Giant fibroadenoma with massive infarction masquerading as malignancy: a case report.

Fibroadenoma is a common benign breast lesion that usually affects women in their second and third decade of life and usually present as small mobile painless lump. However, it is important to recognize that a small percentage have been shown to progress to giant fibroadenomas. Giant fibroadenomas can undergo infarction leading to significant morbidity and difficulty to distinguish from the more aggressive phyllodes tumors or carcinoma. We report an interesting case of giant fibroadenoma (17 × 11 × 7 cm) with massive infarction during lactation, further complicated by lactational mastitis with close resemblance to cystosarcoma phyllodes. Detailed clinical evaluation and proper investigation in the form of USG breast and PET-CT scan helped us to delineate the nature of pathology. Simple excision of lesion with curvilinear incision was done with excellent cosmetic outcome. Histopathologic features were consistent with fibroadenoma (giant) with large areas of infarction. Fibroadenoma breast has varied clinical presentations. The course of disease may be complicated by pregnancy, lactation and inflammatory processes. Massive infarction may make the picture more dubious and masquerade with malignant transformation altering our treatment decision. The presence of necrosis on core biopsy or intra-operative finding should be cautiously interpreted and is not itself a sign of malignancy. Detailed clinical evaluation and comprehensive workup should be done before embarking on radical treatment.

Preliminary Experience with Yttrium-90-labelled Rituximab (Chimeric Anti CD-20 Antibody) in Patients with Relapsed and Refractory B Cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The aim of the study is to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy and safety of Yttrium- 90 radiolabelled chimeric anti CD20 antibody-Rituximab in the treatment of patients with relapsed/ refractory B cell Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma (NHL). METHODS: Twenty patients with relapsed/refractory CD20+ NHL in progressive state were included in the study. These patients had undergone a median of 2 (range 2-5) prior standard chemotherapy ± immunotherapy regimens. All the patients received rituximab 250 mg/m2 on days 1 and 8, and either 14 MBq/kg (0.4 mCi/kg) or 11 MBq/kg (0.3 mCi/kg) of Y-90 Rituximab on day 8 (maximum dose, 32 mCi) depending upon their platelet count. The patients were observed for systemic toxicity and response for at least 12 weeks after therapy. RESULTS: No acute adverse effects were observed after the administration of 90Y-Rituximab. Overall response rate (ORR) was 45% of which complete response (CR) was observed in 2 patients, stable disease in 1 patient and partial response in 6 patients. The therapy was well tolerated with grade IV thrombocytopenia, neutropenia and anemia observed in 3, 4 and 2 patients respectively. CONCLUSION: 90Y-Rituximab therapy is safe and well tolerated in high risk extensively pretreated NHL patients. Toxicity is primarily hematologic, transient and reversible.

Dosimetric analysis of 177Lu-DOTA-rituximab in patients with relapsed/refractory non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.

OBJECTIVE: Radioimmunotherapy targeting CD20 receptors in lymphoma using radiolabeled chimeric antibodies may lead to better therapeutic responses than cold anti-CD20 antibodies. This study aimed to assess the biodistribution and present reasonable estimates of normal organ doses, including red marrow using Lu-DOTA-rituximab. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with relapsed/refractory CD20+ B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma were recruited into this prospective study. In-house labeling of Lu-DOTA-rituximab was performed and administered after quality assurance. Rituximab (375 mg/m), followed by 50 mCi (1850 MBq) of Lu-DOTA-rituximab was administered as a slow intravenous infusion and emission images were acquired. Regions of interest were drawn for kidney, liver, heart, bladder, spleen, and tumor lesions on both anterior and posterior images. Internal dose estimation was performed using OLINDA v1.0 software. RESULTS: The mean age of the 10 patients (eight men and two women) was 52±13 years. The uptake of radiolabeled antibody was visualized within 30 min of administration in the liver, kidneys, heart, spleen, and bladder. The coefficient of determination (R) was greater than 0.95 for organs and the whole body in all patients. The effective half-life of radioimmunoconjugate was 100±28 h (42-126 h). The critical organ in our study was the red marrow. The average total body dose, effective dose, and effective dose equivalent calculated in all 10 patients were 0.13±0.02, 0.15±0.03, and 0.22±0.04 mGy/MBq, respectively. CONCLUSION: There may be considerable interindividual differences in absorbed doses of organs and generalization or extrapolation of doses in the clinical setting at present is not feasible with Lu-DOTA-rituximab in non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patients. Patient-specific dosimetry is thus recommended to eliminate the variations and reduce the possibility of dose-limiting toxicity.

Assessment of renal functions in patients of chronic liver disease.

AIMS AND OBJECTIVES: Renal involvement in patients of chronic liver disease (CLD) is one of the dreaded complications associated with a steep rise in mortality and morbidity. Derangements in various homeostatic mechanisms in CLD leading to direct renal injury or circulatory compromise have been associated with renal impairment. METHOD: Consecutive cirrhotic patients (n = 100) were included in the study. Structural and functional renal failure was identified and patients were classified into various renal syndromes pre renal, intra-renal and hepatorenal syndrome (HRS). RESULTS: At the time of presentation, 37 patients had renal dysfunction. Thirty patients had pre-renal type of renal failure, six patients had intrinsic renal disease and one patient had structural renal disease. Patients with pre-renal type were further classified into volume responsive pre-renal failure and volume non responsive HRS. Five patients had features suggestive of HRS. Patients with decompensation such as portal hypertension (PHTN), jaundice, upper gastro-intestinal bleed and hepatic encephalopathy had significantly higher incidence of renal derangements as compared to their counterparts. Infection in the form of SBP and/or sepsis predisposed patients to develop renal dysfunction. CONCLUSION: Renal impairment in patients with advanced liver disease is not an uncommon phenomenon and is more commonly associated with a more advanced disease. Presence of PHTN and various signs of decompensation increase the chances of renal derangements in these patients. In view of rising incidence of CLD and higher survival (due to better treatment options available), one should be vigilant for the renal derangements in these patients.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumour with unusual sites of metastasis: accurate staging with 18F-FDG PET/CT / Tumor del estroma gastrointestinal con metástasis en localización poco habitual: una estadificación correcta con 18F-FDG PET/TC

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(177)Lu-EDTMP for palliation of pain from bone metastases in patients with prostate and breast cancer: a phase II study.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of (177)Lu-EDTMP for pain palliation in patients with bone metastases from castration-resistant prostate and breast cancer. The secondary objective was to compare low-dose and high-dose (177)Lu-EDTMP in bone pain palliation. METHODS: Included in the study were 44 patients with documented breast carcinoma (12 patients; age 47 ± 13 years) or castration-resistant prostate carcinoma (32 patients; age 66 ± 9 years) and skeletal metastases. Patients were randomized into two equal groups treated with (177)Lu-EDTMP intravenously at a dose of 1,295 MBq (group A) or 2,590 MBq (group B). Pain palliation was evaluated using a visual analogue score (VAS), analgesic score (AS) and Karnofsky performance score (KPS) up to 16 weeks. Toxicity was assessed in terms of haematological and renal parameters. RESULTS: The overall response rate (in all 44 patients) was 86 %. Complete, partial and minimal responses were seen in 6 patients (13 %), 21 patients (48 %) and 11 patients (25 %), respectively. A favourable response was seen in 27 patients (84 %) with prostate cancer and in 11 patients (92 %) with breast cancer. There was a progressive decrease in the VAS from baseline up to 4 weeks (p < 0.05). Also, AS decreased significantly from 1.8 ± 0.7 to 1.2 ± 0.9 (p < 0.0001). There was an improvement in quality of life of the patients as reflected by an increase in mean KPS from 56 ± 5 to 75 ± 7 (p < 0.0001). The overall response rate in group A was 77 % compared to 95 % in group B (p = 0.188). There was a significant decrease in VAS and AS accompanied by an increase in KPS in both groups. Nonserious haematological toxicity (grade I/II) was observed in 15 patients (34 %) and serious toxicity (grade III/IV) occurred in 10 patients (23 %). There was no statistically significant difference in haematological toxicity between the groups. CONCLUSION: (177)Lu-EDTMP was found to be a safe and effective radiopharmaceutical for bone pain palliation in patients with metastatic prostate and breast carcinoma. There were no differences in efficacy or toxicity between patients receiving low-dose and high-dose (177)Lu-EDTMP.

Enchondroma of clivus: appearance on 18F-FDG PET-CT in contrast with MRI.

A 55-year-old man underwent MRI for right hemifacial pain, which demonstrated a heterogeneously enhancing lesion in right clivus. The lesion was characterized as enchondroma on CT images, which demonstrated increased tracer uptake on PET-CT images. The chondroid matrix showed increased glucose metabolism with no significant enhancement on MRI, suggesting a perfusion-metabolism mismatch.

(18)F-FDG PET/CT in detection of sarcomatous degeneration of renal angiomyolipoma in setting of tuberous sclerosis.

Angiomyolipomas (AMLs) of kidneys are one of the common extracranial manifestations of tuberous sclerosis (TSC). AMLs when large may cause life-threatening hemorrhage, but seldom undergo malignant degeneration. We describe the appearance of renal AML degenerated to angiosarcoma on (18)F-flruorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ((18)F-FDG PET/CT) and contrast-enhanced CT (CECT).

Effect of duration of fasting and diet on the myocardial uptake of F-18-2-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (F-18 FDG) at rest.

CONTEXT: Patterns of myocardial fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) uptake with respect to duration of fasting and dietary modifications. AIM: We observed the effect of duration of fasting and diet on the myocardial uptake pattern of F-18 FDG in patients routinely referred for oncological evaluation and no previous history of Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). SETTINGS AND DESIGN: Prospective study. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: A total of 153 patients (M: 81, F: 72; mean age: 47 ± 15 years; mean blood glucose level (mBG) 105 ± 23 mg/dl) were randomly divided in three groups. Group A: 4-6 h fasting; Group B: Overnight fasting (12-14 h); Group C: Low carbohydrate and fat rich diet for 2 days coupled with overnight fasting prior to the positron emission tomography (PET) scan. FDG uptake was classified as following: 1) homogeneous uptake, 2) heterogeneous uptake, and 3) 'no uptake' in the left ventricular (LV) myocardium. FDG PET study was performed as standard protocol for oncological conditions. STATISTICAL ANALYSIS USED: Descriptive statistics, Chi-square test or Fisher's exact test, and Spearman's rank correlation tests were applied. RESULTS: We observed the 'no uptake' pattern in five (10%), 28 (55%), and 39 (77%), 'heterogeneous' pattern in 20 (39%), 14 (28%), and seven (14%), and 'homogeneous' pattern in 26 (51%), nine (18%), and five (10%) patients in Group A, B, and C, respectively. There was statistically significant difference of myocardial uptake pattern between group A and B (P < 0.0001), between group A and C (P < 0.0001), and between Group B and C (P = 0.023). The mBG was 102, 105, and 111 mg/dl in 'no uptake', heterogeneous, and homogeneous uptake pattern, respectively, (P = 0.103). Also, within each group the mBG was not related to the uptake pattern. CONCLUSION: Both restricted diet and duration of fasting play an important role in determining the pattern and suppression of myocardial F-18 FDG uptake. Overnight fasting and restricted diet together suppress myocardial FDG uptake more than overnight fasting alone, which suppresses uptake more than 4-h fasting.

Metastases to hernial sac detected on (18)F-FDG PET/CT.

The presence of primary or metastatic cancer within a hernial sac is uncommon. Based on the anatomical relation of the tumor to the sac, malignant tumors within hernia sac are classified into 3 groups; intrasaccular, saccular, and extrasaccular. We present F-FDG PET/CT images of 2 cases of hernia sac metastasis, one from non-small cell lung cancer and another from infiltrating ductal breast carcinoma. F-FDG PET/CT was useful in these cases for detection of the metastatic lesion within hernial sac and thus in assessment of total disease burden.

An approach for conjugation of (177) Lu- DOTA-SCN- Rituximab (BioSim) & its evaluation for radioimmunotherapy of relapsed & refractory B-cell non Hodgkins lymphoma patients.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: The prerequisite of radioimmunotherapy is stable binding of a radionuclide to monoclonal antibodies, which are specific to the tumour-associated antigen. Most B-cell lymphomas express CD20 antigen on the surface of the tumour cells, making it a suitable target for therapeutic radioactive monoclonal antibodies. In the present study, the immunoconjugate of biosimilar Rituximab (Reditux™) and macrocyclic chelator, p-SCN-Bz-DOTA, was prepared and radiolabelled with Lutetium-177 followed by quality control procedures. METHODS: Rituximab(BioSim) was desalted with sodium bicarbonate (0.1M, pH 9.0) and incubated with DOTA-SCN (1:50). The effectiveness of the conjugation was evaluated by determining the number of chelators per antibody molecule. This conjugate was radiolabelled with Lutetium-177 and purified using PD10 column. The quality control parameters like pH, clarity, radiochemical purity, in vitro stability and sterility were studied. Immunoreactivity of 177 Lu-DOTA-Rituximab (BioSim) was assessed using RAMOS cells. The radioimmunoconjugate (RIC) after stringent quality assurance was injected in three patients and the biodistribution profile was analysed. RESULTS: An average of 4.25 ± 1.04 p-SCN-Bz-DOTA molecules could be randomly conjugated to a single molecule of Rituximab (BioSim).The radiochemical purity of the labelled antibody was > 95 per cent with preserved affinity for CD20 antigen. The final preparation was stable up to about 120 h when tested under different conditions. A favourable biodistribution profile was observed with liver showing the maximum uptake of the RIC. INTERPRETATION & CONCLUSIONS: A favourable radiochemical purity, stability and biodistribution of the radiolabelled immunoconjugate indicate that clinical trials for evaluation of toxicity and efficacy of 177 Lu-DOTA-antiCD20 antibody-Rituximab (BioSim) in patients of relapsed and refractory non Hodgkin's lymphoma can be considered.

Cervical and thoracic actinomycosis on (18)F-FDG PET/CT.

Actinomycosis is a rare chronic granulomatous disease that runs an indolent course, predominantly seen in Asian countries. The present case highlights the findings of F-FDG PET/CT in cervicothoracic actinomycosis imitating lymphoma.

68Ga DOTANOC PET/CT in primary neuroendocrine tumor of the breast.

Primary neuroendocrine tumor (NET) of the breast is very rare. We present a case of a pathologically confirmed, primary breast NET in a 49-year-old woman with 68Ga DOTANOC PET/CT imaging findings. 68Ga DOTANOC PET/CT revealed somatostatin receptors expressing active lesions in primary right breast NET with metastases to multiple bilateral axillary and right cervical lymph nodes, bilateral lungs, and multiple skeletal sites.

A rare case of non-small cell lung cancer metastasizing to the pituitary gland: detection with (18)F-FDG PET-CT.

Metastases to the pituitary gland are rare. We here present a case of a 52-year-old man with non-small cell lung cancer where pituitary metastasis was detected on staging F-FDG PET-CT, characterized with MRI and confirmed at histopathology. By demonstrating such rare site of metastasis, F-FDG PET-CT can have significant impact on management of cancer patients.

Prospective comparison of (99m)Tc-GH SPECT/CT and (18)F-FDOPA PET/CT for detection of recurrent glioma: a pilot study.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to evaluate and compare the role of Tc-GH SPECT/CT and F-FDOPA PET/CT for diagnosing recurrence in patients with glioma. METHODS: Thirty patients with histopathologically proven glioma (glioblastoma multiforme, 14; grade III, 6; grade II, 8; and grade I, 2), who presented with clinical and/or imaging suspicion of recurrence were prospectively evaluated. They were primarily treated with surgery and radiotherapy with or without chemotherapy. Each patient underwent Tc-GH SPECT/CT and F-FDOPA PET/CT within a span of 15 days. Images were evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively by 2 experienced nuclear medicine physicians in consensus. Histopathology and/or clinical/imaging follow-up were used as reference standard. RESULTS: Based on reference standard, 22 patients were positive and 8 were negative for recurrence. Tc-GH SPECT/CT was positive for recurrence in 22 and negative in 8 patients. F-FDOPA PET/CT scan was positive for recurrence in 23 and negative in 7 patients. Sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy were 86.4%, 62.5%, and 80% for Tc-GH SPECT/CT and 100%, 87.5%, and 96% for F-FDOPA PET/CT, respectively. No significant difference was found between Tc-GH SPECT/CT and F-FDOPA PET/CT overall (P = 1.00), as well as for low-grade (P = 0.250) or high-grade tumors (P = 0.50). Significant correlation was noted between tumor-brain of Tc-GH with both tumor-striatum (r = 0.371; P = 0.044) and tumor-cerebellum ratio of F-FDOPA (r = 0.369; P = 0.045). CONCLUSIONS: For detection of recurrence in glioma patients, Tc-GH SPECT/CT is not inferior to F-FDOPA PET/CT and can be used as a low-cost alternative.

Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy with (177)Lu DOTATATE in a case of recurrent carotid body paraganglioma with spinal metastases.

Paragangliomas are rare benign neuroendocrine tumors, and 80% of all paragangliomas are either carotid body tumors or glomus jugulare tumors. We present a case of recurrent unresectable carotid body paraganglioma with nodal and T7 vertebral metastases in a 30-year-old man 6 years postsurgery detected with Ga DOTANOC PET/CT and was administered with peptide receptor radionuclide therapy using Lu DOTATATE. After 5 cycles of Lu DOTATATE (total cumulative activity of 750 mCi [27 GBq]), significant response at the primary site on Ga DOTANOC PET/CT and complete disappearance of nodal and T7 vertebral metastases were noted.

68Ga DOTANOC PET/CT for accurate delineation of disease extent in a case of sinonasal small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma.

Neuroendocrine tumors constitute a heterogeneous group of neoplasms arising from the cells of the neural crest. We present a rare case of primary sinonasal neuroendocrine carcinoma in a 61-year-old male patient where somatostatin receptor PET/CT with 68Ga-DOTANOC correctly delineated the extent of primary tumor as compared to contrast-enhanced CT, thereby changing patient management.

68Ga-DOTANOC PET-CT demonstrating in vivo somatostatin receptor expression in idiopathic gynecomastia.

Gynecomastia is abnormal enlargement of the male breasts due to the excess growth of glandular component. A 65-year-old man with medullary carcinoma of thyroid underwent (68)Ga-DOTANOC PET-CT for somatostatin receptor (SSTR) scintigraphy. Extensive nodal, bone, and bone marrow disease was seen. Interestingly, increased (68)Ga-DOTANOC uptake was also noted in bilateral enlarged mammary glands (gynecomastia). Although SSTR types 1 and 3 have been identified in the normal female breast, no report exists regarding SSTR expression in gynecomastia.

Lymphomatous involvement of epididymis: detection and response assessment with (18)F-FDG PET/CT.

Lymphomatous involvement of epididymis, primary or secondary to extensive extranodal disease, is a rare entity. We describe a case of extranodal non-Hodgkin lymphoma where staging F-FDG PET/CT demonstrated unsuspected lymphomatous involvement of epididymis and restaging FDG PET/CT showed complete response after chemotherapy.