Search Our Scientific Publications & Authors

J Clin Pathol 2021 Jun 11. Epub 2021 Jun 11.

School of Biomolecular and Biomedical Science, Conway Institute, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland.

Clinical workflows in oncology depend on predictive and prognostic biomarkers. However, the growing number of complex biomarkers contributes to costly and delayed decision-making in routine oncology care and treatment. As cancer is expected to rank as the leading cause of death and the single most important barrier to increasing life expectancy in the 21st century, there is a major emphasis on precision medicine, particularly individualisation of treatment through better prediction of patient outcome. Read More

Clin Breast Cancer 2021 May 6. Epub 2021 May 6.

Department of Ultrasound, Hebei Medical University Fourth Affiliated Hospital and Hebei Provincial Tumor Hospital, Shijiazhuang, Hebei, China. Electronic address:

Objectives: This retrospective study aimed to assess the value of a real-time, ultrasound-guided biopsy in evaluating internal mammary lymph nodes (IMLNs) in breast cancer.

Methods: Patients who were diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent real-time, ultrasound-guided core-needle biopsy (CNB) or fine-needle aspiration (FNA) in suspected IMLN metastasis were retrospectively analyzed. Patient information and ultrasonographic images were reviewed and correlated with pathology results. Read More

Eur J Radiol 2021 Jun 6;141:109809. Epub 2021 Jun 6.

Department of Radiology, Shaoxing People's Hospital (Shaoxing Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine), Key Laboratory of Functional Molecular Imaging of Tumor and Interventional Diagnosis and Treatment of Shaoxing City, Shaoxing 312000, China. Electronic address:

Purpose: We sought to evaluate the diagnostic performance of diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and intravoxel incoherent motion (IVIM) for distinguishing between benign and malignant breast tumors by performing a meta-analysis.

Methods: We comprehensively searched the electronic databases PubMed and Embase from January 2000 to April 2020 for studies in English. Studies were included if they reported the sensitivity and specificity for identifying benign and malignant breast lesions using DWI or IVIM. Read More

PLoS One 2021 11;16(6):e0252476. Epub 2021 Jun 11.

Departments of Radiology, Seoul St. Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.

Purpose: To investigate the imaging characteristics of early and late recurrent breast cancer and the detectability of mammography, ultrasonography, and breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients who underwent breast-conservation therapy (BCT).

Materials And Methods: Total of 1312 women with 2026 surveillance breast MRI after BCT between January 2014 and September 2018 were studied. Early recurrence was defined as newly diagnosed breast cancer and/or axillary metastasis within 12 months of surgery. Read More

Medicine (Baltimore) 2021 May;100(19):e25803

Department of radiotherapy, Gansu Provincial People's Hospital, Lanzhou, China.

Background: : Breast cancer (BC) is the most common cancer in women all over the world and the second most common cause of cancer-related mortality. Imaging examination plays an important role in the diagnosis of early breast cancer. Due to different imaging principles and methods, all kinds of examinations have their advantages and disadvantages. Read More

Pan Afr Med J 2021 8;38:245. Epub 2021 Mar 8.

Department of Radiology, Alexis Multispecialty Hospital, Nagpur, Maharashtra, India.

Pulmonary lesions on imaging are presumed to be metastatic lesions in patients with breast cancer. Here, we report an interesting case of a 63-year-old lady with breast carcinoma showing pulmonary lesions on imaging suggestive of pulmonary metastases. Detailed evaluation of pulmonary lesions confirmed the presence of co-existing pulmonary sarcoidosis. Read More

Front Oncol 2021 19;11:643003. Epub 2021 May 19.

Key Laboratory for Biomechanics and Mechanobiology of Ministry of Education, School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China.

Purpose: Ultrasound (US) and mammogram (MMG) are the two most common breast cancer (BC) screening tools. This study aimed to assess how the combination of circulating tumor cells (CTC) with US and MMG would improve the diagnostic performance.

Methods: CTC detection and imaging examinations, US and MMG, were performed in 238 treatment-naive BC patients, 217 patients with benign breast diseases (BBD), and 20 healthy females. Read More

Int J Clin Exp Pathol 2021 15;14(5):653-661. Epub 2021 May 15.

Department of Pathology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University Jinan 250021, Shandong Province, P. R. China.

Neoplasms with perivascular epithelioid cell differentiation (PEComas) of the pancreas are rare, and only 22 cases have been reported globally. Therefore, clinician and pathologist knowledge of this tumor's biologic behavior and molecular genetics has been limited. A 40-year-old female patient presented with a space-occupying mass in the pancreas found by abdominal B-mode ultrasonography upon physical examination. Read More

Medicine (Baltimore) 2021 Jun;100(22):e25878

Department of Nuclear Medicine, Taizhou people's Hospital affiliated to Medical College of Yangzhou University Taizhou, China.

Abstract: The study aimed to explore the value of ultrasound (US) texture analysis in the differential diagnosis of triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) and non-TNBC.Retrospective analysis was done on 93 patients with breast cancer (35 patients with TNBC and 38 patients with non-TNBC) who were admitted to Taizhou people's hospital from July 2015 to June 2019. All lesions were pathologically proven at surgery. Read More

BMJ Case Rep 2021 Jun 3;14(6). Epub 2021 Jun 3.

Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, Oxford, Oxfordshire, UK

Adamantinoma is a rare low-grade malignancy of the appendicular skeleton with unclear histogenesis. We present the case of a 65-year-old woman with known recurrent and metastatic right tibial disease despite clear resection margins. On further investigation, a positron emission tomography-CT scan identified a primary breast lesion and an 11 cm mass in the right iliac fossa of suspected ovarian malignancy amenable to surgical resection. Read More

Radiologia 2021 May 31. Epub 2021 May 31.

Servicio de Radiodiagnóstico, Hospital General Universitario Jose M.ª Morales Meseguer, Murcia, España; RAD-AID Internacional.

Breast cancer is the second most common cancer in Peruvian women. Due to limitations in national breast cancer screening programs, especially in rural areas, more than 50% of cases of breast cancer in Peru are diagnosed in advanced stages. In collaboration with a local clinic registered as a nongovernmental organization (CerviCusco), RAD-AID International aims to create a sustainable diagnostic structure to improve breast cancer screening in Cuzco. Read More

Front Genet 2021 17;12:628136. Epub 2021 May 17.

College of Information Science and Engineering, Xinjiang University, Urumqi, China.

Mastering the molecular mechanism of breast cancer (BC) can provide an in-depth understanding of BC pathology. This study explored existing technologies for diagnosing BC, such as mammography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography (CT), and positron emission tomography (PET) and summarized the disadvantages of the existing cancer diagnosis. The purpose of this article is to use gene expression profiles of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) to classify BC samples and normal samples. Read More

J Transl Med 2021 Jun 2;19(1):236. Epub 2021 Jun 2.

Department of Radiology, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, No. 160, Pujian Rd, Shanghai, 200127, China.

Background: To investigate the performance of diffusion-weighted (DW) MRI with mono-, bi- and stretched-exponential models in predicting pathologic complete response (pCR) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) for breast cancer, and further outline a predictive model of pCR combining DW MRI parameters, contrast-enhanced (CE) MRI findings, and/or clinical-pathologic variables.

Methods: In this retrospective study, 144 women who underwent NACT and subsequently received surgery for invasive breast cancer were included. Breast MRI including multi-b-value DW imaging was performed before (pre-treatment), after two cycles (mid-treatment), and after all four cycles (post-treatment) of NACT. Read More

Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2021 Jun;57(6):861-879

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Skåne University Hospital, Malmö, Sweden.

In centers with access to high-end ultrasound machines and expert sonologists, ultrasound is used to detect metastases in regional lymph nodes from melanoma, breast cancer and vulvar cancer. There is, as yet, no international consensus on ultrasound assessment of lymph nodes in any disease or medical condition. The lack of standardized ultrasound nomenclature to describe lymph nodes makes it difficult to compare results from different ultrasound studies and to find reliable ultrasound features for distinguishing non-infiltrated lymph nodes from lymph nodes infiltrated by cancer or lymphoma cells. Read More

J Pers Med 2021 May 25;11(6). Epub 2021 May 25.

Radiology Unit, Mater Olbia Hospital (Qatar Foundation Endowment and Policlinico Universitario Agostino Gemelli IRCCS Foundation), 07026 Olbia, Italy.

Axillary lymph node metastases of occult breast cancer (CUPAx) is an unusual condition that represents both a diagnostic and therapeutic challenge. The first steps in the diagnostic work-up of patients with CUPAx are the histological analysis of the lymph node metastasis and the execution of basic breast diagnostic imaging (mammography and ultrasound). In the case of occult breast cancer, breast Magnetic Resonance (MR) must be performed. Read More

Cancers (Basel) 2021 May 18;13(10). Epub 2021 May 18.

Department of Surgery, Maastricht University Medical Center+, P.O. Box 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht, The Netherlands.

This retrospective study investigated the value of pretreatment contrast-enhanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-based radiomics for the prediction of pathologic complete tumor response to neoadjuvant systemic therapy in breast cancer patients. A total of 292 breast cancer patients, with 320 tumors, who were treated with neo-adjuvant systemic therapy and underwent a pretreatment MRI exam were enrolled. As the data were collected in two different hospitals with five different MRI scanners and varying acquisition protocols, three different strategies to split training and validation datasets were used. Read More

Cancers (Basel) 2021 May 17;13(10). Epub 2021 May 17.

Senology Surgical Division, Istituto Nazionale Tumori-IRCCS-Fondazione G. Pascale, 80131 Naples, Italy.

Purpose: To combine blood oxygenation level dependent magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-MRI), dynamic contrast enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI), and diffusion weighted MRI (DW-MRI) in differentiation of benign and malignant breast lesions.

Methods: Thirty-seven breast lesions (11 benign and 21 malignant lesions) pathologically proven were included in this retrospective preliminary study. Pharmaco-kinetic parameters including , , , and were extracted by DCE-MRI; BOLD parameters were estimated by basal signal S0 and the relaxation rate R*; and diffusion and perfusion parameters were derived by DW-MRI (pseudo-diffusion coefficient (), perfusion fraction (), and tissue diffusivity ()). Read More

Cancers (Basel) 2021 May 7;13(9). Epub 2021 May 7.

Epidemiology Unit, AUSL- IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, 42123 Reggio Emilia, Italy.

This systematic review with meta-analysis aimed to assess the effect of diffuse liver diseases (DLD) on the risk of synchronous (S-) or metachronous (M-) liver metastases (LMs) in patients with solid neoplasms. Relevant databases were searched for systematic reviews and cross-sectional or cohort studies published since 1990 comparing the risk of LMs in patients with and without DLD (steatosis, viral hepatitis, cirrhosis, fibrosis) in non-liver solid cancer patients. Outcomes were prevalence of S-LMs, cumulative risk of M-LMs and LM-free survival. Read More

Cancers (Basel) 2021 May 8;13(9). Epub 2021 May 8.

Russian Association of Oncological Mammology, Department of Breast Tumours of Federal State Budgetary Institution "Petrov Research Institute of Oncology", 197758 Saint Petersburg, Russia.

: The management of patients with triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) is challenging with several controversies and unmet needs. During the 12th Breast-Gynaecological & Immuno-oncology International Cancer Conference (BGICC) Egypt, 2020, a panel of 35 breast cancer experts from 13 countries voted on consensus guidelines for the clinical management of TNBC. The consensus was subsequently updated based on the most recent data evolved lately. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021 05 21;18(11). Epub 2021 May 21.

Diagnostic Senology Unit, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Careggi, 50139 Florence, Italy.

Breast cancer (BC) is the cancer with the highest incidence in women in the world. In this last period, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused in many cases a drastic reduction of routine breast imaging activity due to the combination of various factors. The survival of BC is directly proportional to the earliness of diagnosis, and especially during this period, it is at least fundamental to remember that a diagnostic delay of even just three months could affect BC outcomes. Read More

Diagnostics (Basel) 2021 May 21;11(6). Epub 2021 May 21.

Department of Radiology, Breast Imaging Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY 10065, USA.

The purpose of this multicenter retrospective study was to evaluate radiomics analysis coupled with machine learning (ML) of dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) radiomics models separately and combined as multiparametric MRI for improved breast cancer detection. Consecutive patients (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, January 2018-March 2020; Medical University Vienna, from January 2011-August 2014) with a suspicious enhancing breast tumor on breast MRI categorized as BI-RADS 4 and who subsequently underwent image-guided biopsy were included. In 93 patients (mean age: 49 years ± 12 years; 100% women), there were 104 lesions (mean size: 22. Read More

Curr Med Imaging 2021 May 20. Epub 2021 May 20.

Department of Radiology, College of Medicine, Yeungnam University, Daegu, Korea.

Background: Different molecular breast cancer subtypes present different biologic features, treatment options, and clinical prognoses. The breast cancer imaging phenotype may help precisely classify breast cancer in a non-invasive manner.

Objective: To identify the association between the imaging and clinicopathologic features of invasive breast cancer according to the molecular subtype. Read More

J Breast Imaging 2021 May-Jun;3(3):354-362. Epub 2021 Mar 9.

Stanford University School of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Stanford, CA,USA.

Objective: To determine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breast imaging education.

Methods: A 22-item survey addressing four themes during the early pandemic (time on service, structured education, clinical training, future plans) was emailed to Society of Breast Imaging members and members-in-training in July 2020. Responses were compared using McNemar's and Mann-Whitney tests; a general linear model was used for multivariate analysis. Read More

J Breast Imaging 2021 May-Jun;3(3):332-342. Epub 2021 Apr 19.

Alpert Medical School of Brown University, Department of Diagnostic Imaging, Providence, RI, USA.

Objective: The objective of this study is to determine the major stressors affecting practicing breast radiologists.

Methods: All members of the Society of Breast Imaging within the United States received an email invitation to complete an anonymous survey evaluating stressors that may contribute to physician burnout. Stressors evaluated included pace at work, work-life balance, care of dependents, job security, financial strain, decreasing reimbursement, new regulations, delivering bad news, fear of getting sued, and dealing with difficult patients, radiologists, and administrators. Read More

Radiol Clin North Am 2021 Jul;59(4):551-567

Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, Yale School of Medicine, 333 Cedar Street, PO Box 208042, New Haven, CT 06520, USA.

Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging may demonstrate a wide variety of incidental findings in the breast, including primary breast carcinoma, the second most common cancer in women. It important to recognize the spectrum of pathologic conditions in order to properly assess the need for further workup. Some findings may be diagnosed as benign on the basis of CT/ MR imaging and clinical history alone, whereas others will require evaluation with dedicated breast imaging and possibly biopsy. Read More

Adv Exp Med Biol 2021 ;3233:257-288

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Tufts University, Medford, MA, USA.

Cell-matrix interactions play an important role in regulating a variety of essential processes in multicellular organisms, and are closely associated with numerous diseases. Modified interactions have major effects upon key features of both cells and extracellular matrix (ECM), and a thorough understanding of changes in these features can lead to critically important insights of diseases as well as the identification of effective therapeutic targets. Here, we summarize recent advances in quantitative, optical imaging of cellular metabolism and ECM spatial organization using endogenous sources of contrast. Read More

Adv Exp Med Biol 2021 ;3233:147-175

Caltech Optical Imaging Laboratory, Andrew and Peggy Cherng Department of Medical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.

Photoacoustic imaging (PAI) is an emerging imaging modality that shows great potential for preclinical research and clinical practice. As a hybrid technique, PAI uniquely combines the advantages of optical excitation and of acoustic detection. Optical excitation provides a rich contrast mechanism from either endogenous or exogenous chromophores, allowing PAI to perform biochemical, functional, and molecular imaging. Read More

Ann Surg Oncol 2021 May 29. Epub 2021 May 29.

Department of Breast Surgical Oncology, Division of Surgery, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, 1400 Pressler St., Unit 1434, Houston, TX, 77030-4009, USA.

J Med Case Rep 2021 May 30;15(1):277. Epub 2021 May 30.

Department of General Surgery, Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Xiangya Road 87#, Changsha, Hunan, People's Republic of China.

Background: CD74-ROS1 fusion genes have been detected in non-small cell lung carcinomas (NSCLC), but not in inflammatory breast cancer.

Case Presentation: Herein, we report a CD74-ROS1 fusion gene identified in a 64-year-old Chinese woman with inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). The patient initially presented with a rapidly growing mass in the left breast with diffuse erythema developing over a period of 2 months. Read More

Clin Imaging 2021 Apr 30;78:217-222. Epub 2021 Apr 30.

Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, 1-5-45 Yushima, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113 - 8510, Japan.

We aimed to evaluate the usefulness of a fast protocol of diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) with one excitation using 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and a 16-channel breast coil. We analyzed 30 lesions from 27 women between February 2020 and June 2020. The visibility score (from 1 = extremely poor to 5 = excellent) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) value between one and four excitations were evaluated by two readers. Read More