RESUMO
Computed tomography (CT) -guided bone biopsy is a diagnostic procedure performed on the musculoskeletal system with a high diagnostic yield and low complications. However, CT-guided bone biopsy has the disadvantage that it is difficult to confirm the presence of tumor cells during the biopsy procedure. Recently, the clinical benefits of dual-energy CT (DECT) over single-energy CT have been revealed. DECT can provide material decomposition images including calcium suppression images, and effective atomic number (Zeff) and electron density (ED) maps. ED maps have been reported to indicate cellularity. A 61-year-old woman with a history of breast cancer surgery was admitted to our hospital and underwent a CT-guided bone biopsy of the right ilium using ED maps. As a result, she was diagnosed with breast cancer metastases of intertrabecular bone. A comparison of ED maps with a pathological specimen revealed that high ED values occurred exclusively in the tumor area with high cellularity. This study indicates that ED maps produced using DECT may have potential utility in the accurate identification of metastases with high cellularity in bone lesions.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Various body composition indices have been reported as prognostic factors for different cancers. However, whether body composition affects prognosis after lower gastrointestinal tract perforation requiring emergency surgery and multidisciplinary treatment has not been clarified. This study examined whether body composition evaluations that can be measured easily and quickly from computed tomography (CT) are useful for predicting prognosis. METHODS: Subjects comprised 64 patients diagnosed with perforation at final diagnosis after emergency surgery for a preoperative diagnosis of lower gastrointestinal tract perforation and penetration. They were divided into a survival group and a non-survival (in-hospital mortality) group and compared. Body composition indices (psoas muscle index (PMI); psoas muscle attenuation (PMA); subcutaneous adipose tissue index (SATI); visceral adipose tissue index (VATI); visceral-to-subcutaneous fat area ratio (VSR)) were measured from preoperative CT. Cross-sectional psoas muscle area at the level of the 3rd lumbar vertebra was quantified. Optimal cut-off values were calculated using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. Poor prognostic factors were investigated from multivariate logistic regression analyses that included patient factors, perioperative factors, intraoperative factors, and body composition indices as explanatory variables. RESULTS: The cause of perforation was malignant disease in 12 cases (18.7%), and benign disease in 52 cases (81.2%). The most common cause was diverticulum of the large intestine. Emergency surgery for the 64 patients led to survival in 52 patients and death in 12 patients. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, independent predictors of poor prognosis were Sequential Organ Failure Assessment score (odds ratio 1.908; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.235-3.681; P = 0.0020) and PMI (odds ratio 13.478; 95%CI 1.342-332.690; P = 0.0252). The cut-off PMI was 4.75 cm2/m2 for males and 2.89 cm2/m2 for females. Among survivors, duration of hospitalization was significantly longer in the low PMI group (29 days) than in the high PMI group (22 days, p = 0.0257). CONCLUSIONS: PMI is easily determined from CT and allows rapid evaluation of prognosis following lower gastrointestinal perforation.
