Latest Research
All publications from the Cancer3.AI database, newest first.
Transesophageal EUS of mediastinal and pulmonary lesions: An Italian survey from i-EUS Working Group.
Rizzo GE, et al
A nationwide Italian survey investigated how digestive endosonographers currently manage patients with mediastinal and pulmonary lesions using endoscopic ultrasound (EUS), a minimally invasive technique that allows tissue sampling through the esophagus. Thirty-nine Italian centers completed a 44-question survey covering expertise, procedural practices, and future directions, with the majority of respondents being gastroenterologists rather than thoracic specialists. The results revealed that most centers perform a low volume of mediastinal EUS procedures annually, and there is considerable heterogeneity in equipment choices, sedation practices, and opinions on procedural complexity. Only a small minority of centers operated in shared rooms with bronchoscopy services, highlighting limited multidisciplinary integration. These findings underscore the need for standardized guidelines and greater collaboration among gastroenterologists, pulmonologists, and thoracic surgeons to improve the consistency and quality of care for patients with chest lesions requiring tissue diagnosis.
Endoscopic ultrasound
Source →Agreement and Accuracy of the Dural Tail Sign for Differentiating Canine Meningioma From Glioma on MRI.
Griffin JF, et al
Researchers investigated whether the dural tail sign (DTS), a specific feature visible on contrast-enhanced MRI scans, can reliably distinguish meningioma from glioma in dogs — two common but biologically distinct brain tumors requiring different treatments. The retrospective study enrolled 27 dogs with histologically confirmed diagnoses, including 16 with meningioma and 11 with peripherally located glioma, all imaged with high-field 3-Tesla MRI. Five blinded expert evaluators independently rated post-contrast images in two sessions separated by a six-week washout period, and the DTS achieved a sensitivity of 95% and a specificity of 89.1% for identifying meningioma. Agreement between different evaluators was substantial (kappa = 0.74), while agreement for the same evaluator across two sessions was almost perfect (kappa = 0.84), demonstrating strong reproducibility of the sign. These findings confirm that the dural tail sign is an accurate and reliable non-invasive MRI marker for differentiating canine meningioma from glioma, offering veterinary clinicians a practical imaging tool to guide treatment planning without requiring invasive biopsy.
Veterinary radiology & ultrasound : the official journal of the American College of Veterinary Radiology and the International Veterinary Radiology Association
Source →Treatment Outcomes and Tolerability of Postoperative Radiotherapy in 10 Dogs with Spinal Meningiomas.
Uno A, et al
Researchers evaluated the treatment outcomes and safety of combining surgery with postoperative radiotherapy in 10 dogs diagnosed with spinal meningiomas, the most common primary spinal cord tumor in dogs. All dogs underwent surgical tumor removal confirmed by histopathology, and nine received adjuvant fractionated radiation therapy delivering 32–55 Gy across 12–21 sessions administered five times per week. Nine of the ten dogs died during the follow-up period, with a median survival time of 568 days (range: 165–1,823 days), and local recurrence was detected in six dogs via MRI at intervals spanning 95 to 1,086 days after surgery. Importantly, radiation-induced side effects were rare: only one dog experienced suspected late radiation injury in the form of worsening limb paralysis at day 1,679, while no acute or other late complications were documented in the remaining animals. These findings suggest that postoperative radiotherapy is a generally well-tolerated adjuvant treatment that may support meaningful survival durations in dogs with spinal meningiomas. The results provide veterinary oncologists with valuable prognostic benchmarks and safety data to guide clinical decision-making for this challenging tumor type.
Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association
Source →Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for soft-tissue sarcoma of the extremities: A post-hoc Sarculator-based risk analysis of the EORTC 62961-ESHO 95 randomized trial.
Albertsmeier M, et al
Researchers conducted a post-hoc analysis of the EORTC 62961-ESHO 95 randomized trial to determine whether adding regional hyperthermia (RHT) to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) improves survival in patients with extremity soft tissue sarcoma (ESTS), using the validated Sarculator nomogram to stratify patients by predicted survival risk. Among 135 analyzable patients followed for a median of 136 months, those receiving NAC combined with RHT achieved better overall survival than those receiving NAC alone, with an absolute 5-year survival difference of 15.6%. Notably, patients in the combined treatment group also surpassed the survival outcomes predicted by the Sarculator nomogram, suggesting the addition of hyperthermia provided a meaningful clinical benefit beyond statistical expectations. Although a trend was observed suggesting that patients at higher predicted risk gained greater benefit from the combined treatment, the interaction between risk score and treatment group did not reach statistical significance. These findings reinforce the clinical value of combining regional hyperthermia with chemotherapy for patients with primary extremity soft tissue sarcoma, and caution against restricting this approach solely to high-risk individuals as defined by nomogram scores.
Cancer
Source →Beyond the adult standard: Tailoring the WHO Reporting System for Lymph Node Cytopathology to pediatric diagnostics and management.
Barroca H, et al
This study investigated how the World Health Organization (WHO) Reporting System for Lymph Node Cytopathology — a standardized five-category diagnostic framework — can be appropriately applied to pediatric patients, who present unique biological and clinical challenges distinct from adults. Researchers evaluated fine-needle aspiration biopsy as the central diagnostic tool in a pediatric pathway and demonstrated that adult interpretive thresholds must be substantially adjusted when assessing lymph nodes in children. Key findings revealed that benign conditions such as Epstein-Barr virus infection can produce cellular proliferations that mimic malignancy, while monotonous small-cell patterns suggesting low-grade B-cell lymphoma in adults typically represent reactive processes or aggressive small round blue cell tumors in children. The study also showed that rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) — immediate microscopic assessment performed during the biopsy procedure — enables faster transition to specialized ancillary testing and staging, reducing the need for more invasive surgical procedures. The authors conclude that the WHO System is a robust framework for pediatric lymph node evaluation when contextualized within pediatric-specific biology and supported by a multidisciplinary team. These findings are clinically significant because accurate and timely diagnosis is essential for children with potentially life-threatening malignancies, and adapting existing diagnostic systems to the pediatric context can meaningfully accelerate time-to-treatment.
Cancer cytopathology
Source →