Pseudoprogression in patients with uterine leiomyosarcoma treated with first-line single-agent doxorubicin.

AIM: To evaluate the incidence of pseudoprogression in patients with metastatic or inoperable uterine leiomyosarcoma (LMS) treated with first-line single-agent doxorubicin. METHODS: The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust Sarcoma Unit database was searched to identify all patients with metastatic or inoperable LMS treated with first-line doxorubicin from January 2006 to January 2022. Patients with available computed tomography scans performed at baseline and during doxorubicin therapy were included. Response evaluation criteria in solid tumours v1.1 and Choi criteria were applied. Any increase in the sum of the longest diameter that decreased on the subsequent scan was labelled as pseudoprogression. RESULTS: The total number of patients evaluated was 52. In total, 19% (n = 10) of patients treated with doxorubicin showed pseudoprogression. However, pseudoprogression at the time of the second scan was not associated with time to doxorubicin failure. Choi criteria identified 30% (n = 3) of pseudoprogressors as responding. CONCLUSION: Despite the use of doxorubicin as first-line therapy for soft-tissue sarcomas for over 40 years, pseudoprogression has not been described. This retrospective study shows that pseudoprogression occurs in 19% of patients with metastatic/inoperable uterine LMS treated with first-line doxorubicin. Choi criteria were not consistently able to differentiate pseudoprogression from true progression. It is imperative that oncologists and radiologists are aware of this as symptomatically stable/improving patients may benefit from continued treatment despite initial radiological growth in tumour size.

Early MRI Predictors of Relapse in Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma Treated with MATRix Immunochemotherapy.

Primary Central Nervous System Lymphoma (PCNSL) is a highly malignant brain tumour. We investigated dynamic changes in tumour volume and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) measurements for predicting outcome following treatment with MATRix chemotherapy in PCNSL. Patients treated with MATRix (n = 38) underwent T1 contrast-enhanced (T1CE) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) before treatment, after two cycles and after four cycles of chemotherapy. Response was assessed using the International PCNSL Collaborative Group (IPCG) imaging criteria. ADC histogram parameters and T1CE tumour volumes were compared among response groups, using one-way ANOVA testing. Logistic regression was performed to examine those imaging parameters predictive of response. Response after two cycles of chemotherapy differed from response after four cycles; of the six patients with progressive disease (PD) after four cycles of treatment, two (33%) had demonstrated a partial response (PR) or complete response (CR) after two cycles. ADCmean at baseline, T1CE at baseline and T1CE percentage volume change differed between response groups (0.005 < p < 0.038) and were predictive of MATRix treatment response (area under the curve: 0.672-0.854). Baseline ADC and T1CE metrics are potential biomarkers for risk stratification of PCNSL patients early during remission induction therapy with MATRix. Standard interim response assessment (after two cycles) according to IPCG imaging criteria does not reliably predict early disease progression in the context of a conventional treatment approach.

The role of preoperative diffusion tensor imaging in predicting and improving functional outcome in pediatric patients undergoing epilepsy surgery: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a useful neuroimaging technique for surgical planning in adult patients. However, no systematic review has been conducted to determine its utility for pre-operative analysis and planning of Pediatric Epilepsy surgery. We sought to determine the benefit of pre-operative DTI in predicting and improving neurological functional outcome after epilepsy surgery in children with intractable epilepsy. METHODS: A systematic review of articles in English using PubMed, EMBASE and Scopus databases, from inception to January 10, 2020 was conducted. All studies that used DTI as either predictor or direct influencer of functional neurological outcome (motor, sensory, language and/or visual) in pediatric epilepsy surgical candidates were included. Data extraction was performed by two blinded reviewers. Risk of bias of each study was determined using the QUADAS 2 Scoring System. RESULTS: 13 studies were included (6 case reports/series, 5 retrospective cohorts, and 2 prospective cohorts) with a total of 229 patients. Seven studies reported motor outcome; three reported motor outcome prediction with a sensitivity and specificity ranging from 80 to 85.7 and 69.6 to 100%, respectively; four studies reported visual outcome. In general, the use of DTI was associated with a high degree of favorable neurological outcomes after epilepsy surgery. CONCLUSION: Multiple studies show that DTI helps to create a tailored plan that results in improved functional outcome. However, more studies are required in order to fully assess its utility in pediatric patients. This is a desirable field of study because DTI offers a non-invasive technique more suitable for children. ADVANCES IN KNOWLEDGE: This systematic review analyses, exclusively, studies of pediatric patients with drug-resistant epilepsy and provides an update of the evidence regarding the role of DTI, as part of the pre-operative armamentarium, in improving post-surgical neurological sequels and its potential for outcome prediction.