Technetium-99m tetrofosmin uptake in insular thyroid carcinoma - A comparison with iodine-131

The authors describe a 42-year-old man with insular thyroid carcinoma. In this patient, iodine-131 (I-131) and technetium-99m (Tc-99m) tetrofosmin imaging were performed to investigate residual thyroid tissue and metastatic foci of tumor. Both I-131 and Tc-99m tetrofosmin images showed metastatic foci, but Tc-99m tetrofosmin imaging revealed the lesions better than did the I-131 scan. Tc-99m tetrofosmin imaging does not require withholding of thyroid hormone suppression and can be used for follow-up evaluation of patients with insular thyroid carcinoma

Correlation between Tc-99m-MIBI uptake and angiogenesis in MIBI-positive breast lesions

This study was undertaken to assess the correlation between the degree of accumulation and the washout of 99m technetium methoxyisobutylisonitrile (Tc-99m-MIBI) and angiogenesis in MIBI-positive breast lesions. Twenty-eight patients (mean age, 51 +/- 11 years) with 31 breast lesions who underwent scintimammography were studied. Anterior, left and right prone lateral images were obtained 20 min and 3 h after the injection of 740 MBq Tc-99m-MIBI. All breast lesions showed increased Tc-99m-MIBI uptake. Early and delayed tumor to background activity ratios (T/BG) and washout index (early tumor uptake-delayed tumor uptake divided by early tumor uptake) were calculated. Vascular endothelium was immunohistochemically labeled using a biotinylated monoclonal antibody directed against the factor-VIII-associated antigen using standard biotin-avidin technique. Angiogenesis was evaluated by assessing the vascular surface density (VSD) and the microvessel number (NVES) within 10 randomly chosen areas. All pathological data were compared with early and delayed T/BG activity ratios and washout index of Tc-99m-MIBI. Statistical analysis was performed using Spearman correlation test. There was no statistically significant correlation between the degree of angiogenesis and early T/BG (r-.287, P >.05 with VSD, r=.351, P >.05 with NVES), delayed T/BG (r=.277, P >.05 with VSD r=.315, P >.05 with NVES) and the washout index (r=.268, P >.05 with VSD, r=.285, P >.05 with NVES) of Tc-99m-MIBI in all breast lesions. There was no statistically significant correlation between the degree of angiogenesis and early T/BG (r=.235, P >.05 with VSD, r=.356, P >.05 with NVES), delayed T/BG (r=.181, P >.05 with VSD, r=.285, P >.05 with NVES) and the washout index (r=.158, P >.05 with VSD, r=.187, P >.05 with NVES) of Tc-99m-MIBI in 24 invasive breast lesions. No statistically significant correlation was found between the degree of angiogenesis and early T/BG (r=-.036, P >.05 with VSD, r=-.107, P >.05 with NVES), delayed T/BG (r=-.500, P >.05 with VSD, r=-.429, P >.05 with NVES), but there was a high correlation between angiogenesis and the washout index (r=.893, P <.05 with VSD, r=.964, P <.05 with NVES) of Tc-99m-MIBI in seven noninvasive breast lesions. Amount of Tc-99m-MIBI uptake in breast lesions is dependent on several factors. Our study indicates that early and delayed Tc-99m-MIBI uptakes in MIBI-positive breast lesions are not related to angiogenesis in both invasive and noninvasive breast lesions. But washout index of Tc-99m-MIBI in noninvasive breast lesions is highly correlated with angiogenesis. Tc-99m-MIBI scintigraphy does not seem to be able to indicate angiogenic property of invasive breast lesions. (c) 2005 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved

Assessment of the quality of life and sexual functions of patients followed-up for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer: preliminary results of the prospective-descriptive study

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate sexual functions and quality life of patients who are followed-up for non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC)

Hormone receptor status and survival of medullary breast cancer patients

WOS: 000395637900006PubMed: 28133688Objectives: To analyze the relationship between clinical features, hormonal receptor status, and survival in patients who were diagnosed with medullary breast cancer (MBC). Methods: Demographic characteristics, histopathological features, and survival statuses of 201 patients diagnosed with MBC between 1995 and 2015 were retrospectively recorded. Survival analyses were conducted with uniand multivariate cox regression analysis. Results: Median follow-up time was 54 (4-272) months. Median patient age at the time of diagnosis was 47 years old (26-90). Of the patients, 91.5% were triple negative. Five-year recurrence free survival time (RFS) rate was 87.4% and overalll survival (OS) rate 95.7%. For RFS, progesterone receptor (PR) negativity, atypical histopathological evaluation, absence of lymphovascular invasion, smaller tumor, lower nodal involvement were found to be favourable prognostic factors by univariate analysis (p0.05). Conclusion: Turkish MBC patients exhibited good prognosis, which was comparable with survival outcomes achieved in the literature. The PR negativity was related to a better RFS and OS rates

Embedding Well-Defined Responsive Hydrogels with Nanocontainers: Tunable Materials from Telechelic Polymers and Cyclodextrins

Design, synthesis, and application of cyclodextrin (CD) containing thermoresponsive hydrogels fabricated from thiol-reactive telechelic polymers are reported. Hydrophilic polymers containing 2-hydroxyethyl methacrylate and/or di­(ethylene glycol)­methylether methacrylate monomers as side chains and thiol-reactive groups at chain ends were synthesized. A series of hydrogels was fabricated using thiol–ene conjugation of these thiol-reactive polymers with multivalent thiol-containing CDs as crosslinkers. Clear and transparent hydrogels were obtained with good conversion (79–89%) by utilizing the “nucleophilic” and “radical” thiol–ene “click” reactions. Analysis of the amount of residual thiol groups in these hydrogels using Ellman’s reagent suggested that gels with a moderately well-defined network structure were obtained. Hydrogels fabricated using different telechelic polymers were examined for their properties such as morphology, equilibrium water uptake, and rheological characteristics. Cytocompatibility of these hydrogels was ascertained by a cell viability assay that demonstrated low toxicity toward fibroblast cells. Thereafter, the CD-containing hydrogels were evaluated for the loading and controlled release of puerarin, an antiglaucoma drug. Utilization of thermoresponsive polymers as the matrix for these hydrogels allows use of temperature as a stimulus to modulate the drug release. A slower and more sustained drug release was observed at physiological temperatures compared to ambient conditions. The effect of temperature on the elasticity of the hydrogel was investigated rheologically to demonstrate that the collapse of the network structure occurs near physiological temperatures. The increased hydrophobicity and compactness of the gel matrix at higher temperatures results in a slower drug release. The strategy employed here demonstrates that tuning the matrix composition of hydrogels with well-defined network structures through appropriate choice of responsive copolymers allows design of materials with control of their physical properties and drug-release behavior

Evaluation of the Prognostic Value of Preoperative Neutrophil-tolymphocyte Ratio in Renal Cell Carcinoma

Objective: To investigate the prognostic value of neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in renal cell carcinoma (RCC)

A novel method for prediction of stone composition: the average and difference of Hounsfield units and their cut-off values

The purpose of the study was to investigate the predictive value of stone measurements by including a novel method on non-contrast computed tomography (NCCT) images for stone composition