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Scientific Conferences on Whole-Body Diffusion

Whole-Body Diffusion (DWB) is a diagnostic technique based on Magnetic Resonance imaging, which is relatively “young” from a medical and scientific point of view. It came into being in 2006 and its clinical applications have been developed since 2009 mainly in Italy (at the European Institute of Oncology – IEO, Milan) and in Great Britain. At the ASC in Castelli Calepio (Bergamo), we have accumulated one of the highest case loads of healthy subjects undergoing this examination for early cancer detection.

In just over a decade, DWB has gained international scientific prominence, thanks to studies published in the most important scientific journals, which have demonstrated its diagnostic effectiveness.

In 2021, the International Guidelines on DWB were published, which means that this diagnostic procedure has been accepted and shared by scientists worldwide. DWB has also been included in the international guidelines for the diagnosis and surveillance of various cancers.

Prof Giuseppe Petralia, Associate Professor at the University of Milan, Chief physician of the Precision Imaging and Research Unit at the European Institute of Oncology (IEO) in Milan and scientific advisor to ASC, is one of the leading experts on DWB and has published numerous scientific studies and lectured at national and international congresses.

Discover the conferences

Prof Giuseppe Petralia

Scientific publications

A scientific publication is the main means of communication within the scientific community. It is a paper on a scientific topic, written in an objective way by scientists or technicians, which highlights in a transparent and verifiable manner the method and the research results. Its publication typically takes place in academic journals and other communication channels of the scientific community, but only once validated by peer review to become part of the scientific literature

2022

Our

Publications

Authors: Derna Busacchio, Davide Mazzoni, Ketti Mazzocco, Paola Pricolo, Paul E Summers, Giuseppe Petralia, Gabriella Pravettoni
Title: Psychological characteristics and satisfaction for the whole-body MRI in cancer screening
Year: 2022 Sep
PMID: 36148490 DOI: 10.1080/13548506.2022.2126989
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36148490/

2021

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Petralia G, Koh DM, Attariwala R, Busch JJ, Eeles R, Karow D, Lo GG, Messiou C, Sala E, Vargas HA, Zugni F, Padhani AR.
Title: Oncologically Relevant Findings Reporting and Data System (ONCO-RADS): Guidelines for the Acquisition, Interpretation, and Reporting of Whole-Body MRI for Cancer Screening. Radiology.
Year: 2021 Jun
299(3):494-507. doi: 10.1148/radiol.2021201740. Epub 2021 Apr 27. PMID: 33904776.
https://pubs.rsna.org/doi/full/10.1148/radiol.2021201740

Authors: Busacchio D, Mazzocco K, Radice D, Summers PE, Pricolo P, Pravettoni G, Petralia G.
Title: Value Attribution in the Decision to Use of Whole Body MRI for Early Cancer Diagnosis. Diagnostics (Basel).
Year: 2021 May 28
11(6):972. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11060972. PMID: 34071199; PMCID: PMC8227751.
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/6/972/htm

Authors: Colombo A, Bombelli L, Summers PE, Saia G, Zugni F, Marvaso G, Grimm R, Jereczek-Fossa BA, Padhani AR, Petralia G.
Title: Effects of Sex and Age on Fat Fraction, Diffusion-Weighted Image Signal Intensity and Apparent Diffusion Coefficient in the Bone Marrow of Asymptomatic Individuals: A Cross-Sectional Whole-Body MRI Study. Diagnostics (Basel).
Year: 2021 May 20
11(5):913. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11050913. PMID: 34065459; PMCID: PMC8161193.
https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/11/5/913/htm

Authors: Colombo A, Saia G, Azzena AA, Rossi A, Zugni F, Pricolo P, Summers PE, Marvaso G, Grimm R, Bellomi M, Jereczek-Fossa BA, Padhani AR, Petralia G.
Title: Semi-Automated Segmentation of Bone Metastases from Whole-Body MRI: Reproducibility of Apparent Diffusion Coefficient Measurements. Diagnostics (Basel).
Year: 2021 Mar
11;11(3):499. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics11030499. PMID: 33799913; PMCID: PMC7998160.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33799913/

Authors: Busacchio D, Mazzocco K, Gandini S, Pricolo P, Masiero M, Summers PE, Pravettoni G, Petralia G.
Title: Preliminary observations regarding the expectations, acceptability and satisfaction of whole-body MRI in self-referring asymptomatic subjects. Br J Radiol.
Year: 2021 Feb 1
94(1118):20191031. doi: 10.1259/bjr.20191031. Epub 2020 Dec 1. PMID: 33237810; PMCID: PMC7934315.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33237810/

Authors: Summers P, Saia G, Colombo A, Pricolo P, Zugni F, Alessi S, Marvaso G, Jereczek-Fossa BA, Bellomi M, Petralia G.
Title: Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging: technique, guidelines and key applications. Ecancermedicalscience.
Year: 2021 Jan 7;15:1164. doi: 10.3332/ecancer.2021.1164. PMID: 33680078; PMCID: PMC7929776. https://ecancer.org/en/journal/article/1164-whole-body-magnetic-resonance-imaging-technique-guidelines-and-key-applications

2020

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Tunariu N, Blackledge M, Messiou C, Petralia G, Padhani A, Curcean S, Curcean A, Koh DM.
Title: What’s New for Clinical Whole-body MRI (WB-MRI) in the 21st Century. Br J Radiol.
Year: 2020 Nov; 1;93(1115):20200562.
doi: 10.1259/bjr.20200562. Epub 2020 Sep 9. PMID: 32822545.
https://www.birpublications.org/doi/10.1259/bjr.20200562

Authors: Pricolo P, Ancona E, Summers P, Abreu-Gomez J, Alessi S, Jereczek-Fossa BA, De Cobelli O, Nolè F, Renne G, Bellomi M, Padhani AR, Petralia G.
Title: Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) reporting with the METastasis Reporting and Data System for Prostate Cancer (MET-RADS-P): inter-observer agreement between readers of different expertise levels. Cancer Imaging.
Year: 2020 Oct 27; 20(1):77
doi: 10.1186/s40644-020-00350-x. PMID: 33109268; PMCID: PMC7590732.
https://cancerimagingjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40644-020-00350-x

Authors: Cianci R, Cristel G, Agostini A, Ambrosini R, Calistri L, Petralia G, Colagrande S.
Title: MRI for Rectal Cancer Primary Staging and Restaging After Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation Therapy: How to Do It During Daily Clinical Practice.
Year: 2020 Aug 29
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32905955/

Authors: Luzzago S, Petralia G, Maresca D, Sabatini I, Cordima G, Brescia A, Verweij F, Garelli G, Mistretta FA, Cioffi A, Pricolo P, Alessi S, Ferro M, Matei DV, Renne G, de Cobelli O, Musi G.
Title: Pathological findings at radical prostatectomy of biopsy naïve men diagnosed with MRI targeted biopsy alone without concomitant standard systematic sampling.
Year: 2020 Jun 26
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32600928/

Authors: Fabio Zugni, Anwar Roshanali Padhani, Dow-Mu Koh, Paul Eugene Summers, Massimo Bellomi and Giuseppe Petralia.
Title: Whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) for cancer screening in asymptomatic subjects of the general population: review and recommendations.
Year: 2020 May
https://asc-italia.it/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/cancer-imaging-2020.pdf

2019

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Alessi S, Pricolo P, Summers P, Femia M, Tagliabue E, Renne G, Bianchi R, Musi G, De Cobelli O, Jereczek-Fossa BA, Bellomi M, Petralia G./
Title: Low PI-RADS assessment category excludes extraprostatic extension (≥pT3a) of prostate cancer: a histology-validated study including 301 operated patients.
Year: 2019 Oct; 29(10).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30887199/

Authors: Luzzago S, Petralia G, Musi G, Catellani M, Alessi S, Di Trapani E, Mistretta FA, Serino A, Conti A, Pricolo P, Nazzani S, Mirone V, Matei DV, Montanari E, de Cobelli O.
Title: Multiparametric Magnetic Resonance Imaging Second Opinion May Reduce the Number of Unnecessary Prostate Biopsies: Time to Improve Radiologists’ Training Program?
Year: 2019 Apr; 17(2).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30527286/

Authors: Jereczek-Fossa BA, Rojas DP, Zerini D, Fodor C, Viola A, Fanetti G, Volpe S, Luraschi R, Bazani A, Rondi E, Cattani F, Vavassori A, Garibaldi C, Alessi S, Pricolo P, Petralia G, Cozzi G, De Cobelli O, Musi G, Orecchia R, Marvaso G, Ciardo D.
Title: Reirradiation for isolated local recurrence of prostate cancer: Mono-institutional series of 64 patients treated with salvage stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT).
Year: 2019 Feb; 92(1094).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30379566/

2018

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Zugni F, Ruju F, Pricolo P, Alessi S, Iorfida M, Colleoni MA, Bellomi M, Petralia G.
Title: The added value of whole-body magnetic resonance imaging in the management of patients with advanced breast cancer.
Year: 2018 Oct 12; 13(10).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30312335/

2017

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Ciardo D, Jereczek-Fossa BA, Petralia G, Timon G, Zerini D, Cambria R, Rondi E, Cattani F, Bazani A, Ricotti R, Garioni M, Maestri D, Marvaso G, Romanelli P, Riboldi M, Baroni G, Orecchia R.
Title: Multimodal image registration for the identification of dominant intraprostatic lesion in high-precision radiotherapy treatments.
Year: 2017 Nov; 90(1079).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28830203/

2016

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Timon G, Ciardo D, Bazani A, Garioni M, Maestri D, De Lorenzo D, Pansini F, Cambria R, Rondi E, Cattani F, Marvaso G, Zerini D, Vischioni B, Ciocca M, Russo S, Molinelli S, Golino F, Scroffi V, Rojas DP, Fodor C, Petralia G, Santoro L, De Cobelli O, Orecchia R, Jereczek-Fossa BA.
Title: Rationale and protocol of AIRC IG-13218, short-term radiotherapy for early prostate cancer with concomitant boost to the dominant lesion.
Year: 2016 Oct 13; 102(5).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27514314/

Authors: Jereczek-Fossa BA, Ciardo D, Petralia G, Bellomi M, De Bari B, De Cobelli O, Orecchia R.
Title: Primary focal prostate radiotherapy: Do all patients really need whole-prostate irradiation?
Year: 2016 Sep; 105:100-11.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27397485/

2015

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Petralia G, Musi G, Padhani AR, Summers P, Renne G, Alessi S, Raimondi S, Matei DV, Renne SL, Jereczek-Fossa BA, De Cobelli O, Bellomi M. Title: Robot-assisted radical prostatectomy: Multiparametric MR imaging-directed intraoperative frozen-section analysis to reduce the rate of positive surgical margins.
Year: 2015 Feb; 274(2).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25271856/

2014

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Li B, Li Q, Nie W, Liu S.
Title: Diagnostic value of whole-body diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging for detection of primary and metastatic malignancies: A meta-analysis.
Year: 2014 Feb; 83.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24355655
http://www.ejradiology.com/article/S0720-048X(13)00607-4/fulltext

2013

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Petralia G, Padhani A, Summers P, Alessi S, Raimondi S, Testori A, Bellomi M.
Title: Whole-body diffusion-weighted imaging: is it all we need for detecting metastases in melanoma patients?
Year: 2013 Dec; 23(12).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23884300
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00330-013-2968-x

Authors: Birkhäuser FD, Studer UE, Froehlich JM, Triantafyllou M, Bains LJ, Petralia G, Vermathen P, Fleischmann A, Thoeny HC.
Title: Combined ultrasmall superparamagnetic particles of iron oxide-enhanced and diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging facilitates detection of metastases in normal-sized pelvic lymph nodes of patients with bladder and prostate cancer.
Year: 2013 Dec; 64(6).
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23916692/

2012

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Koh DM, Blackledge M, Padhani AR, Takahara T, Kwee TC, Leach MO, Collins DJ.
Title: Whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI: tips, tricks, and pitfalls. AJR Am J Roentgenol.
Year: 2012 Aug; 199(2).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22826385
http://www.ajronline.org/doi/abs/10.2214/AJR.11.7866

2011

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Yang HL, Liu T, Wang XM, Xu Y, Deng SM.
Title: Diagnosis of bone metastases: a meta-analysis comparing 18FDG PET, CT, MRI and bone scintigraphy.
Year: 2011; 21.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21887484

2009

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Kwee TC, Takahara T, Ochiai R, Katahira K, Van Cauteren M, Imai Y, Nievelstein RA, Luijten PR.
Title: Whole-body diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.
Year: 2009
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19403255
http://www.ejradiology.com/article/S0720-048X(09)00181-8/fulltext

Authors: Padhani AR, Liu G, Koh DM, Chenevert TL, Thoeny HC, Takahara T, Dzik-Jurasz A, Ross BD, Van Cauteren M, Collins D, Hammoud DA, Rustin GJ, Taouli B, Choyke PL.
Title: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging as a cancer biomarker: consensus and recommendations.
Year: 2009 Feb; 11(2).
https://goo.gl/QkKZXP

1986

Le nostre

Pubblicazioni

Authors: Le Bihan D, Breton E, Lallemand D, Grenier P, Cabanis E, Laval-Jeantet M.
Title: MR imaging of intravoxel incoherent motions: application to diffusion and perfusion in neurologic disorders.
Year: 1986 Nov; 161(2).
http://tinyurl.com/yb3qnm3n
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs00330-011-2221-4

The story of ASC Italia in book form

The magic box against cancer (Mind Edizioni), written by Dr Giuseppe Petralia, tells the scientific story of the development of DWB, its recent establishment at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan and the birth of ASC Italia, the only facility in Europe that offers this examination to the healthy population.

The book is also an opportunity to take stock of all the useful avenues for cancer prevention in general and early diagnosis, which truly remains the winning weapon for nipping cancers in the bud.

“After reading this book, you too will be convinced of the value of DWB. Join us so that as many people as possible can benefit from it!” Anwar Padhani – Institute of Cancer Research in London – World’s leading expert on DWB and member of the Scientific Committee of ASC Italia