Early perfusion changes in patients with recurrent high-grade brain tumor treated with Bevacizumab: preliminary results by a quantitative evaluation

Abstract Background To determine whether early monitoring of the effects of bevacizumab in patients with recurrent high-grade gliomas, by a Perfusion Computed Tomography (PCT), may be a predictor of the response to treatment assessed through conventional MRI follow-up. Methods Sixteen patients were enrolled in the present study. For each patient, two PCT examinations, before and after the first dose of bevacizumab, were acquired. Areas of abnormal Cerebral Blood Volume (CBV) were manually defined on the CBV maps, using co-registered T1- weighted images, acquired before treatment, as a guide to the tumor location. Different perfusion metrics were derived from the histogram analysis of the normalized CBV (nCBV) maps; both hyper and hypo-perfused sub-volumes were quantified in the lesion, including tumor necrosis. A two-tailed Wilcoxon test was used to establish the significance of changes in the different perfusion metrics, observed at baseline and during treatment. The relationships between changes in perfusion and morphological MRI modifications at first follow-up were investigated. Results Significant reductions in mean and median nCBV were detected throughout the entire patient population, after only a single dose of bevacizumab. The nCBV histogram modifications indicated the normalization effect of bevacizumab on the tumor abnormal vasculature. An improvement in hypoxia after a single dose of bevacizumab was predictive of a greater reduction in T1-weighted contrast-enhanced volumes at first follow-up. Conclusions These preliminary results show that a quantification of changes in necrotic intra-tumoral regions could be proposed as a potential imaging biomarker of tumor response to anti-VEGF therapies.</p

Chronic myeloid leukemia management at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. A campus CML survey

no abstrac

COVID-19 infection in chronic myeloid leukaemia after one year of the pandemic in Italy. A Campus CML report

Limited information is available on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the management of chronic myeloid leukaemia (CML). The Campus CML network collected retrospective information on 8&nbsp;665 CML patients followed at 46 centres throughout Italy during the pandemic between February 2020 and January 2021. Within this cohort, we recorded 217 SARS-CoV-2-positive patients (2·5%). Most patients (57%) were diagnosed as having SARS-CoV-2 infection during the second peak of the pandemic (September 2020 to January 2021). The majority (35%) was aged between 50 and 65&nbsp;years with a male prevalence (73%). Fifty-six percent of patients presented concomitant comorbidities. The median time from CML diagnosis to SARS-CoV-2 infection was six years (three months to 18&nbsp;years). Twenty-one patients (9·6%) required hospitalization without the need of respiratory assistance, 18 (8·2%) were hospitalized for respiratory assistance, 8 (3·6%) were admitted to an intensive care unit, while 170 (78%) were only quarantined. Twenty-three percent of patients discontinued tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy during the infection. Twelve patients died due to COVID-19 with a mortality rate of 5·5% in the positive cohort and of 0·13% in the whole cohort. We could also document sequelae caused by the SARS-CoV-2 infection and an impact of the pandemic on the overall management of CML patients

Chronic myeloid leukemia management at the time of the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy. A campus CML survey

No abstract available