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Fertility preservation services must offer information to patients, prior to their visit, so that they have time to read and digest the information, and also have the opportunity to write down any questions they wish to ask at the oncofertility consultation appointment. Appointments must be offered immediately, based on a specifically designed referral form. Each fertility service providing oncology cryopreservation should have a robust map of the patient's journey to include referral, counseling session, medical consultation, informed consent, treatment plan, and follow-up. Consent for fertility preservation should only be obtained after thorough assessment and discussion with the patient. It must contain basic aspects such as duration of storage, right to dispose or choose alternatives, wishes about stored material if death occurs, and need for patient contact on an annual basis. Appropriate legal advice should be sought in the process of establishing oncology cryopreservation services, most importantly related to patient consent. Ethical and legal aspects of fertility cryopreservation must be considered in the provision of care for cancer patients. Cancer patients attending for cryopreservation have significant concerns in relation to the success of the process, time frame to return for cancer treatment, and safety. Two major nonmedical aspects, coping ability and mortality, are best addressed by counselors and highlight the need to offer this type of psychological support to all cancer patients attending for fertility preservation. The role of genetic counseling is to discuss any potential risks of transmission of the disease to the resulting offspring and offer genetic testing when appropriate. A service based on availability of comprehensive information coupled with in-house implications counseling will have a positive impact and improve the overall care of patients attending for fertility cryopreservation and this should be standard care., (© 2025 International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics.)

Purpose: The clinico-radiological dilemma in post-treatment high-grade gliomas, between disease recurrence (TR) and treatment-related changes (TRC), still persists. FET (Fluoro-ethyl-tyrosine) PET has been extensively used as problem-solving modality for cases where MR imaging is inconclusive. We incorporated a systematic imaging and clinical follow-up algorithm in a multi-disciplinary clinic (MDC) setting to analyse our cohort of FET PET in post-treatment gliomas., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 171 patients of post-treatment grade III and IV glioma with equivocal findings on MRI. 185-222 MBq of 18 F-FET was injected and dedicated static imaging of brain was performed at 20 min. TBR (Tumor to background ratio) was used as semi-quantitative parameter. Cutoff of 2.5 was used for image interpretation. Imaging findings were confirmed with histopathological diagnosis, wherever available or in a multidisciplinary joint clinic based on serial imaging., Results: 121 of 171 patients showed recurrent disease on FET PET, on follow up, 109 were confirmed with recurrence; 7 patients showed TRC, whereas 5 were treated with bevacizumab, with no further clinico-radiological deterioration, thus confirming TRC. 50 patients showed TRC on FET PET, on follow up on follow up, 40 were confirmed as true-negative. 10 patients who showed TBR less than 2.5 had confirmed TR on subsequent MR imaging. The overall sensitivity and specificity was 91.6 and 76.9% respectively, with a diagnostic accuracy of 87.13%., Conclusion: There is potential for FET PET to be used along with MRI in the post treatment algorithm of high-grade glial tumors., Competing Interests: Declarations Ethical approval The study was approved by Institutional Ethics Committee, Tata Memorial Hospital (Project No – 900717). Informed consent Since this is a retrospective study, waiver of consent was given by Institutional Ethics Committee. However, as part of standard practice, written and informed consent was taken before undergoing FET PET and MRI procedure. Conflict of interest There are no conflicts of interest. No competing interests or disclosures., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Extracranial metastasis from high-grade glial tumors is an extremely rare condition with its reported incidence being <1%. The most common sites reported in the literature are leptomeninges and spinal cord, followed by the liver, lung, and skeletal system. Its low incidence is thought to be related to the intrinsic aggressive biology of the tumor, thus reducing median overall survival in patients. As there is lack of knowledge about the mechanism of extracranial spread of glioma cells, its diagnosis and management remain a major challenge. We report two cases of extracranial metastases from glial tumors to cervical nodes and postoperative site involving preauricular region detected on F18 Fluoro ethyl tyrosine (FET) positron emission tomography-computed tomography and later on confirmed with histopathology Fluoro ethyl tyrosine., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Purpose: Refractory and/or recurrent meningiomas have poor outcomes, and the treatment options are limited. Peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT) has been used in this setting with promising results. We have documented our experience of using intravenous (IV) and intra-arterial (IA) approaches of Lu-177 DOTATATE PRRT., Methods: Eight patients with relapsed/refractory high-grade meningioma received PRRT with Lu-177 DOTATATE by IV and an IA route. At least 2 cycles were administered. Time to progression was calculated from the first PRRT session to progression. The response was assessed on MRI using RANO criteria, and visual analysis of uptake was done on Ga-68 DOTANOC PET/CT. Post-therapy dosimetry calculations for estimating the absorbed dose were performed., Results: Median time to progression was 8.9 months. One patient showed disease progression, whereas seven patients showed stable disease at 4 weeks following 2 cycles of PRRT. Dosimetric analysis showed higher dose and retention time by IA approach. No significant peri-procedural or PRRT associated toxicity was seen., Conclusion: PRRT is a safe and effective therapeutic option for relapsed/refractory meningioma. The IA approach yields better dose delivery and should be routinely practised., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Neurology India, Neurological Society of India.)

Purpose: We proposed to administer Lu-177-DOTATATE in intra-arterial (IA) mode for higher first-pass localization to somatostatin receptors, higher residence time in liver metastases, and more radiation to tumor. This study aimed at assessing early hematological, renal and hepatotoxicity; and objective response to IA peptide receptor radionuclide therapy (PRRT)., Materials and Methods: Fourteen patients (4 females and 10 males) were prospectively assessed. 5/14 patients underwent 2 cycles, whereas 3/14 underwent 3 cycles, and 6/14 received 1 cycle of IA PRRT. 200 mCi of Lu-177-DOTATATE was administered in 15-20 min by IA route under angiographic guidance. Patients were asked to follow-up at 4 and 8 weeks with hematological, liver, and renal functional parameters, and Ga-68 DOTATATE positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) after 8 weeks. Response was assessed using RECIST 1.1 and EORTC PET criteria., Results: Safety: 2/14 patients had high total and direct bilirubin, which reverted to normal after IA PRRT. Three patients had low albumin, which improved after 1 cycle. Nine patients showed no worsening of liver function. Two patients showed Grade 1 hematotoxicity which reverted to normal. Five patients showed high creatinine, but preserved glomerular filtration rate and EC clearance. On follow-up at 8 weeks, serum creatinine reverted to normal. Efficacy: In five patients who underwent 2 cycles of IA PRRT, 3 showed partial response (PR) on RECIST 1.1 and partial metabolic response (PMR) on EORTC criteria, whereas 2 showed stable disease (SD). In patients who underwent 3 cycles, 1 showed SD, whereas other patient showed PMR on DOTANOC PET/CT, with PR in size. Among the remaining seven patients, 5 showed PMR, whereas the other 2 showed SD. Thus 9/14 patients showed PR, whereas 5 showed SD on metabolic and size criteria., Conclusions: IA PRRT is a safe and efficacious approach for the treatment of liver dominant metastatic neuroendocrine tumors., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a widely accepted and used tracer in staging and biochemical recurrences of prostate cancer. PSMA is extensively expressed in normal prostatic epithelial cells and prostate cancer cells, with some amount of expression also in nonprostatic cells. False-positive PSMA uptake in nonmalignant lesions creates ambiguity in disease detection. In such cases, histopathological correlation and radiological follow-up assist in clinical decision-making. In this case series, we illustrate a few cases where PSMA uptake was incidentally found in some of the commonly occurring benign conditions., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Abstract: PET/CT and radioisotope therapy are diagnostic and therapeutic arms of Nuclear Medicine, respectively. With the emergence of better technology, PET/CT has become an accessible modality. Diagnostic tracers exploring disease-specific targets has led the clinicians to look beyond FDG PET. Moreover, with the emergence of theranostic pairs of radiopharmaceuticals, radioisotope therapy is gradually making it's way into treatment algorithm of common cancers in India. We therefore would like to discuss in detail the updates in PET/CT imaging and radionuclide therapy and generate a consensus-driven evidence based document which would guide the practitioners of Oncology., (Copyright © 2024 Copyright: © 2024 Indian Journal of Cancer.)

Rising incidence and mortality of cancer have led to an incremental amount of research in the field. To learn from preexisting data, it has become important to capture maximum information related to disease type, stage, treatment, and outcomes. Medical imaging reports are rich in this kind of information but are only present as free text. The extraction of information from such unstructured text reports is labor-intensive. The use of Natural Language Processing (NLP) tools to extract information from radiology reports can make it less time-consuming as well as more effective. In this study, we have developed and compared different models for the classification of lung carcinoma reports using clinical concepts. This study was approved by the institutional ethics committee as a retrospective study with a waiver of informed consent. A clinical concept-based classification pipeline for lung carcinoma radiology reports was developed using rule-based as well as machine learning models and compared. The machine learning models used were XGBoost and two more deep learning model architectures with bidirectional long short-term neural networks. A corpus consisting of 1700 radiology reports including computed tomography (CT) and positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) reports were used for development and testing. Five hundred one radiology reports from MIMIC-III Clinical Database version 1.4 was used for external validation. The pipeline achieved an overall F1 score of 0.94 on the internal set and 0.74 on external validation with the rule-based algorithm using expert input giving the best performance. Among the machine learning models, the Bi-LSTM&#95;dropout model performed better than the ML model using XGBoost and the Bi-LSTM&#95;simple model on internal set, whereas on external validation, the Bi-LSTM&#95;simple model performed relatively better than other 2. This pipeline can be used for clinical concept-based classification of radiology reports related to lung carcinoma from a huge corpus and also for automated annotation of these reports., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Neuroendocrine tumor (NET) of the prostate is an extremely rare entity which represents <1% of the prostatic cancers, but with increasing incidence. Its spectrum encompasses several histological variants ranging from well-differentiated tumor which are often indolent in nature; to aggressive neuroendocrine carcinoma which portends aggressive management. Hence, such rare entities are to be characterized and treated accordingly. We report an unusual case of well-differentiated NET of prostate which was flagged on fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography computed tomography (PET/CT) performed for other indication and confirmed on Gallium-68 DOTANOC PET/CT. Histopathology and immunohistochemistry confirmed the findings subsequently., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2023 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Purpose: To analyze diagnostic performance of F-18 FDG PET/CT in recurrent adenocarcinoma gallbladder (GBC) and to establish its possible impact on post-recurrence survival., Method: FDG PET/CT studies of suspected recurrent GBC were retrospectively analyzed alongside tumor markers serum CEA and CA 19-9. Abnormal FDG-avid lesions and abnormal morphological lesions were considered positive for recurrence, and were categorized as isolated abdominal wall recurrence, loco-regional recurrence, and distant metastatic disease. Histopathology, definite progression on imaging and positive response to treatment was considered as reference standard. Sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and accuracy were used as diagnostic performance parameters. Post-recurrence survival was calculated whenever appropriate follow-up was available, based on the abovementioned categories of sites of recurrence using survival curves and log-rank test., Results: Out of 117 PET/CT studies, 93 (79.5%) were positive and 24 (20.5%) were negative for recurrence. 86 out of 93 were true positive and 23 of 24 were true negative. PET/CT demonstrated sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 98.8%, 76.7%, 92.5%, 95.8% and 93.1%, respectively. Diagnostic performance of PET/CT was significantly better than combination tumor markers. Of 66 cases with available follow-up, isolated abdominal wall (port/scar site) recurrence and loco-regional recurrence demonstrated significantly higher post-recurrence survival as compared to distant metastasis; median survival being 39, 25 and 12 months, respectively., Conclusion: F-18 FDG PET/CT has better diagnostic performance than tumor markers combination. Isolated abdominal wall (port/scar site) recurrence and loco-regional recurrence on PET/CT demonstrated better survival than non-regional metastatic disease. These results suggest a possible role of PET/CT as a surveillance modality, as well as a guide to therapeutic decision-making in cases of recurrent GBC., (© 2022. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Japan Radiological Society.)

Abstract: Sporadic cerebellar hemangioblastomas are rare with majority of these tumors presenting as a part of von Hippel-Lindau syndrome. We demonstrate an unusual case of a symptomatic sporadic cerebellar hemangioblastoma mimicking a meningioma on MRI and 68 Ga-DOTANOC PET imaging., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest and sources of funding: none declared., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

The rising caesarean section (CS) rate is a complex issue, particularly in an increasingly heterogenous nulliparous population. The study aim was to stratify the CS rate in nulliparous women by age and BMI to determine if any difference existed. This was a retrospective review of CS procedures of nulliparous women in two centres in Ireland (2014 through 2017). Data were obtained for 17,177 women from the hospital databases and CS procedures determined for each age and BMI category. Significant differences were observed when CS rates were stratified in this manner. The CS rates for women <20 years/BMI < 18.5 was 8.8 versus 57.6% for women 35 - 39 years/BMI 30 - 34 and 76 - 100% for all women >45 years ( p <.005). The development of customised charts subdivided by age and BMI may be a useful counselling tool and assist in the comparison of rates between units.Impact statement What is already known on this subject? It is well known that along with rising CS rates globally, there have also been significant changes in maternal demographics-with increasing maternal age at first birth and increasing maternal BMI. It is well established that both of these factors affect the rate of CS in a population. What do the results of this study add? This study sought to stratify the CS rate in nulliparous women by age and BMI to determine if any difference existed. The results of the study showed an increasing CS rate for increasing age and BMI categories that was statistically significant. What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? Additional research using larger population data sets could allow the development of customised charts for nulliparous women subdivided by age and BMI which could act as a useful counselling tool in clinical practice, as well as assist in the comparison of CS rates between units.

Cancer treatment is heading towards precision medicine driven by genetic and biochemical markers. Various genetic and biochemical markers are utilized to render personalized treatment in cancer. In the last decade, noninvasive imaging biomarkers have also been developed to assist personalized decision support systems in oncology. The imaging biomarkers i.e., radiomics is being researched to develop specific digital phenotype of tumor in cancer. Radiomics is a process to extract high throughput data from medical images by using advanced mathematical and statistical algorithms. The radiomics process involves various steps i.e., image generation, segmentation of region of interest (e.g. a tumor), image preprocessing, radiomic feature extraction, feature analysis and selection and finally prediction model development. Radiomics process explores the heterogeneity, irregularity and size parameters of the tumor to calculate thousands of advanced features. Our study investigates the role of radiomics in precision oncology. Radiomics research has witnessed a rapid growth in the last decade with several studies published that show the potential of radiomics in diagnosis and treatment outcome prediction in oncology. Several radiomics based prediction models have been developed and reported in the literature to predict various prediction endpoints i.e., overall survival, progression-free survival and recurrence in various cancer i.e., brain tumor, head and neck cancer, lung cancer and several other cancer types. Radiomics based digital phenotypes have shown promising results in diagnosis and treatment outcome prediction in oncology. In the coming years, radiomics is going to play a significant role in precision oncology., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

There is a paucity of evidence of the impact of sorafenib on MCT and it is the preferred therapy used in India. We decided to do an audit of all patients of MCT who were referred to us for systemic therapy. The objective of this exercise was to identify the treatment pattern, outcomes, and adverse events with therapy in MCT. Baseline demographics (age, gender, ECOG PS, comorbidities, habits), tumor details (site of metastasis), previous treatment details, clinical features at metastasis (symptomatic or asymptomatic), the pattern of treatment, adverse events (CTCAE version 4.02), date of progression, date of death and status, and follow-up were extracted from the rare tumor database and electronic medical records. Out of 75 patients referred for therapy for MCT, 47 (62.7%) patients were considered for immediate tyrosine kinase inhibitors as they had symptomatic status and 28 (37.3%) patients were kept on observation due to the asymptomatic nature of the disease. Out of the 28 patients, 15 (53.6%, n = 28) patients were subsequently started on TKI while in 13 (46.4%, n = 28) patients observation was continued. In the overall cohort, the median PFS was 18.9 months (95% CI 11.9-29.9) and OS was 26.6 months (95% CI 14.4-39.0). Among variables tested, only female gender had an impact on PFS (hazard ratio = 0.364 95% CI 0.148-0.895; P = 0.028) and the absence of lung metastasis had a positive impact on OS (hazard ratio = 0.443 95% CI 0.207-0.95; P = 0.037). Most commonly used TKI was sorafenib (n = 61) and sunitinib in 1 patient. The most common adverse events with TKI were palmo-plantar dysesthesia (50, 80.6%) and oral mucositis (25, 40.2%). The strategy of treating symptomatic MCT and observing in asymptomatic MCT is associated with reasonable PFS and OS. Sorafenib is the most commonly used TKI in our setup and provides similar outcomes as globally., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare no competing interests., (© Indian Association of Surgical Oncology 2021.)

Benign metastasizing leiomyoma is a rare condition where benign smooth muscle tumors having a histological appearance similar to uterine leiomyoma are present at distant sites. This entity is commonly associated with a past history of hysterectomy done for uterine fibroids. The knowledge of the presence of significant fluorodeoxyglucose uptake in leiomyoma helped in the diagnosis of this condition in a 47-year-old patient who being evaluated for multiple unusual sites of metastases; this was further confirmed on histopathology., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2022 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Abstract: Medulloblastomas, especially the sonic hedgehog subgroup, are treated aggressively with surgery and chemoradiotherapy, as they are associated with high local site recurrence rate and poor overall survival. Radiation-induced meningioma is the most common delayed complication of craniospinal irradiation. This needs to be differentiated from meningeal or ependymal metastases as the later need aggressive management. We report one such rare case, in a patient who completed treatment for medulloblastoma 11 years ago, was in remission, and now presented with dural-based lesions., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest and sources of funding: none declared., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To assess the overall survival and determine whether pre-TARE shunt fraction, tumor volume and tumor marker impact the outcome., Methods: This is a retrospective study of 75 patients who were referred for 90Y-glass microsphere radioembolisation by a joint clinic decision between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2014. All patients underwent pre-TARE CECT and 99mTc-MAA lung shunt fraction (LSF) imaging., Results: Overall survival was 19 months for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 24 months for metastatic colorectal carcinoma. For hepatocellular carcinoma-LSF higher than 6.51 % was predictive of significantly decreased survival (P value 0.00). A progressive disease in survival was observed as LSF increased from less than 6.51 % to more than 20%. Tumor volume and tumor marker did show correlation with patient outcomes. For metastatic colorectal carcinoma-LSF and tumor marker did not show significant correlation with survival and tumor volume showed significant correlation with survival with P value of 0.049., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aim: To assess the prognostic role of metabolic parameters on 18F-FDG PET/CT & correlation with molecular markers in IDH-1 wild-type GBM., Methods: A total of 129 patients with brain lesions showing equivocal findings on baseline MRI who were referred for fluoro-deoxy-glucose PET/CT were analyzed. Of these, 50 underwent surgery/biopsy and postoperative histopathological diagnosis of IDH-1 wild-type GBM. SUVmax, metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total lesion glycolysis (TLG) & T/w ratio was calculated. Median metabolic parameters were used for stratification. Overall survival was calculated using Kaplan-Meier method and was compared using log rank test. P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Multivariate analysis was done using Cox proportional hazard model. Correlation between metabolic parameters and molecular markers was done using Mann-Whitney U test., Results: Median of SUVmax, T/w ratio, MTV, TLG, 18.3, 2.09, 61, 409. Average overall survival (OS) for T/w ratio >2.08 was 5 months, <2.08 was 18 months (P value 0.001). For MTV >61 was 4 months, <61 was 18 months (P value 0.001). Similarly, for TLG >409 was 5 months while for <409 was 19 months (P value 0.001). SUVmax was not significant for OS. In multivariate analysis, age was the statistically significant independent prognostic factor., Conclusion: Metabolic parameters of fluoro-deoxy-glucose PET/CT help in prognosticating IDH-1 wild-type GBM. Higher MiB-1 index correlates with higher T/w ratio and is associated with poor overall survival., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: Highergrade glial neoplasms undergo standard treatment with surgery, radiotherapy, and alkylating agents. There is often a clinical/neuroimaging dilemma in the post-treatment setting to differentiate disease recurrence from treatment-related changes. FET (fluoro-ethyl-tyrosine) PET has emerged as a molecular imaging modality for cases where MR imaging is inconclusive. This study aims to develop a cutoff on FET PET for differentiating true recurrence from post-treatment changes., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed72 patientswith post-treatment grade 3 or 4 brain gliomas. Five to six mCi of 18 F-FET was injected and static imaging of the brain was performed at 20 min. A tumor-to-white matter (T/Wm) ratio was used as semiquantitative parameter. A T/Wm cutoff of 2.5 was used for image interpretation. Imaging findings were confirmed by either histopathologic diagnosis in a multidisciplinary joint clinic or based on follow-up of clinical and neuroimaging findings., Results: Forty-one of 72 patients (57%) showed recurrent disease on FET PET. Thirty-five of them were confirmed to have tumor recurrence; six patients showed post-treatment changes. Thirty-one of 72 patients (43%) showed post-treatment changes on FET PET; 27 were confirmed as post-treatment change and four patients had tumor recurrence on subsequent MR imaging. An optimum T/Wm cutoff of 2.65 was derived based on receiver operating characteristic analysis with a sensitivity of 80% and specificity of 87.5%., Conclusion: Static FET PET can be used as problem-solving imaging modality with a T/Wm cutoff of 2.65 to differentiate late recurrence from post-treatment changes in grade 3 or 4 brain gliomas with equivocal MR features., (© 2021 American Society of Neuroimaging.)

Abstract: Carcinoma of breast with neuroendocrine differentiation is an extremely rare entity, especially in male population. Although the "garden variety" of male breast cancers is often metastatic at presentation, with an aggressive course, there is hardly any literature about neuroendocrine variants. We report a case of a 57-year-old man who had pituitary symptoms, which on 68Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT imaging turned out to be a metastatic lesion, with somatostatin expressing primary in breast and other sites, with histopathological confirmation of neuroendocrine differentiation in breast cancer., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest and sources of funding: none declared., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Giant cell tumors (GCTs) are benign bone lesions which are treated with curettage and bone grafting. Infrequently, GCTs show local site recurrences which are then treated with either surgical excision or radiation therapy. Radiation-induced sarcoma is rarely seen as a late complication of radiation therapy which needs to be differentiated from recurrent GCT. We report one such rare case of radiation-induced sarcoma detected on Flourine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (18F FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography in a 40-year-old male who was treated with radiation therapy for recurrent GCT 9 years ago., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Objective: The objective is to evaluate incidental detection of COVID-19 lung involvement in asymptomatic individuals who undergo fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography-computerized tomography (PET/CT) scans for oncologic indications., Patients and Methods: The study was conducted in a tertiary care oncology hospital and included patients who were asymptomatic for COVID-19 infection and underwent FDG PET/CT scans for standard oncologic indications between April 15, 2020, and September 30, 2020. Patients who showed CO-RADS category 4/5 changes (high level of suspicion) on the CT chest component of the PET/CT study were considered for analysis. CT severity score, presence of FDG uptake, and maximum standardized uptake value of FDG avid lung involvement were noted and correlated with reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test., Results: 1982 PET/CT scans were performed, 78 (3.9%) patients showed lung changes with high degree of suspicion of COVID-19 pneumonia (CO-RADS 4/5). Hematolymphoid and head-neck cancer were the most common tumor types (23%), and restaging/response evaluation was the most common PET/CT indication. Of the patients who underwent RT-PCR testing, 70% showed a positive result. The mean CT severity score was 6 (standard deviation 5.9) with no significant difference seen between the RT-PCR positive and negative groups. FDG avidity in lung lesions was noted in 41 out 57 (72%) patients. A significant correlation was seen between the RT-PCR positivity and FDG uptake in lung lesions., Conclusion: A small but significant proportion of patients undergoing routine oncologic PET/CT scans showed incidental COVID-19 lung involvement. Lung involvement in these asymptomatic patients showed a low CT severity score in all patients and FDG avidity in majority. Timely detection of such incidental cases can initiate further confirmatory RT-PCR testing and isolation measures that not only influence patient's cancer treatment protocols but also have a larger community impact of limiting the spread of infection., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Nonspecific uptake of prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) on PSMA positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (CT) is normally encountered in benign conditions, which is detected on morphological changes on CT component. However, having a site of uptake without any CT finding is a rare occurrence. We herewith report one such rare case of a 66-year-old male with metastatic prostatic adenocarcinoma, who demonstrated an incidental finding of intense focal PSMA uptake in the lung parenchyma., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Bone and soft-tissue tumors display a wide range of metabolic activity on flurodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computerized tomography (FDG PET/CT) imaging due to their varying histopathological features. Several benign tumors show high FDG uptake similar to that seen in malignant lesions and their metabolic characteristics can overlap. Certain benign tumors can potentially undergo malignant transformation and FDG PET/CT can play an important role in detecting malignant change. The intensity of metabolic activity on FDG PET/CT correlates with histological grade of malignant tumors and also acts as a valuable prognostic factor. FDG PET/CT plays an important role in the staging work up of bone and soft-tissue malignancies. It has been found to be superior to conventional imaging techniques primarily for detecting distant metastatic disease. Because of its ability to detect metabolic changes, FDG PET/CT is a very useful in assessing response to treatment. Metabolic response seen on FDG PET is a powerful surrogate marker of histopathological response to chemotherapy. The purpose of this article is to study the variable patterns of FDG uptake in tumors of the musculoskeletal system, describe the clinical utility of FDG PET/CT in predicting malignant change in benign tumors and discuss its role in staging, response assessment, and prognostication of malignant lesions., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Purpose: To determine predictive models (PM) that could improve the accuracy for identifying metastatic regional nodes in non-small cell lung cancer based on both PET and CT findings seen on 18F-FDG PET CT., Methods: Three hundred thirty-nine biopsy-proven NSCLC patients who underwent surgical resection and had a staging 18F-FDG PET CT were enrolled. PET parameters obtained were (1) presence of visual PET positive nodes, (2) SUVmax of nodes (NSUV), (3) ratio of node to aorta SUVmax (N/A ratio) and (4) ratio of node to primary tumour SUVmax (N/T ratio). CT parameters obtained were (1) short-axis diameter and (2) Hounsfield units (HU) of PET-positive nodes. PET and CT parameters were correlated with nodal histopathology to find out the sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), negative predictive value (NPV) and overall accuracy. Different PM combining these parameters were devised and the incremental improvement in accuracy was determined., Results: Visual PET positivity showed sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 72.4, 76.1, 30.1, 95.1 and 75.6, respectively. PM2 which combined visual PET positivity, NSUV and HU appears more clinically relevant and showed sensitivity, specificity, PPV, NPV and accuracy of 53.5, 96.5, 68.9, 93.6 and 91.2, respectively. PM6 which combined visual PET positivity, NSUV, N/A ratio and HU showed the maximum PPV (80.0%), specificity (98.3%) and accuracy of (91.9%)., Conclusion: PM combining parameters like nodal SUVmax, N/A ratio, N/T ratio and HU values have shown to improve the PPV, specificity and overall accuracy of 18FDG PET CT in the preoperative diagnosis of nodal metastases., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Chondroblastic osteosarcoma is an uncommon subtype of osteosarcoma, constituting about 25% of all osteosarcoma cases. It has shown high propensity for developing tumor thrombi and thromboembolism, with poor overall survival rate. Differentiation between tumor thrombus and bland thrombus is an important factor in making treatment decisions. 18 F fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography plays a very important role in detecting and differentiating bland thrombus from tumor thrombus., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Myeloid sarcoma is a rare extramedullary manifestation of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) that often presents during remission or disease relapse. The most common site of relapse being, however, many rare sites has been reported in the existing literature. We are herewith presenting the case of a 27-year-old patient of AML who showed an unusual site of relapse on fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography scan., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2021 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Objective: Patients with inoperable multilobar hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage B, who have failed other liver-directed treatment options, are ideal candidates for transarterial radioembolization (TARE) with Yttrium-90 (Y-90)-labeled glass spheres. There is limited data regarding variables that impact the prognosis and outcome in these patients. 99mTc-MAA scan for lung shunt fraction (LSF) and 18F-FDG PET/CT are performed during initial workup. We, therefore, decided to assess the prognostic impact of LSF and metabolic parameters, such as maximum SUVmax, MTV and TLG in patients undergoing TARE for HCC., Methods: We retrospectively analyzed 64 patients of HCC, between January 2010 and December 2016, deemed suitable for TARE. Pre-TARE LSF was computed on 99mTc MAA scan, and SUVmax, MTV and TLG on fluoro-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography were measured using automated software by 3D region of interest. LSF and PET parameters were stratified using optimal cut-offs derived from receiver operating curve analysis. Survival curves for the groups were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and were compared using log-rank test., Results: Overall survival (OS) was 15 months. In univariate analysis, high LSF (greater than 7.19), MTV and TLG were statistically significant and were associated with poor OS. In multivariate analysis, TLG (P value 0.044), MTV (P value 0.290) and LSF (P value 0.010) were independent predictors of outcome, after adjustment for significant univariate variables. However, SUVmax was not statistically significant for OS., Conclusions: LSF, MTV and TLG are significant independent prognostic indicators of outcome in patients undergoing TARE for HCC., (Copyright © 2020 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Pelvic organ prolapse (POP) is a very common condition which can greatly impact a woman's quality of life. Treatment options are individualized and typically involve a combination of physiotherapy, pessary insertion and surgical treatments. It is well known that nulliparous prolapse in India constitutes 1.5-2% of genital prolapse, while the incidence is even higher (5-8%) for young women who have delivered one or two children, thus making it one of the highest rates in the world. This has necessitated the development of numerous conservative surgical treatment options for POP, which allows women to retain their sexual and reproductive function and therefore allows for subsequent pregnancies. With the controversy surrounding the use of mesh, a variety of surgical treatment options should be considered. Such alternative treatments include the use of surgical sling procedures, which have been used widely in Indian practice for the treatment of POP for over 60 years. This review outlines some of the well-established conservative treatment options for POP. It also highlights the unique contribution of Indian Obstetricians in the development of these conservative surgical treatment options, from prominent Indian Gynecologists including Dr VN Shirodkar, Dr BN Purandare, VN Purandare, RP Soonawala, Brigadier SD Khanna and Dr RM Nadkarni., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors report no conflict of interest., (© Federation of Obstetric & Gynecological Societies of India 2021.)

The repeatability and reproducibility of radiomic features extracted from CT scans need to be investigated to evaluate the temporal stability of imaging features with respect to a controlled scenario (test-retest), as well as their dependence on acquisition parameters such as slice thickness, or tube current. Only robust and stable features should be used in prognostication/prediction models to improve generalizability across multiple institutions. In this study, we investigated the repeatability and reproducibility of radiomic features with respect to three different scanners, variable slice thickness, tube current, and use of intravenous (IV) contrast medium, combining phantom studies and human subjects with non-small cell lung cancer. In all, half of the radiomic features showed good repeatability (ICC > 0.9) independent of scanner model. Within acquisition protocols, changes in slice thickness was associated with poorer reproducibility compared to the use of IV contrast. Broad feature classes exhibit different behaviors, with only few features appearing to be the most stable. 108 features presented both good repeatability and reproducibility in all the experiments, most of them being wavelet and Laplacian of Gaussian features.

Cesarean section (CS) is one of the most commonly performed surgical operations in the world and has resulted in improved maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality rates internationally. However, concerns have been raised regarding the ever increasing CS rates to what has been described as 'epidemic' proportions. Global CS rates have increased from 6.7% in 1990 to 19.1% in 2014. However, there is a vast variation in the CS rates between countries with CS rates of 44.3% reported across Latin America & the Caribbean and CS rates as low as 4.1% in central and West Africa. There is much controversy regarding the optimal figure for CS in a population. The optimal CS rates for a population have been recommend in various studies, ranging from 10% to 19%, above which no reported improvement in maternal and neonatal mortality rates is observed. This review examines the evolution of the changing indications for CS and increasing CS rates in a world where family sizes are reducing and maternal age at first pregnancy is increasing. Efforts must be made to agree on an appropriate classification system whereby CS rates can be compared accurately between units and countries as a useful tool to audit and monitor our practice. Obstetricians should consider the indications for each CS performed, be conscious of the CS rate in our own countries and institutions and most importantly, be cognizant of how the CS rate impacts the maternal and perinatal morbidity and mortality rates and adjust our practice accordingly, to minimize harm., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors report no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Objective: Purpose of this study was to assess the utility of Ga-DOTA-NOC-PET/computed tomography (CT) (Ga-NOC-PET) in tumor detection, pathological differentiation and baseline staging of pulmonary carcinoids as well as to study its impact on therapeutic decision making., Patients and Methods: Patients who underwent a Ga-NOC-PET for initial evaluation of bronchopulmonary carcinoid tumors from August 2014 to December 2019 were included. Detection rate of Ga-NOC-PET for the primary lesion was calculated by visual estimation of tracer uptake as per Krenning score. SUVmax of typical and atypical carcinoid tumors was measured and difference compared using nonparametric statistical tests. Proportion of patients with distant metastases was also calculated and its impact on intended treatment was assessed., Results: Imaging, histopathology and treatment details of 119 patients were available for analysis. Majority of tumors had an endobronchial location (74.7%) and showed histopathologic features of typical carcinoid (82.3%). Ga-NOC-PET showed a detection rate/sensitivity of 92.4%. Oncocytic variant on histopathology and smaller tumor size accounted for majority of negative results. Typical carcinoids showed significantly higher SUVmax than atypical tumors (median SUVmax 38.4 vs. 15.7, P = 0.002). Metastases to distant sites outside the thorax were seen in 14 patients (11.7%), primarily in liver and bones changing the intent of treatment from surgery to systemic therapy., Conclusion: Ga-NOC-PET detects asymptomatic distant metastatic disease in a sizeable number of patients (11.7%) with pulmonary carcinoid and thus contribute to clinical management by precluding futile surgeries. It shows a high sensitivity for tumor detection and can help differentiate between typical and atypical carcinoid variants by virtue of their variable tracer uptake. PET/CT using Ga-labeled DOTA peptides should be an integral part of diagnostic workup of patients with lung carcinoid.

The data pertaining to the COVID-19 pandemic has been rapidly evolving since the first confirmed case in December 2019. This review article presents a comprehensive analysis of the current data in relation to COVID-19 and its effect on pregnant women, including symptoms, disease severity and the risk of vertical transmission. We also review the recommended management of pregnant women with suspected or confirmed COVID-19 and the various pharmacological agents that are being investigated and may have a role in the treatment of this disease. At present, it does not appear that pregnant women are at increased risk of severe infection than the general population, although there are vulnerable groups within both the pregnant and nonpregnant populations, and clinicians should be cognizant of these high-risk groups and manage them accordingly. Approximately 85% of women will experience mild disease, 10% more severe disease and 5% critical disease. The most common reported symptoms are fever, cough, shortness of breath and diarrhea. Neither vaginal delivery nor cesarean section confers additional risks, and there is minimal risk of vertical transmission to the neonate from either mode of delivery. We acknowledge that the true effect of the virus on both maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality will only be evident over time. We also discuss the impact of social isolation can have on the mental health and well-being of both patients and colleagues, and as clinicians, we must be mindful of this and offer support as necessary., (© 2020 Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology.)

Objective: To assess the ability of Ga DOTA-NOC PET/computed tomography (CT) to differentiate dural metastases from meningioma., Patients and Methods: Patients who underwent a Ga DOTA-NOC PET/CT for differentiating meningiomas from dural metastases were included in the study. A visual score was assigned to the dural lesions (visual score - 1 to 3) in relation to the uptake in liver and spleen and variation in the visual score was evaluated. SUVmax of the dural lesions was also noted and difference in the values of the two pathologies were compared for statistical significance using nonparametric statistical tests. Final diagnosis was decided by histopathological confirmation whenever available., Results: Imaging, histopathology or follow-up data of 42 patients was available for analysis. Meningioma was the final diagnosis in 31 (73.8%) patients, whereas dural metastases were diagnosed in 9 (21.4%) patients. In two patients, histopathology revealed inflammatory pseudotumor and hemangioblastoma. Meningiomas showed intense tracer uptake in 30/31 patients (visual score 3). All metastatic lesions showed some degree of tracer uptake though the intensity was lesser compared to meningioma (visual score 1, 2). Meningiomas showed a significantly higher median SUV max value compared to metastases (12.7 vs. 6.0, P = 0.001)., Conclusion: Meningiomas can be differentiated from dural metastases by virtue of their higher uptake of Ga-labeled DOTA peptides reflecting higher SSTR expression. An asymptomatic meningeal based lesion with a high visual score (Visual score 3) has a very high probability to be a meningioma rather than dural metastasis.

Ventriculoperitoneal shunt malfunction is common in patients after shunt surgery. Imaging is done to reveal the underlying cause and confirm the diagnosis. Shunt infection is one of the common causes of shunt malfunction. FDG PET CT is an accepted infection imaging tool and can be used to diagnose shunt infection accurately in a patient with high clinical suspicion.

Introduction: The event-free survival in pediatric anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL) remains at 70% irrespective of the diverse chemotherapy regimens used. There is lack of valid prognostic factors identifying high-risk patients. We investigated the prognostic value of baseline metabolic parameters and interim response on F-FDG PET/CT in pediatric ALCL patients., Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 40 pediatric ALCL patients with paired F-FDG PET/CT and treated uniformly on vinblastine-based institution protocol. The SUVmax, SUVmean, metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis of the lymphomatous lesion were measured. Continuous PET parameters were stratified by their median values. Deauville scoring system was used to assess response to chemotherapy in the interim scan. Prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazards model., Results: At median follow-up of 52 months, 13 patients died and 13 had recurrence. On univariate analysis, higher whole-body MTV (WBMTV) and partial response on interim scan were statistically associated with OS. High-risk features, WBMTV, and partial response were statistically associated with DFS. On multivariate analysis combining baseline characteristics and interim response, interim response (hazard ratio, 3.56; P = 0.034) was statistically significant for OS. Multivariate analysis for DFS using only baseline characteristics revealed WBMTV as statistically significant (hazard ratio, 4.08; P = 0.035), but none of the parameters was statistically significant when baseline characteristics and interim response were evaluated together., Conclusions: Whole-body tumor burden assessment with MTV and interim response may help to identify high-risk patients who might get benefitted from intensive therapy.

18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography-derived metabolic parameters can play a role in prognostication. We investigated the prognostic value of various metabolic parameters such as maximum standardized uptake value (SUV max ), mean SUV (SUV mean ), whole-body metabolic tumor volume (WBMTV), and whole-body total lesion glycolysis (WBTLG) in surgically resected non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. We retrospectively reviewed 153 patients with NSCLC who underwent surgical resection. The SUV max , SUV mean , WBMTV, and WBTLG of the tumor were measured. Continuous PET parameters were stratified by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Prognostic factors were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method and Cox proportional hazards model. The median follow-up was 36.9 months. Fifty-six patients died and 78 patients had recurrence. On univariate analysis, tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage; male sex; no adjuvant treatment; and higher SUV max , SUV mean , WBMTV, and WBTLG were statistically significant and were associated with poor overall survival (OS). TNM stage; no adjuvant treatment; and higher SUV max , SUV mean, WBMTV, and WBTLG were statistically significant and were associated with poor disease-free survival (DFS). On multivariate analysis, higher WBTLG (hazard ratio [HR] = 3.08, P = 0.007) for DFS and higher WBTLG (HR = 2.70, P = 0.041) and TNM staging (HR = 1.63, P = 0.035) for OS were statistically significant. Whole-body tumor burden assessment with TLG has independent prognostic value in patients with operated lung cancer. Incorporation of TLG into clinical practice can identify patients benefitted from additional therapy., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2020 World Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Ga prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) PET/CT is used in the staging, evaluation of biochemical recurrence, and response assessment of patients with prostate cancer. In addition to the PSMA-expressing prostate cancer cells, Ga-PSMA binds to the neovasculaature of various other solid tumors and benign lesions. We report a case of a 72-year-old man with recently diagnosed adenocarcinoma of prostate, incidentally found to have pleomorphic sarcoma on the staging Ga-PSMA PET/CT.

Lung perfusion scintigraphy is done as a part of preoperative evaluation in lung cancer patients for the prediction of postoperative forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1). This study was performed to see the accuracy of prediction of postoperative FEV1 by perfusion scintigraphy for patients undergoing lobectomy/pneumonectomy by comparing it with actual postoperative FEV1 obtained by spirometry 4-6 months after surgery. We retrospectively reviewed 50 surgically resected lung cancer patients who underwent preoperative spirometry, lung perfusion study, and postoperative spirometry. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to evaluate the relationship between predicted postoperative FEV1 (PPO FEV1) by lung perfusion scintigraphy and postoperative actual FEV1 measured by spirometry. Agreement between the two methods was analyzed with Bland-Altman method. The correlation between the PPO FEV1 and actual postoperative FEV1 was statistically significant (r = 0.847, P = 0.000). The correlation was better for pneumonectomy compared to lobectomy (r = 0.930 [P = 0.000] vs. 0.792 [P = 0.000]). The agreement analysis showed a mean difference of -0.0558 with a standard deviation (SD) of 0.284. The limits of agreement vary over a wide range from --0.625 to 0.513 L (mean ± 2 SD) for the entire group. For pneumonectomy, the mean difference was -0.0121 and SD 0.169 with limits of agreement varying between -0.30 L and 0.30 L. For lobectomy, the mean difference was -0.0826 and SD 0.336 with limits of agreement varying between -0.755 L and 0.590 L. Postoperative FEV1 predicted using lung perfusion scintigraphy shows good correlation with actual postoperative FEV1 and shows reasonably good agreement in patients undergoing pneumonectomy. The limits of agreement appear to be clinically unacceptable in patients undergoing lobectomy, where single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) or SPECT/CT techniques may improve prediction., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2020 World Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Trans-arterial radioembolization (TARE) is an established treatment for inoperable hepatocellular carcinoma and liver metastases from Carcinoma of gastrointestinal tract. Radiation-induced toxicity to the lung parenchyma is the dose-limiting factor in TARE. Pretreatment hepatopulmonary shunt (HPS) is estimated by gamma camera method by transarterial administration of 370MBq 99m Tc macro aggregated albumin. We have developed HPS software on XELERIS-1.123 workstation, GE medical systems, Milwaukee, USA, for accurate calculation of HPS. This software has also been tested on a higher version of XELERIS workstation, and it has been found to work well in all versions., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2019 World Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA) provides guidelines to assess the performance of Positron Emission Tomography (PET). A PET/CT scanner, Discovery IQ, GE Medical systems, Milwaukee, USA was installed in our department which has high a sensitivity PET component. We have performed the NEMA NU-2 2012 quality control tests to evaluate this system on site before clinical use. Performance measurements of the PET scanner were made using the NEMA NU2-2012 procedures for spatial resolution, scatter fraction, sensitivity, count rate loss and random coincidence estimation, Noise Equivalent Count Rate (NECR) and image quality. As per NU2 2012, spatial resolution was measured at 1 cm, 10 cm and 20 cm vertically from the centre and at each of these points resolution was measured at tangential, radial and axial directions. Sensitivity was measured at centre and 10 cm off center vertically from the center. The system sensitivity is reported as an average of the two measured values. Scatter fraction and NECR measurements, Image quality test was also performed. The tangential, radial and axial FWHM were 4.99 mm, 4.20 mm and 4.79 mm at 1 cm off centre, 5.49 mm, 4.69 mm and 4.81 mm at 10 cm off centre and 7.99 mm, 5.07 mm and 4.95 mm at 20 cm off centre respectively. The absolute sensitivity of this scanner was found to be 20.1 cps/kBq. The scatter fraction calculated from the decay method was 37.94% and NECR was 125 kcps. The peak NECR was achieved at activity concentration of 8.7 KBq/ml and the count loss below the peak NECR was found to be 0.68%. Image quality test for, contrast recovery, background variability and lung error residual mean met all specifications. Overall PET performance of Discovery IQ whole-body scanner was satisfactory and the scanner met all the performance specifications required by NEMA 2012., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2019 World Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

18F flurodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (18F FDG PET-CT) is widely used in the evaluation of patients with lung mass suspicious for malignancy. In addition to malignancy, a variety of benign neoplasms and inflammatory lesions can arise in the lungs, many of which show increased FDG concentration, thereby mimicking malignancy. Awareness of the common mimics of lung cancer and a thorough understanding of their key imaging characteristics on CT as well as FDG PET is helpful in narrowing the differential diagnosis, eventually leading to appropriate therapy. In this article, we enlist these mimics and discuss their metabolic and morphologic characteristics and provide a pathophysiological basis for their FDG uptake., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest., (Copyright: © 2019 Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine.)

Introduction: In early operable stages of cervical an endometrial malignancies, surgical staging of lymph nodes is advocated as contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT) has limited sensitivity and accuracy. Although fluorine-18 (F-18) fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)/positron emission tomography (PET)-CT has potential to identify subcentimeter-sized nodal metastases, higher prevalence of pelvic inflammatory disease in developing countries could result in lower accuracy. The present study was undertaken to assess the incremental value of PET scan over CECT for nodal staging before radical surgery., Methods: Forty-four patients with the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) Stage IA2-IIb carcinoma cervix and 28 patients of FIGO Stage I-II carcinoma endometrium underwent F-18 FDG-PET-CECT scan. A SUV max value >2.5 g/ml based on body weight was considered as positive. An enhancing node with >1 cm size in the shortest dimension, with loss of fatty hilum was considered positive on CT images. The histological findings were considered the gold standard against which the two modalities were compared., Results: All 1226 pelvic nodes were dissected, of which 65 were found to be metastatic (i.e., 5.3%). Of the 72 patients, 15 (20.83%) had pelvic nodal metastases. The overall accuracy of PET and CECT for assessment of pelvic nodal metastases was comparable (i.e., 86% vs. 85%)., Conclusion: PET and CECT scans have similar accuracy in pelvic nodal staging of operable uterine malignancies. Granulomatous inflammation may not be a major cause of false-positive results. The sensitivity and negative predictive values are not high enough to obviate need of surgical nodal staging., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

Aim: The aim of this study was to determine whether fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) PET/computed tomography (CT) can diagnose malignant change in benign chondroid tumors., Patients and Methods: This study included patients with clinicoradiological features of a chondroid tumor who were referred for a F-FDG PET/CT study to evaluate clinical suspicion of malignant change. Metabolic characteristics of the suspected lesion in the form of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) was obtained and compared with histopathology. In patients who were treated conservatively and for whom histopathology was not available, stability of the lesion on clinical/radiological follow-up was used as reference standard. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was performed to obtain a SUVmax cutoff value to differentiate between benign and malignant lesions., Results: Clinical and imaging data of 66 patients was available for analysis. Malignancy was confirmed by histopathology in 40/66 (60.6%) patients with grade 2 chondrosarcomatous change seen in majority. In 26 patients, the final diagnosis was benign tumor (osteochondroma, n=19; enchondroma, n=7). Median SUVmax of malignant lesions was significantly higher compared with the benign lesions (4.0 vs. 2.1, P=0.00). A SUVmax cutoff of 3.1 could differentiate a benign lesion from those with malignant transformation with a sensitivity of 90.3% and specificity of 87% (area under the curve=0.92). Dedifferentiated sarcomas showed a significantly higher uptake than rest of the sarcoma types., Conclusion: F-FDG PET/CT can detect malignant change in benign chondroid neoplasms by showing higher metabolic activity in the area of sarcomatous transformation. It can also identify focus of dedifferentiation which has prognostic and therapeutic implications.

Aim: With increased clinical indications for positron-emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) and repeated PET/CT scans, there is a need to reduce the radiation burden to the patient, professionals as well as public. This requires a redefining of the workflow and the 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) administered activity. The objective of our study is to observe the impact of strike out reduction of administered activity on the radiation exposure to personnel and public, as well as the absorbed dose to the patient with no compromise on image quality by increasing the image acquisition time., Materials and Methods: Nineteen patients evaluated in this study (11 males, 8 females) were put into two groups, namely, A and B. Patients in Group A ( n = 10) were administered with 18F-FDG equivalent to the recommended dose (7-8 MBq/kg body weight) whereas patients in Group B ( n = 9) were administered with 18F-FDG equivalent to half the recommended dose (3-4MBq/kg body weight). The exposure rates from the patients at the body surface and 100 cm distance were measured immediately and 1 h postinjection., Results: The average surface dose rate and 100 cm dose rate of the adult patients immediately postinjection for patients of Group A were 0.94 ± 0.19 mSv/h and 0.057 ± 0.007 mSv/h, and for Group B were 0.34 ± 0.24 mSv/h and 0.031 ± 0.01 mSv/h., Conclusion: This study suggests that reduction in injected 18F-FDG activity reduces the radiation exposure rate from the patient, absorbed dose to the patient with reportable image quality., Competing Interests: There are no conflicts of interest.

Objectives: The objectives of this study were to evalute the metabolic characteristics of common malignant space-occupying lesions (SOL) of the brain and to determine the utility of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose (F-FDG) PET/CT in differentiating between the common types of malignant brain SOL., Patients and Methods: All patients with brain SOL who were referred for an F-FDG PET/CT scan by a multidisciplinary team were included in this retrospective study. The metabolic characteristics of the brain lesions in the form of maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax) along with tumor-to-background activity ratios were determined and differences were compared using nonparametric statistical tests. Histopathological confirmation was used as the gold standard in all patients. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to find the optimal SUVmax cutoff to differentiate the tumor types., Results: Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM; n=30), lymphoma (n=25), and metastases (n=46) accounted for most malignant tumors (95.2%). Lymphomas showed a significantly high metabolic uptake (median SUVmax=20.3, range: 8.1-46.3) compared with GBM ( median SUVmax=10.3, range: 2.6-21.7) and metastases (median SUVmax=11.5, range: 2.9-19.6) (P=0.00). The tumor-to-background activity ratios for lymphomas were also significantly higher. There was an overlap in the metabolic uptake of GBM and metastases, with no significant difference between their SUVmax values (P=0.245). A SUVmax more than 15.5 showed an 84% sensitivity and an 80% specificity to diagnose lymphomas (area under the curve=0.876, P=0.00). Four patients with brain lymphoma had extracranial disease on F-FDG PET. Lung cancer was the most common primary malignancy in patients with brain metastases., Conclusion: Central nervous system lymphomas can be differentiated from GBM and metastases by their higher metabolic activity. In addition, F-FDG PET/CT can potentially impact therapeutic decisions by detecting primary malignancy in patients with metastatic brain lesions and extracranial disease sites in patients with brain lymphoma.

Introduction: Reference data for European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) quality of life questionnaires do not include studies from the Indian subcontinent. The objective of the current study was to establish a reference dataset for Indian patients of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) presenting with brain metastases (BM)., Material and Methods: One hundred forty patients with NSCLC with BM treated between 2012-2015 were registered in a prospective cohort study (CTRI/2013/01/003299). The baseline quality of life was evaluated using the EORTC general quality of life questionnaire QLQ-C30 and lung cancer specific module LC13. Minimum important difference (MID) scores for individual domains of the EORTC QLQ-C30 and LC13 questionnaires were derived (MID = 0.2 x standard deviation) from the reference data for patients with recurrent/metastatic lung cancers. In addition, a systematic review was conducted to identify studies reporting baseline quality of life scores for recurrent/metastatic NSCLC., Results: Scores of several functional as well as symptom scales in the current NSCLC population differed by more than the MID from the baseline mean scores in the reference EORTC population as well as that reported from other studies. Differences in mean score from the EORTC reference data ranged from 6.2 and 9.4 points for the role functioning and cognitive functioning domains. In the symptom scales, the largest differences were observed for the financial difficulties (23.9) scores for the QLQ-C30 and peripheral neuropathy (21.7) for LC13 questionnaires., Conclusion: The current study demonstrates that baseline reference scores need to be established for patients from the Indian subcontinent. The findings from the current study have important implications for studies employing quality of life (QOL) assessment in the Indian NSCLC patient population., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background: Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) has become a preferred imaging modality for the evaluation of solitary pulmonary nodule (SPN), particularly in the developed world. Since FDG can concentrate in infective/inflammatory lesions, the diagnostic utility of FDG-PET can be questioned, particularly in regions endemic for infectious decisions., Aim: To evaluate the accuracy of FDG-PET/CT in evaluation of SPNs in a population endemic for infectious disease and to assess if regional variations have an impact on its effectiveness., Materials and Methods: All patients who underwent an FDG/PET-CT with a clinico-radiological diagnosis of SPN categorized as indeterminate were included. Based on a maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) cut-off of 2.5, lesions were classified as benign (<2.5) or malignant (>2.5) and compared with gold standard histopathology. The diagnostic accuracy of PET-CT to detect malignancy was calculated. On the basis of final histopathology, lesions were grouped as (a) malignant nodules (b) infective/granulomatous nodules with a specific diagnosis and (c) nonspecific inflammatory nodules. The SUVmaxbetween these groups was compared using nonparametric statistical tests., Results: A total of 191 patients (129 males, 62 females) with a median age of 64 years (range: 36-83) were included. Totally, 144 nodules (75.3%) were malignant and 47 were benign (24.7%). Adenocarcinoma (n = 84) was the most common malignancy. Tuberculosis (n = 16) and nonspecific infections (n = 24) were the two most common benign pathologies. There was a significant overlap in the metabolic uptake of malignant (median SUVmax-11.2, range: 3.3-34.6) and tuberculous nodules (median SUVmax-10.3, range: 2.7-22.5) with no statistically difference between their SUVmaxvalues (P = 0.43). The false-positive rate was 65.2% and the false-negative rate was 5.5%. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value, negative predictive value, and accuracy of FDG-PET/CT for detecting malignancy were 94.4%, 34.7%, 81.9%, 66.6%, and 79.5%, respectively., Conclusions: Though FDG-PET scans show a very high sensitivity for malignant nodules, it has a high false-positive rate and reduced specificity when characterizing SPNs in an infectious endemic region. Physicians must be aware of this limitation in the workup of lung nodules, and regional variations must be considered before further management decisions are taken.

Background: We tested the hypothesis that telephonic follow-up (FU) may offer a convenient and equivalent alternative to physical FU of radically treated lung cancer patients., Design: Prospective study carried out at a tertiary referral cancer care institute, Mumbai., Materials and Methods: Two hundred consecutive lung cancer patients treated with curative intent were followed up regularly with telephonic interviews paired with their routine physical FU visits. Patient satisfaction with the telephonic call and the physical visit, the anxiety level of the patient after meeting the physician and the economic burden of the visit to the patient were noted in a descriptive manner. Kappa statistics was used to assess concurrence between the telephonic and physical impression of disease status., Results: With a median FU duration of 21.5 months, the median satisfaction scores for telephonic and physical FU were 8 and 9, respectively. The prevalence and bias adjusted kappa (PABAK) score of the entire cohort of patients was 0.64 (95% confidence interval [CI] =0.58-0.70). Data analyzed up to first disease progression/relapse on FU had a PABAK score of 0.71 (95% CI = 0.64-0.77) indicating substantial agreement. Patients with disease controlled at the FU had a significant PABAK score of 0.88 (95% CI = 0.80-0.94) indicating excellent concurrence. On average, each patient spent Rs. 5117.10 on travel and Rs. 3079.06 on lodging per FU visit., Conclusion: Telephonic FU is substantially accurate in assessing disease status until the first relapse. In a resource-constrained country like India, it is worthwhile to further explore the benefits of such an alternative strategy.