The major goals of preoperative treatment for locally advanced rectal cancers (LARCs) are improvement of local tumor control, tumor downsizing, and downstaging. Modifications with respect to standardized chemoradiation protocol, e. g., integrating oxaliplatin, are realized with the aim of improving primary tumor response and patient outcome.

Purpose: An ever recurring challenge in diagnostic radiology is the differentiation between non-malignant and malignant tissue. Based on evidence that microcirculation of normal, non-malignant tissue differs from that of malignant tissue, the goal of this study was to assess the reliability of dynamic contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dcMRI) for differentiating these two entities.Materials and methods: DcMRI data of rectum carcinoma and gluteus maximus muscles were acquired in 41 patients. Using an fast T1-mapping sequence on a 1.5-T whole body scanner, T1-maps were dynamically retrieved before, during and after constant rate i.v. infusion of a contrast medium (CM). On the basis of the acquired data sets, PI-values were calculated on a pixel-by-pixel basis. The relevance of spatial heterogeneities of microcirculation was investigated by relative frequency histograms of the PI-values.Results: A statistically significant difference between malignant and normal tissue was found for the mean PI-value (P < 0.001; 8.95ml/min/100g +/- 2.45 versus 3.56 ml/min/100g +/- 1.20). Additionally relative frequency distributions of PI-values with equal class intervals of 2.5 ml/min/100g revealed significant differences between the histograms of muscles and rectum carcinoma.Conclusion: We could show that microcirculation differences between malignant and normal, non-malignant tissue can be reliably assessed by non-invasive dcMRI. Therefore, dcMRI holds great promise in the aid of cancer assessment, especially in patients where biopsy is contraindicated. (c) 2004 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Purpose: The aim of this explorative study was to evaluate the impact of selenium in the treatment of lymphedema after radiotherapy.Methods and Materials: Between June 1996 and June 2001, 12 patients with edema of the arm and 36 patients with edema of the head-and-neck region were treated with selenium for therapy-related lymphedema. Of these 36 patients, 20 had interstitial endolaryngeal edema associated with stridor and dyspnea. All patients received sodium selenite over 4 to 6 weeks.Results: Self-assessment using a visual analog scale (n = 48) showed a reduction of 4.3 points when comparing pre- and posttreatment values (p < 0.05). Of 20 patients with endolaryngeal edema, 13 underwent no tracheostomy, 5 underwent a temporary tracheostomy, and only 2 underwent a permanent tracheostomy. Ten of 12 patients with arm edema showed a circumference reduction of the edematous limb and improvement in the Skin-Fold Index by 23.3 points. An improvement of one stage or more was shown by the Foldi or the Miller score (n = 28) in 22 (Foldi score) and in 24 (Miller score) patients.Conclusion: Treatment with sodium selenite is well tolerated and easy to deliver. Additionally, our results suggest that sodium selenite has a positive effect on secondary-developing lymphedema caused by radiation therapy alone or by irradiation after surgery. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc.

Purpose: The aim of our study was to correlate perfusion indices and apparent diffusion coefficients with therapy outcome after chemoradiation.Methods and Materials: In 34 patients with primary rectal carcinoma (cT3) undergoing preoperative chemoradiation, pretherapeutic perfusion indices and apparent diffusion coefficients were obtained by dynamic or diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Therapy response was defined if the pathologic observation revealed no invasion into the perirectal fat after chemoradiation.Results: In 18 patients, a response and in 16, no response was observed. Statistically significant differences were found for the mean perfusion index (p < 0.001; 7.5 +/- 1.5 mL/min/100 g vs. 10.7 +/- 2.7 mL/min/100 g) and for the intratumoral cumulative fraction of pixels with perfusion-indices > 12 mL/min/100 g (p < 0.001, 3.7 +/- 4.0% vs. 24.7 +/- 17.9%). A three-way ANOVA resulted in significant effects for therapy responder/nonresponder (p < 0.001) and for apparent diffusion coefficient and the individual patients.Conclusion: Perfusion indices and apparent diffusion coefficients inside the tumor region seem to be of predictive value for therapy outcome of preoperative therapy in patients with primary rectal carcinoma. Higher parameter levels in the nonresponding group could be explained by increased shunt flow or increased angiogenic activity in aggressive tumor cell clusters resulting in reduced nutrients supply and higher fraction of intratumoral necrosis respectively. (C) 2003 Elsevier Inc.

PURPOSE:To determine the predictive value of carbohydrate antigen (CA) 19-9 in pancreatic cancer treated with radiochemotherapy.METHODS AND MATERIALS:Ninety-five patients with locally advanced unresectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreas were treated with hyperfractionated accelerated radiotherapy to a total dose of 44.8 Gy combined with 5-fluorouracil and folinic acid. CA 19-9 was measured before therapy, each week during therapy, and every 4 weeks during the follow-up period.RESULTS:The median CA 19-9 before treatment was 420 U/mL; in the responder group it was 117 U/mL, and in the nonresponder group it was 806 U/mL. Patients with a pretreatment CA 19-9 less than the median had not only a significantly better tumor response (45.8%) but also a better survival prognosis (median survival 12.3 months) than those with a level higher than the median (tumor response 12.8%; median survival 7.1 months). The posttreatment median CA 19-9 for all patients also exhibited prognostic significance. The median survival of patients with a CA 19-9 level lower than the posttreatment median of 293 U/mL was 13.5 months, compared with 7.2 months for those with a CA 19-9 level greater than the median. To detect recurrent disease during follow-up, the sensitivity of CA 19-9 was 100% and the specificity 88%.CONCLUSION:Our results indicate that CA 19-9 is of predictive value for prognosis, response, and detecting recurrence of pancreatic cancer in patients undergoing combined radiochemotherapy. Therefore, we recommend the routine implementation of CA 19-9 observation during the clinical course of treatment for patients with pancreatic cancer undergoing radiochemotherapy.

Purpose: To evaluate the predictive value of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) on therapy outcome of combined chemoradiation in patients with primary carcinoma of the rectum. Materials and Method: Prior to standardized, combined, neoadjuvant chemoradiation,16 patients with primary carcinoma of the rectum (cT3) were examined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Diffusion-weighted spin echo echo-planar images (SE-EPI) and contrast-enhanced T-1-weighted spin echo (SE) images at 1.5 Tesla were obtained. The mean ADC of the tumor region was calculated and correlated with the therapy outcome substantiated by postsurgical histopathologic staging. Results: Tumor down-staging (pT0-2) occurred in 9 patients (therapy responders) and no down-staging (pT3) in 7 patients (therapy non-responders). The mean ADC measured 0.476 +/- 0.114 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s in the responder group and 0.703 +/- 0.085 x 10(-3) mm(2)/s in the non-responder group. Comparison of the mean ADC between the groups reached statistical significance (p = 0.001). Conclusion: The mean ADC might be a new quantitative parameter to predict therapy outcome of combined preoperative chemoradiation in patients with primary carcinoma of the rectum.

PURPOSE:To evaluate the predictive value of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) on therapy outcome of combined chemoradiation in patients with primary carcinoma of the rectum.MATERIALS AND METHOD:Prior to standardized, combined, neoadjuvant chemoradiation, 16 patients with primary carcinoma of the rectum (cT3) were examined with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Diffusion-weighted spin echo echo-planar images (SE-EPI) and contrast-enhanced T 1 -weighted spin echo (SE) images at 1.5 Tesla were obtained. The mean ADC of the tumor region was calculated and correlated with the therapy outcome substantiated by postsurgical histopathologic staging.RESULTS:Tumor down-staging (pT0-2) occurred in 9 patients (therapy responders) and no down-staging (pT3) in 7 patients (therapy non-responders). The mean ADC measured 0.476 +/- 0.114 x 10(-3) mm 2/s in the responder group and 0.703 +/- 0.085 x 10(-3) mm 2/s in the non-responder group. Comparison of the mean ADC between the groups reached statistical significance (p = 0.001).CONCLUSION:The mean ADC might be a new quantitative parameter to predict therapy outcome of combined preoperative chemoradiation in patients with primary carcinoma of the rectum.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical value of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) to monitor response of primary carcinoma of the rectum to preoperative chemoradiation by measuring tumor apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). Materials and methods: Diffusion data of nine patients undergoing preoperative combined chemoradiation for clinical staged T3, N0–2, M0 carcinoma of the rectum were analyzed. Diffusion-weighted echo-planar MR images were obtained prior to and at specified intervals during chemoradiation and ADCs calculated from acquired tumor images. Results: Comparison of mean ADC and cumulative radiation dose showed a significant decrease of mean ADC at the 2nd (P=0.028), 3rd (P=0.012), and 4th (P=0.008) weeks of treatment. Cytotoxic edema and fibrosis were considered as reasons for ADC decrease. Conclusion: This study demonstrated tumor ADC changes via detection of therapy-induced alterations in tumor water mobility. Our results indicate that diffusion-weighted imaging may be a valuable clinical tool to diagnose the early stage of radiation-induced fibrosis.

Contrast enhanced dynamic studies of malignant tumors performed by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are increasingly applied to characterize tumor microcirculation for the prediction of therapy outcome. The aim of our study was to correlate perfusion index (PI) values determined in primary rectal carcinoma before chemoradiation with therapy outcome. In 17 patients with clinically staged T3 primary rectal carcinoma, dynamic MRI was performed before the onset of therapy using an ultrafast T1-mapping sequence. On the basis of the acquired data sets, PI values were calculated on a pixel-by-pixel basis. To characterize the heterogeneity of tumor microcirculation, relative cumulative frequency histograms of PI values within the tumors were computed. Subsequent resection of the tumors allowed correlating PI with histopathological classification. In 12 of 17 patients, T-downstaging as a response to therapy was found, whereas in the remaining 5 patients no therapy response was observed after chemoradiation. A statistically significant difference between both groups was found for the mean PI (P < 0.001; 8.5+/-1.7 ml/min/100 g versus 11.4+/-0.7 ml/min/100 g). Analyzing the cumulative frequency histograms for both groups revealed an optimal discrimination for a P1 value of 12.6 ml/min/100 g. The fraction of pixels in the tumor with PI values larger than 12.6 ml/min/100 g was significantly different (P < 0.001) between therapy-responding (3+/-3.6%) and therapy-nonresponding tumors (21+/-4.3%). The results indicate either a reduced supply of nutrients as well as chemotherapeutic agents attributable to increased shunt flow or highly aggressive tumor cell clusters characterized by increased angiogenic activity. Noninvasive PI measurements by dynamic MRI in rectal carcinoma before therapy seem to be of predictive value for therapy outcome in patients scheduled for preoperative chemoradiation.

The aim of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) by monitoring apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of primary advanced carcinoma of the rectum during a course of preoperative chemoradiation. DWI (N=9) was performed prior to and at specified intervals during chemoradiation and ADCs were calculated from acquired tumor images. Comparison of mean ADC and cumulative radiation dose showed a significant decrease of mean ADC at the 2nd (p=.028), 3(rd) (p=.012), and 4(th), (p=.008) week of treatment. The present study clearly showed therapy-induced intratumoral alterations in water mobility. Possible applications for future studies include investigation of the predictive value of pretherapeutic measurements, and quantification of late effects (e.g. fibrosis).