Radioembolization has been demonstrated to allow locoregional therapy of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma not eligible for transarterial chemoembolization or other local therapies. The aim of this study was to validate evidence of the safety and efficacy of this treatment in a European sample of patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Therefore, 108 consecutive patients with advanced HCC and liver cirrhosis were included. Yttrium-90 (Y-90) microspheres were administered in a lobar fashion over the right or left branch of the hepatic artery. The response to treatment was evaluated by computed tomography (CT) imaging applying Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST) and World Health Organization (WHO) criteria with recent European Association for the Study of the Liver / National Cancer Institute (EASL/NCI) amendments. Time to progression (TTP) and overall survival were estimated by the Kaplan-Meier method. In all, 159 treatment sessions were performed ranging between one to three treatments per patient. The mean radiation dose per treatment was 120 (618) Gy. According to EASL criteria, complete responses were determined in 3% of patients, partial responses in 37%, stable disease 53%, and primary progression in 6% of patients. TTP was 10.0 months, whereas the median overall survival was 16.4 months. No lung or visceral toxicity was observed. The most frequently observed adverse events was a transient fatigue-syndrome. Conclusion: Radioembolization with Y-90 glass microspheres for patients with advanced HCC is a safe and effective treatment which can be utilized even in patients with compromised liver function. Because TTP and survival appear to be comparable to systemic therapy in selected patients with advanced HCC, randomized controlled trials in combination with systemic therapy are warranted.

FDG PET/CT cannot replace invasive approaches for axillary staging but may extend the indication for SLNB.

Based on these initial data DWI seems to be a sensitive but unspecific modality for the detection of locoregional or metastatic BC disease. There was no possibility to quantitatively distinguish lesions using ADC. DWI alone may not be recommended as a whole-body staging alternative to FDG PET(/CT). Further studies are necessary addressing the question of whether full-body MRI including DWI may become an alternative to FDG PET/CT for whole-body breast cancer staging.

Radioembolization with 90 Y microspheres is a novel treatment for hepatic tumors. Generally, hepatic arteriography and 99m Tc-macroaggregated albumin (MAA) scanning are performed before selective internal radiation therapy to detect extrahepatic shunting to the lung or the gastrointestinal tract. Whereas previous studies have used only planar or SPECT scans, the present study used 99m Tc-MAA SPECT/CT scintigraphy (SPECT with integrated low-dose CT) to evaluate whether SPECT/CT and additional diagnostic contrast-enhanced CT before radioembolization with 90 Y microspheres are superior to SPECT or planar imaging alone for detection of gastrointestinal shunting. Methods: In a prospective study, we enrolled 58 patients (mean age, 66 y; SD, 12 y; 10 women and 48 men) with hepatocellular carcinoma who underwent hepatic arteriography and scintigraphy with 99m Tc-MAA using planar imaging, SPECT, and SPECT with integrated low-dose CT of the upper abdomen (acquired with a hybrid SPECT/CT camera). The ability of the different imaging modalities to detect extrahepatic MAA shunting was compared. Patient follow-up of a mean of 180 d served as the standard of reference. Results: Gastrointestinal shunting was revealed by planar imaging in 4, by SPECT in 9, and by SPECT/CT in 16 of the 68 examinations. For planar imaging, the sensitivity for detection of gastrointestinal shunting was 25%, the specificity 87%, and the accuracy 72%. For SPECT without CT, the sensitivity was 56%, the specificity 87%, and the accuracy 79%. SPECT with CT fusion had a sensitivity of 100%, a specificity of 94%, and an accuracy of 96%. In 3 patients, MAA deposits in the portal vein could accurately be attributed to tumor thrombus only with additional information from contrast-enhanced CT. The follow-up did not show any gastrointestinal complications. Conclusion: SPECT with integrated low-dose CT using 99m Tc-MAA is beneficial in radioembolization with 90 Y microspheres because it increases the sensitivity and specificity of 99m Tc-MAA SPECT when detecting extrahepatic arterial shunting. The overall low risk of gastrointestinal complications in radioembolization may therefore be further reduced by SPECT/CT. Radi oembolization with 90 Y microspheres via hepatic arterial administration is emerging as a promising treatment for patients with primary and metastatic liver cancer (1-4). 90 Y microspheres are currently approved in the United States for the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (TheraSphere; MDS Nordion) and colorectal cancer (SIR-Spheres; Sirtex Medical). 90 Y microspheres are injected into the arterial supply of the liver, where they preferentially flow into hypervascularized tumor areas, resulting in a significantly higher irradiation of tumor tissue than of normal liver parenchyma (5). With improvements in technology permitting smaller vessels to be catheterized and refinements in imaging techniques, the safety and efficacy of 90 Y microsphere delivery has improved significantly (6-10).Liver-directed therapy with 90 Y provides several advantag...

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