Sarah Alessi

Dr. Sarah Alessi


Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

9Years (2018-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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4 December 2018 in Cancer Imaging
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
SRStefania Rizzo
Stefania Rizzo
MFMarco Femia
Marco Femia
VBValentina Buscarino
Valentina Buscarino
DFDorella Franchi
Dorella Franchi
AGAnnalisa Garbi
Annalisa Garbi
MBMassimo Bellomi
Massimo Bellomi
Endometrial cancer is the most common gynaecologic malignancy in developed countries and its incidence is increasing. First-level treatment, if no contraindicated, is based on surgery. Pre-operative imaging is needed for evaluation of local extent and detection of distant metastases in order to guide treatment planning. Radiological evaluation, based on transvaginal ultrasound, MR and CT, can make the difference in disease management, paying special attention to assessment of entity of myometrial invasion, cervical stromal extension, and assessment of lymph nodal involvement and distant metastases.

27 October 2020 in Cancer Imaging
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
PPPaola Pricolo
Paola Pricolo
EAEleonora Ancona
Eleonora Ancona
PSPaul Summers
Paul Summers
JAJorge Abreu-Gomez
Jorge Abreu-Gomez
SASarah Alessi
Sarah Alessi
GPGiuseppe Petralia
Giuseppe Petralia
Background: The METastasis Reporting and Data System for Prostate Cancer (MET-RADS-P) guidelines are designed to enable reproducible assessment in detecting and quantifying metastatic disease response using whole-body magnetic resonance imaging (WB-MRI) in patients with advanced prostate cancer (APC). The purpose of our study was to evaluate the inter-observer agreement of WB-MRI examination reports produced by readers of different expertise when using the MET-RADS-P guidelines. Methods: Fifty consecutive paired WB-MRI examinations, performed from December 2016 to February 2018 on 31 patients, were retrospectively examined to compare reports by a Senior Radiologist (9 years of experience in WB-MRI) and Resident Radiologist (after a 6-months training) using MET-RADS-P guidelines, for detection and for primary/dominant and secondary response assessment categories (RAC) scores assigned to metastatic disease in 14 body regions. Inter-observer agreement regarding RAC score was evaluated for each region by using weighted-Cohen’s Kappa statistics (K). Results: The number of metastatic regions reported by the Senior Radiologist (249) and Resident Radiologist (251) was comparable. For the primary/dominant RAC pattern, the agreement between readers was excellent for the metastatic findings in cervical, dorsal, and lumbosacral spine, pelvis, limbs, lungs and other sites (K:0.81–1.0), substantial for thorax, retroperitoneal nodes, other nodes and liver (K:0.61–0.80), moderate for pelvic nodes (K:0.56), fair for primary soft tissue and not assessable for skull due to the absence of findings. For the secondary RAC pattern, agreement between readers was excellent for the metastatic findings in cervical spine (K:0.93) and retroperitoneal nodes (K:0.89), substantial for those in dorsal spine, pelvis, thorax, limbs and pelvic nodes (K:0.61–0.80), and moderate for lumbosacral spine (K:0.44). Conclusions: We found inter-observer agreement between two readers of different expertise levels to be excellent in bone, but mixed in other body regions. Considering the importance of bone metastases in patients with APC, our results favor the use of MET-RADS-P in response to the growing clinical need for monitoring of metastasis in these patients.

18 March 2019 in European Radiology
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
SASarah Alessi
Sarah Alessi
PPPaola Pricolo
Paola Pricolo
PSPaul Summers
Paul Summers
MFMarco Femia
Marco Femia
ETElena Tagliabue
Elena Tagliabue
GPGiuseppe Petralia
Giuseppe Petralia
To evaluate whether low PI-RADS v2 assessment categories are effective at excluding extraprostatic extension (EPE) of prostate cancer (≥pT3a PCa).

1 November 2023 in Radiology
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
SLStefano Luzzago
Stefano Luzzago
ACAlberto Colombo
Alberto Colombo
FMFrancesco Alessandro Mistretta
Francesco Alessandro Mistretta
SASarah Alessi
Sarah Alessi
ETEttore Di Trapani
Ettore Di Trapani
GPGiuseppe Petralia
Giuseppe Petralia
Background Current predictive tools to estimate the risk of biochemical recurrence (BCR) after treatment of prostate cancer do not consider multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) information. Purpose To develop a risk prediction tool that considers mpMRI findings to assess the risk of 5-year BCR after radical prostatectomy. Materials and Methods In this retrospective single-center analysis in 1459 patients with prostate cancer who underwent mpMRI before radical prostatectomy (in 2012-2015), the outcome of interest was 5-year BCR (two consecutive prostate-specific antigen [PSA] levels > 0.2 ng/mL [0.2 µg/L]). Patients were randomly divided into training (70%) and test (30%) sets. Kaplan-Meier plots were applied to the training set to estimate survival probabilities. Multivariable Cox regression models were used to test the relationship between BCR and different sets of exploratory variables. The C-index of the final model was calculated for the training and test sets and was compared with European Association of Urology, University of California San Francisco Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, and Partin risk tools using the partial likelihood ratio test. Five risk categories were created. Results The median duration of follow-up in the whole cohort was 59 months (IQR, 32-81 months); 376 of 1459 (25.8%) patients had BCR. A multivariable Cox regression model (referred to as PIPEN, and composed of PSA density, International Society of Urological Pathology grade group, Prostate Imaging Reporting and Data System category, European Society of Urogenital Radiology extraprostatic extension score, nodes) fitted to the training data yielded a C-index of 0.74, superior to that of other predictive tools (C-index 0.70 for all models; P ≤ .01) and a median higher C-index on 500 test set replications (C-index, 0.73). Five PIPEN risk categories were identified with 5-year BCR-free survival rates of 92%, 84%, 71%, 56%, and 26% in very low-, low-, intermediate-, high-, and very high-risk patients, respectively (all P < .001). Conclusion A five-item model for predicting the risk of 5-year BCR after radical prostatectomy for prostate cancer was developed and internally verified, and five risk categories were identified. © RSNA, 2023 Supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Aguirre and Ortegón in this issue.


1 December 2020 in Urologic Oncology: Seminars and Original Investigations
Verified
Journal Article
Closed access
SLStefano Luzzago
Stefano Luzzago
GPGiuseppe Petralia
Giuseppe Petralia
DMDuilia Maresca
Duilia Maresca
ISIlaria Sabatini
Ilaria Sabatini
GCGiovanni Cordima
Giovanni Cordima
GMGennaro Musi
Gennaro Musi