Novel Ga-68-FAPI PET/CT offers oncologic staging without COVID-19 vaccine-related pitfalls

Ziel/Aim The global SARS-CoV-2 vaccination campaign brought attention to a recent pitfall in tumor staging by PET/CT. Several publications reported a non-specific F-18-FDG tracer uptake in axillary lymph nodes after COVID-19 vaccination. Ga-68-FAPI PET/CT is a new oncologic imaging tool that may overcome this limitation. Methodik/Methods For this purpose, we compared the tracer uptake in a head-to-head and same-day F-18-FDG and Ga-68-FAPI PET/CT study. 11 patients from our prospective database (NCT04571086) were included showing vaccine-related tracer uptake in axillary lymph nodes up to 6 weeks after COVID- 19 vaccination. Ergebnisse/Results Among the total of 11 patients, all (n = 11) showed visual positive uptake in the lymph nodes ipsilateral to the injection side on F-18-FDG PET. None (n = 0) of the included patients showed significant tracer uptake on Ga-68-FAPI PET. Follow-up imaging confirmed reactive nodal uptake in all patients. The tumor detection efficacy for these patients was 73 % for F-18-FDG and 94 % for Ga-68-FAPI. Schlussfolgerungen/Conclusions In our case series, Ga-68-FAPI demonstrated resistance to vaccine-related pitfalls while presenting superior tumor detection.

Disruptions due to COVID-19: using mixed methods to identify factors influencing language maintenance and shift

Around the world, COVID-19 lockdowns have caused abrupt shifts in the amount of time spent at home versus out of the home for work, school, and recreation. As a result, many individuals have experienced a disruption in the frequency and type of their interactions. Given the importance of intergenerational transmission and intergenerational interaction for promoting language maintenance, and the importance of peer-to-peer interaction for promoting language shift, we ask how these abrupt changes necessitated by social distancing will affect language use and attitudes, specifically short- and long-term language maintenance or shift involving heritage languages. We examine principles of language maintenance and shift in the context of the COVID-19 lockdown for university students, people still involved in critical acts of identity creation. Here we describe a survey designed to learn how the lockdown is affecting young people's language ecologies and attitudes. Using both quantitative and qualitative interpretive methods, we document the experiences of over 400 students, focusing on changes in their perceptions of their language use and the causes of these changes.