Interleukin-6: A New Marker of Advanced-Sarcopenic HCC Cirrhotic Patients.

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is the major cause of liver-related death worldwide. Interleukin 6 (IL-6) promotes the growth of the HCC microenvironment. The correlation between Child-Pugh (CP) and HCC stage and between HCC stage and sarcopenia is still not clear. Our aim was to investigate whether IL-6 is correlated with HCC stage and could represent a diagnostic marker for sarcopenia. Ninety-three HCC cirrhotic patients in different stages, according to BCLC-2022 (stages A, B, and C), were enrolled. Anthropometric and biochemical parameters, comprehensive of IL-6, were collected. The skeletal muscle index (SMI) was measured using dedicated software on computer tomography (CT) images. IL-6 level was higher in advanced (BCLC C) compared to the early-intermediate (BCLC A-B) stages (21.4 vs. 7.7 pg/mL, p < 0.005). On multivariate analysis, IL-6 levels were statistically dependent on the degree of liver disease severity (CP score) and HCC stages (p = 0.001 and p = 0.044, respectively). Sarcopenic patients presented lower BMI (24.7 ± 5.3 vs. 28.5 ± 7.0), higher PMN/lymphocyte ratio (2.9 ± 2.4 vs. 2.3 ± 1.2) and increased values of log (IL-6) (1.3 ± 0.6 vs. 1.1 ± 0.3). Univariate logistic regression between sarcopenia and log (IL-6) showed a significant odds ratio (OR 14.88, p = 0.044) with an AUC of 0.72. IL-6 appears to be an effective biomarker for the diagnosis of advanced cirrhotic HCC. In addition, IL-6 could be considered a marker of cirrhotic HCC-related sarcopenia, suggesting further investigation with BIA- or CT-dedicated software.

Ultrasound-guided distal transradial access for cardiac catheterization: Technical notes for the interventionalist.

Over the latest years, the use of distal radial access (dTRA), also called "snuffbox," has become more and more popular for cardiac catheterization. Indeed, dTRA has several advantages compared to the traditional proximal radial approach, such as a lower risk of hand ischemia, radial artery occlusion (RAO) and faster post-procedural hemostasis. However, due to the presence of different muscular-skeletal structures, as well as to the small diameter of the distal radial artery (dRA), an ultrasound-guided cannulation would be preferred since a blind puncture increases the risk of tendon damage and/or the irritation of the underlying periosteum. The present article is aimed to provide the key tips for performing US-guided access using the dRA in patients undergoing percutaneous cardiac procedures.

Predictive and prognostic effect of computed tomography-derived body composition analysis during neoadjuvant chemotherapy for operable and locally advanced breast cancer.

OBJECTIVES: Excess adiposity is associated with several factors involved in carcinogenesis and breast cancer progression. Evidence supporting the role of body composition in breast cancer treatment is promising, but still scanty and mainly focused on adjuvant treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in body composition during neoadjuvant chemotherapy and its association with pathologic complete response and survival outcome in patients treated for operable/locally advanced breast cancer. METHODS: A retrospective review of patients with breast cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy was performed in the Oncology Section of the Department of Medicine, University of Verona between 2014 and 2019. Body composition was evaluated from clinically acquired computed tomography scans at diagnosis and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Descriptive statistic was adopted. The associations of body composition measures with pathologic complete response and disease-free survival were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier curves were compared with log-rank analysis. RESULTS: Data from 93 patients were collected. After neoadjuvant chemotherapy, the adipose compound changed significantly across all body mass index categories. Body composition parameters had no significant effect on pathologic complete response. Survival analysis showed that a high gain of visceral adipose tissue during neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with shorter disease-free survival (hazard ratio, 10.2; P = 0.026). In particular, disease-free survival was significantly worse in patients who gained ≥10% of visceral adipose tissue compared with patients who gained <10% of visceral adipose tissue (5-y disease-free survival 71.4 versus 96.3, P = 0.009, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Our results indicated that neoadjuvant chemotherapy significantly affects body composition, which seems to have an effect on survival outcome of breast cancer, highlighting the relevance of the body composition assessment when estimating treatment outcomes.

Operator Evaluation of Ultrasound Fusion Imaging Usefulness in the Percutaneous Ablation of Hepatic Malignancies: A Prospective Study.

The purpose of the work described here was to evaluate the use of ultrasound fusion imaging (US-FI) in percutaneous ablation of hepatic malignancies with respect to its global usefulness, improvement of conspicuity, confidence increment, needle route changes, and time savings. Thirty-four hepatic tumors (28 hepatocellular carcinomas, 6 metastases) were prospectively ablated in 16 consecutive patients (64 ± 11 y, 75% males), first simulating B-mode-only planning and then synchronizing computed tomography/magnetic resonance images with US and proceeding to needle insertion and tumor ablation under US-FI guidance. Surveys were administered to the operators to evaluate their perception of US-FI advantages. First treatment and local recurrence were also compared. US-FI was judged useful in 91% of cases and more useful when the tumor was not conspicuous in B-mode (p < 0.001), in particular for ablation of local recurrences (p = 0.021). Forty-one percent of tumors were undetectable at B-mode evaluation, and 93% of them were completely ablated under US-FI guidance. The confidence of the operator was highly increased by US-FI in 68% of cases. In 71% of cases, the radiologist saved time using US-FI, especially in treatment of local recurrences (p = 0.024). In conclusion, US-FI significantly increases the detection of target tumors, improves the confidence of the operator and is a time-saving method, especially in the treatment of local recurrences.

Liver Tumor Burden in Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors: CT Features and Texture Analysis in the Prediction of Tumor Grade and 18F-FDG Uptake.

Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (p-NETs) are a rare group of neoplasms that often present with liver metastases. Histological characteristics, metabolic behavior, and liver tumor burden (LTB) are important prognostic factors. In this study, the usefulness of texture analysis of liver metastases in evaluating the biological aggressiveness of p-NETs was assessed. Fifty-six patients with liver metastases from p-NET were retrospectively enrolled. Qualitative and quantitative CT features of LTB were evaluated. Histogram-derived parameters of liver metastases were calculated and correlated with the tumor grade (G) and 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (18F-FDG) standardized uptake value (SUV). Arterial relative enhancement was inversely related with G (-0.37, p = 0.006). Different metastatic spread patterns of LTB were not associated with histological grade. Arterialentropy was significantly correlated to G (-0.368, p = 0.038) and to Ki67 percentage (-0.421, p = 0.018). The ROC curve for the Arterialentropy reported an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.736 (95% confidence interval 0.545-0.928, p = 0.035) in the identification of G1-2 tumors. Arterialuniformity values were correlated to G (0.346, p = 0.005) and Ki67 levels (0.383, p = 0.033). Arterialentropy values were directly correlated with the SUV (0.449, p = 0.047) which was inversely correlated with Arterialuniformity (-0.499, p = 0.025). Skewness and kurtosis reported no significant correlations. In conclusion, histogram-derived parameters may predict adverse histological features and metabolic behavior of p-NET liver metastases.

Evaluation of nutritional status in non-small-cell lung cancer: screening, assessment and correlation with treatment outcome.

BackgroundNutritional derangements are common hallmarks of non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Nevertheless, their early detection is overlooked in clinical routine. This study aimed to evaluate nutritional status and its correlation with outcome in NSCLC patients.MethodsData regarding NSCLC patients undergoing nutritional evaluation were prospectively collected (May 2016-October 2018). Nutritional risk was assessed by Nutritional Risk Screening 2002 (NRS-2002). Bilateral psoas major muscles were measured at L3 vertebrae level with routine staging-computed tomography and changes were evaluated using Wilcoxon signed-rank test. Clinico-pathological and nutritional data were correlated to progression-free/overall survival (PFS/OS) and response rate (ORR) using a Cox and logistic regression model. Kaplan-Meier curves were compared with log-rank test.ResultsThirty-eight patients were included. The majority (65.8%) of them were at nutritional risk (NRS-2002 ≥3). At multivariate analysis for patients with advanced disease, age (HR 2.44, p=0.05), performance status (HR 2.48, p=0.043) and NRS-2002 (HR 1.74, p=0.001) were significant independent predictors for PFS and weight loss (HR 1.07, p=0.008) for OS. Patients with baseline NRS-2002 <3 had significantly longer 1-year PFS (85.7% vs 19.4%, p=0.02) and higher ORR (66.7% vs 21.4%) than those with NRS-2002 ≥3. An explorative evaluation demonstrated that NRS-2002 score significantly decreased after nutritional intervention (p=0.001) for 3 months.ConclusionBaseline nutritional risk represents a prognostic factor in NSCLC. Nutritional counselling should be applied as a fundamental tool to improve nutritional risk in a short period, ameliorating patients' outcome.