Translational research is changing the practice of modern medicine and the way in which health problems are approached and solved. The use of small-animal models in basic and preclinical sciences is a major keystone for these kinds of research and development strategies, representing a bridge between discoveries at the molecular level and clinical implementation in diagnostics and/or therapeutics. The development of high-resolution in vivo imaging technologies provides a unique opportunity for studying disease in real time, in a quantitative way, at the molecular level, along with the ability to repeatedly and non-invasively monitor disease progression or response to treatment. The greatest advantages of preclinical imaging techniques include the reduction of biological variability and the opportunity to acquire, in continuity, an impressive amount of unique information (without interfering with the biological process under study) in distinct forms, repeated or modulated as needed, along with the substantial reduction in the number of animals required for a particular study, fully complying with 3R (Replacement, Reduction and Refinement) policies. The most suitable modalities for small-animal in vivo imaging applications are based on nuclear medicine techniques (essentially, positron emission tomography [PET] and single photon emission computed tomography [SPECT]), optical imaging (OI), computed tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging (MRSI), and ultrasound. Each modality has intrinsic advantages and limitations. More recently, aiming to overcome the inherent limitations of each imaging modality, multimodality devices designed to provide complementary information upon the pathophysiological process under study have gained popularity. The combination of high-resolution modalities, like micro-CT or micro-MRI, with highly sensitive techniques providing functional information, such as micro-PET or micro-SPECT, will continue to broaden the horizons of research in such key areas as infection, oncology, cardiology, and neurology, contributing not only to the understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease, but also providing efficient and unique tools for evaluating new chemical entities and candidate drugs. The added value of small-animal imaging techniques has driven their increasing use by pharmaceutical companies, contract research organizations, and research institutions.

Introduction and aims: Gastric mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma is closely associated with Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection. Our aim was to evaluate demographic, clinical and endoscopic characteristics of gastric MALT lymphoma patients, as well as to analyse response to treatment and factors that affect complete remission (CR) and relapse. We also assessed the long-term prognosis. Methods: The study involved a retrospective evaluation of consecutive patients admitted with gastric MALT lymphoma . Results: A total of 144 patients (76 men; mean age 56) were included. At stage EI, 94/103 patients (92%) received HP eradication and 78 (83%) achieved CR after a mean period of 7 months (2-63 months) and 67 (86%) remained in CR after a mean follow-up time of 105 months. HP infection status (p ¼ 0.004) and lymphoma localisation to the antrum plus body (p ¼ 0.016) were associated with higher and lower CR rates, respectively. Relapse occurred in 11/78 (14%) patients after a mean period of 21 months. The absence of HP re-infection (p ¼ 0.038), the need of only one eradication regimen (p ¼ 0.009) and antrum lymphomas (p ¼ 0.031) correlated with lower relapse rates. At stage EII, HP eradication was performed in 17/24 patients but only five experienced CR (30%). Among 16 patients diagnosed at stage EIV, nine achieved CR after chemotherapy AE surgery and 3/7 without remission died due to disease progression. The 5-and 10-year overall disease free survival rates were 90.5% and 79.1%, respectively. Conclusions: Most patients were diagnosed at an early stage. Eradication therapy was highly effective in inducing complete remission. Long-term evaluation showed that the long-term prognosis was very favourable.

Background and objective: Little is known about the clinical impact of double-balloon enteroscopy (DBE) in patients with PeutzJeghers syndrome (PJS).The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of DBE in the management of small-bowel polyps in PJS patients.Patients and methods: We conducted a multicentre, retrospective cohort study, which included all consecutive patients diagnosed with PJS who underwent DBE for polypectomy between January 2006 and August 2012. In all cases, previous videocapsule enteroscopy had shown at least one polyp ≥ 10 mm in size.Results: Twenty-five patients (13 men; median age 36 years; 14 with prior laparotomy) underwent 46 DBE procedures (1 to 5 per patient, 44 via oral route). Polypectomy was performed in 39/46 DBEs. A total of 214 polyps were removed (median-size 30 mm), with a median number of polypectomies per procedure of 5.0 (range 1-18). The estimated maximum-sizes of resected polyps significantly decreased at each session: 30.0, 25.0, 20.0, 15.0, and 17.5 mm (p = 0.02). In 7 DBEs no polypectomy was performed (4-only minor polyps detected; 3-endoscopic irresecability). Complications occurred in 3/39 of therapeutic procedures (2-minor delayed bleeding; 1-mucosal tear), all of them dealt with conservative or endoscopic therapy. Six patients underwent elective surgery post DBE due to polyps not amenable for endoscopic resection. There were no small-bowel polyp related complications during a median follow-up of 56.5 months.Conclusion: DBE showed to be a safe and effective technique in the management of small-bowel polyps in PJS patients, allowing a presymptomatic and non-surgical approach.

AlignRT could help the positioning of breast cancer patients; however, it should be used with another imaging method.

In a fraction of families fulfilling the Amsterdam criteria for hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, colorectal cancers are microsatellite stable and DNA mismatch repair gene (MMR) mutations are not found. These families were designated as familial colorectal cancer type X (FCCTX). We aimed to characterise a group of FCCTX families defined by the Amsterdam criteria and MSS tumours at clinical and molecular level. Twenty-four tumours from 15 FCCTX families were analysed for loss of known tumour suppressor gene (TSG) loci (APC, TP53, SMAD4 and DCC), MGMT and MMR genes promoter methylation, and also APC and KRAS somatic mutations. FCCTX families presented specific clinical features: absence of endometrial tumours, high adenoma/carcinoma ratio (1.91) and prevalence of rectal cancers (13/27, 48%). New molecular features were found: the majority of FCCTX tumours (13/18; 72%) presented TSG loss. TSG loss positive tumours presented frequent APC and KRAS somatic mutations and MGMT methylation [10/13 (77%), 7/13 (54%) and 6/11 (54%), respectively]. In TSG loss negative tumours (5/18; 28%), the same molecular events were found in 2/5 (40%), 2/5 (40%) and 1/3 (33%) tumours, respectively. Transition mutations in KRAS were more frequent among MGMT methylated tumours than in unmethylated [5/8 (63%) vs. 1/10 (10%), P = 0.03]. Although sharing similar clinical features, at least two different molecular entities should exist among FCCTX families, one whose tumours present frequent TSG loss, APC and KRAS somatic mutations, and MGMT promoter methylation, and a second, lesser predominant, with no evidence of TSG loss and rarely presenting promoter methylation.