How Dual-Energy Contrast-Enhanced Spectral Mammography Can Provide Useful Clinical Information About Prognostic Factors in Breast Cancer Patients: A Systematic Review of Literature

Introduction: In the past decade, a new technique derived from full-field digital mammography has been developed, named contrast-enhanced spectral mammography (CESM). The aim of this study was to define the association between CESM findings and usual prognostic factors, such as estrogen receptors, progesterone receptors, HER2, and Ki67, in order to offer an updated overview of the state of the art for the early differential diagnosis of breast cancer and following personalized treatments. Materials and methods: According to the PRISMA guidelines, two electronic databases (PubMed and Scopus) were investigated, using the following keywords: breast cancer AND (CESM OR contrast enhanced spectral mammography OR contrast enhanced dual energy mammography) AND (receptors OR prognostic factors OR HER2 OR progesterone OR estrogen OR Ki67). The search was concluded in August 2021. No restriction was applied to publication dates. Results: We obtained 28 articles from the research in PubMed and 114 articles from Scopus. After the removal of six replicas that were counted only once, out of 136 articles, 37 articles were reviews. Eight articles alone have tackled the relation between CESM imaging and ER, PR, HER2, and Ki67. When comparing radiological characterization of the lesions obtained by either CESM or contrast-enhanced MRI, they have a similar association with the proliferation of tumoral cells, as expressed by Ki-67. In CESM-enhanced lesions, the expression was found to be 100% for ER and 77.4% for PR, while moderate or high HER2 positivity was found in lesions with non-mass enhancement and with mass closely associated with a non-mass enhancement component. Conversely, the non-enhancing breast cancer lesions were not associated with any prognostic factor, such as ER, PR, HER2, and Ki67, which may be associated with the probability of showing enhancement. Radiomics on CESM images has the potential for non-invasive characterization of potentially heterogeneous tumors with different hormone receptor status. Conclusions: CESM enhancement is associated with the proliferation of tumoral cells, as well as to the expression of estrogen and progesterone receptors. As CESM is a relatively young imaging technique, a few related works were found; this may be due to the "off-label" modality. In the next few years, the role of CESM in breast cancer diagnostics will be more thoroughly investigated

MRgFUS: From diagnosis to therapy

[No abstract available

Unenhanced MRI at 3T in neo-adjuvant chemotherapy

[No abstract available

Incidental enhancing lesions found on preoperative breast MRI: management and role of second-look ultrasound.

This study prospectively assessed second-look ultrasound (US) for the evaluation of incidental enhancing lesions identified on preoperative breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Between 2004 and 2007, 182 patients with malignant breast lesions detected on US and/or X-ray mammography and confirmed by cytology/histology underwent preoperative breast contrast-enhanced (CE)-MRI. Patients with incidental lesions on breast MRI underwent second-look high-resolution US directed at the site of the incidental finding. Diagnosis of incidental lesions was based on biopsy or 24-month follow-up. Breast MRI detected 55 additional lesions in 46/182 (25.2%) patients. Forty-two of 55 (76.3%) lesions were detected on second-look US in 38/46 (82.6%) patients. Malignancy was confirmed for 24/42 (57.1%) correlate lesions compared with 7/13 (53.8%) noncorrelate lesions. Second-look US depicted 8/9 (88.8%) Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) 5, 16/22 (72.7%) BI-RADS 4 and 18/24 (75%) BI-RADS 3 lesions. Sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and positive and negative predictive values for lesion detection/diagnosis was 100%, 88.9%, 94.6%, 90.3% and 100% for MRI and 64.3%, 70.4%, 67.3%, 69.2% and 65.5% for second-look US. Improved performance for US was obtained when masslike lesions only were considered. Second-look US is a confirmatory method for incidental findings on breast MRI, particularly for mass-like lesions

Radiological and imaging features

Imaging offers several modalities in the assessment of pediatric inflammatory bowel disease. Thesemodalities are represented by conventional barium studies, sonography and cross-sectional imaging methods such as computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We brieflyreview the technical features of these techniques and our findings in cases with pediatric Crohn'sdisease, ulcerative colitis and indeterminate colitis. Choice of the appropriate imaging technique depends on the clinical setting. Thanks to technical developments, sonogaphy, CT and MRInow play an emerging role in the diagnostic process in children as well as in the adult population.Nevertheless, conventional barium studies still play a role in the assessment of the gut since they arewidely available, easily performed and clearly depict superficial changes in the mucosal layer of thegut. Cross-sectional imaging like sonography and MRI can easily depict mural thickening of Crohn'sdisease and offers a noninvasive and ionizing-free imaging modality for assessment of the smallbowel. Especially MRI with adequate intestinal distention can provide us with excellent informationon the presence, extension and activity of Crohn's disease. Nevertheless, MRI requires patient compliance that is not always easy in children. Copyright © 2009 S. Karger AG, Basel

Diagnostic Accuracy of Contrast-Enhanced, Spectral Mammography (CESM) and 3T Magnetic Resonance Compared to Full-Field Digital Mammography plus Ultrasound in Breast Lesions: Results of a (Pilot) Open-Label, Single-Centre Prospective Study

Introduction: To assess the diagnostic accuracy of CESM and 3T MRI compared to full-field digital mammography (FFDM), plus US, in the evaluation of advanced breast lesions. Materials and Methods: Consenting women with suspicious findings underwent FFDM, US, CESM and 3T MRI. Breast lesions were histologically assessed, with histology being the gold standard. Two experienced breast radiologists, blinded to cancer status, read the images. Diagnostic accuracy of (1) CESM as an adjunct to FFDM and US, and (2) 3T MRI as an adjunct to CESM compared to FFDM and US, was assessed. Measures of accuracy were sensitivity (Se), specificity (Sp), positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV). Results: There were 118 patients included along with 142 histologically characterized lesions. K agreement values were 0.69, 0.68, 0.63 and 0.56 for concordance between the gold standard and FFDM, FFDM + US, CESM and MRI, respectively (p p value < 0.001 for all). Conclusions: CESM may represent a valuable alternative and/or an integrating technique to MRI in the evaluation of breast cancer patients

Bleeding and thrombotic complications during treatment with direct oral anticoagulants or vitamin K antagonists in venous thromboembolic patients included in the prospective, observational START2-register

Objective The proportion and characteristics of Italian patients affected by venous thromboembolism (VTE) treated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) or vitamin K antagonists (VKAs), and complications occurring during follow-up.Design A prospective cohort of 2728 VTE patients included in the Survey on anticoagulaTed pAtients RegisTer (START2-Register) from January 2014 to June 2018 was investigated. Characteristics of patients, type of treatment and complications occurring during 2962 years of follow-up were analysed.Setting About 60 Italian anticoagulation and thrombosis centres participated in the observational START2-RegisterParticipants 2728 adult patients with VTE of a lower limb and/or pulmonary embolism (PE), with a follow-up after the initial phase treatment.Interventions Patients could receive DOACs or VKAs; both prescribed by the National and Regional Health Systems for patients with VTE.Outcomes measures Efficacy: rate of VTE recurrence (all thrombotic complications were also recorded). Safety: the rate of major and clinically relevant non-major bleeding events.Results Almost 80% of patients were treated with DOACs. The prevalence of symptomatic PE and impaired renal function was higher in patients receiving VKAs. Duration of anticoagulation was &gt;180 days in approximately 70% of patients. Bleeding events were similar in both treatment groups. The overall eventuality of recurrence was significantly higher in DOAC cohorts versus VKA cohorts (HR 2.15 (1.14–4.06), p=0.018); the difference was almost completely due to recurrences occurring during extended treatment (2.73% DOAC vs 0.49% VKA, p&lt;0.0001). All-cause mortality was higher in VKA-treated (5.9%) than in DOAC-treated patients (2.6%, p&lt;0.001).Conclusion Italian centres treat most patients with VTE with DOACs and prefer VKA for those with more serious clinical conditions. Recurrences were significantly more frequent in DOAC-treated patients due to increased incidence after 180 days of treatment, probably due to reduced adherence to treatment. These results underline the importance of structured surveillance of DOAC-treated patients with VTE to strengthen treatment adherence during extended therapy

Statins under-treatment and mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation. Insights from the nationwide START registry

Background and aims: Statins are mainstream drugs for cardiovascular (CV) prevention, but under-prescription is an important clinical challenge. Data on the use of single statins and on the rate of under-prescription in atrial fibrillation (AF) are lacking. We evaluated the association of statin underuse with mortality risk in a large AF cohort.Methods and results: As many as 5477 patients from the Italian nationwide START registry were included. The prevalence of different statins was reported and the association of under prescription with all-cause and CV mortality investigated.Mean age was 80.2 years, and 46.4% were women. Among 2899 patients with a clinical indication to statin, only 1578 (54.4%) were on treatment. In a mean follow-up of 22.5 +/- 17.1 months, 491 (4.7%/year) deaths occurred (106 CV deaths, 1.0%/year). Atorvastatin and Simvastatin were inversely associated with all-cause (HR 0.692, 95% CI 0.519-0.923, p = 0.012 and HR 0.598, 95% CI 0.428-0.836, p = 0.003, respectively) and CV death (HR 0.372, 95% CI 0.178-0.776, p = 0.008 and HR 0.306, 95% CI 0.123-0.758, p = 0.010, respectively).The 1321 untreated patients were older, more frequently women and with a higher prevalence of diabetes, previous cerebrovascular disease, peripheral artery disease compared to those on treatment. Statin undertreatment was associated with higher risk of all-cause (HR 1.400, 95% CI 1.078-1.819, p = 0.012) and CV death (HR 2.057, 95% CI 1.188-3.561, p = 0.010).Conclusions: AF patients with an indication to statins but left untreated show a high risk of all-cause and CV mortality. Implementation of statin prescription in the AF population can help reducing the residual mortality risk.(c) 2023 The Italian Diabetes Society, the Italian Society for the Study of Atherosclerosis, the Italian Society of Human Nutrition and the Department of Clinical Medicine and Surgery, Federico II University. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved