1,721,038 research outputs found
A prospective trial for the evaluation of esophageal cancer patients: FDG PET/CT vs. c.e.CT vs. FDG PET/c.e.CT
No full textObjectives The present study was conceived on a population of esophageal cancer patients (ECP) who have been undergoing FDG PET/CT and c.e.CT in a single session, both at initial staging and after more than 4 weeks from the end of neoadjuvant treatment. Herein, we reported the preliminary data about the comparison of diagnostic performance among PET/CT, c.e.CT and PET/c.e.CT.
Methods To date, 89 ECP (62±12years) were recruited, with adenocarcinoma or squamous cell carcinoma who underwent basal PET/CT plus c.e.CT in a single session. The glycemic recorded value was not higher than 170mg/dL and insulin-dependent diabetic patients were excluded from recruitment, according to RECIST guideline. After 60min from the injection of FDG, a whole body PET/CT scan was acquired. At the end of standard acquisition, a neck-thorax-abdomen c.e.CT was performed; in particular three c.e. phases for the liver evaluation were made. Three specialized physicians read the images, separately.
Results 89 patients performed both PET/CT and c.e.CT while 86 of them had all three scans. The agreement among the three scans was ranged between 40% and 53% of subjects. In discordant patients, c.e.CT demonstrated more lymph node metastases than both PET/CT and PET/c.e.CT (in 22.5% and 16.9% of subjects, respectively). Conversely, PET/c.e.CT showed less loco-regional/distant lymph nodes and distant metastases than PET/CT and c.e.CT alone, thus reducing the rate of false-positive and false-negative findings (rate of distant metastases: 39% for c.e.CT, 24.7% for PET/CT and 22.5% for PET/c.e.CT). The clinical staging was recovered in 40 patients. The sensitivity of PET/c.e.CT was higher than PET/CT alone and similar to c.e.CT for the identification of metastases (63% vs. 48% and 64%, respectively).
Conclusions In ECP, at initial staging FDG PET/c.e.CT represents an accurate and feasible method for recognizing a major number of pathological findings in comparison with PET/CT and c.e.CT, separately performed
PET-guided prognosis: a promising role of metabolic imaging in oesophageal cancer
No full textPurpose: To evaluate the prognostic value of FDG-PET/CT after neo-adjuvant
therapy in locally advanced oesophageal cancer (EC) patients.
Methods and Materials: Among 108 EC patients who underwent FDG-PET/
CT after neo-adjuvant treatment, we selected 56 patients without evidence or
suspicious for distant metastases. All patients were followed for a mean period of
13±9 months from nuclear imaging. PET/CT findings were correlated with patient
management and long-term prognosis. Chi-square test was used for comparison
of categorical variables and t-Student test for continuous data. Survival curves
were computed using Kaplan Meier method. A p value of < 0.05 was considered
statistically significant.
Results: 15 patients had negative and 41 positive (27 vs. 73%) PET/CT after
neo-adjuvant therapy. 6/15 patients underwent radical-intent surgery and 9/15
did not, whereas 31/41 performed surgery and 10/41 did not (p < 0.05). After a
median time of 10 months, 28 patients were disease-free, 15 relapsed and 11 died.
The event-free survival was significantly higher in patients with negative than with
positive PET/CT after neo-adjuvant treatment (73 vs. 41%; log rank p < 0.05).
Considering patients with positive PET/CT, in non-surgery subset only 1 patient
was alive without evidence of disease while in surgery subset 17 patients were
disease-free (10 vs. 55%, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: PET/CT could stratify the recurrence risk of EC patients based on
treatment efficacy. After 13 months from PET/CT, 89% of patients with negative
PET/CT who did not undergo surgery resulted disease free. A positive PET/CT
after neo-adjuvant therapy should be followed by surgery for improving the eventfree
survival
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
A Snapshot of Elective Oncological Surgery in Italy During COVID-19 Emergency: Pearls, Pitfalls, and Perspectives
No full textTo analyze the impact of COVID-19 emergency on elective oncological surgical activity in Italy
Cholecystectomy during esophagectomy is safe but unnecessary
No full textBACKGROUND:
Prophylactic cholecystectomy has been proposed as a concomitant procedure during upper gastrointestinal surgery. This study evaluates the safety and the need of concurrent cholecystectomy during esophagectomy for cancer.
METHODS:
All consecutive esophagectomies for esophageal cancer at the Center for Esophageal Diseases in Padova (Italy) between 1992 and 2011 were included. The safety of concurrent cholecystectomy was evaluated by surgical outcomes (length of stay, postoperative mortality and perioperative complications). The need for concurrent cholecystectomy was evaluated by occurrence of biliary duct stones and of cholelithiasis/cholecystitis after esophagectomy.
RESULTS:
Cholecystectomy was performed during 67 out of 1087 esophagectomies (6.2%). Cirrhosis or chronic liver disease was associated with receiving cholecystectomy during esophagectomy (OR: 1.99, 95%C.I. 1.10-3.56). Patients receiving and those not receiving cholecystectomy showed similar length of stay (median 14 days, p = .87), postoperative mortality (3.0% vs. 2.5%, p = .68), intraoperative complication (4.5% vs. 7.1%, p = .62), early complications (52.2% vs. 44.6%, p = .25) and late complications (20.9% vs. 24.8%, p = .56). Cholelithiasis/cholecystitis after esophagectomy occurred in 61 (6.1%) patients, with only four requiring cholecystectomy during follow-up. The biliary stone occurrence was nil. Only pathologic stage III-IV (OR: 2.17, 95%C.I. 1.19-3.96) was associated with cholelithiasis/cholecystitis after esophagectomy.
CONCLUSION:
Routine prophylactic cholecystectomy during esophagectomy could be safe but unnecessary
Diagnostic and therapeutic appropriateness in different stages of esophageal/GEJ cancers. The FICOG project
No full textBackground: Esophageal cancer is a rare neoplasm, with more than 0.6 million new cases and 0.54 million deaths worldwide in 2020. The distal third of the esophagus and the gastroesophageal junction (GEJ) are mostly involved sites. The diagnosis and therapeutic management of early, locally advanced, and metastatic disease continue to present uncertainties, as existing guidelines may not fully address all clinical questions in these areas. Methods: A group of Italian Experts produced recommendations for early, locally advanced, and metastatic disease management using the RAND/UCLA Appropriateness Method. Statements were generated by a systematic revision of the literature and voted on twice by a panel of 29 expert physicians; the second vote took place during a meeting of the panelists. Results: Several topics covered diagnosis, staging, treatment, and early, localized, and metastatic disease management. Recommendations were stated. Conclusions: Interventions considered appropriate to improve compliance and outcomes of esophageal/GEJ cancer patients were identified
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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