Hook Wire Localization Procedure and Early Detection of Breast Cancer - Our Experience.

AIM: The purpose of this study is to describe our experience with needle localization technique in diagnosing small breast cancers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This retrospective study included a hundred and twenty patients' with impalpable breast lesions and they underwent wire localization. All patients had mammography, ultrasound exam and pathohystological results. We use Mammomat Inspiration Siemens digital unit for diagnosing mammography, machine - Lorad Affinity with fenestrated compressive pad for wire localization and ultrasound machine Acuson X300 with linear array probe 10 MhZ. We use two types of wire: Bard hook wire and Kopans breast lesion localization needle, Cook. Comparative radiologic and pathologic data were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: In 120 asymptomatic women, 68 malignancies and 52 benign findings were detected with mammography and ultrasound. The mean age for patients with malignancy was 58.6 years. According BI-RADS classification for mammography the distribution is our group was: BI-RADS 3 was presented in 6 (8.82%) patients, BI-RADS 4 was presented in 56 (82.35%) patients and BI-RADS 5 was present in 6 (8.82%) of the patients. Most wire localizations were performed under mammographic guidance in 58 from 68 patients with malignant lesions (85.29%) and with ultrasound in 10 (14.7%). According the mammographic findings patients with mass on mammograms were 29 (42.65%), mass with calcifications 9 (13.23%), calcifications 20 (29.41%) and architectural distortions or asymmetry 10 (14.71%). CONCLUSION: Wire localization is a well established technique for the management of impalpable breast lesions.

Posterior cerebral artery--variation in the origin and clinical significance.

With the introduction of new techniques in diagnostic and interventional radiology and progress in micro-neurosurgery, accurate knowledge of the brain blood vessels is essential in daily clinical work. The aim of this study was to describe the different types of PCA origin, their diameter, and to emphasize their clinical significance. In this study we examined radiographs of 53 patients who had CT angiography undertaken for a variety of clinical reasons, performed as a part of their medical treatment at the University Radiology Clinic in Skopje, R. Macedonia. This study included 24 females and 29 males, ranging in age from 32 to 73 years; mean age 55.3±11.5 years. The results showed that the diameter of the posterior cerebral artery was 1.74±0.317 mm on the right side and 1.98±0.408 mm on the left side. The adult configuration was present in 37 (69.81%); foetal configuration was present in 12 (22.64%) and transitional configuration was present in 4 (7.54%) of the patients. We found two patients with bilateral foetal type and ten with unilateral foetal type (six on the right side and four on the left side). Despite the limitations of the study, we found that the foetal variant was presented in 22.64% of patients. Thorough knowledge of the anatomy of the intracranial vessels is important to clinicians as well as basic scientists who deal with problems related to intracranial vasculature on a daily basis.

Morphometric analysis of the cervical spinal canal on MRI.

Two useful numerical values, called the Torg ratio and the spinal canal diameter (SC diameter) are widely accepted as reliable morphometric determinants of spinal stenosis. The aims of the study were to examine morphometric determinants of the cervical spinal canal on MRI in both sexes and analyse them as reliable indicators of spinal stenosis. Measurements were made on 50 MR images (sagittal T2 weighted images from C3 to C7) of the cervical spine of patients from the Emergency Centre who had undertaken MRI of the cervical spine in addition to CT for various diagnostic indications. Torg ratio, used in evaluation of the spinal canal stenosis on plain x-ray radiographs, cannot be used as a spinal canal stenosis indicator due to the gender differences in the vertebral bodies' width. Sagittal canal diameters were more spread out in males than in females. MRI enables the value of the space available for the spinal cord, (SAC) to be determined, by subtracting the sagittal diameter of the spinal cord from the sagittal diameter of the spinal canal. Not gender, but individual and level differences in the SAC values were evident (cervical cord enlargement). SAC values relied more on the spinal canal than on the spinal cord, so that the differences in the dimensions of the spinal cord accounted for less variability in the SAC values. MR imaging of the cervical spine provides more accurate cervical canal and spinal cord measurements that could serve as morphometric determinants of the cervical canal stenosis.

Computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging - our experiences in determining preoperative TNM staging of bladder cancer.

UNLABELLED: Bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer diagnosis worldwide. Early detection of bladder cancer is important, since up to 47% of bladder cancer-related deaths might be avoided. AIM: To show our experience in determining the staging of bladder cancer with multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), making comparison of stage accuracy with contrast enhanced MDCT, conventional MR imaging and dynamic contrast-enhanced MR imaging on the one hand and pathoistological diagnoses after transurethral resection of the non-muscle invasive bladder cancers or radical cystectomy for patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancers. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Ninety patients with histologically proved bladder cancer were prospectively examined with MDCT, conventional and dynamic MR imaging before tumour resection. RESULTS: Staging was correct in 55.6% with CT, 56.7% with conventional MRI and in 86.7% with dynamic MRI, which was highly significant compared with CT and conventional MRI. Overestimation for superficial tumors was high with CT (31.25%) and conventional MR imaging (25%), but was significantly reduced with dynamic MR imaging (8.3%). The percentages of underestimation in surgically proved invasive tumours (pT2- pT4) were lowest with dynamic MR imaging. CONCLUSION: CT and MR imaging are less accurate in the evaluation of the depth of mural invasion and for both techniques overstaging is the most frequent error. Dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI with 87% of accuracy, 8.3% overestimation for superficial tumours and lowest underestimation for invasive tumours, make this imaging considerably more accurate.