Despite advances in surgery and chemotherapy, ovarian cancer remains one of the most lethal malignancies. Hence, the implementation of novel treatment approaches is required to improve the outcomes of the disease. Immunotherapy has been proven to be effective in many tumors and has already been incorporated into clinical practice. In this review, we describe key strategies in immunotherapy of ovarian cancer and summarize data from clinical studies assessing immunological prospects which could improve ovarian cancer treatment approaches in the future. The most notable current strategies include checkpoint blockade agents, the use of vaccines, adoptive cell transfer, as well as various combinations of these methods. While several of these options are promising, large controlled randomized studies are still needed to implement new immunotherapeutic options into clinical practice.

Background Q.Clear is a new Bayesian penalized-likelihood PET reconstruction algorithm. It has been documented that Q.Clear increases the SUVmax values of different malignant lesions. Purpose SUVmax values are crucial for the interpretation of PET/CT images in patients with lymphoma, particularly when the early and final responses to treatment are evaluated. The aim of the study was to systematically analyse the impact of the use of Q.Clear on the interpretation of PET/CT in patients with lymphoma. Methods A total of 280 18 F-FDG PET/CT scans in patients with lymphoma were performed for staging (sPET), for early treatment response (iPET), after the end of treatment (ePET) and when a relapse of lymphoma was suspected (rPET). Scans were separately reconstructed with two algorithms, Q.Clear and OSEM, and further compared. Results The stage of lymphoma was concordantly diagnosed in 69/70 patients with both algorithms on sPET. Discordant assessment of the Deauville score ( p < 0.001) was found in 11 cases (15.7%) of 70 iPET scans and in 11 cases of 70 ePET scans. An upgrade from a negative to a positive scan by Q.Clear occurred in 3 cases (4.3%) of iPET scans and 7 cases (10.0%) of ePET scans. The results of all 70 rPET scans were concordant. The SUVmax values of the target lymphoma lesions measured with Q.Clear were higher than those measured with OSEM in 88.8% of scans. Conclusion Although the Q.Clear algorithm may alter the interpretations of PET/CT in only a small proportion of patients, we recommend using standard OSEM reconstruction for the assessment of treatment response.

Background. Q.Clear is a new Bayesian penalised-likelihood PET reconstruction algorithm. It has been documented that Q.Clear increases SUVmax values of different malignant lesions. Purpose. As SUVmax values are crucial for interpretation of PET/CT images in patients with lymphoma, particularly when early and final response to treatment is evaluated, aim of the study was to systematically analyze the impact of the use of Q.Clear on interpretation of PET/CT in patients with lymphoma. Methods. 280 18F-FDG PET/CT scans in patients with lymphoma performed for staging (sPET), for early treatment response (iPET), after the end of treatment (ePET) and when a lymphoma relapse was suspected (rPET) were retrospectively analyzed. Scans separately reconstructed with two algorithms: Q.Clear and OSEM were compared. Results. The lymphoma stage was concordantly diagnosed in 69/70 patients with both algorithms in sPET. Discordant assessment of Deauville score (p < 0.001) was found in 11 cases (15.7%) of 70 iPET scans and in 11 cases of 70 ePET scans. An upgrade from negative to positive scan by Q.Clear resulted in case of 3 (4.3%) iPET scans and 7 (10.0%) ePET scans that resulted in alteration of management. Results of all 70 r-PET scans were concordant. SUVmax values of the target lymphoma lesions measured with Q.Clear were higher than with OSEM in 88.8% scans. Conclusion. Although the Q.Clear algorithm may alter interpretation of PET/CT only in a small proportion of patients, we recommend to use standard OSEM reconstruction for assessment of treatment response.

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IntroductionPositron Emission Tomography (PET-CT) with 18F-choline is an important tool in diagnosis and visualisation of prostate cancer metastases (PCM). However, the diagnostic value of quantitative PET parameters, including Standardised Uptake Values (SUVmax) in patients with PCM is uncertain. The purpose of our study was to access the possible differences in SUVmax between subgroup of patients with prostate cancer with metastases in various locations.Material and methodsA retrospective analysis of 172 consecutive patients with diagnosed prostate cancer with metastases undergoing a control PET-CT study was performed. PET-CT was performed using Discovery IQ scanner (GE Healthcare), 3 and 20 min after injection of 18F-choline (3 MBq/kg). Metastases locations were assessed by visual estimation during PET-CT scan, SUVmax was calculated in most metabolically active regions and analysed together with PSA levels and PSA change per month. Data are given as median values (quartiles), p values as assessed by Kruskal-Wallis ANOVA.Results and discussionsOut of the cohort study, in 84 patients metastases were found in lymph nodes only (group A), in 38 in bones only (group B) and in 50 in both lymph nodes and bones (group C). No statistically significant differences between the groups were observed in Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) levels at the time of diagnosis: 21,40 (10,61;45,80) ng/ml; 33,58 (7,00;790,00) ng/ml and 29, 10 (12,90;116,50) ng/ml, at the time of PET-CT scan: 4,07 (1,94;12,12) ng/ml; 5,62 (1,27;22,08) ng/ml and 8,71 (3,00;27,30) ng/ml, as well as at its change per month: 0,37 (0,07;1,78) ng/ml/month; 0,17 (0,03;1,95) and 0,91 (0,08; 3,77) ng/ml/month, for groups A, B and C, respectively. However, the SUVmax was significantly higher in patients with multiple metastases localizations (groups C) as compared to groups A and B: 5,70 (4,20;8,30) ng/ml vs 3,75 (2,40;5,64) ng/ml and 3,80 (2,50;6,80) ng/ml.ConclusionIn patients with widely-spread prostate cancer (metastases to lymph nodes and bones) SUVmax levels are higher than in patients with metastases to lymph nodes only or to bones only, despite similar PSA and its change in time.