Objective: To evaluate the accuracy of chest computed tomography (CT) in patients with suspected severe acute respiratory syndrome-related coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection at a cancer center. Materials and Methods: This retrospective single-center study selected 91 patients who had chest CT and real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) test collected at the same day. CT results were classified in negative, typical, indeterminate or atypical findings. Diagnostic accuracy, sensitivity and specificity were calculated for two different scenarios: in the first, only typical findings on CT were considered positive; in the second, both typical and indeterminate findings were considered positive. Results: Mean patients’ age was 58.2 years, most were male (60.4%) and had prior diagnosis of cancer (85.7%). CT showed typical findings in 28.6%, indeterminate findings in 24.2% and atypical findings in 26.4%. RT-PCR results were positive for SARS-CoV-2 in 27.5%. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy in the first and second scenarios were respectively 64.0%, 84.8% and 79.1%, and 92.0%, 62.1% and 70.3%. Conclusion: CT has a high accuracy for the diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Different interpretation criteria can provide either high sensitivity or high specificity. CT should be integrated as a triage test in resource-constrained environments during the pandemic to assist in the optimization of PCR-tests, isolation beds and intensive care units.

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Background Gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC) is the third deadliest malignant neoplasm worldwide, mostly because of late disease diagnosis, low chemotherapy response rates, and an overall lack of tumor biology understanding. Therefore, tools for prognosis and prediction of treatment response are needed. Quantification of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and circulating tumor microemboli (CTM) and their expression of biomarkers has potential clinical relevance. Our aim was to evaluate CTCs and CTM and their expression of HER2 and plakoglobin in patients with nonmetastatic GAC, correlating the findings to clinicopathological data. Materials and Methods CTC enrichment was performed with isolation by size of epithelial tumor cells, and the analysis was performed with immunocytochemistry and microscopy. Two collections were made: one at diagnosis (55 samples before neoadjuvant treatment) and one after surgery and before adjuvant therapy (33 samples). Results A high detection rate of CTCs (90%) was observed at baseline. We evaluated HER2 expression in 45/55 biopsy samples and in 42/55 CTC samples, with an overlap of 36 subjects. Besides the good agreement observed for HER2 expression in primary tumors and paired CTCs for 36 cases (69.4%; κ = 0.272), the analysis of HER2 in CTCs showed higher positivity (43%) compared with primary tumors (11%); 3/5 patients with disease progression had HER2‐negative primary tumors but HER2‐positive CTCs. A significant CTC count drop in follow‐up was seen for CTC‐HER2‐positive cases (4.45 to 1.0 CTCs per mL) compared with CTC‐HER2‐negative cases (2.6 to 1.0 CTCs per mL). The same was observed for CTC‐plakoglobin‐positive cases (2.9 to 1.25 CTCs per mL). Conclusion CTC analysis, including their levels, plakoglobin, and HER2 expression, appears to be a promising tool in the understanding the biology and prognosis of GAC. Implications for Practice The analysis of circulating tumor cell levels from the blood of patients with gastric adenocarcinoma, before and after neoadjuvant treatment, is useful to better understand the behavior of the disease as well as the patients more likely to respond to treatment.

Ewing sarcoma and primitive peripheral neuroectodermal tumor (PNET) are high-grade malignant tumors typically found in children and adolescents. These tumors belong to the family of small round cell tumors and are of neuroectodermal origin. Primary Ewing sarcoma of the kidney is rare and because of that is an infrequent differential diagnosis in urologic malignancies. Renal PNET mostly presents with nonspecific symptoms such as hematuria and abdominal pain. The imaging findings are uncharacteristic. The diagnosis is based on the histology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular pathologic findings. Once PNET has been diagnosed, multimodal treatment is indicated. Despite all treatment options, the prognosis of those with metastatic disease is poor.

Background: Liver metastases of colorectal cancer are frequent and potentially fatal event in the evolution of patients with these tumors. Aim: In this module, was contextualized the clinical situations and parameterized epidemiological data and results of the various treatment modalities established. Method: Was realized deep discussion on detecting and staging metastatic colorectal cancer, as well as employment of imaging methods in the evaluation of response to instituted systemic therapy. Results: The next step was based on the definition of which patients would have their metastases considered resectable and how to expand the amount of patients elegible for modalities with curative intent. Conclusion: Were presented clinical, pathological and molecular prognostic factors, validated to be taken into account in clinical practice.

IntroductionPulmonary tumor thrombotic microangiopathy is a rare complication of malignant diseases. The diagnosis is extremely difficult and is most often performed after death. Invariably, patients develop acute pulmonary hypertension causing right heart failure, shortness of breath and death in a few days. We describe the clinical and radiological findings of a patient who presented with this complication.Case presentationA 28-year-old Caucasian woman with a previous history of pelvic tumor resection two months previously, suggestive of metastatic adenocarcinoma, presented with intense shortness of breath. A computed tomography scan showed signs of acute cor pulmonale and diffuse nodular opacities associated with a tree-in-bud pattern disseminated through her lungs, suggestive of bronchiolitis. Our patient's condition worsened and she underwent a surgical biopsy. Pathologic analysis of the biopsied specimens revealed pulmonary tumor thrombotic microangiopathy. Our patient's tumor evolved from a gastric origin (Krukenberg tumor). She underwent progressive clinical deterioration and died less than 24 hours after the biopsy. None of the cases described previously in the literature had diffuse centrilobular nodular opacities associated with a tree-in-bud pattern disseminated through the lungs, as in our case.ConclusionPulmonary tumor thrombotic microangiopathy should be considered in cancer patients with rapidly progressing dyspnea, chest computed tomography findings compatible with pulmonary hypertension and typical findings of inflammatory bronchiolitis.

CT-guided biopsies should be used routinely for lesions identified or better characterized by PET/CT. The results of this study demonstrate that this method is reliable, secure, and very accurate diagnostically, revealing a high percentage of malignant lesions.

In this sample of patients with cancer undergoing contrast-enhanced CT, very few adverse symptoms were reported regardless of preparative fasting. These results support the idea that preparation for contrast-enhanced CT can be simplified, decreasing the discomfort and inconvenience experienced by patients.