Topic Review
The Sentinel Lymph Node in Treatment Planning
The sentinel lymph node is a surgical technique developed in oncological surgery to identify and analyze fewer lymph nodes than a conventional lymph node dissection in order to limit the morbidity and mortality of such an extensive procedure without compromising the patients’ outcomes. This concept seems to also be useful in radiation oncology that treats lymph node areas. This may help radiation oncologists to treat their patients more precisely by targeting more accurately pathological sites and sparing healthy tissues.
  • 237
  • 13 Jun 2023
Topic Review
The Diagnostic Deceiver: Radiological Pictorial Review of Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is a bacterial infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis. It is a public health problem worldwide and one of the leading causes of mortality. Clinical manifestations and routine laboratory tests have limitations in directing physicians to diagnose TB. Medical imaging examinations play an essential role in detecting tissue abnormalities and suspecting diagnosis of TB. Radiologists and Physicians should be familiar with the radiological manifestations of TB to contribute to the early suspicion and diagnosis. This entry illustrates the common radiological patterns of pulmonary and extrapulmonary TB.
  • 467
  • 28 Feb 2022
Topic Review
Targeted Radionuclide Therapy
Targeted radionuclide therapy has become increasingly prominent as a nuclear medicine subspecialty. Treatment with radionuclides has been mainly restricted to the use of iodine-131 in thyroid disorders. Radiopharmaceuticals, consisting of a radionuclide coupled to a vector that binds to a desired biological target with high specificity, are being developed. The objective is to be as selective as possible at the tumor level, while limiting the dose received at the healthy tissue level. A better understanding of molecular mechanisms of cancer, as well as the appearance of innovative targeting agents (antibodies, peptides, and small molecules) and the availability of new radioisotopes, have enabled considerable advances in the field of vectorized internal radiotherapy with a better therapeutic efficacy, radiation safety and personalized treatments. 
  • 484
  • 07 Jul 2023
Topic Review
T Classification of Lung Cancer
Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in men and women in the United States. Accurate staging is needed to determine prognosis and devise effective treatment plans. The International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC) has made multiple revisions to the tumor, node, metastasis (TNM) staging system used by the Union for International Cancer Control and the American Joint Committee on Cancer to stage lung cancer. The eighth edition of this staging system includes modifications to the T classification with cut points of 1 cm increments in tumor size, grouping of lung cancers associated with partial or complete lung atelectasis or pneumonitis, grouping of tumors with involvement of a main bronchus regardless of distance from the carina, and upstaging of diaphragmatic invasion to T4. 
  • 122
  • 14 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Synthetic Post-Contrast Imaging through AI. Applications in Neuroimaging
Contrast media are widely diffused in biomedical imaging, due to their relevance in the diagnosis of numerous disorders. However, the risk of adverse reactions, the concern of potential damage to sensitive organs, and the recently described brain deposition of gadolinium salts, limit the use of contrast media in clinical practice. The application of artificial intelligence (AI) techniques to biomedical imaging has led to the development of ‘virtual’ and ‘augmented’ contrasts. The idea behind these applications is to generate synthetic post-contrast images through AI computational modeling starting from the information available on other images acquired during the same scan. In these AI models, non-contrast images (virtual contrast) or low-dose post-contrast images (augmented contrast) are used as input data to generate synthetic post-contrast images, which are often undistinguishable from the native ones. 
  • 497
  • 09 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy
As medicine continues to advance our understanding of and knowledge about the complex and multifactorial nature of cancer, new major technological challenges have emerged in the design of analytical methods capable of characterizing and assessing the dynamic heterogeneity of cancer for diagnosis, prognosis and monitoring, as required by precision medicine. With this aim, novel nanotechnological approaches have been pursued and developed for overcoming intrinsic and current limitations of conventional methods in terms of rapidity, sensitivity, multiplicity, non-invasive procedures and cost. Eminently, a special focus has been put on their implementation in liquid biopsy analysis. Among optical nanosensors, those based on surface-enhanced Raman scattering (SERS) have been attracting tremendous attention due to the combination of the intrinsic prerogatives of the technique (e.g., sensitivity and structural specificity) and the high degree of refinement in nano-manufacturing, which translate into reliable and robust real-life applications.
  • 690
  • 15 Sep 2021
Topic Review
Stereogram of the Living Heart
The concept of binocular stereopsis is that retinal images of the left and right eyes differ because of pupil distance. These two two-dimensional scenes are reproduced as a single image in the visual cortex of the occipital lobe of the brain, recovering the three-dimensional world with depth. A set of these two-dimensional images is referred to as a “stereogram,” which has multiple types.
  • 537
  • 06 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Staging Breast Cancer with Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer among women worldwide and represents one of the leading causes of mortality and morbidity. Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) is a systemic treatment administered before surgery, whose indications have expanded from inoperable locally advanced to early-stage breast cancer. The pivotal role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with morphological and functional modalities is making headway in the assessment of tumor size in the staging, residual tumor, surgical planning and prediction of response. Radiomics and radiogenomics MRI applications in the setting of breast cancer NACT response prediction are continuously increasing. Tailored systemic therapy strategies allow considerations of treatment de-escalation in excellent responders and avoiding or at least postponing breast surgery in selected patients.
  • 598
  • 15 Dec 2022
Topic Review
Splenic Artery Pseudoaneurysms
Splenic artery pseudoaneurysm (PSA) is a contained vascular wall lesion associated with a high mortality rate, generally related to pancreatitis, trauma, malignancy, iatrogenic injury, and segmental arterial mediolysis. Computed tomography angiography allows us to visualize the vascular anatomy, differentiate a PSA from an aneurysm, and provide adequate information for endovascular/surgical treatment.  Pseudoaneurysms (PSAs) are vascular lesions generally due to a tear of the vessel wall contained in the adventitia of the artery or by the local hematoma surrounding PSA; unlike aneurysms, they are contained in all layers of the arterial wall. Splenic artery PSAs could be due to pancreatitis, trauma, malignancy, or iatrogenic injury. Another cause of PSAs formation—even if rarer—is segmental arterial mediolysis (SAM); SAM is a non-atherosclerotic, non-inflammatory vascular disease of unknown origin that could involve the visceral arteries of the abdomen, as well as the splenic artery.
  • 345
  • 05 May 2022
Topic Review
Sex, Hormonal Status and Targeted Radionuclide Therapy
Available data on cancer secondary to ionizing radiation consistently show an excess (2-fold amount) of radiation-attributable solid tumors in women relative to men. This excess risk varies by organ and age, with the largest sex differences (6- to more than 10-fold) found in female thyroid and breasts exposed between birth until menopause (~50 years old) relative to age-matched males. Recent advances in cancer therapy with radioactive substances involve parenteral administration of a radiopharmaceutical or radiolabeled antibody which is designed to preferentially accumulate in neoplasms, termed Targeted Radionuclide Therapy (TRT) and Radioimmunotherapy, respectively. Development of new TRT agents is increasingly accompanied by the use of companion diagnostics and individual dosimetry since, systemic radiopharmaceutical therapy with associated companion diagnostics “is the embodiment of precision medicine” and dosimetry is the optimal tool to predict individual safety and efficacy of TRT.
  • 326
  • 31 May 2022
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