Development of a pediatric differentiated thyroid carcinoma registry within the EuRRECa project: rationale and protocol.

Background: Although differentiated thyroid carcinoma (DTC) is the most frequent endocrine pediatric cancer, it is rare in childhood and adolescence. While tumor persistence and recurrence are not uncommon, mortality remains extremely low. Complications of treatment are however reported in up to 48% of the survivors. Due to the rarity of the disease, current treatment guidelines are predominantly based on the results of small observational retrospective studies and extrapolations from results in adult patients. In order to develop more personalized treatment and follow-up strategies (aiming to reduce complication rates), there is an unmet need for uniform international prospective data collection and clinical trials. Methods and analysis: The European pediatric thyroid carcinoma registry aims to collect clinical data for all patients ≤18 years of age with a confirmed diagnosis of DTC who have been diagnosed, assessed, or treated at a participating site. This registry will be a component of the wider European Registries for Rare Endocrine Conditions project which has close links to Endo-ERN, the European Reference Network for Rare Endocrine Conditions. A multidisciplinary expert working group was formed to develop a minimal dataset comprising information regarding demographic data, diagnosis, treatment, and outcome. We constructed an umbrella-type registry, with a detailed basic dataset. In the future, this may provide the opportunity for research teams to integrate clinical research questions. Ethics and dissemination: Written informed consent will be obtained from all participants and/or their parents/guardians. Summaries and descriptive analyses of the registry will be disseminated via conference presentations and peer-reviewed publications.

PET/CT in nuclear endocrinology: Results of the survey diffused through different social networks of the SEMNIM in Spain.

AIM: To know the current use of the PET/CT technology applied in the field of endocrinology, the Endocrinology Working Group of SEMNIM proposed conducting a survey. The objective was to obtain a snapshot of the use of PET/CT in nuclear endocrinology, to know if it is being used properly and detect possible needs. MATERIAL AND METHODS: During the first quarter of 2022, we analyzed the data obtained from a survey that was distributed through different social networks throughout the second half of 2021. The survey asked for the use of the different PET/CT techniques available in Spain in different endocrinological pathologies like differentiated thyroid carcinoma, medullary thyroid carcinoma, neuroendocrine tumors and hyperparathyroidism. RESULTS: A total of 15 centers responded to the survey. A percentage of 79 of hospitals used 18F-FDG PET/CT in the diagnosis and/or follow-up of differentiated thyroid carcinoma (mean annual studies: 36.9; range 10-100); 85% used 18F-DOPA PET/CT for the study of biochemical recurrence of medullary thyroid carcinoma (mean annual studies: 7.8; range 2-20); 77% used 18F-DOPA PET/CT for the study of neuroendocrine tumors: 77% used 18F-DOPA PET/CT (mean of 10 scans per year; range 2-30) and 69% used 68Ga-DOTA-SA (mean of 24.7 studies per year; range 2-127); 79% used 18F-choline PET/CT for the study of hyperparathyroidism (mean of 30.1 annual studies; range 10-120). CONCLUSIONS: We detected that the use of the PET/CT technique in endocrinology is not yet widespread, however, we saw that the indications in which it is used are, in general, those reported in the different consensus.

[Rest gated-SPECT myocardial perfusion post (99m)Tc-MIBI injection in a patient with acute chest pain and with no medical history of ischemic heart disease]. / Gated-SPECT de reposo tras inyección intradolor de (99m)Tc-MIBI en paciente sin antecedentes de cardiopatía isquémica.

Gated-SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging is a widely used technique indicated for assessment of patients with no clear diagnosis of ischemic heart disease. Early rest gated-SPECT myocardial perfusion study in patients with acute chest pain has high sensitivity and high negative predictive value for ruling out coronary disease. We report a case of a patient admitted for the study of her chest pain. She underwent a myocardial perfusion stress-rest whose interpretation could have been equivocal due to the clinical status of the patient during the injection of the radiotracer.

[201Thalium SPECT in the detection of recurrent laryngeal carcinoma]. / El SPECT con (201)Talio en la detección de recidiva del carcinoma de laringe.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the diagnostic yield of (201)Thallium SPECT in the detection of local and/or regional lymph node dissemination of pharyngolaryngeal carcinoma. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 29 patients who had been diagnosed with pharyngolaryngeal carcinoma were studied (mean age: 60.9 years). These patients had been treated by surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. At between 3 to 6 month after finishing the treatment, all of them underwent a planar and SPECT study at one hour after the administration of 148 MBq of (201)Thallium. Uptake was scored on four grades: from 0 (no uptake) to 3 (very intense uptake). The presence or non-presence of lymph nodes with uptake was also evaluated. All the results on the scintigraphy were correlated with long term clinical and radiological follow-up (mean: 2.5 years). The studies were classified as positive for recurrence when the uptake was 2-3 and/or with presence of lymph nodes with uptake. RESULTS: We obtained 9 true positive, 14 true negative, 3 false positive and 3 false negative results. Sensitivity was 75%, specificity was 82.4%, positive predictive value was 75% and negative predictive value was 82.4%. Two out of three false positives corresponded to the surgical bed uptake and one was attributed to the laterocervical lymph nodes. The three false negatives had grade 1 uptakes, two of them corresponding to pulmonary metastasis without evidence of local recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: The use of (201)Thallium SPECT in the prognostic evaluation in patients with a treated laryngeal carcinoma shows very acceptable results in the detection of local recurrence and/or regional lymph node dissemination.

[Comparison of administration of rhTSH with withdrawal of thyroid hormone. Follow-up of patients with differentiated thyroid carcinoma]. / Estudio comparativo entre la utilización de TSH recombinante y la estimulación endógena con TSH. Valoración en el seguimiento de los pacientes con carcinoma diferenciado de tiroides.

UNLABELLED: Recombinant human thyrotropin (rhTSH) has been introduced recently in follow up of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) patients, as an alternative of thyroid hormone withdrawal. The aim of this retrospective study is to compare recombinant human thyrotropin versus endogenous stimulation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Thirty-three patients with DTC with previous thyroidectomy and thyroid ablation were selected. All patients underwent whole-body radioiodine scanning and third day serum thyroglobulin (TG) measurement by two techniques, the first one after conventional thyroid hormone withdrawal (TSHe, TGe), and the second one after rhTSH stimulation (TSHr, TGr). Measurement of TG was performed on the third day due to the infrastructure. We only included patients with stable disease, without therapeutic interventions between two consecutive controls in an interval inferior to one year. Two qualitative categories were defined for TG (positive TG > 2 ng/ml or negative TG<2 ng/ml) and whole-body radioiodine scan (positive or negative). RESULTS: TSHe: 62.9 +/- 55.48; TSHr: 113.16 +/- 50.6; (p: ns); TGe: 62.5 +/- 115.7; TGr: 54.6 +/- 111.1; (p: 0.044). Quantitative data analysis showed significant differences between two techniques. Qualitative data analysis showed no significant differences in clinical setting based in TG and radioiodine scan. CONCLUSIONS: Administration of rhTSH produces a significantly higher increase of TSH than thyroid hormone withdrawal and lower increase in TG levels. There were no significant differences in the stage of disease (TG and whole-body radioiodine scan).