Sir Peter MacCallum Department of Oncology - Research Publications

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    The Role of 68Ga-DOTA-Octreotate PET/CT in Follow-Up of SDH-Associated Pheochromocytoma and Paraganglioma
    Kong, G ; Schenberg, T ; Yates, CJ ; Trainer, A ; Sachithanandan, N ; Iravani, A ; Ravi Kumar, A ; Hofman, MS ; Akhurst, T ; Michael, M ; Hicks, RJ (ENDOCRINE SOCIETY, 2019-11-01)
    Purpose: Germline succinate dehydrogenase (SDHx) mutation carriers, especially SDHB, are at increased risk for malignancy and require life-long surveillance. Current guidelines recommend periodic whole-body MRI imaging. We assessed the incremental value of 68Ga-DOTA-octreotate (GaTate) positron emission tomography (PET)/CT compared with conventional imaging in such patients. Methods: SDHx mutation carriers who had GaTate PET/CT were retrospectively reviewed. Detection of lesions were compared with MRI or CT on a per-patient and per-lesion basis. Proof of lesions were based on histopathology or clinical/imaging follow-up. Results: Twenty consecutive patients (median age, 46 years; 10 males) were reviewed. Fourteen patients had SDHB, four, SDHD, one SDHC, and one SDHA mutation. Fifteen had prior surgery and/or radiotherapy. Indications for PET/CT were as follows: 7 patients for surveillance for previously treated disease, 9 residual disease, 2 asymptomatic mutation carriers, and 2 for elevated catecholamines. Median time between modalities was 1.5 months. GaTate PET/CT had higher sensitivity and specificity than conventional imaging. On a per-patient basis: PET/CT sensitivity 100%, specificity 100%; MRI/CT 85% and 50%. Per-lesion basis: PET/CT sensitivity 100%, specificity 75%; MRI/CT 80% and 25%. PET/CT correctly identified additional small nodal and osseous lesions. MRI/CT had more false-positive findings. Change of management resulted in 40% (8/20 patients): 3 received localized treatment instead of observation, 1 changed to observation given extra disease detected, 4 with metastases had radionuclide therapy. Conclusions: GaTate PET/CT provided incremental diagnostic information with consequent management impact in SDHx-pheochromocytoma and paraganglioma. Incorporating this modality as part of a surveillance program seems prudent. Further research is needed to define the optimal surveillance strategy including use of MRI.
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    Utility of 68Ga prostate specific membrane antigen - positron emission tomography in diagnosis and response assessment of recurrent renal cell carcinoma
    Siva, S ; Callahan, J ; Pryor, D ; Martin, J ; Lawrentschuk, N ; Hofman, MS (WILEY, 2017-06)
    INTRODUCTION: Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) positron emission tomography (PET) is an emerging imaging modality in prostate cancer. However, 68 Ga-PSMA-PET may also have diagnostic utility in the setting of renal cell carcinoma (RCC). We investigate the differential role of 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) and PSMA-PET/CT scanning in patients with oligometastatic RCC. In particular, we focus on the utility of PSMA-PET for diagnostic evaluation of isolated or limited metastases planned for local surgery or radiation, as well as the potential utility of PSMA-PET for therapeutic response assessment in patients receiving stereotactic ablative body radiotherapy (SABR). METHODS: We present a retrospective series of eight patients in which comparative imaging modalities are evaluated against PSMA-PET scanning. FDG-PET and PSMA-PET scans were performed prior to definitive treatment (either surgery or SABR) of limited recurrent disease. Response assessment after SABR was performed with both PET imaging modalities at multiple time points in a subset of four patients. RESULTS: Prostate specific membrane antigen uptake is typically more intense than FDG in RCC. In all but two cases, one of which was papillary carcinoma, FDG-PET and PSMA-PET are concordant for detection of sites of disease. We demonstrate for the first time the differential kinetics of post-treatment response using PSMA and FDG-PET, with a more rapid metabolic response observed on FDG-PET. Both modalities demonstrate response earlier than morphological appearances on CT or MRI imaging. CONCLUSIONS: Our series suggests that PSMA shows early promise as a diagnostic and therapeutic response assessment tool in patients with metastatic RCC receiving definitive local therapies.
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    Intense focal pituitary FDG uptake due to intravascular large B-cell lymphoma in pyrexia of unknown origin
    Pattison, DA ; Hofman, MS ; Bazargan, A ; Colman, P ; Hicks, RJ (WILEY-BLACKWELL, 2016-11)
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    TheraP: a randomized phase 2 trial of 177Lu-PSMA-617 theranostic treatment vs cabazitaxel in progressive metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (Clinical Trial Protocol ANZUP 1603)
    Hofman, MS ; Emmett, L ; Violet, J ; Zhang, AY ; Lawrence, NJ ; Stockler, M ; Francis, RJ ; Iravani, A ; Williams, S ; Azad, A ; Martin, A ; McJannett, M ; Davis, ID (WILEY, 2019-11)
    OBJECTIVE: To assess the activity and safety of cabazitaxel chemotherapy vs that of treatment with 177 Lu-PSMA-617, a novel radiolabelled small molecule that binds with high affinity to prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), in men with metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) who have received prior docetaxel treatment. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The TheraP trial (ANZUP 1603) is an open-label, randomized, stratified, two-arm multicentre phase 2 trial comparing the activity and safety of cabazitaxel chemotherapy vs 177 Lu-PSMA-617 therapy in the treatment of men with mCRPC. Key eligibility criteria include prior docetaxel chemotherapy, rising prostate-specific antigen (PSA) level, sufficient PSMA avidity, as defined by centrally reviewed 68 Ga-PSMA-11 and fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) with no discordant FDG-avid PSMA-negative sites of disease. Patients in the control group receive standard treatment with cabazitaxel (20 mg/m2 ) i.v. every 3 weeks with prednisolone 10 mg daily orally, for a maximum of 10 cycles. Patients in the experimental group receive 177 Lu-PSMA-617 (8.5 GBq decreasing by 0.5 GBq per cycle) i.v. every 6 weeks, for up to a maximum of six cycles. In the event of an exceptional response as defined on centrally reviewed post-therapy single-photon emission CT imaging, treatment will be suspended but can recommence on progression. The trial aims to include 200 patients who will be centrally randomized to one of the two treatment groups, in a 1:1 ratio. The primary endpoint is PSA response. Secondary endpoints are overall survival, progression-free survival (PFS), radiographic PFS, PSA PFS, objective tumour response, pain response, pain PFS, health-related quality of life, and frequency and severity of adverse events. The treatment and outcomes of patients excluded on the basis of low PSMA avidity or discordant FDG-avid disease on screening 68 Ga-PSMA-11 and Fluorine-18 (18 F)-FDG-PET/CT scan will also be assessed. Enrolment in the study commenced on 29 January 2018. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: 177 Lu-PSMA-617 offers a potential additional life-prolonging treatment option for men with mCRPC. The results of this trial will determine, for the first time in a randomized design, the activity and safety of 177 Lu-PSMA-617, as compared with cabazitaxel chemotherapy in men with progressive mCRPC.
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    Going nuclear: it is time to embed the nuclear medicine physician in the prostate cancer multidisciplinary team
    Murphy, DG ; Hofman, MS ; Azad, A ; Violet, J ; Hicks, RJ ; Lawrentschuk, N (WILEY, 2019-10)
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    The VAMPIRE challenge: A multi-institutional validation study of CT ventilation imaging
    Kipritidis, J ; Tahir, BA ; Cazoulat, G ; Hofman, MS ; Siva, S ; Callahan, J ; Hardcastle, N ; Yamamoto, T ; Christensen, GE ; Reinhardt, JM ; Kadoya, N ; Patton, TJ ; Gerard, SE ; Duarte, I ; Archibald-Heeren, B ; Byrne, M ; Sims, R ; Ramsay, S ; Booth, JT ; Eslick, E ; Hegi-Johnson, F ; Woodruff, HC ; Ireland, RH ; Wild, JM ; Cai, J ; Bayouth, JE ; Brock, K ; Keall, PJ (WILEY, 2019-03)
    PURPOSE: CT ventilation imaging (CTVI) is being used to achieve functional avoidance lung cancer radiation therapy in three clinical trials (NCT02528942, NCT02308709, NCT02843568). To address the need for common CTVI validation tools, we have built the Ventilation And Medical Pulmonary Image Registration Evaluation (VAMPIRE) Dataset, and present the results of the first VAMPIRE Challenge to compare relative ventilation distributions between different CTVI algorithms and other established ventilation imaging modalities. METHODS: The VAMPIRE Dataset includes 50 pairs of 4DCT scans and corresponding clinical or experimental ventilation scans, referred to as reference ventilation images (RefVIs). The dataset includes 25 humans imaged with Galligas 4DPET/CT, 21 humans imaged with DTPA-SPECT, and 4 sheep imaged with Xenon-CT. For the VAMPIRE Challenge, 16 subjects were allocated to a training group (with RefVI provided) and 34 subjects were allocated to a validation group (with RefVI blinded). Seven research groups downloaded the Challenge dataset and uploaded CTVIs based on deformable image registration (DIR) between the 4DCT inhale/exhale phases. Participants used DIR methods broadly classified into B-splines, Free-form, Diffeomorphisms, or Biomechanical modeling, with CT ventilation metrics based on the DIR evaluation of volume change, Hounsfield Unit change, or various hybrid approaches. All CTVIs were evaluated against the corresponding RefVI using the voxel-wise Spearman coefficient rS , and Dice similarity coefficients evaluated for low function lung ( DSClow ) and high function lung ( DSChigh ). RESULTS: A total of 37 unique combinations of DIR method and CT ventilation metric were either submitted by participants directly or derived from participant-submitted DIR motion fields using the in-house software, VESPIR. The rS and DSC results reveal a high degree of inter-algorithm and intersubject variability among the validation subjects, with algorithm rankings changing by up to ten positions depending on the choice of evaluation metric. The algorithm with the highest overall cross-modality correlations used a biomechanical model-based DIR with a hybrid ventilation metric, achieving a median (range) of 0.49 (0.27-0.73) for rS , 0.52 (0.36-0.67) for DSClow , and 0.45 (0.28-0.62) for DSChigh . All other algorithms exhibited at least one negative rS value, and/or one DSC value less than 0.5. CONCLUSIONS: The VAMPIRE Challenge results demonstrate that the cross-modality correlation between CTVIs and the RefVIs varies not only with the choice of CTVI algorithm but also with the choice of RefVI modality, imaging subject, and the evaluation metric used to compare relative ventilation distributions. This variability may arise from the fact that each of the different CTVI algorithms and RefVI modalities provides a distinct physiologic measurement. Ultimately this variability, coupled with the lack of a "gold standard," highlights the ongoing importance of further validation studies before CTVI can be widely translated from academic centers to the clinic. It is hoped that the information gleaned from the VAMPIRE Challenge can help inform future validation efforts.
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    Voxel-wise correlation of positron emission tomography/computed tomography with multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging and histology of the prostate using a sophisticated registration framework
    Reynolds, HM ; Williams, S ; Jackson, P ; Mitchell, C ; Hofman, MS ; Hicks, RJ ; Murphy, DG ; Haworth, A (WILEY, 2019-06)
    OBJECTIVES: To develop a registration framework for correlating positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) images with multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) and histology of the prostate, thereby enabling voxel-wise analysis of imaging parameters. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In this prospective proof-of-concept study, nine patients scheduled for radical prostatectomy underwent mpMRI and PET/CT imaging before surgery. One had PET imaging using 18 F-fluoromethylcholine, five using 68 Ga-labelled prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-HBED-CC (PMSA-11), and three using a trial 68 Ga-labelled THP-PSMA tracer. PET/CT data were co-registered with mpMRI via the CT scan and an in vivo three-dimensional T2-weighted (T2w) MRI, and then co-registered with ground truth histology data using ex vivo MRI of the prostate specimen. Maximum and mean standardised uptake values (SUVmax and SUVmean ) were extracted from PET data using tumour annotations from histology, and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were used to compare between tumour- and benign-voxel values. Correlation analysis was performed between mpMRI and PET SUV tumour voxel values using Pearson's correlation coefficient and R2 statistics. RESULTS: PET/CT data from all nine patients were successfully registered with mpMRI and histology data. SUVmax and SUVmean ranged from 2.21 to 12.11 and 1.08 to 4.21, respectively. All patients showed the PET SUV values in benign and tumour voxels were from statistically different distributions. Correlation analysis showed no consistent trend between the T2w or apparent diffusion coefficient values and PET SUV. However, parameters from dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI including the maximum enhancement, volume transfer constant (Ktrans ), and the initial area under the contrast agent concentration curve for the first 60 s after injection (iAUGC60), showed consistent positive correlations with PET SUV. Furthermore, R2* values from blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) MRI showed consistent negative correlations with PET SUV-voxel values. CONCLUSION: We have developed a novel framework for registering and correlating PET/CT data at a voxel-level with mpMRI and histology. Despite registration uncertainties, perfusion and oxygenation parameters from DCE MRI and BOLD imaging showed correlations with PET SUV. Further analysis will be performed on a larger patient cohort to quantify these proof-of-concept findings. Improved understanding of the correlation between mpMRI and PET will provide supportive information for focal therapy planning of the prostate.
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