, of which one was confirmed as malignant in the contralateral breast, which had not been identified in previous exams. d) Conclusions CM showed good adaptability with MRI for assessing tumor size and searching for additional lesions, and may be a cheaper and more accessible alternative for preoperative staging in patients at an early clinical stage. Citation Format: Andressa Amorim, Andre Mattar, Almir Bitencourt, Paula Moraes, Flora Finguerman. CONTRAST MAMMOGRAPHY FOR PREOPERATIVE STAGING OF PATIENTS WITH EARLY BREAST CANCER: PRELIMINARY RESULTS [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2023 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2023 Dec 5-9; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(9 Suppl):Abstract nr PO5-07-10.

CT-based deep learning model: a novel approach to the preoperative staging in patients with peritoneal metastasis.

Peritoneal metastasis (PM) is a frequent manifestation of advanced abdominal malignancies. Accurately assessing the extent of PM before surgery is essential for patients to receive optimal treatment. Therefore, we propose to construct a deep learning (DL) model based on enhanced computed tomography (CT) images to stage PM preoperatively in patients. All 168 patients with PM underwent contrast-enhanced abdominal CT before either open surgery or laparoscopic exploration, and peritoneal cancer index (PCI) was used to evaluate patients during the surgical procedure. DL features were extracted from portal venous-phase abdominal CT scans and subjected to feature selection using the Spearman correlation coefficient and LASSO. The performance of models for preoperative staging was assessed in the validation cohort and compared against models based on clinical and radiomics (Rad) signature. The DenseNet121-SVM model demonstrated strong patient discrimination in both the training and validation cohorts, achieving AUC was 0.996 in training and 0.951 validation cohort, which were both higher than those of the Clinic model and Rad model. Decision curve analysis (DCA) showed that patients could potentially benefit more from treatment using the DL-SVM model, and calibration curves demonstrated good agreement with actual outcomes. The DL model based on portal venous-phase abdominal CT accurately predicts the extent of PM in patients before surgery, which can help maximize the benefits of treatment and optimize the patient's treatment plan.

Cost-Effectiveness of Breast Cancer Staging Modalities: Counterpoint-Breast MRI Can be Cost-Effective for Breast Cancer Staging, Particularly in This Era of Treatment De-Escalation.

This article does not include an abstract. Please see the accompanying Cost-Effectiveness of Breast Cancer Staging Modalities: Point-Contrast-Enhanced Mammography as an Alternative to Breast MRI for Preoperative Staging in Patients with Breast Cancer. Point by Marc B. I. Lobbes.

Cost-Effectiveness of Breast Cancer Staging Modalities: Point-Contrast-Enhanced Mammography as an Alternative to Breast MRI for Preoperative Staging in Patients With Breast Cancer.

This article does not include an abstract. Please see the accompanying Cost-Effectiveness of Breast Cancer Staging Modalities: Counterpoint-Breast MRI Can be Cost-Effective for Breast Cancer Staging, Particularly in This Era of Treatment De-Escalation. Counterpoint by Brian N. Dontchos and Habib Rahbar.

68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT in the evaluation of epithelial ovarian cancer: comparison with [18F]F-FDG PET/CT.

To compare the efficacy of [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT in primary or recurrent tumors and metastatic lesions of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) with that of fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose ([18F]F-FDG) PET/CT. Forty-nine patients (median age, 57 years; IQR, 51-66 years) with histologically proven primary or relapsed EOC were enrolled. Participants underwent [18F]F-FDG and [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT. The detection rate, diagnostic accuracy, semiquantitative parameters, tumor staging, and clinical management of the tracers were compared. The diagnostic performance of [18F]F-FDG and [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT was evaluated and compared using surgical pathology. Differences between methods regarding the peritoneal cancer index (PCI) using preoperative imaging, surgical PCI, and tumor markers (CA125, HE4) were also assessed regarding peritoneal metastases. Among the 49 patients, 28 had primary EOC; 21 had relapsed EOC. [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT outperformed [18F]F-FDG PET/CT in detecting peritoneal metastases (96.8% vs. 83.0%; p < 0.001), retroperitoneal (99.5% vs. 91.4%; p < 0.001), and supradiaphragmatic lymph node metastases (100% vs. 80.4%; p < 0.001). Compared with [18F]F-FDG, [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 showed higher SUVmax for peritoneal metastases (17.31 vs. 13.68; p = 0.026) and retroperitoneal (8.72 vs. 6.56; p < 0.001) and supradiaphragmatic lymph node metastases (6.39 vs. 4.20; p < 0.001). Moreover, [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT showed higher sensitivity compared with [18F]F-FDG PET/CT for detecting metastatic lymph nodes (80.6% vs. 61.3%; p = 0.031) and peritoneal metastases (97.5% vs. 75.9%; p < 0.001), using surgical pathology as the gold standard. Compared with [18F]F-FDG PET/CT, [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT led to an upgrade in 14.3% and 33.3% of treatment-naive and relapse participants, resulting in management changes in 10.7% and 19.0% of the patients, respectively. The median PCIFAPI scores were significantly higher than PCIFDG (15 vs. 11; p < 0.001) and positively correlated with CA125 and HE4 levels and surgical PCI. [68Ga]Ga-FAPI-04 PET/CT achieved higher sensitivity than [18F]F-FDG PET/CT in the detection and diagnosis of lymph node and peritoneal metastases, suggesting advantages regarding the preoperative staging of patients with EOC and, thereby, improving treatment decision-making. NCT05034146. Registered February 23, 2021.

FDG-PET/CT for lymph node staging prior to radical cystectomy

Background18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission combined with computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) has been proposed to improve preoperative staging in patients with bladder cancer subjected to radical cystectomy (RC).ObjectiveOur aim was to assess the accuracy of FDG-PET/CT for lymph node staging ascertained at the multidisciplinary tumour board compared to lymph node status in the surgical lymphadenectomy specimen obtained at RC, and to explore potential factors associated with false-positive FDG-PET/CT results.Design, setting and participantsConsecutive patients with bladder cancer undergoing RC with extended lymph node dissection between 2011 and 2019 without preoperative chemotherapy in a tertial referral cystectomy unit were included in the study.Outcome measurements and statistical analysesSensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values and likelihood ratios were calculated. Potential factors investigated for association with false-positive FDG-PET/CT were; bacteriuria within four weeks prior to FDG-PET/CT, Bacillus Calmette–Guerin (BCG) treatment within 12 months prior to FDG-PET/CT and transurethral resection of bladder tumour (TURB) within four weeks prior to FDG-PET/CT.ResultsAmong 157 patients included for analysis, 44 (28%) were clinically node positive according to FDG-PET/CT. The sensitivity and specificity for detection of lymph node metastasis were 50% and 84%, respectively, and the corresponding positive predictive and negative predictive values were 61% and 76%. Positive and negative likelihood ratios were 3.0 and 0.6, respectively. No association was found between bacteriuria, previous BCG treatment or TURB within 28 days and false-positive FDG-PET/CT results.ConclusionsPreoperative FDG-PET/CT prior to RC had a clinically meaningful high specificity (84%) but lower sensitivity (50%) for detection of lymph node metastases compared to lymph node status in an extended pelvic lymphadenectomy template. We could not identify any factors associated with false-positive FDG-PET/CT outcomes.

Added Clinical Value of 18F-FDG-PET/CT to Stage Patients With High-Risk Non-Muscle Invasive Bladder Cancer Before Radical Cystectomy.

18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography-computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) is increasingly used in the preoperative staging of patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer. The clinical added value of FDG-PET/CT in high-risk non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) is unknown. In this study, the value of FDG-PET/CT in addition to contrast enhanced (CE)-CT was evaluated in high-risk NMIBC before radical cystectomy (RC). This is a retrospective analysis of consecutive patients with high risk and very-high risk urothelial NMIBC scheduled for RC in a tertiary referral center between 2011 and 2020. Patients underwent staging with CE-CT (chest and abdomen/pelvis) and FDG-PET/CT. We assessed the clinical disease stage before and after FDG-PET/CT and the treatment recommendation based on the stage before and after FDG-PET/CT. The accuracy of CT and FDG-PET/CT for identifying metastatic disease was defined by the receiver-operating curve using a reference-standard including histopathology/cytology (if available), imaging and follow-up. A total of 92 patients were identified (median age: 71 years). In 14/92 (15%) patients, FDG-PET/CT detected metastasis (12 suspicious lymph nodes and 4 distant metastases). The disease stage changed in 11/92 (12%) patients based on additional FDG-PET/CT findings. FDG-PET/CT led to a different treatment in 9/92 (10%) patients. According to the reference standard, 25/92 (27%) patients had metastases. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of FDG-PET/CT was 36%, 93% and 77% respectively, versus 12%, 97% and 74% of CE-CT only. The area under the ROC curve was 0.643 for FDG-PET/CT and 0.545 for CT, P=.036. The addition of FDG-PET/CT to CE-CT imaging changed the treatment in 10% of patients and proved to be a valuable diagnostic tool in a selected subgroup of NMIBC patients scheduled for RC.

Value of 3T diffusion weighted MRI in comparison with CECT in detection of ovarian cancer and ovarian cancer recurrence

Purpose: To investigate the value of 3T diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) compared to contrast enhanced computed tomography (CECT), in the preoperative staging of patients with suspected ovarian cancer (OC) or with suspected recurrence of ovarian cancer (ROC). Materials and methods: Thirty-two women (mean age 65 ± 14) with suspected (n = 23) or recurrent (n = 9) ovarian cancer were included prospectively in a single center study. CECT and abdominal 3T DW-MRI were performed. Both methods were used to independently score the presence of 1) ovarian tumor, 2) peritoneal or omental carcinomatosis, 3) pathological lymph nodes (LN), along with 4) liver parenchymal, 5) liver capsular, 6) diaphragmatic, and 7) extra-abdominal metastases. Findings were scored as: 0=benign, 1=suspicious for malignancy, or 2=definitely malignant. In addition, the lowest ADC values were measured in existing primary tumors. The extent of disease burden and correlation to histopathological findings were analyzed. Results: The mean disease score was higher in DW-MRI than in CT (4.9 ± 2.6 vs. 3.5 ± 2.2, P &lt; 0.001). Compared to CT, DW-MRI depicted more LN (P = 0.001) and diaphragmatic (P = 0.024) lesions. The lowest ADC values were significantly lower in malignant tumors (n = 18) than in benign tumors (n = 5) (0.640 x10-3mm2 /s ± 159 vs. 0.992 x10-3mm2 /s ± 218, P = 0.002). Conclusion: The results of our prospective single center study show incremental value of abdominal 3T DW-MRI in comparison with CECT, especially in detecting diaphragmatic and peritoneal ovarian cancer metastases, excluding lymph nodal metastases and in differentiating malignant adnexal tumors from benign.

Preoperative CT or PET/CT to Assess Pelvic and Para-Aortic Lymph Node Status in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background: In advanced epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC), the LION trial restricted lymphadenectomy indication to patients with suspect lymph nodes before and during surgery. Preoperative imaging is used to assess lymph node status, and particularly CT and PET/CT. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of preoperative CT and PET/CT to detect lymph node metastasis (LNM) in patients with EOC; Methods: Databases were searched from January 1990 to May 2019 for studies that evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of preoperative CT and PET/CT to detect LNM in patients with EOC with histology as the gold standard. Pooled diagnostic accuracy was calculated using bivariate random-effects models and hierarchical summary receiver operating curve (HSROC). This study is registered with PROSPERO number CRD42020179214; Results: A total of five studies were included in the meta-analysis: four articles concerned preoperative CT and four articles concerned preoperative PET/CT, involving 106 and 138 patients, respectively. For preoperative CT, pooled sensitivity was 0.47 95% CI [0.20–0.76], pooled specificity was 0.99 95% CI [0.75–1.00] and area under the curve (AUC) of the HSROC was 0.91 95% CI [0.88–0.93]. For preoperative PET/CT, pooled sensitivity was 0.81 95% CI [0.61–0.92], pooled specificity was 0.96 95% CI [0.91–0.99] and AUC of the HSROC was 0.97 95% CI [0.95–0.98]; Conclusions: PET/CT has a very high diagnostic accuracy, especially for specificity, to detect LNM in EOC and should be realized systematically, additionally to CT recommended to evaluate peritoneal spread, in the preoperative staging of patients with an advanced disease.

Is Aspartate Aminotransferase to Alanine Aminotransferase (De Ritis Ratio) Helpful in Predicting Breast Cancer?

Aim: De Ritis ratio (aspartate transaminase/alanine transaminase) may be a useful prognostic biomarker for certain malignant tumors. However, the predictive value of the De Ritis ratio before treatment in preoperative staging in patients with breast cancer is unknown. This study aimed to evaluate the De Ritis ratio in benign and malignant breast diseases and investigate the predictive value of it for breast cancer. &#x0D; Methods: Retrospective analysis was made of the clinicopathological data of 301 patients with benign breast disease and breast cancer treated between April 2017 and April 2020 in a single center. 64 Patients were excluded from the study due to chronic illness or incomplete data. The relationship between the De Ritis ratio and clinicopathological findings before treatment was evaluated in patients. The Mann Whitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test were used in the comparisons between groups. &#x0D; Results: Of the total 237 patients, the number of patients with benign breast disease was 96 and the number of the patients with breast cancer was 141. No statistically significant results were determined between the benign breast disease and breast cancer groups, in respect of pre-treatment evaluation of the De Ritis ratio and as a predictive factor for preoperative staging in molecular subtyping, tumor diameter, lymph node metastasis, and Ki 67 index.&#x0D; Conclusion: It was concluded that the De Ritis ratio examined before treatment was not an independent predictive factor in breast cancer diagnosis and staging.

Contrast-enhanced Mammography: State of the Art.

Contrast-enhanced mammography (CEM) has emerged as a viable alternative to contrast-enhanced breast MRI, and it may increase access to vascular imaging while reducing examination cost. Intravenous iodinated contrast materials are used in CEM to enhance the visualization of tumor neovascularity. After injection, imaging is performed with dual-energy digital mammography, which helps provide a low-energy image and a recombined or iodine image that depict enhancing lesions in the breast. CEM has been demonstrated to help improve accuracy compared with digital mammography and US in women with abnormal screening mammographic findings or symptoms of breast cancer. It has also been demonstrated to approach the accuracy of breast MRI in preoperative staging of patients with breast cancer and in monitoring response after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. There are early encouraging results from trials evaluating CEM in the screening of women who are at an increased risk of breast cancer. Although CEM is a promising tool, it slightly increases radiation dose and carries a small risk of adverse reactions to contrast materials. This review details the CEM technique, diagnostic and screening uses, and future applications, including artificial intelligence and radiomics.

Survival and adequate preoperative staging in patients undergoing gastric cancer surgery at a Peruvian Police Hospital.

Gastric cancer is the fifth most common malignant neoplasm and the third leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. In Peru, its incidence is 15.8 per 100,000 population, and it is associated with high mortality rates, especially in areas with low socioeconomic status. The aim of this study was to compare preoperative, postoperative, and anatomopathological staging results and their relation to disease recurrence and survival. We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing surgery for gastric cancer with a definitive postoperative anatomopathological diagnosis from 2005 to 2014 at the Hospital Nacional Luis N. Sáenz. Statistical analyses included descriptive and correlation statistics using the κ index, determination of associations between preoperative and postoperative staging and surgical reintervention and recurrence using the χ2 test, as well as Kaplan Meier survival analysis. There was little correlation between preoperative staging and final anatomopathological diagnosis, while there was a good correlation with postoperative staging. A significant association was found between preoperative staging and cancer recurrence. In the survival analysis, survival was lower among patients with underestimated staging. The survival of patients with gastric cancer can be affected by an overestimation of preoperative staging, therefore improvements in preoperative staging could lengthen the survival of patients undergoing gastric cancer surgery.

FDG PET-CT imaging for pre operative staging in patients with colorectal cancer

FDG PET-CT imaging for pre operative staging in patients with colorectal cancer

How much does axillary ultrasound contribute in women undergoing breast‐conserving surgery with no palpable axillary nodes?

The primary objective was evaluation of axillary ultrasound (AxUS) in preoperative staging of patients with invasive carcinoma undergoing breast-conserving surgery. This is a retrospective, observational cohort study of patients with clinically node-negative (cN0) biopsy-proven invasive breast carcinoma undergoing breast-conserving surgery between January 2011 and December 2014 who underwent AxUS with fine needle aspiration (FNA) biopsy of sonographically abnormal lymph nodes. Patient records were reviewed. A total of 713 cases were analysed. Four hundred and thirty-three patients underwent formal preoperative AxUS; 100 underwent biopsy for abnormal findings. Of these, 32 had positive FNA biopsy result and underwent level II axillary dissection (axillary lymph node dissection (ALND)). Thirty were T1-2 tumours with AxUS scan/FNA demonstrating sensitivity of 25.2%, specificity of 100%, positive predictive value of 100% and negative predictive value of 76.6%. Forty-six patients had a positive sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy and axillary dissection. 34.8% of T1 tumours, 47.8% of T2 tumours and 100% of T3 tumours had further positive nodes. The average number of nodes involved per axilla was 1.8 for the T1 group, 4.1 for the T2 group and 4.6 in the T3 group. Macrometastases were a more common finding than micrometastases for all T stages undergoing ALND. A suspicious preoperative AxUS result was significantly associated with positive SLN. Other risk factors for positive SLN biopsy were oestrogen receptor positivity and lymphovascular invasion. AxUS identifies patients with high nodal burdens justifying immediate ALND. AxUS did not adversely affect women with histologically negative sentinel nodes. Three percent may have been overtreated.

The Diagnostic Value of MRI for Preoperative Staging in Patients with Endometrial Cancer: A Meta-Analysis

To assess the diagnostic accuracy of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for detecting myometrial invasion, cervical invasion, and lymph node metastases in endometrial cancer. A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and Clinical trials. The methodological quality of each study was assessed by using the standard Quality Assessment of Diagnostic Accuracy Studies-2. Statistical analysis included evaluating publication bias, assessing threshold effect, exploring heterogeneity, pooling data, meta-regression, forest plot, and summary receiver-operating characteristics curves construction. Fourteen studies could be analyzed. For detecting deep myometrial invasion, the pooled sensitivity and specificity were 0.79 and 0.81 respectively, and patients younger than 60 years old demonstrated higher sensitivity (0.84) and specificity (0.90). The diagnostic accuracy is highest by jointly using T2-weighted image, dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI, and diffusion weighted imaging to detect the deep myometrial invasion. There were low sensitivity and high specificity for the diagnosis of cervical invasion (0.53, 0.95), cervical stromal invasion (0.50, 0.95), pelvic or/and para-aortic lymph node metastases (0.59, 0.95), and pelvic lymph node metastases (0.65, 0.95). MRI has good diagnostic performance for assessing myometrial invasion in patients with endometrial cancer, especially in patients younger than 60 years old. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI and diffusion weighted imaging can help improve sensitivity and specificity for detecting myometrial invasion. MRI shows high specificity for detecting cervical invasion and lymph node metastases in endometrial cancer.

Diagnostic Efficacy of CXR Compared to Chest CT in Preoperative Staging of Patients with Colorectal Cancer

Background: The high prevalence of colorectal cancer (CRC) and its increasing incidence can be a major problem in cancer management. Preoperative staging plays a significant role in the therapeutic process, especially in CRC which has high risk for lung metastases. Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate accuracy of chest X-ray (CXR) in comparison with chest CT (CCT) for diagnosing lung metastases in patients with CRC. Patients and Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted of 377 patients with newly diagnosed CRC which were evaluated with CXR and CCT. Results: CCT revealed normal/benign findings in 285 (75.6%), indeterminate nodules in 28 (17%) and suspicious nodules in 64 (17%) patients. Although CXR did not reveal any pulmonary metastatic lesions in of the 23 (7%) patients, the measure of agreement between CXR and CCT was good (0.64, P < 0.01) and CCT changed TNM staging in only eight (2%) patients. On logistic regression analysis, liver metastasis could increase the risk of pulmonary metastasis (P < 0.01). Conclusion: The study suggested CCT for preoperative staging in CRC patients, especially at stages 3 and 4 in TNM staging and for liver metastases.

Pilot study of [18F] fluorodexoyglucose positron emission tomography-magnetic resonance imaging (FDG-PET-MRI) for staging of muscle-invasive bladder cancer.

e16002 Background: Standard of care imaging for staging MIBC is computed tomography (CT) abdomen and pelvis despite poor diagnostic accuracy. The addition of FDG-PET to evaluate biologic activity has been shown to improve detection of metastatic bladder cancer. Better soft tissue characterization with MRI may improve detection of local disease. We hypothesized that simultaneous acquisition of FDG-PET and MRI images (PET-MRI) would allow for more accurate preoperative staging in patients with MIBC. Methods: 21 patients with MIBC and planned radical cystectomy with lymph node dissection were enrolled. Four radiologists (2 senior, 2 junior) with expertise in MRI and PET independently reviewed MRI and FDG-PET scans, respectively, to determine: 1) extent of the primary bladder tumor; and 2) involvement of local lymph nodes and distant sites of disease. Combined radiologist reads were performed (senior MRI and junior PET and vice versa). Imaging results were compared to surgical pathology. Results: 18 patients were included in the final analysis (3 PET-MRI scans excluded due to technical pitfalls with image acquisition). Final pathology revealed 10 patients (56%) with muscle invasion and only 2 patients (11%) with lymph node involvement. Combined analyses of PET-MRI accurately detected the extent of the primary tumor (sensitivity 0.84, specificity 0.50, PPV 0.70, NPV 0.70), but was less accurate for the detection of lymph node involvement (sensitivity 0.00, specificity 1.00, no calculable PPV, NPV 0.91). Senior MRI radiologist had improved PPV and NPV for extent of primary tumor compared to junior MRI radiologist (PPV 0.71 vs 0.56, NPV 0.83 vs. 0.50), and senior PET radiologist had improved PPV with similar NPV for extent of primary tumor (PPV 1.00 vs 0.78, NPV 0.50 vs 0.55). No patient was determined to have distant metastatic disease. Conclusions: To our knowledge, this is the first study exploring the use of PET-MRI for staging MIBC. This novel imaging modality demonstrated promise in detecting the extent of the primary tumor. Further investigation of FDG-PET-MRI is needed to better determine its potential utility in staging MIBC.

Hamburg-Glasgow classification: preoperative staging by combination of disseminated tumour load and systemic inflammation in oesophageal carcinoma

Background:The aim of this study was to establish a new preoperative staging classification and evaluate its comparability to the post-operative tumour stage, lymph node invasion and metastasis (TNM) classification. To date, adequate, preoperative staging in patients with oesophageal carcinoma (EC) is still missing but urgently needed. Systemic inflammation and disseminated tumour load have a pivotal role in recurrence and oncological outcome. To improve the clinical staging, we merged the Glasgow Prognostic Score (GPS) and disseminated tumour cells (DTC) into a new sufficient preoperative staging classification, the Hamburg-Glasgow classification (HGC).Methods:In this prospective, single-centre study, 326 patients following curative oesophagectomy were included. From all patients preoperative bone marrow was aspirated from the iliac crest to detect DTCs by immunostaining with the pan-keratin antibody A45-B/B3. HGC was subdefined into four prognostic groups on the basis of C-reactive protein (CRP), albumin and DTC. The three prognostic groups of the GPS were supplemented by DTC detection status. Results were correlated with clinicopathological parameters and clinical outcome.Results:Increasing HGC significantly correlated with lymph node invasion (P=0.022), post-operative pathohistological TNM staging (P=0.001) and tumour recurrence (P=0.001). The four HGC prognostic groups displayed a gradual decrease in overall as well as disease-free survival (P<0.001, each). Hamburg-Glasgow classification was a strong, significant independent predictor of overall survival and disease-free survival (P<0.001, both) in multivariate analysis.Conclusions:Hamburg-Glasgow classification seems to be a promising preoperative additive staging classification for accurate and simple outcome stratification.

A retrospective analysis of preoperative staging modalities for oral squamous cell carcinoma.

An accurate preoperative assessment of cervical lymph node status is a prerequisite for individually tailored cancer therapies in patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. The detection of malignant spread and its treatment crucially influence the prognosis. The aim of the present study was to analyze the different staging modalities used among patients with a diagnosis of primary oral squamous cell carcinoma between 2008 and 2015. An analysis of preoperative staging findings, collected by clinical palpation, ultrasound, and computed tomography (CT), was performed. The results obtained were compared with the results of the final histopathological findings of the neck dissection specimens. A statistical analysis using McNemar's test was performed. The sensitivity of CT for the detection of malignant cervical tumor spread was 74.5%. The ultrasound obtained a sensitivity of 60.8%. Both CT and ultrasound demonstrated significantly enhanced sensitivity compared to the clinical palpation with a sensitivity of 37.1%. No significant difference was observed between CT and ultrasound. A combination of different staging modalities increased the sensitivity significantly compared with ultrasound staging alone. No significant difference in sensitivity was found between the combined use of different staging modalities and CT staging alone. The highest sensitivity, of 80.0%, was obtained by a combination of all three staging modalities: clinical palpation, ultrasound and CT. The present study indicates that CT has an essential role in the preoperative staging of patients with oral squamous cell carcinoma. Its use not only significantly increases the sensitivity of cervical lymph node metastasis detection but also offers a preoperative assessment of local tumor spread and resection borders. An additional non-invasive cervical lymph node examination increases the sensitivity of the tumor staging process and reduces the risk of occult metastasis.

Use of 18F-FDG PET/CT in the preoperative evaluation of patients diagnosed with peritoneal carcinomatosis of ovarian origin, candidates to cytoreduction and hipec. A pending issue

PurposeTo evaluate the clinical usefulness of the results obtained with 18F-FDG PET/CT in relation to CT in the preoperative staging of patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis secondary to primary or recurrent ovarian cancer candidates to cytoreductive surgery and hyperthermic intraoperative intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). Material and methodsA retrospective study comparing the results obtained with CT and 18F-FDG PET/CT in the preoperative evaluation of a series of 59 patients was performed. In all patients the peritoneal carcinomatosis index (PCI) was determined by preoperative radiological CT and 18F-FDG PET/CT and compared with surgical PCI, which was considered as reference. ResultsOf the 59 patients studied, in 55 peritoneal carcinomatosis presences were confirmed (4 patients had complete responses to neoadjuvant chemotherapy). The mean surgical, CT and 18F-FDG PET/CT PCI was 9.46±7.70, 3.69±3.96 and 2.25±1.02, respectively. In the global disease detection, CT showed a higher positive likelihood ratio (LR+) than 18F-FDG PET/CT (15.3, 95% CI 8.35–28.04 vs. 3.47, 95% CI 3.36–5.11) and a lower negative likelihood ratio (LR-) than 18F-FDG PET/CT (0.67, 95% CI 0.61–0.73 vs. 0.82, 95% CI 0.76–0.88). In every region of the abdomen the CT showed a greater LR+ than 18F-FDG PET/CT and a lower LR- than 18F-FDG PET/CT. ConclusionsCT showed the best diagnostic results compared to 18F-FDG PET/CT to confirme the presence of peritoneal disease. The lower performance of the 18F-FDG PET/CT suggests that the main utility of 18F-FDG PET/CT is to evaluate a possible metastatic extraperitoneal spread of the disease.