Upcoming Role of Prostate Specific Membrane Antigen Positron Emission Tomography-Computed Tomography in Detecting Occult Metastases in Prostate Cancer.

Prostate cancer (PCa) is the second most frequent malignancy in men. Most common sites of disease involvement other than the prostate gland include abdominopelvic lymph nodes and the skeleton. The detection of nodal metastases is of utmost importance to determine prognosis and choice of treatment in patients with PCa. Conventional imaging focuses on morphologic information and takes size criteria for decision-making. Early detection of metastases is further relevant in terms of prognosis and therapy management. Molecular imaging of PCa with Ga-68 prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography-computed tomography (PET-CT) has recently received significant attention and frequently used with a signature to PCa-specific remark. We presented the case of a 69-year-old male presenting with biochemical recurrence after undergoing surgery and in remission for about a year, where Ga-68 PSMA PET-CT identified additional sites of disease apart from the expected regional bed.

Efficient laser-driven proton acceleration from cylindrical and planar cryogenic hydrogen jets.

We report on recent experimental results deploying a continuous cryogenic hydrogen jet as a debris-free, renewable laser-driven source of pure proton beams generated at the 150 TW ultrashort pulse laser Draco. Efficient proton acceleration reaching cut-off energies of up to 20 MeV with particle numbers exceeding 109 particles per MeV per steradian is demonstrated, showing for the first time that the acceleration performance is comparable to solid foil targets with thicknesses in the micrometer range. Two different target geometries are presented and their proton beam deliverance characterized: cylindrical (∅ 5 µm) and planar (20 µm × 2 µm). In both cases typical Target Normal Sheath Acceleration emission patterns with exponential proton energy spectra are detected. Significantly higher proton numbers in laser-forward direction are observed when deploying the planar jet as compared to the cylindrical jet case. This is confirmed by two-dimensional Particle-in-Cell (2D3V PIC) simulations, which demonstrate that the planar jet proves favorable as its geometry leads to more optimized acceleration conditions.

Classical imaging triad in a very young child with swyer-james syndrome.

Swyer-James syndrome (SJS) or Swyer-James-MacLeod syndrome is a rare disorder characterized by roentgenographical hyperlucency of one lung, lobe, or part of a lobe. As originally described, it shows a unilateral small lung with hyperlucency and air trapping on radiographs. It is postinfectious obliterative bronchiolitis due to childhood respiratory infection. In SJS, the involved lung or portion of the lung does not grow normally. The characteristic radiologic appearance is that of pulmonary hyperlucency on chest X-ray/CT caused by over-distention of the alveoli in conjunction with diminished arterial flow detected on Tc-99 m MAA pulmonary perfusion scan. Radionuclide pulmonary ventilation studies are considered difficult to perform in very young children as patient co-operation is crucial to achieve adequate tracer entry into the lungs. We present here the case of a female child aged 2 years, who presented with chronic productive cough and fever off and on for 1.5 years. She had classical features on imaging and markedly diminished ventilation on Tc-99 m DTPA aerosol study. Our case highlights the typical findings on ventilation-perfusion scan (V/Q scan) and suggests that it is possible to conduct a satisfactory ventilation study with Tc-99 m DTPA aerosol even in very young children.