Search

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) findings and pattern of FDG uptake in pancreatic metastases. Materials and methods: A total of 19 consecutive patients (26 lesions) with histologically or clinically confirmed pancreatic metastases who had undergone F-FDG-PET/CT were enrolled in this retrospective study. Among the 19 patients, 14 patients underwent abdominal contrast-enhanced CT (ceCT). The location, size and FDG uptake patterns of the pancreatic lesions were recorded. Metabolic activity by means of maximum standardised uptake value (SUV) was measured by drawing regions of interest at the site of pancreatic lesions. Twenty pancreatic cancer patients were included in this study as comparative data analysis. The difference of SUV between pancreatic metastases and primary pancreatic cancer were compared using the Mann-Whitney U test. P < 0.05 was considered significant. Results: Three different patterns of FDG uptake could be distinguished in the pancreatic metastatic lesions, including focal nodule or mass, multiple foci and segmental lesion with high FDG uptake. The average SUV in pancreatic metastases was 7.8 ± 6.9 versus 7.4 ± 3.9 in primary pancreatic cancer ( P = 0.987 > 0.05). Four intrapancreatic isodense nodules in three patients were undetected on ceCT. Conclusion: The described patterns of FDG uptake findings may be helpful for a better characterisation of pancreatic metastases although semiquantitative analysis using SUV could not be used as a criterion for differentiating pancreatic metastases from primary pancreatic cancer. FDG-PET/CT has also an advantage in detecting unsuspected pancreatic metastases which cannot be detected by ceCT imaging. Thus, it is a useful adjunct to the described features on CT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: In this retrospective study, we evaluated the role of F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) in differentiating malignant from benign portal vein thrombosis (PVT) in patients with known malignant tumors. Methods: Seventy-two patients with histologically or clinically confirmed PVT and who had undergone F-FDG PET/CT were included. Visual and semiquantitative analyses of PET/CT scans were performed. Metabolic activity was measured using the maximum standardized uptake value (SUV) by drawing the region of interest at the site of thrombosis. Receiver operating characteristic analysis was conducted to identify the optimal cutoff of SUV for detecting neoplastic thrombosis. Malignancy was defined using the following criteria: (1) visual analysis and (2) SUV >3.35. PET/CT results were confirmed with histopathological results and clinical and imaging follow-up. Results: The SUV of tumor thrombus (6.37 ± 2.67) was significantly higher than that of bland thrombus (2.87 ± 1.47; P < 0.01). The sensitivities, specificities, and accuracies for the two criteria were 91.5 % and 93.6; 64.0 and 80.0 %; and 81.9 % and 88.9 %, respectively. Conclusion: F-FDG PET/CT is a promising new method for distinguishing between portal venous neoplastic thrombosis and bland thrombosis using semiquantitative analysis, with the optimal cutoff value of SUV >3.35 as a criterion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the safety of nano-hydroxyapatite/polyamide 66 (n-HA/PA66) bioactive support in bone grafting and fusion for elderly patients with lumbar tuberculosis, and to analyze its effectiveness and advantages by comparing with autologous iliac bone grafting., Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 48 elderly patients with lumbar tuberculosis who met the selection criteria between January 2017 and January 2020. The patients all underwent one-stage posterior pedicle screw internal fixation combined with anterior lesion removal and bone grafting and fusion, of which 23 cases applied n-HA/PA66 bioactive support+allogeneic bone graft (n-HA/PA66 group) and 25 cases applied autologous iliac bone graft (autologous iliac bone group). There was no significant difference between the two groups in gender, age, bone density, disease duration, lesion segment, and preoperative pain visual analogue scale (VAS) score, Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, and Cobb angle ( P >0.05). The operation time, intraoperative blood loss, and postoperative complications, as well as the VAS score, JOA score, American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) spinal cord injury grading, Cobb angle, and bone fusion were recorded and compared between the two groups., Results: The operations were completed successfully in both groups. n-HA/PA66 group had significantly less operation time and intraoperative blood loss than the autologous iliac bone group ( P <0.05). All patients were followed up 12-24 months, with an average of 15.7 months. And the difference in follow-up time between the two groups was not significant ( P >0.05). Postoperative complications occurred in 3 cases (13%) in the n-HA/PA66 group and 10 cases (40%) in the autologous iliac group, and the difference in the incidence of complications between the two groups was significant ( χ 2 =4.408, P =0.036). The postoperative VAS scores and JOA scores significantly improved when compared with the preoperative scores in both groups ( P <0.05), and the difference was significant ( P <0.05) between 2 weeks after operation and the last follow-up. The difference in VAS score at 2 weeks after operation was significant between the two groups ( P <0.05), and there was no significant difference ( P >0.05) at the other time points. At last follow-up, according to the ASIA grading, the effective improvement rate was 86% (18/21) in the n-HA/PA66 group and 90% (18/20) in the autologous iliac group, with no significant difference ( χ 2 =0.176, P =0.675). Imaging review showed that grade Ⅰ bony fusion was obtained in both groups, and the fusion time of bone graft in the n-HA/PA66 group was significantly longer than that in the autologous iliac bone group ( P <0.05). There was no significant difference in the Cobb angle at each time point between the two groups ( P >0.05). No recurrence of tuberculosis, loosening or fracture of the internal fixator, or displacement of the bone graft was observed during follow-up., Conclusion: In elderly patients with lumbar spine tuberculosis, the n-HA/PA66 bioactive support combined with allogeneic bone graft can effectively restore and maintain the fusion segment height and physiological curvature of the lumbar spine, and the fusion rate of bone graft is similar to that of autologous iliac bone, which can achieve better effectiveness.