Radiotherapy in conjunction with intravenous infusion of 180 mg of disodium pamidronate in management of osteolytic metastases from breast cancer: clinical evaluation, biochemical markers, quality of life, and monitoring of recalcification using assessments of gray-level histogram in plain radiographs.

Purpose: To evaluate the clinical improvement and radiographically monitor the effect of local radiotherapy in conjunction with disodium pamidronate (DP) on metastatic osteolytic disease.

Methods And Materials: Thirty-three patients with osteolytic metastasis from advanced breast cancer received radiotherapy with a 6-MV linear accelerator up to a dose of 30 Gy (3 Gy/fraction, 5 d/wk) combined with 24 monthly sessions of a 180-mg DP infusion. Conventional X-rays were obtained during the first six sessions of DP treatment, retaining the same settings for each exposure.

An intra-patient dose-escalation study of disodium pamidronate plus radiotherapy versus radiotherapy alone for the treatment of osteolytic metastases. Monitoring of recalcification using image-processing techniques.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical benefit and mainly to monitor quantitatively the recalcification of osteolytic lesions after radiotherapy with or without intravenous infusion of disodium pamidronate (DP) in different doses.

Patients And Methods: 42 patients with solitary lytic metastasis in weight-bearing bones were studied. Primary endpoints were the mean value and energy of gray-level histogram in plain radiographs (MVGLH and EGLH) and relative electron density (RED) of CT scans in bone lesions.

Risk of disease progression in asymptomatic multiple myeloma.

Purpose: In recent years, increasing numbers of patients with asymptomatic multiple myeloma have been diagnosed by chance and followed without any therapy. Those at risk for early or late disease progression should be distinguished in order to prevent complications. This study defined prognostic factors that would predict the need for early treatment.

MR imaging of extracranial nerve sheath tumors.

We retrospectively reviewed MR images of 32 histologically proven extracranial nerve sheath tumors (NSTs). There were 23 benign (10 neurofibromas, 13 schwannomas) and 9 malignant NSTs. On T1-weighted images (T1WIs) tumors were isointense or slightly hyperintense to muscle.

Solitary plasmacytoma of bone and asymptomatic multiple myeloma.

There is a wide spectrum of disease among patients with plasma cell myeloma. A small fraction have a localized plasmacytoma of bone that requires specialized techniques for accurate staging, followed by local radiotherapy that may be curative in some patients. Other patients with multiple myeloma may be free of symptoms and the disease is recognized by chance laboratory studies.

Primary renal carcinoid: computed tomography, ultrasound, and angiographic findings.

We present a rare case of primary renal carcinoid tumor that metastasized to the liver and kidneys. The tumor and the metastases were hypovascular angiographically, did not enhance on CT, and were hyperechoic with a hypoechoic halo on ultrasound. A similar pattern has been seen in a few cases previously reported in the literature.

Case report 682. Neuroepithelioma of soft tissues of the knee.

Peripheral neuroepitheliomas should be included in the differential diagnosis of a soft-tissue tumor in the extremities or chest wall, especially in young adolescents. MRI provides useful information as to the extent of the tumor and relationship with adjacent structures, although it may not differentiate neuroepitheliomas from other, more common, soft-tissue sarcomas. Together with clinical and histological findings, MRI can assist in the diagnosis and treatment planning of this tumor.