Frequency of hepatic contour abnormalities and signs of portal hypertension at CT in patients receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer metastatic to the liver.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to determine the frequency of hepatic contour abnormalities and signs of portal hypertension at serial CT in patients receiving chemotherapy for breast cancer metastatic to the liver. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively identified 91 women with breast cancer metastatic to the liver who received chemotherapy and underwent serial CT at our institution between 1998 and 2002. Two readers independently categorized hepatic contour abnormalities on the final CT examination as none, limited retraction, widespread retraction, or diffuse nodularity. Readers also recorded the development of hepatic atrophy or enlargement, ascites, portosystemic collateral veins, and splenomegaly. Interpretative discrepancies were resolved by consensus. Portal hypertension was defined as the presence of at least two of the following CT signs: simple ascites, portosystemic collateral veins, and splenomegaly. RESULTS: After a median follow-up interval of 15 months (range, 1-46), hepatic contour abnormalities were seen in 68 of 91 patients (75%) and consisted of limited retraction (n = 42), widespread retraction (n = 10), or diffuse nodularity (n = 16). Portal hypertension was found in 1 of 23 patients without contour abnormalities, in 1 of 42 patients with limited retraction, in none of 10 patients with widespread retraction, and in 6 of 16 patients with diffuse nodularity (P < .01). CONCLUSION: Hepatic contour abnormalities commonly develop at serial CT in patients undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer metastatic to the liver and may be accompanied by signs of portal hypertension; the latter are particularly, but not exclusively, associated with the development of diffuse hepatic nodularity.

Application of near-infrared spectroscopy to the determination of the sites of manufacture of proprietary products.

Reflectance near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy has been investigated as a method to distinguish between the sites of manufacture of a number of proprietary tablets. As test samples, parallel imports which are pharmaceutically equivalent products manufactured at different sites have been used. Three products: Aremis/Besitran, Renitec and Voltarol Retard originating from two or more sites and Adalat from a single site were examined. The principal component analysis (PCA) score plots showed that spectra of tablets originating from different sites of manufacture often gave rise to statistically different populations. PCA loadings indicated that the differences were related to moisture content and excipients. Spectra were used to construct a library for the classification of tablets to predict the site of manufacture based on the method of residual variance of the principal components. Where a large data set was available (Aremis/Besitran tablets) prediction rates for the successful identification of the two sites of manufacture, Madrid and Barcelona, were 95.7 and 98.1%, respectively for the validation set with all errors encountered of Type I.