Osimertinib inhibits brain metastases and improves long-term survival in a patient with advanced squamous cell lung cancer: a case report and literatures review.

Background: Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) is one of the most common subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer, but its treatment options remain limited. Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR)-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) have limited efficacy in the treatment of lung SCC. Here, we report an SCC patient who developed EGFR-T790M mutation and showed gefitinib resistance achieved an extremely long survival by taking Osimertinib alternatively. Case summary: A patient, 66-year-old non-smoking and drinking male with advanced SCC who was deemed inoperable at the time of diagnosis. The first genetic testing showed deletion mutation of exon 19 of EGFR. The patient was then treated with gefitinib with no significant efficacy. EGFR-T790M mutation was found in the second genetic test. The treatment regimen was changed to radiotherapy with Osimertinib, and the patient's primary lesion and the brain metastases were well controlled. Conclusion: This typical case highlights the important role of Osimertinib in patients with SCC carrying EGFR mutations.

CT-Based Hand-crafted Radiomic Signatures Can Predict PD-L1 Expression Levels in Non-small Cell Lung Cancer: a Two-Center Study.

Here, we used pre-treatment CT images to develop and evaluate a radiomic signature that can predict the expression of programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1) in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We then verified its predictive performance by cross-referencing its results with clinical characteristics. This two-center retrospective analysis included 125 patients with histologically confirmed NSCLC. A total of 1287 hand-crafted radiomic features were observed from manually determined tumor regions. Valuable features were then selected with a ridge regression-based recursive feature elimination approach. Machine learning-based prediction models were then built from this and compared each other. The final radiomic signature was built using logistic regression in the primary cohort, and then tested in a validation cohort. Finally, we compared the efficacy of the radiomic signature to the clinical model and the radiomic-clinical nomogram. Among the 125 patients, 89 were classified as having PD-L1 positive expression. However, there was no significant difference in PD-L1 expression levels determined by clinical characteristics (P = 0.109-0.955). Upon selecting 9 radiomic features, we found that the logistic regression-based prediction model performed the best (AUC = 0.96, P < 0.001). In the external cohort, our radiomic signature showed an AUC of 0.85, which outperformed both the clinical model (AUC = 0.38, P < 0.001) and the radiomics-nomogram model (AUC = 0.61, P < 0.001). Our CT-based hand-crafted radiomic signature model can effectively predict PD-L1 expression levels, providing a noninvasive means of better understanding PD-L1 expression in patients with NSCLC.

Synthetic treatment of intracranial peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor with multiple metastasis: a case report.

Ewing sarcomas (ES) and peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (pPNET) are now thought to belong to the same tumor family. Ewing sarcoma family tumor (ESFT) members commonly originate in bones and soft tissues. However, a few published articles describe ESFT arising from cranial cavities. Pathologically, ES/pPNET are composed of small round cells. Unambiguous distinction between pPNET and other small round cell tumors, in particular central PNET, is of clinical significance. Definitive diagnoses of pPNET can be obtained through CD99 (MIC2 gene product) membrane positivities and molecular identifications of chromosomal rearrangements between EWS and ETS family genes. Multimodal approaches comprising surgical resections, radiotherapies, and chemotherapies are required for the treatment of ESFT. Decompressive medical measures are preferentially performed when epidural masses are compressing spinal cords. In cases of ES-induced brain herniations, emergent radiotherapies may serve as effective tools. We report a case of multiple disseminated intracranial ES/pPNET for which synthetic treatments were used.

Effect of gadolinium contrast-enhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for detecting extramural venous invasion in rectal cancer.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the performance of gadolinium contrast-enhanced T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (CET1WI) in addition to high-resolution T2-weighted imaging (HRT2WI) for preoperative detection of extramural venous invasion (EMVI) in rectal cancer. METHODS: Fifty-nine patients with rectal cancer who underwent preoperative MRI were included in this study. The likelihood of EMVI was retrospectively scored by two readers on CET1WI, HRT2WI, and HRT2WI + CET1WI, using a subjective five-point scale ranging from 0 to 4. The pathological status of EMVI was used as a standard reference. Diagnostic parameters, including area under the receiver operating curve (AUC), sensitivity, and specificity, were calculated, and the diagnostic performances of HRT2WI and HRT2WI + CET1WI were compared. Interobserver variance was also evaluated. RESULTS: Eighteen (30.5%) patients showed pathological EMVI. During EMVI detection, reader A obtained an AUC of 0.768, sensitivity of 72.5%, and specificity of 73.2% from HRT2WI alone; after combination with CET1WI, these values improved to 0.864, 83.3%, and 75.6%, respectively. Differences in AUC between these techniques were not significant (p = 0.056). Reader B obtained an AUC of 0.833, sensitivity of 77.8%, and specificity of 73.2% from HRT2WI alone; after combination with CET1W1, these figures were adjusted to 0.720, 50%, and 78%; differences in AUC between techniques were significant (p = 0.027). Interobserver agreement during EMVI scoring was good for HRT2WI (κ = 0.603) and moderate for HRT2WI + CET1WI (κ = 0.413). CONCLUSIONS: Although interobserver agreement decreased, combination of CET1WI with HRT2WI could improve EMVI detection.