Pretreatment [18F]FDG PET/CT and MRI in the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: The present study aimed to assess the prognostic interest of metabolic and anatomic parameters derived from 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography ([18F]FDG PET/CT) and head and neck magnetic resonance imaging (HN-MRI) for better management of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). METHODS: In this study, pre-treatment [18F]FDG PET/CT and HN-MRI parameters of NPC patients diagnosed between January 2017 and December 2018, were prospectively investigated. Correlation between those parameters and 4-year patient's survival outcomes was evaluated using Kaplan-Meier and Cox-regression analyses. RESULTS: Our results revealed a significant association between pre-treatment nodal-maximum standardized uptake value (N-SUV max) and N categories (p = 0.01), between pre-treatment node-to-tumor SUV ratio (NTR) and both tumor size (p = 0.01) and N categories (p = 0.009), as well as between metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and both tumor size and NPC overall stage (p < 0.000). In multivariate analyses, pre-treatment N-SUV max, NTR and MTV were significant independent predictors of overall survival, distant metastasis-free survival, and progression-free survival (PFS) (p < 0.05). N-SUV max and MTV were also found to be significant independent predictors of loco-regional recurrence-free survival (p < 0.05), whereas HN-MRI detection of skull-base bone invasion was an independent factor associated with worse PFS in NPC (p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The present study highlights N-SUV max, NTR and MTV derived from [18F]FDG PET/CT, and skull-base bone invasion defined by HN-MRI, as promising metabolic and anatomic prognosis biomarkers for NPC.

Cancer surveillance in northern Africa, and central and western Asia: challenges and strategies in support of developing cancer registries.

The Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development partnership, led by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), was established in response to an overwhelming need for high-quality cancer incidence data from low-income and middle-income countries. The IARC Regional Hub for cancer registration in North Africa, Central and West Asia was founded in 2013 to support capacity building for cancer registration in each of the countries in this region. In this Series paper, we advocate the necessity for tailored approaches to cancer registration given the rapidly changing cancer landscape for this region, and the challenges faced at a national level in developing data systems to help support this process given present disparities in resources and health infrastructure. In addition, we provide an overview of the status of cancer surveillance and activities country-by-country, documenting tailored approaches that are informing local cancer-control policy, and potentially curbing the growing cancer burden across the region.

[Cancer screening practices of general practitioners working in the Fez Prefecture health center]. / Pratiques des médecins généralistes des centres de santé de la Préfecture de Fès vis-à-vis du dépistage du cancer.

INTRODUCTION: General practitioners can play a key role in prevention and early detection of cancer. The aim of this study was to assess their current clinical practices concerning risk factors such as smoking, alcohol, diet and cancer screening. METHOD: A self-administered questionnaire was sent to GPs working at the Fez Prefecture health centre (Morocco).Questions concerned primary prevention (smoking, alcohol, diet, sun exposure) and cancer screening (breast, uterine cervix, colon-rectum, prostate, skin cancers). RESULTS: The participation rate was 75.8%. The average age of GPs was 45.6 ± 6.8 years and 53.8% were female. Monitoring training on cancer prevention was reported by 25.6% of GPs. We noted a great diversity for screening, even for cancers with a consensus concerning the role of screening, such as breast, and uterine cervix cancers. Many physicians reported ordering prostate- specific antigen tests (70.2%) but only 6.7% ordered faecal occult blood tests. CONCLUSION: This study emphasizes the need to improve the general practitioners' knowledge on cancer screening.