Background Previous studies have indicated that quantitative MRI (qMR) is beneficial for diagnosis of breast cancer. As a novel qMR technology, synthetic MRI (syMRI) may be advantageous by offering simultaneous generation of T1 and T2 mapping in one scan within a few minutes and without concern to the deposition of the gadolinium contrast agent in cell nucleus. In this study, the potential of quantitative mapping derived from Synthetic MRI (SyMRI) to diagnose breast cancer was investigated. Methods From April 2018 to May 2019, a total of 87 patients with suspicious breast lesions underwent both conventional and SyMRI before treatment. The quantitative metrics derived from SyMRI, including T1 and T2 values, were measured in breast lesions. The diagnostic performance of SyMRI was evaluated with unpaired Student’s t-tests, receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and multivariate logistic regression analysis. The AUCs of quantitative values were compared using Delong test. Results Among 77 patients who met the inclusion criteria, 48 were diagnosed with histopathological confirmed breast cancers, and the rest had benign lesions. The breast cancers showed significantly higher T1 (1611.61 ± 215.88 ms) values and lower T2 (80.93 ± 7.51 ms) values than benign lesions. The area under the ROC curve (AUC) values were 0.931 (95% CI: 0.874–0.989) and 0.883 (95% CI: 0.810–0.956) for T1 and T2 maps, respectively, in diagnostic discrimination between breast cancers and benign lesions. A slightly increased AUC of 0.978 (95% CI: 0.915–0.993) was achieved by combining those two relaxation-based quantitative metrics. Conclusion In conclusion, our preliminary study showed that the quantitative T1 and T2 values obtained by SyMRI could distinguish effectively between benign and malignant breast lesions, and T1 relaxation time showed the highest diagnostic efficiency. Furthermore, combining the two quantitative relaxation metrics further improved their diagnostic performance.

Since accurate grading of gliomas has important clinical value, the aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic efficacy of perfusion values derived from arterial spin labeling (ASL) to grade gliomas. In addition, the correlation between perfusion and isocitrate dehydrogenase 1 (IDH1) genotypes and chromosome arms 1p and 19q (1p/19q) status of gliomas was assessed. A total of 52 cases of supratentorial gliomas in adults who received ASL imaging were enrolled in this retrospective study. The cerebral blood flow (CBF) images derived from ASL and anatomical maps were normalized to the Montreal Neurological Institute coordinate system and matched. The mean CBF (meanCBF), the maximum CBF (maxCBF), and their relative values (rmeanCBF and rmaxCBF, respectively) were assessed in each case. The tumor grades, IDH1 genotypes, and 1p/19q status were diagnosed according to the 2016 WHO criteria. Receiver operating characteristic curves were performed to assess the efficacy of perfusion parameters for grading. Qualitatively, all gliomas were divided into high- and low-perfusion groups. The crosstabs chi-square test of independence was performed to calculate contingency coefficient (C) and Cramer V coefficient to assess the correlation between perfusion and IDH1 genotypes and 1p/19q status of gliomas. The rmaxCBF showed the best diagnostic efficacy; meanwhile, rmeanCBF had the best specificity for grade discrimination. In astrocytoma, there was a mild correlation between IDH1 genotypes and tumor perfusion with the Cramer's V coefficient of 0.378. There was no significant association between 1p/19q codeletion and perfusion in grade II and III gliomas.

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PurposeThe aim of this study was to retrospectively observe and analyze the long-term treatment outcomes of a total of 140 esophageal cancer patients who were treated with californium-252 (252Cf) neutron brachytherapy (NBT) in combination with external beam radiotherapy (EBRT) and concurrent chemotherapy (CCT).Methods and materialsFrom January 2002 to November 2012, 140 patients with esophageal cancer underwent NBT in combination with EBRT and CCT. The distribution of the patient numbers over the various cancer stages of IIA, IIB, and III were 43, 7, and 90, respectively. The total radiation dose to the reference point via NBT was 8–25 Gy-eq in two to five fractions with one fraction per week. The total dose via EBRT was 50–60 Gy, which was delivered over a period of five to six weeks with normal fractionation. Fifty-four and 86 patients received tegafur suppositories (TS) and continuous infusion of fluorouracil (5-Fu) with cisplatin (CDDP), respectively.ResultsThe median follow-up time was 42 months. The minimum follow-up was three months, and the maximum was 106 months. The overall median survival including death from all causes was 29.5 months. The five-year overall survival rate (OS) and local control (LC) were 33.4% and 55.9%, respectively. The chemotherapy regimen was a factor that was significantly associated with OS (p = 0.025) according to univariate analysis. The five-year OSs were 27.4% and 44.3% for the PF and TS chemotherapy regimens, respectively. Regarding acute toxicity, no incidences of fistula or massive bleeding were observed during this treatment period. The incidence of severe, late complications was related to the PF chemotherapy regimen (p = 0.080).ConclusionsThe clinical data indicated that NBT in combination with EBRT and CRT produced favorable local control and long-term survival rates for patients with esophageal cancer and that the side effects were tolerable. A reasonable CRT regimen can decrease the rate of severe, late complications.

Background Field-of-view optimized and constrained undistorted single-shot imaging (FOCUS) is a new sequence that shows enhanced anatomical details, improving the diffusion-weighted (DW) images. Purpose To investigate the value of FOCUS diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) in the evaluation of nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) and compare it with the single-shot echo planner imaging (SS-EPI) DWI approach. Material and Methods A total of 87 patients with NPC underwent magnetic resonance imaging, including FOCUS and SS-EPI DWI sequences. The signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), signal-intensity ratio (SIR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values of the nasopharyngeal lesions were measured and compared. According to the clinical stages of patients, T and N were divided into early and advanced stage groups, respectively. The mean ADC values of the two techniques were computed, and the area under the curve (AUC) was estimated to calculate the diagnostic efficiency. Results Subjective and objective image qualitative values of FOCUS were significantly higher than those of SS-EPI. The ADC values for FOCUS of early T and N stages were significantly lower than those of the advanced stages. Conclusion FOCUS provides significantly better image quality in NPC compared to SS-EPI, with lower ADC values for early-stage disease than late-stage disease.