Prediction of residual disease using circulating DNA detection after potentiated radiotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer (NeckTAR): a study protocol for a prospective, multicentre trial.

BACKGROUND: Sensitive and reproducible detection of residual disease after treatment is a major challenge for patients with locally advanced head and neck cancer. Indeed, the current imaging techniques are not always reliable enough to determine the presence of residual disease. The aim of the NeckTAR trial is to assess the ability of circulating DNA (cDNA), both tumoral and viral, at three months post-treatment, to predict residual disease, at the time of the neck dissection, among patients with partial cervical lymph node response on PET-CT, after potentiated radiotherapy. METHODS: This will be an interventional, multicentre, single-arm, open-label, prospective study. A blood sample will be screened for cDNA before potentiated radiotherapy and after 3 months if adenomegaly persists on the CT scan 3 months after the end of treatment. Patients will be enrolled in 4 sites in France. Evaluable patients, i.e. those with presence of cDNA at inclusion, an indication for neck dissection, and a blood sample at M3, will be followed for 30 months. Thirty-two evaluable patients are expected to be recruited in the study. DISCUSSION: The decision to perform neck dissection in case of persistent cervical adenopathy after radio-chemotherapy for locally advanced head and neck cancer is not always straightforward. Although studies have shown that circulating tumour DNA is detectable in a large proportion of patients with head and neck cancer, enabling the monitoring of response, the current data is insufficient to allow routine use of this marker. Our study could lead to better identification of patients who do not have residual lymph node disease in order to avoid neck dissection and preserve their quality-of-life while maintaining their prospects of survival. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Clinicaltrials.gov: NCT05710679, registered on 02/02/2023, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/ . Identifier with the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM): N°ID RCB 2022-A01668-35, registered on July 15th, 2022.

Assessment of four different cardiac softwares for evaluation of LVEF with CZT-SPECT vs CMR in 48 patients with recent STEMI.

PURPOSE: To compare, vs CMR, four softwares: quantitative gated SPECT (QGS), myometrix (MX), corridor 4DM (4DM), and Emory toolbox (ECTb) to evaluate left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), end-systolic (ESV), and end-diastolic volumes (EDVs) by gated MPI CZT-SPECT. METHODS: 48 patients underwent MPI CZT-SPECT and CMR 6 weeks after STEMI, LV parameters were measured with four softwares at MPI CZT-SPECT vs CMR. We evaluated (i) concordance and correlation between MPI CZT-SPECT and CMR, (ii) concordance MPI CZT-SPECT/CMR for the categorical evaluation of the left ventricular dysfunction, and (iii) impacts of perfusion defects > 3 segments on concordance. RESULTS: LVEF: LCC QGS/CMR = 0.81 [+ 2.2% (± 18%)], LCC MX/CMR = 0.83 [+ 1% (± 17.5%)], LCC 4DM/CMR = 0.73 [+ 3.9% (± 21%)], LCC ECTb/CMR = 0.69 [+ 6.6% (± 21.1%)]. ESV: LCC QGS/CMR = 0.90 [- 8 mL (± 40 mL)], LCC MX/CMR = 0.90 [- 9 mL (± 36 mL)], LCC 4DM/CMR = 0.89 [+ 4 mL (± 45 mL)], LCC ECTb/CMR = 0.87 [- 3 mL (± 45 mL)]. EDV: LCC QGS/CMR = 0.70 [- 16 mL (± 67 mL)], LCC MX/CMR = 0.68 [- 21 mL (± 63 mL], LCC 4DM/CMR = 0.72 [+ 9 mL (± 73 mL)], LCC ECTb/CMR = 0.69 [+ 10 mL (± 70 mL)]. CONCLUSION: QGS and MX were the two best-performing softwares to evaluate LVEF after recent STEMI.

Decision Tree With Only Two Musculoskeletal Sites to Diagnose Polymyalgia Rheumatica Using [18F]FDG PET-CT.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to find the best ordered combination of two FDG positive musculoskeletal sites with a machine learning algorithm to diagnose polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) vs. other rheumatisms in a cohort of patients with inflammatory rheumatisms. Methods: This retrospective study included 140 patients who underwent [18F]FDG PET-CT and whose final diagnosis was inflammatory rheumatism. The cohort was randomized, stratified on the final diagnosis into a training and a validation cohort. FDG uptake of 17 musculoskeletal sites was evaluated visually and set positive if uptake was at least equal to that of the liver. A decision tree classifier was trained and validated to find the best combination of two positives sites to diagnose PMR. Diagnosis performances were measured first, for each musculoskeletal site, secondly for combination of two positive sites and thirdly using the decision tree created with machine learning. Results: 55 patients with PMR and 85 patients with other inflammatory rheumatisms were included. Musculoskeletal sites, used either individually or in combination of two, were highly imbalanced to diagnose PMR with a high specificity and a low sensitivity. The machine learning algorithm identified an optimal ordered combination of two sites to diagnose PMR. This required a positive interspinous bursa or, if negative, a positive trochanteric bursa. Following the decision tree, sensitivity and specificity to diagnose PMR were respectively 73.2 and 87.5% in the training cohort and 78.6 and 80.1% in the validation cohort. Conclusion: Ordered combination of two visually positive sites leads to PMR diagnosis with an accurate sensitivity and specificity vs. other rheumatisms in a large cohort of patients with inflammatory rheumatisms.

Utility of 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose Positron Emission Tomography in Inflammatory Rheumatism, Particularly Polymyalgia Rheumatica: A Retrospective Study of 222 PET/CT.

Purpose: The objective of this study was to evaluate periarticular FDG uptake scores from 18F-FDG-PET/CT to identify polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) within a population presenting rheumatic diseases. Methods: A French retrospective study from 2011 to 2015 was conducted. Patients who underwent 18F-FDG-PET/CT for diagnosis or follow-up of a rheumatism or an unexplained biological inflammatory syndrome were included. Clinical data and final diagnosis were reviewed. Seventeen periarticular sites were sorted by a visual reading enabling us to calculate two scores: mean FDG visual uptake score, number of sites with significant uptake same as that or higher than liver uptake intensity and by a semi-quantitative analysis using mean maximum standardized uptake value (SUVmax). Optimal cutoffs of visual score and SUVmax to diagnose PMR were determined using receiver operating characteristics curves. Results: Among 222 18F-FDG PET/CT selected for 215 patients, 161 18F-FDG PET/CT were performed in patients who presented inflammatory rheumatism as a final diagnosis (of whom 57 PMR). The presence of at least three sites with significant uptake identified PMR with a sensitivity of 86% and a specificity of 85.5% (AUC 0.872, 95% CI [0.81-0.93]). The mean FDG visual score cutoff to diagnose a PMR was 0.765 with a sensitivity of 82.5% and a specificity of 75.8% (AUC 0.854; 95% CI [0.80-0.91]). The mean SUVmax cutoff to diagnose PMR was 2.168 with a sensitivity of 77.2% and a specificity of 77.6% (AUC 0.842; 95% CI [0.79-0.89]). Conclusions: This study suggests that 18F-FDG PET/CT had good performances to identify PMR within a population presenting rheumatic diseases.

Re-treatment With Adjuvant Radioactive Iodine Does Not Improve Recurrence-Free Survival of Patients With Differentiated Thyroid Cancer.

Introduction: Loco regional persistence or recurrence of differentiated thyroid cancer (DTC) is frequent despite initial thyroidectomy and radioactive iodine therapy (RAI). The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of a complementary adjuvant RAI (Ad-RAI) on disease recurrence following re-operation on patients with locally persistent or recurrent DTC. Patients and Methods: A retrospective study of 85 patients with DTC was conducted. All patients were initially treated with total thyroidectomy and RAI, and re-operated for a locally persistent or recurrent disease. Propensity score was calculated to predict the impact of Ad-RAI on survival after reoperation, and to reduce the bias of the limited sample size and the prognostic tests. Results: 49 (58%) patients were re-treated with Ad-RAI after re-operation while 36 (42%) were only followed up. Disease recurrence after re-treatment (re-operation ± Ad-RAI) was detected in 31 patients (36.5%). In multivariate analysis, age >55 years (HR: 3.9 [1.6; 9.5]; p < 0.00001) was the main poor prognostic factor for recurrence-free survival. Three parameters independently influenced the decision to administer ad-RAI: low number of previous RAI administrations, Nx before re-operation, and pTg > 30 µg/l. These parameters were incorporated in the Propensity score calculation. If ad-RAI tended to improve recurrence-free survival (median survival 17.4 vs. 10.9 months), adjustment using the Propensity score removed any difference between the groups (p = 0.54), confirming the limited value of ad-RAI. Conclusion: In patients with locally persistent or recurrent DTC, age is the main independent prognostic factor. Adjuvant RAI does not improve recurrence-free survival of DTC patients.

Early lung ultrasonography predicts the occurrence of acute respiratory distress syndrome in blunt trauma patients.

PURPOSE: Extent of lung contusion on initial computed tomography (CT) scan predicts the occurrence of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) in blunt chest trauma patients. We hypothesized that lung ultrasonography (LUS) on admission could also predict subsequent ARDS. METHODS: Forty-five blunt trauma patients were prospectively studied. Clinical examination, chest radiography, and LUS were performed on arrival at the emergency room. Lung contusion extent was quantified using a LUS score and compared to CT scan measurements. The ability of the LUS score to predict ARDS was tested using the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC-ROC). The diagnostic accuracy of LUS was compared to that of combined clinical examination and chest radiography for pneumothorax, lung contusion, and hemothorax, with thoracic CT scan as reference. RESULTS: Lung contusion extent assessed by LUS on admission was predictive of the occurrence of ARDS within 72 h (AUC-ROC = 0.78 [95 % CI 0.64-0.92]). The extent of lung contusion on LUS correlated well with CT scan measurements (Spearman's coefficient = 0.82). A LUS score of 6 out of 16 was the best threshold to predict ARDS, with a 58 % [95 % CI 36-77] sensitivity and a 96 % [95 % CI 76-100] specificity. The diagnostic accuracy of LUS was higher than that of combined clinical examination and chest radiography: (AUC-ROC) 0.81 [95 % CI 0.50-1.00] vs. 0.74 [0.48-1.00] (p = 0.24) for pneumothorax, 0.88 [0.76-1.00] vs. 0.69 [0.47-0.92] (p < 0.05) for lung contusion, and 0.84 [0.59-1.00] vs. 0.73 [0.51-0.94] (p < 0.05) for hemothorax. CONCLUSIONS: LUS on admission identifies patients at risk of developing ARDS after blunt trauma. In addition, LUS allows rapid and accurate diagnosis of common traumatic thoracic injuries.