Commercial anti-CD19 CAR T cell therapy for patients with relapsed/refractory aggressive B cell lymphoma in a European center.

Two autologous anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptors (CAR) T cells (axicabtagene ciloleucel [axi-cel] and tisagenlecleucel [tisa-cel]) are commercially approved in Europe for relapsed/refractory (R/R) diffuse large B cell lymphoma (DLBCL). We performed a retrospective study to evaluate patterns of use, efficacy and safety for axi-cel and tisa-cel. Data from 70 patients who underwent apheresis for commercial CAR T cells between January 2018 and November 2019 in our institution were retrospectively collected. Sixty-one patients were infused. The median age at infusion was 59 years old (range 27-75 years). The median number of prior therapies was 3 (range, 2-6). The overall response rates (ORRs) at 1 month and 3 months were 63% and 45%, respectively, with 48% and 39% achieving a complete response (CR), respectively. After a median follow-up after infusion of 5.7 months, the median progression-free survival (PFS) was 3.0 months (95% CI, 2.8-8.8 months), and the median overall survival (OS) was 11.8 months (95% CI, 6.0-12.6 months). In multivariate analysis, factors associated with poor PFS were the number of previous lines of treatment before CAR T cells (≥4) (P = .010) and a C reactive protein (CRP) value >30 mg/L at the time of lymphodepletion (P < .001). Likewise, the only factor associated with a shorter OS was CRP >30 mg/L (P = .009). Cytokine release syndrome (CRS) of any grade occurred in 85% of patients, including 8% of patients with CRS of grade 3 or higher. Immune cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS) of any grade occurred in 28% of patients, including 10% of patients with ICANS of grade 3 or higher. Regarding efficacy and safety, no significant difference was found between axi-cel and tisa-cel. This analysis describes one of the largest real-life cohorts of patients treated with axi-cel and tisa-cel for R/R aggressive B cell lymphoma in Europe.

Cervix Abscess Mimicking Cervical Cancer Explored With 18 F-FDG PET/CT and MRI.

ABSTRACT: We report the case of a 32-year-old woman gravida 2 para 2 with pelvic pain evolving for 2 months, who underwent imaging examinations, including 18 F-FDG PET/CT and MRI, which showed a tumor-like cervix tissular mass with pathological lymph nodes and pelviperitonitis. An endocervical curettage with conization revealed a bacterial infection with cervical abscess and without neoplastic component. The follow-up 18 F-FDG PET/CT 3 months after starting antibiotherapy confirmed a complete metabolic and morphological response of the cervical abscess.

FFCD 1709-SIRTCI phase II trial: Selective internal radiation therapy plus Xelox, Bevacizumab and Atezolizumab in liver-dominant metastatic colorectal cancer.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) have high efficacy in metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC) with microsatellite instability (MSI) but not in microsatellite stable (MSS) tumour due to the low tumour mutational burden. Selective internal radiation therapy (SIRT) could enhance neoantigen production thus triggering systemic anti-tumoral immune response (abscopal effect). In addition, Oxalipatin can induce immunogenic cell death and Bevacizumab can decrease the exhaustion of tumour infiltrating lymphocyte. In combination, these treatments could act synergistically to sensitize MSS mCRCs to ICI SIRTCI is a prospective, multicentre, open-label, phase II, non-comparative single-arm study evaluating the efficacy and safety of SIRT plus Xelox, Bevacizumab and Atezolizumab (anti-programmed death-ligand 1) in patients with liver-dominant MSS mCRC. The primary objective is progression-free survival at 9 months. The main inclusion criteria are patients with MSS mCRC with liver-dominant disease, initially unresectable disease and with no prior oncologic treatment for metastatic disease. The trial started in November 2020 and has included 10 out of the 52 planned patients.

Diagnosis of Ectopic Pancreas in Small Intestine With 18F-DOPA PET/CT.

ABSTRACT: A 77-year-old man was referred for a PET/CT 18F-FDG after incidental discovery of a lobulated jejunal lesion during surgery for an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The lesion was not removed due to the risk of digestive perforation. PET/CT 18F-FDG did not show pathologic hypermetabolism. Subsequently, we decided to perform PET/CT 18F-DOPA to better characterize this incidentaloma. A moderate uptake was showed, less than the pancreas. After multidisciplinary discussion, taking into account macroscopic and imaging aspects, the hypothesis of an ectopic pancreas was retained, allowing the exclusion of surgical excision.

Lymphoscintigraphy for Sentinel Node Mapping in Head and Neck Cancer.

The aim of this comprehensive review is to describe and analyze the role of the sentinel node mapping in head and neck cancers. For this purpose, head and neck neoplasms have been categorized in cutaneous malignancies and neoplasms of the upper aerodigestive tract. A concise description of lymphatic drainage will be the "prelude" for each section, as well as the description of the injection techniques, when specific. Concisely, the attention has been focused on detection rate of the sentinel node by lymphoscintigraphy for each cancer, and for those patients in which the sentinel lymph node has been identified, true-positives rates, false-negative rates, and overall accuracy has been pointed out. Overall, in cutaneous neoplasms of the head and neck, the detection rate is higher than 90%, however the false-negative rate is still an issue, in particular in melanoma, inducing the need for newer developments. In fact, new tracers and techniques are already available, while prospective multicenter trials exploring the outcome impact are needed in the near future. For the upper aerodigestive tract and in particular oral cavity and oropharynx, sentinel lymph node identification by lymphoscintigraphy allows avoiding unnecessary neck dissection and/or node irradiation. Even in this case, the main limit remains the risk of false-negative rates. While, for patients affected by laryngeal and hypopharyngeal cancers the data seem very limited and, although the feasibility has been demonstrated, performances of this lymphoscintigraphy still need to be confirmed by multicenter studies.

Prognostic Impact of 18F-FDG PET/CT in Patients With Aggressive B-Cell Lymphoma Treated With Anti-CD19 Chimeric Antigen Receptor T Cells.

PURPOSE OF THE REPORT: We aimed to evaluate the role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in predicting patient outcome following chimeric antigen receptor T (CAR T) cells infusion in aggressive B-cell lymphoma. METHODS: 18F-FDG PET/CT data before leukapheresis, before CAR T-cell infusion and 1 month (M1) after CAR T-cell infusion, from 72 patients were retrospectively analyzed. SUVmax, total lesion glycolysis (TLG), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and parameters describing tumor kinetics were calculated for each 18F-FDG PET/CT performed. The aim was to evaluate the prognostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT metabolic parameters for predicting progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS) following CAR T-cell therapy. RESULTS: Regarding PFS, ∆MTVpre-CAR and ∆TLGpre-CAR were found to be more discriminating compared with metabolic parameters at preinfusion. Median PFS in patients with a ∆MTVpre-CAR of less than 300% was 6.8 months (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.8 months to not reached) compared with 2.8 months (95% CI, 0.9-3.0 months) for those with a value of 300% or greater (P = 0.004). Likewise, median PFS in patients with ∆TLGpre-CAR of less than 420% was 6.8 months (95% CI, 2.8 months to not reached) compared with 2.7 months (95% CI, 1.3-3.0 months) for those with a value of 420% or greater (P = 0.0148). Regarding OS, metabolic parameters at M1 were strongly associated with subsequent outcome. SUVmax at M1 with a cutoff value of 14 was the most predictive parameter in multivariate analysis, outweighing other clinicobiological variables (P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Disease metabolic volume kinetics before infusion of CAR T cells seems to be superior to initial tumor bulk itself for predicting PFS. For OS, SUVmax at M1 might adequately segregate patients with different prognosis.

18F-FDG PET/CT of a Rare Case of an Adenomatoid Tumor of the Adrenal Gland.

A 28-year old man, with previous history of chronic abdominal pain, was referred to our nuclear medicine center for an F-FDG PET/CT following the fortuitous discovery of a 48-mm right adrenal gland lesion of heterogeneous density at the CT scan. The PET/CT showed an isolated heterogeneous significant uptake evocative of neoplasia. Surprisingly, the anatomopathological analysis after surgery revealed an adenoid tumor of the adrenal gland. This case of a rare benign tumor can be a source of false-positive and mimicking malignancies in the exploration of adrenal lesions.

Selective internal radiation therapy of hepatic tumors: Morphologic and functional imaging for voxel-based computer-aided dosimetry.

INTRODUCTION: Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) is used for the treatment of hepatic tumors. The aim of this retrospective study was to compare two dosimetric approaches based on 99mTc-MAA SPECT/CT and 90Y PET/CT, using Simplicit90Y™ versus the supplier suggested method of activity calculation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 19 patients underwent 21 SIRT after baseline angiography and 99mTc-MAA SPECT/CT, followed by 90Y PET/CT. Overlap between 99mTc-MAA and 90Y-microspheres was quantified with different thresholds isocontours. The perfused volume and tumor absorbed dose were estimated using Simplicit90Y™ based on SPECT/CT and PET/CT, then compared with the supplier suggested method. These data were related to overall survival to evaluate their prognostic impact. RESULTS: The overlap between PET/CT and SPECT/CT was dependent on thresholds, decreasing with an increasing threshold. The overlap between the 99mTc-MAA and 90Y-microspheres biodistributions versus the tumor distribution on morphological imaging was suboptimal, in particular for small tumor volume. The tumor absorbed dose estimated after 90Y PET/CT was not different from tumor absorbed dose estimated after SPECT/CT. The Perfused lobe absorbed dose was significantly lower while the volume of the perfused lobe was significantly higher when estimated by Simplicit90Y™ compared to the supplier suggested conventional approach. A statistical parameter based on overlap between tumor and 90Y-microspheres distribution as well as tumoral dosimetry was significantly related to the overall survival. CONCLUSION: Post-treatment imaging remains paramount to estimate the irradiation dosimetry, due to an imperfect overlap. The perfused volume could be estimated from functional imaging, given its impact on dosimetry. Finally, survival seems related to tumoral overlap and dosimetry.

Correlation Between Semiquantitative Metabolic Parameters After PET/CT and Histologic Prognostic Factors in Laryngeal and Pharyngeal Carcinoma.

Positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has shown prognostic significance in head and neck cancer patients. The underlying pathologic features that could explain the mechanisms associated with this observation are not clear. To analyze the correlation between 18-F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (18F-FDG) uptake assessed by PET/CT in head and neck cancer and histopathologic prognostic factors. Ninety-nine patients with laryngeal and pharyngeal squamous cell carcinoma were retrospectively reviewed for pretreatment PET/CT measurements, namely standardized uptake value (SUV), metabolic tumor volume (MTV), and total lesion glycolysis (TLG). The corresponding histologic material was evaluated for tumor stroma-related prognostic factors such as the amount and type of stroma, lymphocytic response, tumor budding activity, and size of tumor cell nests in the tumor core area and tumor front. TLG and MTV were associated with tumor localization, as they were higher in oropharyngeal tumors. These values were also associated with tumor cell nest size in the tumor core with higher values corresponding to tumors with smaller nests. MTV40% was marginally associated with fibroblastic stroma type and higher budding activity. SUVmax was not associated with the histological factors in the whole sample, but higher values trended with higher tumor budding activity and stroma-rich tumors of the oropharynx. 18F-FDG PET measurements in head and neck squamous cell carcinomas are associated with prognostic histopathologic factors and suggest a possible correlation of glucose metabolism to epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition.

Sentinel Node Mapping in Gynecologic Cancers: A Comprehensive Review.

Gynecologic cancers are one of the most important causes of women death worldwide. The sentinel lymph node concept was introduced by Cabanas in 1977 for the penile cancer. This technique was proven safe and feasible in selected cancers such as breast cancer, melanoma, or some gynecologic cancers. Sentinel lymph node mapping is increasingly used in early stages of cervical or vulvar cancer in particular due to the safety, high detection rate, and sensitivity of the technique. In this review, we will discuss in depth the most recent evidence of nuclear medicine and other techniques used to determine the status of the sentinel lymph node in women affected by gynecologic neoplasms. Although significant efforts have been already done in order to address several issues, there are still determined questions without a clear answer, in particular for endometrial, ovarian, and vaginal neoplasms.

Isolated Muscular Sarcoidosis Revealed by Hypercalcemia and 18F-FDG PET/CT.

A 43-year-old woman, with previous history of renal lithiasis, was admitted on an emergency for severe hypercalcemia fortuitously discovered in a context of rapidly progressive kidney failure. An F-FDG PET/CT performed to rule out underlying malignancy revealed an intense diffuse and isolated muscular FDG uptake with fascia infiltration on the CT finding. A muscular biopsy was performed and demonstrated a non-necrosing granuloma with multinucleated giant cells consistent with muscular sarcoidosis. A corticotherapy was started with a rapid normalization of serum calcium level. The follow-up F-FDG PET/CT 4 months later showed a complete response of the sarcoidosis myositis.

FDG PET/CT of Gardnerella vaginalis Infection.

We report the case of a 23-year-old woman with a history of cystic fibrosis and bilung transplantation, who presented clinically cervical swollen lymph nodes with alteration of her general state. F-FDG PET/CT was performed because of lymphoma suspicion and showed cervical and pelvic hypermetabolic lymphadenopathies, with linear vaginal hypermetabolism. There was an increase of lactate dehydrogenase, and Epstein-Barr virus detection was negative. A right cervical lymph node biopsy was performed, with no lymphoma involvement. Complementary microbiological investigations showed positive results for Gardnerella vaginalis. F-FDG PET/CT lymphatic node hypermetabolism is not specific to lymphoma, particularly in immunocompromised patients.