Serial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurements (PSA velocity) as an additional instrument to detect prostatic cancer was introduced in 1992. It has previously been reported that PSA increase per year differed in the last 5 years prior to diagnosis in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (0.18 ng/ml/year), locally confined (0.75 ng/ml/year) and metastasized (4.4 ng/ml/year) cancer of the prostate (CaP) in contrast to healthy men (0.04 ng/ml/year). The ability of PSA velocity to detect organ-confined CaP in patients with intermediate PSA serum values depends therefore on a reliable and reproducible PSA result. The present study comprised 85 men with PSA values between 3 and 8 ng/ml (Abbott IMx). PSA measurements were repeated with Abbott IMx (n = 85 patients) and Hybritech Tandem-E (n = 59 patients) assays. The PSA serum values differed from one examination to the other from 0.02 to 2.74 ng/ml with the Abbott IMx. Standard deviation amounted to 0.35 ng/ml with the Abbott IMx PSA assay. Using the Hybritech Tandem-E assay, mean standard deviation was 1.15 ng/ml and therefore higher than with the Abbott IMx assay. The difference from one test to the other ranged from 0.05 to 4.05 ng/ml with the Hybritech Tandem-E. Using the Abbott IMx assay, 10.6% of all repeat measurements exceeded 1 ng/ml whereas in the Hybritech Tandem-E assay 62.7% of the second measurements differed >1 ng/ml from the first PSA result. An increase in PSA serum values may therefore be due to intratest variation, physiological day-to-day variation as well as prostatic disease. It is important to notice that the intra-assay variation may be greater than the PSA increase per year in a patient with CaP. Therefore, PSA velocity seems to be of limited value. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

No description available.

Objective: In this study, the efficiency of telemedical consulting with regard to fine needle aspirates from space-occupying lesions (SOLs) of the liver is investigated for the first time. Study Design: The study includes fine needle aspirations from 62 patients, 33 with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and 29 with non-hepatic tumors. Using the Internetbased iPath system, the initial pathologist submitted 1–8 images from smears and cell block sections. One consultant assessed the cytological and another one the histological images. Both made their diagnoses independent of each other. A final diagnosis was made by immunochemistry of cell block sections. The cytological images were analyzed retrospectively for the occurrence of the most typical HCC indicators. The number of these indicators was related to the initial diagnoses of the three pathologists, and possible reasons for diagnostic errors were analyzed based on this analysis. Results: The accuracy of the preliminary telemedical diagnoses regarding HCC was 82.0% for the cytological images and 87.7% for the histological images. Most of the false diagnoses occurred in tumors with unusual cytological and histological patterns. Conclusions: Telemedical consulting is a valuable tool to obtain a second opinion. However, for improvement of the diagnosis of HCC, supplementary immunochemical tests are necessary.

Objectives: To compare 64-slice contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) with 3-Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using Gd-EOB-DTPA for the diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and evaluate the utility of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in this setting. Methods: 3-phase-liver-CT was performed in fifty patients (42 male, 8 female) with suspected or proven HCC. The patients were subjected to a 3-Tesla-MRI-examination with Gd-EOB-DTPA and diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) at b-values of 0, 50 and 400 s/mm2. The apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC)-value was determined for each lesion detected in DWI. The histopathological report after resection or biopsy of a lesion served as the gold standard, and a surrogate of follow-up or complementary imaging techniques in combination with clinical and paraclinical parameters was used in unresected lesions. Diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive values were evaluated for each technique. Results: MRI detected slightly more lesions that were considered suspicious for HCC per patient compared to CT (2.7 versus 2.3, respectively). ADC-measurements in HCC showed notably heterogeneous values with a median of 1.2±0.5×10−3 mm2/s (range from 0.07±0.1 to 3.0±0.1×10−3 mm2/s). MRI showed similar diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity, and positive and negative predictive values compared to CT (AUC 0.837, sensitivity 92%, PPV 80% and NPV 90% for MRI vs. AUC 0.798, sensitivity 85%, PPV 79% and NPV 82% for CT; not significant). Specificity was 75% for both techniques. Conclusions: Our study did not show a statistically significant difference in detection in detection of HCC between MRI and CT. Gd-EOB-DTPA-enhanced MRI tended to detect more lesions per patient compared to contrast-enhanced CT; therefore, we would recommend this modality as the first-choice imaging method for the detection of HCC and therapeutic decisions. However, contrast-enhanced CT was not inferior in our study, so that it can be a useful image modality for follow-up examinations.

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

Serial prostate-specific antigen (PSA) measurements (PSA velocity) as an additional instrument to detect prostatic cancer was introduced in 1992. It has previously been reported that PSA increase per year differed in the last 5 years prior to diagnosis in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (0.18 ng/ml/year), locally confined (0.75 ng/ml/year) and metastasized (4.4 ng/ml/year) cancer of the prostate (CaP) in contrast to healthy men (0.04 ng/ml/year). The ability of PSA velocity to detect organ-confined CaP in patients with intermediate PSA serum values depends therefore on a reliable and reproducible PSA result. The present study comprised 85 men with PSA values between 3 and 8 ng/ml (Abbott IMx). PSA measurements were repeated with Abbott IMx (n = 85 patients) and Hybritech Tandem-E (n = 59 patients) assays. The PSA serum values differed from one examination to the other from 0.02 to 2.74 ng/ml with the Abbott IMx. Standard deviation amounted to 0.35 ng/ml with the Abbott IMx PSA assay. Using the Hybritech Tandem-E assay, mean standard deviation was 1.15 ng/ml and therefore higher than with the Abbott IMx assay. The difference from one test to the other ranged from 0.05 to 4.05 ng/ml with the Hybritech Tandem-E. Using the Abbott IMx assay, 10.6% of all repeat measurements exceeded 1 ng/ml whereas in the Hybritech Tandem-E assay 62.7% of the second measurements differed >1 ng/ml from the first PSA result. An increase in PSA serum values may therefore be due to intratest variation, physiological day-to-day variation as well as prostatic disease. It is important to notice that the intra-assay variation may be greater than the PSA increase per year in a patient with CaP. Therefore, PSA velocity seems to be of limited value. / Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG-geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.

The detection of plasma cell–free tumor DNA (ctDNA) is prognostic in colorectal cancer (CRC) and has potential for early prediction of disease recurrence. In clinical routine, ctDNA-based diagnostics are limited by the low concentration of ctDNA and error rates of standard next-generation sequencing (NGS) approaches. We evaluated the potential to increase the stability and yield of plasma cell–free DNA (cfDNA) for routine diagnostic purposes using different blood collection tubes and various manual or automated cfDNA extraction protocols. Sensitivity for low-level ctDNA was measured in KRAS-mutant cfDNA using an error-reduced NGS procedure. To test the applicability of rapid evaluation of ctDNA persistence in clinical routine, we prospectively analyzed postoperative samples of 67 CRC (stage II) patients. ctDNA detection was linear between 0.0045 and 45%, with high sensitivity (94%) and specificity (100%) for mutations at 0.1% VAF. The stability and yield of cfDNA were superior when using Streck BCT tubes and a protocol by Zymo Research. Sensitivity for ctDNA increased 1.5-fold by the integration of variant reads from triplicate PCRs and with PCR template concentration. In clinical samples, ctDNA persistence was found in ∼9% of samples, drawn 2 weeks after surgery. Moreover, in a retrospective analysis of 14 CRC patients with relapse during adjuvant therapy, we successfully detected ctDNA (median 0.38% VAF; range 0.18–5.04% VAF) in 92.85% of patients significantly prior (median 112 days) to imaging-based surveillance. Using optimized pre-analytical conditions, the detection of postoperative ctDNA is feasible with excellent sensitivity and allows the prediction of CRC recurrence in routine oncology testing.

Charakterisierung von Lebertumoren nach kontrastverstärkter Sonographie und digitaler Graustufenbestimmung Ziel: Die Charakterisierung fokaler Leberläsionen ist Bestandteil des klinischen Alltags und für Patienten von therapeutischer und prognostischer Relevanz. Auf diesem Gebiet wurde bisher die native Sonographie regulär eingesetzt. Eine sichere Artdiagnose bei unklaren Lebertumoren ist jedoch nur selten möglich. Die Einführung der kontrastmittelverstärkten Sonographie hat die differentialdiagnostischen Optionen erweitert. Ziel dieser Studie war es, den Nutzen des kontrastmittelverstärkten Ultraschalls und der anschließenden digitalen Graustufenanalyse bei fokalen Leberläsionen zu bewerten. Methodik: In einer prospektiven Studie wurde bei 50 Patienten mit CT oder MRT gesicherten Lebertumoren eine Sonographie des Oberbauches in nativer Sonographie und in Phaseninversionstechnik mit intravenöser Gabe des Ultraschallkontrastmittels SonoVue® durchgeführt. Nach Kontrastmittelgabe wurden über 120 s digitale Standbilder akquiriert. Mittels Software ermittelte man den dynamischen Graustufenverlauf für jeden einzelnen Tumor. Es folgte der Vergleich der einzelnen bildgebenden Modalitäten untereinander. Ergebnisse: Der Anteil der artdiagnostisch korrekten Zuordnungen belief sich in der CT bzw. MRT auf 78% und in der nativen Sonographie auf 60%. Mit Hilfe des kontrastmittelverstärkten Ultraschalls konnte er auf 86% gesteigert werden. Die digitale Graustufenanalyse lieferte für die einzelnen Tumorentitäten charakteristische Kurvenverläufe. Hierbei erwiesen sich die Zeitpunkte 20 s und 100 s nach Kontrastmittelgabe für die artspezifische Charakterisierung und für die Differenzierung in benigne und maligne Tumoren als optimal. Schlussfolgerung: Die kontrastmittelverstärkte Sonographie und deren digitale Graustufenbestimmung bilden eine Ergänzung der bisherigen Diagnostik von Lebertumoren und ermöglichen eine bessere Charakterisierung der Herde. Dies sollte in zusätzlichen Studien evaluiert werden. / Characterization of Hepatic Tumors with Contrast-enhanced Ultrasound and Digital Gray-Scale Analysis Purpose: The characterization of liver tumors is of therapeutic and prognostic relevance. Although ltrasound offers the opportunity to detect hepatic tumors, its previous techniques did not lead towards a definitve differentiation. The purpouse of this study was the evaluation of contrast enhanced ultrasound followed by quantitative digital analysis in patients with focal hepatic tumors. Materials and Methods: In a prospective stuy, 50 patients with liver tumors previously detected by CT or MRI were examined by ultrasound of the upper abdomen using conventional and phase inversion technique after intravenous application of an ultrasound contrast agent. Digital images were stored over 120 s and software powerd digital gray-scale curves were produced for each individual lesion. Results: While the percentage of tumors correctly characterised by CT/MRI amounted to 78%, the percentage increased from 60% using conventional ultrasound to 86% using contrast enhanced ultrasound including gray-scale analysis. Typical graphs were achieved for different tumor entities on digital gray-scale analysis. Time intervals at 20 and 100 seconds showed optimal for differantiation between particualar entities. Conclusion: Quantification of contrast enhanced ultrasound is an addition to the previous diagnostic procedure in hepatic tumors. It offers the possibility of an investigator-independent characterization of lesions and should be evaluated in further studies.

No description available.

No description available.