Post-radiation sarcomas: a review of the clinical and imaging features in 63 cases.

Aims: The development of sarcomas is a recognized complication of radiation therapy. We set out to retrospectively review the clinical and therapeutic demographics, as well as the cross-sectional imaging findings in patients with post-radiation sarcomas.

Materials And Methods: Sixty-three patients with post-radiation sarcomas were identified at a single institution.

Mycobacterium kansasii infections in patients with cancer.

Mycobacterium kansasii was isolated from 25 patients with cancer who were cared for at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) from January 1987 through December 1996.

Radiographic appearance of the chest following therapy for Hodgkin disease.

This study was carried out to define the post-treatment appearance of the chest radiographs in 44 consecutive patients with Hodgkin disease who received mantle irradiation with or without chemotherapy and to determine how the incidence and severity of post-treatment abnormalities relate to the radiation parameters and chemotherapeutic regimens. Radiographs of the chest in 44 patients, computed tomograms of the chest in 31 patients and of the abdomen of 35 patients were reviewed, prior to and following treatment, for mediastinal contours, pericardial status, cardiac size and pulmonary fibrosis. All patients were followed for a minimum of 1 year and 27 were followed for more than 5 years.

Mycobacterium kansasii infections in patients with cancer.

Mycobacterium kansasii was isolated from 25 patients with cancer who were cared for at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center (Houston) from January 1987 through December 1996.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma: the spectrum of manifestations on CT in 70 cases.

Aim: The aim of this pictorial review is to illustrate the spectrum of manifestations on computed tomography (CT) of malignant pleural mesothelioma. Malignant pleural mesothelioma is the most common primary neoplasm of the pleura, but nevertheless is a rare tumour. It has a strong association with previous occupational exposure to asbestos and has a bleak prognosis.

Filling in of radiation therapy-induced bronchiectatic change: a reliable sign of locally recurrent lung cancer.

Purpose: To determine if filling in of radiation therapy-induced bronchiectatic change is a reliable computed tomographic (CT) sign of locally recurrent lung cancer.

Materials And Methods: The study included 28 patients who were free of disease and had stable radiation therapy-induced consolidation in ectatic bronchi at least 9 months after completion of radiation therapy for non-small cell lung cancer. Serial CT scans were retrospectively reviewed for evidence of local recurrence.

Clinical and radiological features of pulmonary disease caused by rapidly growing mycobacteria in cancer patients.

The role of rapidly growing mycobacteria in the pathogenesis of pulmonary disease is being increasingly recognized; however, the clinical significance of these mycobacteria in patients with underlying malignancy has not been well studied. Over a 6-year period, 37 cancer patients with rapidly growing mycobacteria isolated from respiratory specimens were identified at our center. Mycobacterium chelonae group was isolated in 24 cases and Mycobacterium fortuitum in 13 cases.

Presenting symptoms in patients referred to a multidisciplinary clinic for bone metastases.

Symptom control is the goal of palliative irradiation. Approximately 1 month is required before symptomatic relief is accomplished with radiotherapy. However, many patients with cancer-related pain do not receive adequate analgesics, and opioids are often not prescribed until patients fail to respond to palliative irradiation.

Hodgkin disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma: plain chest radiographs and chest computed tomography of thoracic involvement in previously untreated patients.

Purpose: To provide further information about the presentation of thoracic involvement in Hodgkin disease and non-Hodgkin lymphoma and to compare chest radiography with chest CT findings.

Materials And Methods: We reviewed the chest radiographs and the CT images of 100 Hodgkin and 100 non-Hodgkin patients, all of them untreated. Our data were compared with those of literature series: the latest study comparing the different patterns of Hodgkin and non-Hodgkin disease appeared in 1976 and it compared chest radiography with conventional tomography, not with CT.

Rounded atelectasis and mesothelioma.

Objective: The purpose of this article is to report the coexistence of rounded atelectasis with malignant pleural mesothelioma as revealed by radiography and CT.

Conclusion: Our five cases show the coexistence of rounded atelectasis and malignant mesothelioma. If rounded atelectasis is associated with a pleural effusion, a pleural mass with or without chest-wall invasion, or thickened pleura not adjacent to the rounded atelectasis, malignant mesothelioma should be strongly considered.

Tuberculosis in cancer patients: an update.

The demographics of tuberculosis (TB) and the therapy of malignancies have significantly changed since the last comprehensive review of TB in cancer patients. Fifty-six patients with both TB and malignancy were identified from January 1989 through December 1994 in a population of 61,931 newly registered cancer patients. The frequency of TB in cancer patients was 90 per 100,000.

MR prediction of benign and malignant vertebral compression fractures.

We reviewed spinal MR images of 58 patients with 98 compressed vertebrae. Benign (47 vertebrae) or malignant (51 vertebrae) etiology was established by biopsy or radiologic follow-up. Compressed vertebrae were analyzed for presence and characteristics of signal abnormality, altered vertebral contour, Schmorl's nodes, pedicular involvement, and contrast uptake.

Cutaneous and pulmonary infections caused by Mycobacterium vaccae.

Mycobacterium vaccae is a rapidly growing mycobacterial species that was previously not considered a human pathogen. We report four cases of M. vaccae infection that occurred in the southern United States; one patient had cutaneous disease, and three patients had cavitary lung disease.

Radiation change in normal organs: an overview of body imaging.

Radiotherapy causes changes in a treated malignancy and the surrounding normal tissue which must be included in the radiation fields. Awareness of the expected appearance of these changes frequently permits differentiation of them from superimposed infection, recurrent malignancy, radiation-induced tumors, and the other true complications of radiation therapy. Radiotherapy changes are a function of the tissue volume treated, field shape, total dose and how it was delivered, time from completion of therapy, and the possible effect of other therapies.

Axillary lymph node metastases of bronchogenic carcinoma.

Background: Metastasis of bronchogenic carcinoma to axillary lymph nodes is rare. The pathways and possible significance of axillary lymph node metastasis from bronchogenic carcinoma were investigated.

Methods: Seventeen patients with probable axillary lymph node metastases from bronchogenic carcinoma were identified by computed tomography.

Malignant pleural mesothelioma after radiation therapy for breast cancer. A report of two additional patients.

Background: Malignant pleural mesotheliomas (MPMs) are rare tumors that usually have a fatal outcome. The association of these tumors with asbestos exposure is well established. Induction of malignant mesothelioma by nonasbestos-related causes also has been reported in the literature, although the number of documented cases is extremely small.

Radiographic demonstration of intercostal lymphatics and lymph nodes.

The anatomy of the posterior intercostal lymphatics and lymph nodes is reviewed. These lymph nodes are occasionally visualized by bipedal conventional lymphography. Opacified and/or enlarged posterior intercostal lymph nodes may also be identified with computed tomography of the chest.

Cascade of metastatic colorectal carcinoma from the liver to the anterior diaphragmatic lymph nodes.

Rationale And Objectives: Metastases of colon carcinoma from the liver to porta hepatis and celiac axis lymph nodes constitute a contraindication to hepatic metastatic resection. Our objective was to determine the frequency of anterior diaphragmatic lymph node (ADLN) enlargement, another efferent pathway of hepatic lymphatic drainage, in patients with colon carcinoma.

Methods: Abdominal computed tomography scans from 50 patients with colon carcinoma in whom hepatic metastases were either present (n = 25) or absent (n = 25) were reviewed.