Diagnostic performance of F-18 FDG PET/CT in patients with cancer of unknown primary: additional benefit over CT-based conventional work up

Background: In the era of well-developed site-specific treatment strategies in cancer, identification of occult primary is of paramount importance in CUP patients. Furthermore, exact determination of the extent of the disease may help in optimizing treatment planning. The aim of the present study was to investigate additional value of F-18 FDG PET/CT in patients with cancer of unknown primary [CUP] as an appropriate imaging tool in early phase of initial standard work up

Materials and Methods: Sixty-two newly diagnosed CUP patients with inconclusive diagnostic CT scan of chest, abdomen and pelvis referring for F-18 FDG PET/CT were enrolled in this study. Standard of reference was defined as histopathology, other diagnostic procedures and a 3-month formal clinical follow up. The results of PET/CT were categorized as suggestion for primary site and additional metastasis and classified as true positive, false positive, false negative and true negative. The impact of additional metastasis revealed by F-18 FDG PET/CT on treatment planning and the time contribution of F-18 FDG PET/CT in diagnostic pathway was investigated

Results: Sixty-two patients with mean age of 62 [30 men, 32 women], PET/CT correctly identified primary origin in 32% with false positive rate of 14.8%. No primary lesion was detected after negative PET/CT according to standard of reference. Sensitivity, Specificity and accuracy were 100%, 78% and 85%, respectively. Additional metastatic site was found in 56% with 22% impact on treatment planning. Time contribution for PET/CT was 10% of total diagnostic pathway

Conclusion: Providing higher detection rate of primary origin with excellent diagnostic performance, shortening the diagnostic pathway and improving treatment planning, F-18 FDG PET/CT may play a major role in diagnostic work up of CUP patients and may be recommended as an alternative imaging tool in early phase of investigation

relationship between employees' continuing education and performance in Tehran's teaching hospitals

Introduction: Continuing education and training of employees significantly affect a hospital's performance and efficiency, and learning organizations usually exhibit higher efficiency. Hence, the objective of this study was to evaluate the correlation between the hospital employees' continuing education and performance indicators in the teaching hospitals affiliated to Tehran's Azad University

Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted in the teaching hospitals affiliated to Tehran's Azad University in 2014. The subjects consisted of 70 professional hospital employees, including physicians, nurses, midwives and other personnel who had attended continuing education courses. A data collection form was used to collect the data. The data were analyzed with SPSSW-20 software. Pearson correlation coefficient was used at a significance level of 0.05

Results: The number of continuing education courses held for physicians and nurses was equal]five courses], while fewer courses were held for the remaining personnel. There were significant associations between the employees' continuing education and bed occupancy rate [p=0.009] and bed turnover interval [p=0.01]. There was no significant association between the employees' continuing education and hospital death rate [p=0.19]

Conclusion: Training employees ultimately affects their performance in the hospital. Hence, a deeper insight into the significance of hospital training is needed for decision-making policy-makers and for hospitals' executive managers to efficiently use the limited therapeutic resources and eventually achieve optimum effectiveness