AIM: Patients with multiple brain metastases (BM) benefit from hippocampal-avoiding whole brain radiotherapy (HA-WBRT), the challenging and less available form of WBRT. This study explores potential of pre-radiotherapy (pre-RT) hippocampal magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) measuring hippocampal neuronal density as an imaging surrogate and predictive tool for assessing neurocognitive functions (NCF). METHODS: 43 BM patients underwent pre-RT hippocampal MRS. N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) concentration, a marker for neuronal density (weighted by creatine (Cr) and choline (Cho) concentrations), and neurocognitive function (NCF) tests (HVLT and BVMT) performed by certified psychologists were evaluated. Clinical variables and NAA concentrations were correlated with pre-RT NCFs. RESULTS: HVLT and BVMT subtests showed pre-RT deterioration except for BVMT recognition. Significantly better NCFs were observed in women in HVLT subsets. Significantly higher NAA/Cr + Cho was measured in women (median 0.63 vs. 0.55; P=0.048) in the left hippocampus (no difference in the right hippocampus). In men, a positive correlation (0.51, P=0.018) between total brain volume and HVLT-TR, between left hippocampal NAA/Cr + Cho and HVLT-R (0.45, P=0.063), and between right hippocampal NAA/Cr + Cho and BVMT-recognition (0.49, P=0.054) was observed. In women, a borderline significant negative correlation was observed between left hippocampal NAA/Cr + Cho and BVMT-TR (-0.43, P=0.076) and between right NAA/Cr + Cho and HVLT-DR (-0.42, P=0.051). CONCLUSION: Borderline statistically significant correlations were observed with speculative interpretation underlying the challenges of hippocampal MRS as a surrogate for neurocognitive impairment. Further studies need to be done to ascertain the opportunities for imaging predictors of benefit from memory sparing radiotherapy.
- MeSH
- cholin metabolismus MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- hipokampus * diagnostické zobrazování patologie MeSH
- kognitivní dysfunkce etiologie MeSH
- kraniální ozáření škodlivé účinky MeSH
- kreatin metabolismus MeSH
- kyselina aspartová analogy a deriváty metabolismus MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- magnetická rezonanční spektroskopie * metody MeSH
- nádory mozku * radioterapie sekundární MeSH
- neuropsychologické testy MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Plasma specimens from coronavirus disease 2019 patients were double-tested for anti-severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) antibodies by two different batches of MAGLUMI 2019-nCov immunoglobulin M/immunoglobulin G (IgM/IgG) assays to evaluate IgM/IgG levels, qualitative interpretation, antibody kinetics, and linearity of diluted specimen. Here we show that (i) high-level IgM specimens need to be diluted with negative human plasma but not kit diluents and (ii) measured anti-SARS-CoV-2 IgM/IgG concentrations are substantially higher with later marketed immunoassay batch leading to (iii) the change of qualitative interpretation (positive vs. negative) in 12.3% of specimens measured for IgM, (iv) the informative time-course pattern of antibody production only when data from different immunoassay batches are not combined.
- MeSH
- COVID-19 krev imunologie MeSH
- imunoanalýza metody MeSH
- imunoglobulin G krev imunologie MeSH
- imunoglobulin M krev imunologie MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- luminiscence MeSH
- luminiscenční měření metody MeSH
- protilátky virové imunologie MeSH
- SARS-CoV-2 imunologie MeSH
- senzitivita a specificita MeSH
- testování na COVID-19 metody MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
PURPOSE: We reviewed the survival time for patients with primary brain tumors undergoing treatment with stereotactic radiation methods at the Masaryk Memorial Cancer Institute Brno. We also identified risk factors and characteristics, and described their influence on survival time. METHODS: In summarizing survival data, there are two functions of principal interest, namely, the survival function and the hazard function. In practice, both of them can depend on some characteristics. We focused on nonparametric methods, propose a method based on kernel smoothing, and compared our estimates with the results of the Cox regression model. The hazard function is conditional to age and gross tumor volume and visualized as a color-coded surface. A multivariate Cox model was also designed. RESULTS: There were 88 patients with primary brain cancer, treated with stereotactic radiation. The median survival of our patient cohort was 47.8 months. The estimate of the hazard function has two peaks (about 10 months and about 40 months). The survival time of patients was significantly different for various diagnoses (p≪0.001), KI (p = 0.047) and stereotactic methods (p = 0.033). Patients with a greater GTV had higher risk of death. The suitable threshold for GTV is 20 cm3. Younger patients with a survival time of about 50 months had a higher risk of death. In the multivariate Cox regression model, the selected variables were age, GTV, sex, diagnosis, KI, location, and some of their interactions. CONCLUSION: Kernel methods give us the possibility to evaluate continuous risk variables and based on the results offer risk-prone patients a different treatment, and can be useful for verifying assumptions of the Cox model or for finding thresholds of continuous variables.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- Kaplanův-Meierův odhad MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- meningeom mortalita patologie chirurgie MeSH
- mladiství MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- nádory mozku mortalita patologie chirurgie MeSH
- prognóza MeSH
- proporcionální rizikové modely MeSH
- radiochirurgie MeSH
- senioři nad 80 let MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- tumor burden MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mladiství MeSH
- mladý dospělý MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- senioři nad 80 let MeSH
- senioři MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- srovnávací studie MeSH
