Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0027627 (metastases)
 103,950 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Present limitations of available procedures for the diagnosis of breast cancer have stimulated the development of new methods based on Positron Emission Tomography (PET). PET can be used to evaluate primary lesions, regionally metastatic and systemic metastases of breast cancer by use of tracers including 15O-water 62Cu PTSM, [11C]L-methionine, [18F]fluordeoxyglucose and [18F]fluoro-17-estradiol, for the assessment of blood flow, metabolism and receptor density. FDG-PET is an excellent clinical method to detect primary breast lesions over 1 cm in diameter and to characterize such lesions. Several reports have also indicated various degrees of sensitivity and specificity of PET-FDG in detecting axillary lymph nodes. However, the precise role of PET in staging breast cancer remains to be defined in careful prospective studies. Prospective evaluation of PET during breast cancer chemohormonotherapy demonstrated a decline in FDG uptake in patients responsive to treatment, while no significant decline in FDG uptake is seen in the non-responding patients examined post initiation of treatment. PET may be useful when used in combination with other techniques of morphological imaging, for the proper characterization of hypermetabolic tissue. Additional studies including large populations with known or suspected breast cancer will enhance the clinical role of this technique for solving difficult diagnostic questions.
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PMID:Overview of the current status of PET in breast cancer imaging. 964 39

Insufficient blood flow within colo-rectal hepatic metastases is a factor which may limit drug delivery to, and thus the response of, these tumours to regional chemotherapy. Loco-regional flow may be manipulated pharmacologically to enhance the tumour blood flow relative to that of the normal liver. However, as yet, only transient effects have been studied. Patients receiving regional chemotherapy for unresectable hepatic disease were given a 45 min regional infusion of the vasoconstrictor Angiotensin II. Intrahepatic blood flow distribution was assessed serially by Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging together with the trapping tracer copper(II) pyruvaldehyde bis(N-4-methylthiosemicarbazone) (Cu-PTSM) labelled using copper-62. Eleven lesions in nine patients were studied, with no adverse effects. Prior to Angiotensin II administration tumour blood flow was generally found to be greater than that of liver (10/11 lesions; 8/9 patients; median TNR 1.3, iqr 0.9-2.5). A significant increase in relative flow to tumour was seen in response to 10 min Angiotensin II infusion in most cases (7/11 lesions; 7/9 patients; median TNR 2.1, iqr 1.4-4.1; P = 0.008), which appeared to be sustained throughout the 45 min infusion period (median TNR 1.85, iqr 1.3-3.8; P = 0.03). These effects were accompanied by transient elevation of mean arterial pressure, but no change in pulse rate. These observations suggest that prolonged regional vasoconstrictor administration could prove useful in the management of unresectable colo-rectal hepatic metastases, and that further development of vascular manipulation to enhance tumour targeting and drug delivery is warranted.
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PMID:Continuous angiotensin II infusion increases tumour: normal blood flow ratio in colo-rectal liver metastases. 1174 81