The study evaluates clinical presentation and outcome of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) on a large series of patients homogeneously managed.
A cohort of 1503 DTC followed according to a ...standardized protocol entered the study. Main outcome measures were clinical presentation at the diagnosis, survival, morbidity and prognostic risk factors.
Median age at diagnosis was 46 years. Papillary cancer and low pathological tumor–node–metastasis stages represented >80% of cases. Cancer specific survival at 5, 10 and 15 years was 98.6%, 94.7% and 87.4%; 10-year disease-free and progression-free survivals were 96.8% and 17.1%, respectively. Cancer-specific mortality rate was 2.5% 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.7% to 3.4%, recurrence rate was 0.6 % while morbidity rate was 12.6% (95% CI 11% to 14%). Response to radioiodine treatment is the strongest predictor of a good outcome in multivariate analysis (hazard ratio 211, P < 0.0001). Other independent predictor variables are sex, age, histology and distant metastases for survival and metastases for morbidity.
A rigorous initial therapeutic approach leads to a better survival and a very low morbidity. Patients who do not respond to radioiodine treatment have a worse prognosis.
This multi-centre phase II clinical trial is the first prospective evaluation of radioembolisation of patients with colorectal liver metastases (mCRC) who failed previous oxaliplatin- and ...irinotecan-based systemic chemotherapy regimens.
Eligible patients had adequate hepatic, haemopoietic and renal function, and an absence of major hepatic vascular anomalies and hepato-pulmonary shunting. Gastroduodenal and right gastric arteries were embolised before hepatic arterial administration of yttrium-90 resin microspheres (median activity, 1.7 GBq; range, 0.9-2.2).
Of 50 eligible patients, 38 (76%) had received > or =4 lines of chemotherapy. Most presented with synchronous disease (72%), >4 hepatic metastases (58%), 25-50% replacement of total liver volume (60%) and bilateral spread (70%). Early and intermediate (>48 h) WHO G1-2 adverse events (mostly fever and pain) were observed in 16 and 22% of patients respectively. Two died due to renal failure at 40 days or liver failure at 60 days respectively. By intention-to-treat analysis using Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumours, 1 patient (2%) had a complete response, 11 (22%) partial response, 12 (24%) stable disease, 22 (44%) progressive disease; 4 (8%) were non-evaluable. Median overall survival was 12.6 months (95% CI, 7.0-18.3); 2-year survival was 19.6%.
Radioembolisation produced meaningful response and disease stabilisation in patients with advanced, unresectable and chemorefractory mCRC.
Background: Knowledge of factors able to predict the clinical outcome of homogenous series of entero-pancreatic endocrine tumours treated with somatostatin analogues is poor. This study was aimed at ...identifying predictors for efficacy of somatostatin analogues at inhibiting tumour growth and modifying patients' survival during long-term follow-up. Patients and methods: 31 patients with entero-pancreatic well-differentiated endocrine carcinoma received long-acting somatostatin analogues. All had progressive, metastatic disease (87% liver metastases, 38.7% distant extra-hepatic metastases). Results: Response rate after 6 months of treatment was 45.2% (all disease stabilisation: 27.8% of pancreatic vs. 81.8% of intestinal tumours, P = 0.007). The predictors for non-response were: pancreatic tumour (OR 5.8), no previous surgery (OR 6.7), and the presence of distant extra-hepatic metastases, the latter being also confirmed by multivariate analysis (OR 10.0). Responders maintained stabilisation for 26.5 months, and none died during follow-up. Different survival curves were observed for patients, responding at 6 months compared to non-responders (P = 0.004), 3-year survival rate being 100% and 52.3%, respectively. Conclusions: Distant extra-hepatic metastases are the major predictor of poor efficacy of somatostatin analogues in progressive, metastatic, well-differentiated entero-pancreatic endocrine carcinomas. Patients achieving response after 6 months of treatment, maintain it throughout a long-term follow-up. Non-responders after 6 months of treatment, have a worse survival, and should be considered for alternative treatments.
The aim of the study was to assess the state of the art of the use of bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals for palliation therapy of pain from bone metastases.
A systematic literature search was ...conducted about therapy with 89Sr-chloride and 153Sm-EDTMP between 2001-2011. The primary outcomes were efficacy and toxicity. Descriptive and quantitative data were extracted from each study, calculating event rates and odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for pooled analysis. Subgroup analyses were performed.
Fifty-seven studies contributed to the systematic review. Forty-six studies used radiopharmaceuticals as a single agent, 15 investigated therapeutic combinations. Most of the studies included patients with prostate cancer. The overall efficacy of bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals as single agents was 70%, whereas it was 74% when used in combination with other therapies. Complete response was reported in 27% of patients. Efficacy resulted to be 70% for prostate cancer and 79% for breast cancer. The overall toxicity of radiopharmaceuticals was 15%: the toxicity was 11% selecting only studies reporting on the use of radiopharmaceuticals as a single agent. No significant difference was found between bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals and other oncological treatments regarding efficacy or toxicity. Reports of objective response outcomes suggest that bone-seeking radiopharmaceuticals have some cytotoxic activity, either alone or combination with chemotherapy.
This literature analysis emphasizes multiple evidences of high efficacy and low toxicity of bone seeking radiopharmaceuticals; moreover, this therapy may have a therapeutic potential beyond simple palliation of bone pain.
"Difficult vascular anatomy" is a challenge for Interventional Radiologists especially in liver directed therapies such as trans arterial radio embolization. Trans arterial radio embolization is a ...long and difficult procedure in which the basic knowledge of hepatic and gastro-enteric vascularization, with its high degree of variations, is very important in order to correctly administer the therapeutic drug selectively. In this report, we present a case of an atypical patient affected by an unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, candidate for Radio-embolization treatment. His vascular anatomy was very difficult to manage, but the Interventional Radiologist was not only able to go over the "difficult anatomy," but also to take advantage of it.
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) acting against CTLA-4 and PD-1 represent a strenght therapy in patients (pts) with metastatic melanoma (MM). Antineoplastic activity of ICIs through the activation ...of immune cells in tumor lesions raised challenge in evaluation of treatment response by imaging. Aim of this study was to compare diagnostic accuracy of different 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters (Metabolic Tumor Volume, MTV; Total Lesion Glycolisis, TLG; Maximum Standardised Uptake Value, SUVmax) to predict therapy response and clinical outcome in pts with MM treated with Ipilimumab (Ipi) and Nivolumab (Nivo) or Pembrolizumab (Pem) and to check for accuracy differences specific for the class of treatment.
57MM pts receiving Ipi (25) or PD-1 inhibitors (Nivo 19; Pem 13) who performed a 18F-FDG PET/CT scan at the beginning (PET0) and after completion of Ipi or during anti PD-1 (PET1), were retrospectively evaluated. Response at PET1 was classified as PD, SD, PR and CR according to RECIST 1.1, EORTC criteria and by percentage change of MTV and TLG (cut off values: +43% for PD and -43% for PR, calculated by ROC analysis) of up to 5 target lesions. PET Response Evaluation Criteria for Immunotherapy (PERCIMT) were assessed alone and with the previously described parameters. Performance of each criteria at PET1 to predict pts having clinical benefit (CR, PR and SD) and no clinical benefit (PD) at 6 months since starting ICIs were assessed and correlated to time-to-progression.
For Ipi pts group, best predictors of response were: variation of MTV (Sensitivity 1; Specificity 0.84; accuracy 0.96) and TLG (Se 0.89; Sp; 93.8; acc 0.92), with PERCIMT criteria for progressive disease. In anti-PD1 group overlapping predictivity values were found for EORTC, MTV and TLG (Se 0.95; Sp 1; Acc 0.97). Reliability of above parameters was also confirmed in predicting pts progression free survival at 12 and 24 months.
18F-FDG PET/CT performed 3 months later the first administration could predict response to ICIs and long-term patient clinical outcome. Performance of 18F-FDG PET/CT parameters and criteria in predicting response to ICIs is influenced by the class of treatment.
Local Ethic committee.
Has not received any funding.
All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.
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