Search

Purpose/Objective(s) Noninvasive cardiac radioablation has been reported to be effective and relatively safe for ventricular tachycardia (VT) in preclinical and clinical studies. However, previous studies implementing cardiac radioablation set a 6-12 weeks of “blanking period” and focused on long-term effects rather than reporting the early changes. In this prospective trial, we focused on the early antiarrhythmic effects within one month after cardiac radioablation. Especially, we tried to seek the differences in response according to the cause of VT. Materials/Methods From September 2019 to December 2020, 6 patients (3 ischemic VTs and 3 non-ischemic VTs) were included in this trial and treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) with a single fraction of 25 Gy for intractable VT. A synthesis of imaging studies, 12-lead ECG, and electrophysiological mapping were used to localize the treatment target. The internal target volume was delineated on either maximal intensity projection of 4D-CT or deep inspiration breath hold CT. A 24-hour Holter monitoring was performed for all patients one month before and after SBRT and except for one patient, it was performed from 24 hours before SBRT to 48 hours after SBRT to measure the early response after SBRT. Results The number of total ventricular beats decreased by 58% and 60% within 24 hours and 48 hours after SBRT, respectively. It further decreased to 29% of pre-SBRT number of total ventricular beats at one month after SBRT. The decrease of total ventricular beats could be attributed to the decrease of VT burden rather than that of premature ventricular contractions (PVCs) because the burden of VT decreased earlier and more dramatically than that of PVC. After cardiac radioablation, the duration of the longest VT run was shortened. This indicated that cardiac radioablation decreases the VT burden by shortening the durations of VTs. Notably, the cardiac radioablation was more effective for ischemic VTs than non-ischemic VTs in that the VT burden decreased more markedly after SBRT. The electrophysiologic characteristics of VT/PVC were changed after treatment. During one month after SBRT, there was no severe acute toxicity. Conclusion In six patients with intractable VT, the noninvasive cardiac radioablation with a dose of 25 Gy was effective even in 1-month follow-up. The decrease of VT burden through shortening of VTs already began within 24 hours after the procedure and continued to decrease until one month after the radioablation. The treatment effect was more remarkable in ischemic than non-ischemic VT patients.

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(S) This study aimed to investigate the clinical benefits of locoregional radiation therapy (RT) before, after, and concurrent with sorafenib therapy for Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) stage C hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients. MATERIALS/METHODS Patients treated with sorafenib for BCLC stage C HCC between January 2015 and December 2017 at two institutions were retrospectively reviewed. Patients received RT for either curative or palliative aims. In this study, only RT to locoregional sites including primary HCC, portal vein tumor thrombosis, or regional lymph node metastasis were analyzed. RESULTS Among 398 patients treated with sorafenib, 68 (17.1%) patients were treated with locoregional RT for BCLC stage C HCC. At a median follow-up of 9.5 months, median progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) were 2.2 and 9.5 months, respectively. In the multivariate analysis, locoregional RT (HR 0.57; 95% CI, 0.42-0.79, P < 0.001) was associated with favorable OS. After 1:1 propensity score matching, patients who did not receive locoregional RT showed worse OS than those who received RT (median 9.6 months vs 15.7 months, P = 0.017). Upfront sorafenib and upfront locoregional RT did not show statistically significant difference in OS, whereas RT dose ≥ 50 GyEQD2 resulted in prolonged OS compared with RT dose < 50 GyEQD2. CONCLUSION Locoregional RT was significantly associated with longer survival in BCLC stage C HCC patients treated with sorafenib. Therefore, incorporating locoregional RT to these patients even after sorafenib failure could be considered to improve dismal prognosis of BCLC stage C HCC patients.

This paper presents the 60 GHz SoP research activities including the integration and demonstration of a transmitter (Tx)/receiver (Rx) radio as well as design and fabrication of mmW sub-circuits such as low loss transmission lines and transitions with air cavities, a resonator, filters, and antennas, all in LTCC multilayer circuits.

The k differences approximate string matching problem specifies a text string of length n, a pattern string of length m, and the number k of differences (insertions, deletions, substitutions) allowed in a match, and asks for every location in the text where a match occurs. Previous algorithms required at least O(nk) time. When k is as large as a fraction of m, no substantial progress has been made over O(nm) dynamic programming. The authors have investigated much faster algorithms for restricted cases of the problem, such as when the text string is random and errors are not too frequent. They have devised an algorithm that, for k >

Background Clustered occurrences of ankylosing spondylitis (AS) in the family have been noticed. Few phenotype studies on familial AS suggest the distinct features of the disease compared to sporadic disease. Objectives The aim of this study is to investigate clinical characteristics and incidence of familial form of AS compared to sporadic AS. Methods We evaluated patients with AS confirmed by the modified New York criteria for familial history of AS (one or more first to third degrees relatives). The clinical characteristics and the recurrence risks (number of AS patients/number of familial members) of the familial AS compared to sporadic AS were investigated. Results Out of a total of 204 AS patients (165 males, 39 females, mean age 37.0±13.1 years), 38 patients (18.6%) reported that they had a familial history of AS. The recurrence risks in the familial AS patients for first, second and third degree family members were 14.5%, 5.2%, and 4.4% respectively. ESR (22.6±22.2 vs. 35.4±34.4, p=0.029) and CRP (1.24±1.7 vs. 2.43±3.3, p=0.003) at diagnosis, body mass index (21.9±2.7 vs. 23.7±3.3, p=0.002) and frequency of oligoarthritis (13.2% vs. 33.7%, p=0.021) were significantly lower in the familial form. The presence of HLA-B27 (97.4% vs. 83.1%, p=0.044) was significantly higher in familial AS. ![Figure][1] Conclusions We report that Korean AS patients with a familial history had a higher presence of HLA-B27 than sporadic AS. The recurrence risk in the familial AS was highest in first degree relatives, indicating higher susceptibility to the disease. Distinct phenotypes of familial AS were lower frequency of oligoarthritis, lower ESR and CRP at diagnosis and lower body mass index. Disclosure of Interest None declared DOI 10.1136/annrheumdis-2014-eular.3469 [1]: pending:yes

This report discusses the application of algorithms to DNA sequencing and probed partial digestion mapping of DNA strands. (CBS)