Is SUVmax of 18F-FDG PET/CT Predictive Factor for Malignancy in Gastrointestinal Tract?

BACKGROUND: Increasing use of 18F-FDG PET/CT in cancer patients, has led to more common detection of 18F- FDG uptake in the gastrointestinal tract (GIT). AIMS: The objective of this study was to assess 18F-FDG uptake in incidental and known GIT malignancy. METHODS: A total of 6500 patients followed-up in a single and tertiary center between January 2010 and September 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Of 2850 patients assessed with 18FDG-PET/CT, known GIT malignancy and 18F-FDG uptake cases during follow-up were included in the study. RESULTS: Of 658 patients with 18F-FDG uptake, 150 patients who underwent endoscopy were included in the study. Seventy-seven of these patients had known GIT malignancy and 73 had incidental 18F-FDG uptake. Among these 73 patients; 7 (9.6%) had malignancy, 20 (27,2%) adenoma and 24 (32.9%) inflammation that were confirmed. Endoscopy was normal in 22 (30.2%) patients. One hundred forty-three (95.3%) patients had focal and 7 (4.7%) had diffuse uptake. While no malignancy was detected in patients with diffuse uptake, 58.7% (84/143) of the patients with focal uptake presented malignancy. Mean the standardized uptake value (SUV) max values were found as 15.0 ± 10.6 (range, 3.8-56.5) in malignant disease, 10.2 ± 4.3 (range, 2.4-19.7) in adenoma, 7.3 ± 3.6 (range, 3.6-18.7) in inflammation, and 9.8 ± 4.2 (range, 3.8-19.9) in normal endoscopy groups (p < 0.001, rho = 0.378). CONCLUSION: Although this study demonstrated high probability of malignant disease with increased 18F-FDG uptake in the GIT, it would be a more appropriate approach to confirm all patients with 18F-FDG uptake through endoscopy as SUVmax values vary in a wide range.

Efficacy and safety of cetuximab plus FOLFOX in second-line and third-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy and adverse events with cetuximab plus FOLFOX administered as second- and third-line therapy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) patients. METHODS: IPatients were administered cetuximab plus FOLFOX as second- and third-line therapy from January 2010 through October 2015. mCRC patients with wild type KRAS were alsï given irinïtecan and/ïr ïxaliplatin cïmbined with fluorïpyrimidine±bevacizumab. Tumor respïnse and survival were evaluated using RECIST and Kaplan-Meier methïd respectively. RESULTS: Sixty patients were included this study. Cetuximab plus FOLFOX was administered to 40 (66.7%) patients as second-line and to 20 (33.3%) as third-line therapy. The majority of the patients had a good ECOG performance status (PS) (0 or 1). Clinical benefit was partial plus stable disease and it was 75.0% for both of these two lines. The median progression free survival (PFS) was 7.1 months (95% CI=3.2-10.9) and 6.0 months (95% CI=2.4-9.6), in the second-and third-line (p=0.484). The median ïverall survival (ÏS) was 14.3 and 9.2 mïnths in secïnd-and third-line therapy respectively (p=0.071). The common toxicities were haematologic and gastrointestinal, mostly grade 1 and 2. CONCLUSION: The addition of cetuximab to FOLFOX was well-tolerated and had antitumor activity both in second- and third-line therapy in patients with mCRC.

Bilateral Adrenal Incidentalomas: A Rare Presentation of Lung Cancer.

Adrenal incidentalomas are found incidentally during a radiologic examination performed for indications other than an adrenal disease, and 15% of them are bilateral adrenal masses. This study describes a 51-year-old male smoker patient admitted with diabetes mellitus. An abdominal ultrasonography performed due to his anemia revealed bilateral adrenal masses. His chest X-ray showed abnormal 10 cm opacity at the right upper lung, and brain, thorax, and abdomen CT scans showed multiple lesions compatible with lung cancer metastases. The pathological examination of the transthoracic lung biopsy specimen was consistent with lung adenocarcinoma. Findings in this patient indicate that, in middle aged patients with bilateral adrenal mass and a history or finding of any malignancy, the first diagnosis which should be considered is adrenal metastasis, and confirming the diagnosis by adrenal biopsy may be useless. Furthermore, screening all smoking patients by chest X-ray or thoracic CT for lung cancer may not be accepted as a routine procedure, but in smokers admitted to a hospital due to signs and symptoms attributed to a pulmonary disease, at least a chest X-ray should be requested.