Papers by giorgio cavenaghi
Hematological oncology, 2018
Enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma is regarded as a dismal, late complication of coeliac dise... more Enteropathy-associated T-cell lymphoma is regarded as a dismal, late complication of coeliac disease, though a single case of T-cell lymphoma with such features arising in the setting of autoimmune enteropathy of the adult has been reported to date. We aim to describe the case of a 41-year-old woman complaining of severe malabsorption syndrome, who was diagnosed with autoimmune enteropathy based on the presence of flat intestinal mucosa unresponsive to any dietary restriction and positivity for enterocyte autoantibodies. Steroid therapy led to a complete recovery of both mucosal and clinical findings over 12 years, when disease relapse was accompanied by the appearance of monoclonal rearrangement of T-cell receptor-γ and peculiar T-cell phenotypic abnormalities, leading to a rapid transition to an overt T-cell lymphoma with features of the enteropathy-associated subtype. Despite intensive treatment, the patient developed cerebral metastasis and died 9 months later. Our case enhances...
The American Journal of Cardiology, 2003
Molecules, 2022
Background: Macroaggregated human serum albumin (MAA) properties are widely used in nuclear medic... more Background: Macroaggregated human serum albumin (MAA) properties are widely used in nuclear medicine, labelled with 99mTc. The aim of this study is to improve the knowledge about the morphology, size, dimension and physical–chemical characteristics of MAA and their bond with 99mTc and 68Ga. Methods: Commercial kits of MAA (Pulmocis®) were used. Characterisation through experiments based on SEM, DLS and Stokes’ Law were carried out. In vitro experiments for Langmuir isotherms and pH studies on radiolabelling were performed and the stability of the radiometal complex was verified through competition reactions. Results: The study settles the MAA dimension within the range 43–51 μm. The Langmuir isotherm reveals for [99mTc]MAA: Bmax (46.32), h (2.36); for [68Ga]MAA: Bmax (44.54), h (0.893). Dual labelling reveals that MAA does not discriminate different radioisotopes. Experiments on pH placed the optimal pH for labelling with 99mTc at 6. Conclusion: Radiolabelling of MAA is possible wit...
Nanomaterials, 2021
Nanoparticles of Human Serum Albumin (NC) labelled with 99mTc are widely used in Nuclear Medicine... more Nanoparticles of Human Serum Albumin (NC) labelled with 99mTc are widely used in Nuclear Medicine and represent the gold-standard for the intraoperative detection of the sentinel lymph node in many kinds of cancer, mainly breast cancer and melanoma. A significant amount of radionuclides can be incorporated into the HSA particle, due to the multiple binding sites, and HSA-based nanocolloid catabolism is a fast and easy process that results in innocuous degradation products. NCs labelled with different isotopes represent an interesting radiopharmaceutical for extending diagnostic accuracy and surgical outcome, but the knowledge of the chemical bond between NCs and isotopes has not been fully elucidated, including information on its strength and specificity. The aim of this study is to investigate and compare the physicochemical characteristics of the bond between NCs and 99mTc and 68Ga isotopes. Commercial kits of HSA-based nanocolloid particles (NanoAlbumon®) were used. For this purp...
European Heart Journal, 2020
Background Skeletal scintigraphy with bone tracers is a key tool for cardiac ATTR diagnosis. Howe... more Background Skeletal scintigraphy with bone tracers is a key tool for cardiac ATTR diagnosis. However its prognostic value has not been systematically assessed. Purpose We evaluated the prognostic relevance of a quantitative method to assess regional 99mTc-DPD uptake by SPECT in the heart of ATTRwt patients. Methods All ATTRwt patients (n=229) undergoing clinical assessment and bone scintigraphy at our center (from 2012 to 2019) were enrolled. Theyreceived approximately 700 MBq of 99mTc-DPD. Planar whole body acquisition 10' after the injection followed by cardiac SPECT after 3 hours were performed. SPECT data were reconstructed into 64x64 matrices with an ordered-subset expectation maximization algorithm. For each wall region and for the apex, a circular region of interest (ROI, 20 pixels) was manually drawn and a value equating to the number of counts contained in the ROI was obtained. Partial correlation of ln-transformed ROI and biomarkers was retrieved from a multivariable r...
European Heart Journal, 2020
Background Cardiac wild type transthyretin (ATTRwt) amyloidosis, formerly known as senile systemi... more Background Cardiac wild type transthyretin (ATTRwt) amyloidosis, formerly known as senile systemic amyloidosis, is an increasingly recognized, progressive, and fatal cardiomyopathy. Two biomarkers staging systems were proposed based on NT-proBNP (in both cases) and troponin or estimated glomerular filtration rate, that are able to predict survival in this population. The availability of novel effective treatments requires large studies to describe the natural history of the disease in different populations. Objective To describe the natural history of the disease in a large, prospective, national series. Methods Starting in 2007, we protocolized data collection in all the patients diagnosed at our center (n=400 up to 7/2019). Results The referrals to our center increased over time: 5 cases (1%) between 2007–2009, 33 (9%) in 2010–2012, 90 (22%) in 2013–2015 and 272 (68%) in 2016–2019. Median age was 76 years [interquartile range (IQR): 71–80 years] and 372 patients (93%) were males. ...
Clinical and Translational Imaging, 2020
Background Accessory spleen is a congenital defect in which splenic tissue is present outside the... more Background Accessory spleen is a congenital defect in which splenic tissue is present outside the spleen. In 20% of cases, accessory spleen is localized within the pancreatic tail, a condition known as IPAS. The identification of this benign anomaly, which affects about 2% of general population, is not easy because it is often mistaken for a pNET which is more common, at around 5%. A 68-Ga-DOTAPEPTIDE-PET normally identifies pNETs with high rate of sensitivity and specificity, but in some conditions, it produces false positives, including IPAS. Materials and tools A clinical case we recently encountered, prompted us to review the available medical literature on the topic. Typing “intrapancreatic accessory spleen” into PubMed database and limiting research to the last 10 years yielded 121 results from which we selected the most relevant articles for decision-making, with a brief explanation of the reasons for selecting those. Our analysis focused on the most critical and least descri...
Frontiers in Neuroscience, 2020
Introduction-Continuous evaluation of child survival is needed in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV pr... more Introduction-Continuous evaluation of child survival is needed in sub-Saharan Africa where HIV prevalence among women of reproductive age continues to be high. We examined mortality levels and trends over a period of ~20 years among HIV-unexposed and exposed children in Blantyre, Malawi. Methods-Data from five prospective cohort studies conducted at a single research site from 1989-2009 were analyzed. In these studies, children born to HIV-infected and uninfected mothers were enrolled at birth and followed longitudinally for at least two years. Information on sociodemographic, HIV infection status, survival and associated risk factors was collected in all studies. Mortality rates were estimated using birth-cohort analyses stratified by maternal and infant HIV status. Multivariate Cox regression models were used to determine risk factors associated with mortality. Results-The analysis included 8,286 children. From 1989-1995, overall mortality rates (per 100 person-years) in these clinic-based cohorts remained comparable among HIV-uninfected children born to HIV-uninfected mothers (range 3.3-6.9) or to HIV-infected mothers (range 2.5-7.5). From 1989-2009, overall mortality remained high among all children born to HIV-infected mothers (range 6.3-19.3), and among children who themselves became infected (range 15.6-57.4, 1994-2009). Only lower birth weight was consistently and significantly (P<0.05) associated with higher child mortality. Conclusions-HIV infection among mothers and children contributed to high levels of child mortality in the African setting in the pre-treatment era. In addition to services that prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV, other programs are needed to improve child survival by lowering HIV-unrelated mortality through innovative interventions that strengthen health infrastructure.
Contrast Media & Molecular Imaging, 2020
Recent developments in sentinel lymph node (SLN) and radio occult lesion localization (ROLL) high... more Recent developments in sentinel lymph node (SLN) and radio occult lesion localization (ROLL) highlight the need for a multimodal contrast agent, providing better presurgical PET imaging and improved intraoperative mapping thanks to fluorescence detection. For this reason, we have studied a trimodal SLN/ROLL targeting agent (99mTc-68Ga-ICG) with commercially available kits of macroaggregated or nanocolloidal albumin (MA/NC-HSA). 68Ga PET imaging does provide better spatial resolution and makes it possible to predict signal intensity during surgery. The presence of 99mTc assesses the efficacy of these compounds in vitro and also during the surgery procedure. The aim of this study was to optimise the labelling and tagging of these two radiopharmaceuticals and assess their yields and stability. Kits of MA/NC-HSA particles (Pulmocis® and NanoAlbumon®) were used for sequential radiolabelling with 99mTc and 68Ga. Fluorescent tagging was performed using indocyanine green, a tricarbocyanine ...
European journal of nuclear medicine and molecular imaging
Annals of Noninvasive Electrocardiology, 2000
The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between myocardial viability (MV) detected ... more The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between myocardial viability (MV) detected by TI-201 resthedistribution protocol (RR-SPECT) and the presence of ventricular late potentials (VLPs) in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). W e analyzed signal-averaged ECGs (SAECGs) in 28 patients (age 57 +. 10 years) with a first anterior AM1 within 48 hours of symptoms (SAECGI) and prior to discharge (SAECG2). VLPs were defined according to the presence of filtered QRS (QRS-D) 2 114 ms and duration of low amplitude signals (LAS) 2 30 ms or root mean square voltage (RMS40) 5 25 pV, using a 25-Hz filter, or a duration of LAS 2 39 ms or RMS40 I 20 pV, using a 4 0 -H ~ filter. RR-SPECT was performed 17 t 6 days after AMI. Segments were considered viable when counts were 2 60% in early images or when a fill-in 2 10% was detectable on delayed images of those segments with a first count between 31 YO and 59%. Methods: Patients were divided into two groups: with M V (group 1 = 16 patients) if almost one third of segments appeared to be viable; without M V (group 2 = 12 patients). No difference was found between the two groups in SAECGI, whereas, using a 25-Hz filter, a greater QRS-D (1 06.6 t 13.5 vs 93.5 ? 6 ms) and LAS (31.2 +. 8.7 vs 18.1 +. 6.4 ms) as well as a smaller RMS40 (43 ? 33.5 vs 71.3 t 30.4 pV) characterized the SAECG2 of group 1. Sensitivity and specificity of VLPs in detecting M V were 31% and 100%. When using cut-off values derived from median distribution of the population (QRS-D 2 99 ms, LAS 2 24 ms and RMS4O 2 51 pV), sensitivity raised to 75% and specificity was 92% with a positive and negative predictive value of 92% and 73%. Conclusions: The presence of M V is associated with a greater incidence of VLPs. SAECG performed at the time of discharge may facilitate the identification of patients with M V after anterior signal averaging; late potentials; myocardial viability; radionuclide imaging; thallium 201 ; myocardial scintigraphy AMI.
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Papers by giorgio cavenaghi