USC study sees benefit in combining PET, CT scans
The findings of the study will be published in the March 18 issue of the journal Radiology, now available online.
The clinical study is the first to show the advantage of combined PET-CT imaging in evaluating radioimmuno-therapy for patients with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, says Gary Ulaner, radiology resident and nuclear medicine fellow at the Keck School of Medicine and the principal investigator of the study.
“Combined PET-CT imaging is more accurate in defining a complete response to radioimmunotherapy treatment,” Ulaner says. “Specifically, PET-CT is able to correctly label inactive scar masses, which are sometimes mistaken for active cancer when CT is used alone.”
Radioimmunotherapy is a type of radiation treatment that targets cancer cells through antibodies. The therapy causes less harm to healthy cells and usually results in fewer side effects than other cancer treatments, Ulaner notes. Typically, the treatment has been evaluated by use of CT imaging alone, which uses special x-ray equipment to produce multiple images of the inside of the body.
PET is a type of nuclear medicine imaging that uses very small amounts of radioactive material to diagnose or treat disease and other abnormalities. When PET and CT scans are combined they can produce a more complete image of the cancer metabolism, he says.
Researchers from the USC Positron Emission Tomography Center evaluated five men and five women—ranging in age from 38 to 70 years—who underwent PET and CT imaging both several weeks before and several months after radioimmunotherapy for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
After evaluation of CT images alone, eight of 10 patients were classified as responders to treatment, and two patients were classified as having a complete response to the treatment.
After reevaluating with the fused PET-CT scans, researchers found that two patients who had residual lesions had been misclassified. Both of the patients were free of evident disease, and remained healthy after 18 or more months of follow up.
“Using this relatively novel hybrid imaging means that some patients will only require a one-day treatment of radioimmunotherapy instead of several rounds of chemotherapy,” says Peter Conti, professor of radiology at the Keck School of Medicine. “We will have a more accurate image that will identify the patients who have a complete response to the treatment.”
Conti is a national leader in treatment of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma with radioimmunotherapy.
“We hope this research will result in PET-CT imaging becoming the standard for evaluating patients after treatment,” he says. “Greater accuracy will improve how physicians care for lymphoma patients.”
Gary A. Ulaner, Patrick M. Colletti and Peter S. Conti. “B-Cell Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: PET/CT Evaluation after Y-Ibritumomab Tiuxetan Radioimmunotherapy—Initial Experience.” Radiology (2008). 10.1148/radiol.2463060588.
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The Chronicle of Higher Education mentioned USC’s $6 billion fundraising campaign. The story noted that USC had already raised $1 billion in a “quiet phase,” including the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College.
The Guardian (U.K.) highlighted two major gifts to USC in a list of the 10 biggest philanthropic benefactors in America. The list included the $200 million naming gift from USC Trustee and alumnus David Dornsife and wife Dana Dornsife to the USC Dornsife College, and the $110 million gift from USC Trustee and USC Viterbi School alumnus John Mork and wife Julie to create the USC Mork Family Scholars Program.
The New York Times featured the USC U.S.-China Institute documentary “Assignment: China — The Week that Changed the World.” The documentary, part of a series, examines media coverage of the 1972 Nixon trip that reshaped U.S.-China relations after a quarter century of isolation and hostility. “People look back now and take it for granted that the outcome was preordained,” said the institute’s Mike Chinoy, who produced the documentary. Voice of America also featured the story.
Los Angeles Times featured the Oscar Senti-meter, a tool developed by the USC Annenberg School, Los Angeles Times and IBM that analyzes thousands of tweets about the Academy Awards nominees. The story noted that Mexican actor Demian Bechir received an enormous boost on Twitter the day of the nominations, with a total of 6,893 tweets mentioning him, a 47-fold increase from the day before. The story noted the tool uses language-recognition technology developed in collaboration with USC Viterbi School’s Signal Analysis and Interpretation Lab.
The Times of India (India) featured a three-day medical emergency training workshop organized in association with USC. At the workshop, held at GCS Medical College in India, 50 doctors and more than 100 paramedics learned how to improve emergency support systems. William Mallon of the Keck School of USC said that discussion topics included the use of portable ultrasonic devices to scan patients. “The ultrasound applications help physicians make accurate and timely decisions,” he noted. Daily News & Analysis (India) also featured the workshop.
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