Has the percutaneous vertebroplasty a role to prevent progression or local recurrence in spinal metastases of breast cancer?

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effectiveness of percutaneous vertebroplasty (PV) on the prevention of progression or local recurrence in patients with spinal metastases from breast cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Retrospective study on 55 patients between 27-78 years of age (mean age: 55 years) treated for metastatic breast cancer in the same institution (Curie institute, Paris, France), who underwent percutaneous vertebroplasty (PV) (number of vertebrae treated=137) for spinal metastases from January 2000 to December 2009 at the Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital. Statistical correlation between the local tumor progression/recurrence, and the presence of an epidural or a paravertebral metastatic extension at diagnosis, the rate of cement filling the lesion (<50%, ≥50% but incomplete, complete/almost complete) and radiotherapy was evaluated using Chi(2) and Fisher's exact test. RESULTS: The rate of local tumor progression/recurrence of the vertebrae treated by vertebroplasty was 14% (19/137). No statistically significant correlation between either the rate of cement filling of the lesion, or the presence of an epidural or paravertebral metastatic extension, and progression/local recurrence after vertebroplasty was found. No influence of radiotherapy in preventing local progression/recurrence was noted. Distant new bone metastases were observed in 47 out of 55 patients (86%). CONCLUSION: The low rate of local tumor progression/recurrence after a vertebroplasty may support the hypothesis of an antitumor effect of the cement.

Alveolar soft part sarcoma-radiologic patterns in children and adolescents.

BACKGROUND: Alveolar soft part sarcoma is a rare but highly malignant tumour and little is known about its radiologic pattern in children. OBJECTIVE: To describe the radiologic features of alveolar soft part sarcoma in children and adolescents. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analysed the clinical and imaging data of six children age 7-17 years at diagnosis, with histologically or genetically proven alveolar soft part sarcoma. RESULTS: The tumours were located deep within muscles of the limbs (n = 4), in chest wall muscle (n = 1) and in the orbit (n = 1). High-flow feeding arteries, large drainage veins and intense enhancement were consistent findings by all imaging modalities. At MRI, all tumours demonstrated high signal intensity on T2-weighted images and high or iso-intense signal on T1-W imaging compared to muscle. In tumours larger than 70 mm in one dimension (n = 3/6), large vessels converging toward the tumour centre led to a highly vascularised central stellar area pattern. Five children demonstrated synchronous (n = 4/5) and metachronous (n = 1/5) lung metastases. CONCLUSION: Alveolar soft part sarcoma should be suggested when a highly vascularised, intramuscular mass demonstrating large feeding and drainage vessels converging toward a central stellar area is seen in children, especially if synchronous lung metastases are present.

[Brain metastasis of breast cancer; imaging evaluation]. / Métastases cérébrales et méningées des cancers du sein. Évaluation radiologique Entretiens du DOM de l'Institut Curie 17 mars 2010.

CNS involvement in breast cancer modifies the prognosis and the treatment of the disease. Imaging plays a leading role for the diagnosis, the pretherapeutic assessment and the follow-up. MRI is the most sensitive modality for the detection of infraclinic lesions, reported in about 15% of metastatic breast cancers. In addition to conventional MR study, diffusion MR, perfusion MR and spectroscopy have a diagnostic value with specificity of more than 95%; 3D study is required if neurosurgical resection or stereotactic radiosurgery is contemplated. The use of new drugs in clinical trials needs a precise and accurate follow up to assess their usefulness; appreciation of the response is based on the precise measure of the number of targets and of their size; The WHO and recently the RECIST have established the guidelines for measurement of the tumoral targets and to assess the response to treatments. Brain modifications related to surgery or stereotactic radiosurgery are well studied by MRI.

Breast lesions: quantitative elastography with supersonic shear imaging--preliminary results.

PURPOSE: To determine the appearance of breast lesions at quantitative ultrasonographic (US) elastography by using supersonic shear imaging (SSI) and to assess the correlation between quantitative values of lesion stiffness and pathologic results, which were used as the reference standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was approved by the French National Committee for the Protection of Patients Participating in Biomedical Research Programs. All patients provided written informed consent. Conventional US and SSI quantitative elastography were performed in 46 women (mean age, 57.6 years; age range, 38-71 years) with 48 breast lesions (28 benign, 20 malignant; mean size, 14.7 mm); pathologic results were available in all cases. Quantitative lesion elasticity was measured in terms of the Young modulus (in kilopascals). Sensitivity, specificity, and area under the curve were obtained by using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis to assess diagnostic performance. RESULTS: All breast lesions were detected at SSI. Malignant lesions exhibited a mean elasticity value of 146.6 kPa +/- 40.05 (standard deviation), whereas benign ones had an elasticity value of 45.3 kPa +/- 41.1 (P < .001). Complicated cysts were differentiated from solid lesions because they had elasticity values of 0 kPa (no signal was retrieved from liquid areas). CONCLUSION: SSI provides quantitative elasticity measurements, thus adding complementary information that potentially could help in breast lesion characterization with B-mode US.

Assessment of organ absorbed doses and estimation of effective doses from pediatric anthropomorphic phantom measurements for multi-detector row CT with and without automatic exposure control.

This study was designed to measure organ absorbed doses from multi-detector row computed tomography (MDCT) on pediatric anthropomorphic phantoms, calculate the corresponding effective doses, and assess the influence of automatic exposure control (AEC) in terms of organ dose variations. Four anthropomorphic phantoms (phantoms represent the equivalent of a newborn, 1-, 5-, and 10-y-old child) were scanned with a four-channel MDCT coupled with a z-axis-based AEC system. Two CT torso protocols were compared: a first protocol without AEC and constant tube current-time product and a second protocol with AEC using age-adjusted noise indices. Organ absorbed doses were monitored by thermoluminescent dosimeters (LiF: Mg, Cu, P). Effective doses were calculated according to the tissue weighting factors of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (). For fixed mA acquisitions, organ doses normalized to the volume CT dose index in a 16-cm head phantom (CTDIvol16) ranged from 0.6 to 1.5 and effective doses ranged from 8.4 to 13.5 mSv. For the newborn-equivalent phantom, the AEC-modulated scan showed almost no significant dose variation compared to the fixed mA scan. For the 1-, 5- and 10-y equivalent phantoms, the use of AEC induced a significant dose decrease on chest organs (ranging from 61 to 31% for thyroid, 37 to 21% for lung, 34 to 17% for esophagus, and 39 to 10% for breast). However, AEC also induced a significant dose increase (ranging from 28 to 48% for salivary glands, 22 to 51% for bladder, and 24 to 70% for ovaries) related to the high density of skull base and pelvic bones. These dose increases should be considered before using AEC as a dose optimization tool in children.

How to optimize breast ultrasound.

Breast cancer is the most common female cancer, and the second cause of cancer-related mortality of women in our society. Mammography is the gold-standard method of breast imaging. However it is not an optimal screening tool, especially in cases of dense breast parenchyma. Even when optimally performed, its sensitivity ranges between 69 and 90%. Ultrasound represents an additional diagnostic tool that raises the detection rate of benign and malignant breast lesions. It is the method of choice for differentiating solid from cystic lesions, for further characterizing mammographic findings and better appreciating palpable breast lesions. B-mode ultrasonography is used in every day practice. Harmonic imaging and compound imaging can be used to ameliorate the image contrast and resolution. Colour Doppler is used for studying lesion vascularization however there is no consensus as to whether it really permits to differentiate malignancies from benign lesions. New technical developments such as breast elastography, 3D ultrasound and dedicated ultrasound computed aided diagnosis (CAD) are promising methods for the future.

Preoperative Wilms tumor rupture: a retrospective study of 57 patients.

BACKGROUND: According to current International Society of Pediatric Oncology (SIOP) Wilms recommendations, all preoperative tumor ruptures should be classified as stage IIIc. However, to the authors' knowledge, the definition and diagnostic criteria of preoperative rupture have not been defined clearly. METHODS: The authors performed a retrospective analysis of 57 children with clinical and/or radiologic (computed tomography [CT]) signs of preoperative tumor rupture of a series of 250 patients enrolled in Wilms SIOP protocols at their institution. RESULTS: Clinical and radiologic signs of preoperative rupture were observed in 39 patients and 55 patients, respectively. The site of rupture on imaging was retroperitoneal only in 48 patients and both retroperitoneal and intraperitoneal in 7 patients. Surgery was performed after chemotherapy in 55 of 57 patients. Peritoneal disease recurrence occurred in 3 of 57 patients, including 2 patients with stage III tumors who had initial intraperitoneal rupture and 1 patient with a stage I tumor. Among the 48 patients who had radiologic signs of retroperitoneal-only rupture, the final pathologic stage was stage III in 22 patients, stage II in 9 patients, and stage I in 17 patients, and no abdominal disease recurrence was observed, although only 23 of 48 patients received flank radiotherapy. The 5-year local control rate was significantly higher in patients who had retroperitoneal-only rupture compared with patients who had intraperitoneal rupture (100% vs 83.3%; standard error, +/-15.2%; P = .0015). CONCLUSIONS: The use of CT scans significantly increased the number of patients who could be classified with "tumor rupture." Intraperitoneal rupture was diagnosed accurately with CT and was associated with a significant risk of peritoneal disease recurrence. In contrast, patients who have radiologic signs of localized retroperitoneal-only rupture at diagnosis most likely should not be upstaged, and their treatment may be determined according to pathologic stage only.

Desmoplastic neurotropic melanoma in a patient with trigeminal neuralgia: FDG PET/CT and MRI.

A 51-year-old man presented with a hard subcutaneous nodule adhering to the underlying bone structures of the left eyelid in 2004. Histopathology showed a desmoplastic neurotropic melanoma (DNM) with perineural invasion. Patient presented with a first recurrence in October 2005, which was treated by surgery. In August 2006 he presented with trigeminal neuralgia of the left face in the area innervated by the first and second branches of the trigeminal nerve. A PET scan clearly shows the tumoral hypermetabolism of the subcutaneous recurrence of the neurotropic melanoma with invasion of the second or maxillary branch that follows the nerve up to the trigeminal ganglion, which was detected despite the physiological high uptake in the temporal lobe. MRI confirms the invasion and a second PET and MRI 6 months later done to evaluate resectability showed progressive disease. DNM is a rare subtype of spindle cell melanoma. It corresponds to dermal proliferation of desmoplastic cells of neural differentiation. Unlike other melanomas, however, survival for DNM may be better compared with other forms of melanoma. This rare case report presents PET imaging involving cranial nerve invasion by this uncommon melanoma subtype.

Automatic exposure control in multichannel CT with tube current modulation to achieve a constant level of image noise: experimental assessment on pediatric phantoms.

Automatic exposure control (AEC) systems have been developed by computed tomography (CT) manufacturers to improve the consistency of image quality among patients and to control the absorbed dose. Since a multichannel helical CT scan may easily increase individual radiation doses, this technical improvement is of special interest in children who are particularly sensitive to ionizing radiation, but little information is currently available regarding the precise performance of these systems on small patients. Our objective was to assess an AEC system on pediatric dose phantoms by studying the impact of phantom transmission and acquisition parameters on tube current modulation, on the resulting absorbed dose and on image quality. We used a four-channel CT scan working with a patient-size and z-axis-based AEC system designed to achieve a constant noise within the reconstructed images by automatically adjusting the tube current during acquisition. The study was performed with six cylindrical poly(methylmethacrylate) (PMMA) phantoms of variable diameters (10-32 cm) and one 5 years of age equivalent pediatric anthropomorphic phantom. After a single scan projection radiograph (SPR), helical acquisitions were performed and images were reconstructed with a standard convolution kernel. Tube current modulation was studied with variable SPR settings (tube angle, mA, kVp) and helical parameters (6-20 HU noise indices, 80-140 kVp tube potential, 0.8-4 s. tube rotation time, 5-20 mm x-ray beam thickness, 0.75-1.5 pitch, 1.25-10 mm image thickness, variable acquisition, and reconstruction fields of view). CT dose indices (CTDIvol) were measured, and the image quality criterion used was the standard deviation of the CT number measured in reconstructed images of PMMA material. Observed tube current levels were compared to the expected values from Brooks and Di Chiro's [R.A. Brooks and G.D. Chiro, Med. Phys. 3, 237-240 (1976)] model and calculated values (product of a reference value multiplied by a dose ratio measured with thermoluminescent dosimeters). Our study demonstrates that this AEC system accurately modulates the tube current according to phantom size and transmission to achieve a stable image noise. The system accurately controls the tube current when changing tube rotation time, tube potential, or image thickness, with minimal variations of the resulting noise. Nevertheless, CT users should be aware of possible changes of tube current and resulting dose and quality according to several parameters: the tube angle and tube potential used for SPR, the x-ray beam thickness (tube current decreases and image noise increases when doubling x-ray beam thickness), the pitch value (a pitch decrease leads to a higher dose but also to a higher noise), and the acquisition field of view (FOV) (tube current is lower when using the small acquisition FOV compared to the large one, but the use of small acquisition FOV at 120 kVp leads to a peculiar increase of tube current and CTDIvol).

Relevance of CT and MRI in retinoblastoma for the diagnosis of postlaminar invasion with normal-size optic nerve: a retrospective study of 150 patients with histological comparison.

BACKGROUND: Detection of optic nerve invasion is mandatory in children primarily enucleated for retinoblastoma to ensure a free resection margin. OBJECTIVE: To assess the accuracy of CT and MRI for the detection of postlaminar invasion in normal-size nerves. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A total of 150 patients enucleated for retinoblastoma were included. Imaging data (119 CT and 46 MRI) were retrospectively reviewed and compared with histological findings. Abnormal contrast enhancement of the optic nerve was used as diagnostic criterion for invasion. The associations between postlaminar invasion and several indirect signs were also assessed. Statistical analysis was performed with the Kruskal-Wallis and Fisher exact tests. RESULTS: Postlaminar invasion on histology was observed in 8% (12/150). The sensitivity, specificity, accuracy and negative and positive predictive values were 60%, 95%, 91%, 95% and 60% for MRI, and 0%, 100%, 94% and 94% (PPV not assessable) for CT, respectively. Tumour diameter was the only indirect radiological sign significantly associated with postlaminar optic nerve invasion (P=0.002). CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that MRI is more relevant than CT for preoperative detection of optic nerve invasion in patients with retinoblastoma. Tumour diameter is the only indirect sign significantly associated with postlaminar invasion.

Imaging and diagnostic strategy of soft tissue tumors in children.

The diagnosis of a soft tissue mass in children is a common clinical situation. Most of the lesions are benign and can be treated conservatively or by non-mutilating surgery. Nevertheless, the possibility of a malignant soft tissue tumor must be systematically considered. The most frequent benign soft tissue lesions in children are vascular lesions, fibrous and fibrohistiocytic tumors and pseudotumors, whereas rhabdomyosarcomas account for 50% of all soft tissue sarcomas. A child presenting an atypical soft tissue mass should be managed by a multidisciplinary centre, and primary resection must be proscribed until a definite diagnosis has been established. The role of imaging is essential either to confirm the benign nature of the mass or to give arguments to perform a diagnostic biopsy. Clinical examination, conventional radiography and ultrasound with Doppler represent the first-line examinations and are sometimes sufficient to assess a diagnosis. In all other situations, MRI is mandatory to establish the probable nature of the lesion and to assess local extension.

Surgical risk factors in primary surgery for localized neuroblastoma: the LNESG1 study of the European International Society of Pediatric Oncology Neuroblastoma Group.

PURPOSE: Although tumor resection is the mainstay of treatment for localized neuroblastoma, there are no established guidelines indicating which patients should be operated on immediately and which should undergo surgery after tumor reduction with chemotherapy. In an effort to develop such guidelines, the LNESG1 study defined surgical risk factors (SRFs) based on the imaging characteristics. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A total of 905 patients with suspected localized neuroblastoma were registered by 10 European countries between January 1995 and October 1999; 811 of 905 patients were eligible for this analysis. RESULTS: Information on SRFs was obtained for 719 of 811 patients; 367 without and 352 with SRFs. Of these 719 patients, 201 patients (four without and 197 with SRFs) underwent biopsy only. An attempt at tumor excision was made in 518 patients: 363 of 367 patients without and 155 of 352 patients with SRFs (98.9% v 44.0%). Complete excision was achieved in 271 of 363 patients without and in 72 of 155 patients with SRF (74.6% v 46.4%), near-complete excision was achieved in 81 and 61 patients (22.3% v 39.3%), and incomplete excision was achieved in 11 and 22 patients (3.0% v 14.2%), respectively. There were two surgery-related deaths. Nonfatal surgery-related complications occurred in 45 of 518 patients (8.7%) and were less frequent in patients without SRFs (5.0% v 17.4%). Associated surgical procedures were also less frequent in patients without SRFs (1.6% v 9.7%). CONCLUSION: The adoption of SRFs as predictors of adverse surgical outcome was validated because their presence was associated with lower complete resection rate and greater risk of surgery-related complications. Additional studies aiming to better define the surgical approach to localized neuroblastoma are warranted.

MR quantification of the washout changes in breast tumors under preoperative chemotherapy: feasibility and preliminary results.

OBJECTIVE: The objective of our study was to describe and determine the feasibility of an MR washout quantification method in patients with breast cancer under preoperative chemotherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Nineteen patients with breast T2 or T3 tumors were enrolled in a previous study for tumor response evaluation during chemotherapy based on dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI. We retrospectively used the dynamic acquisition data to produce parametric images representing the washout pattern. Two radiologists unaware of the final pathologic results measured the volume of pixels exhibiting washout within the tumor before chemotherapy (volume 1), after two courses of chemotherapy (volume 2), and before surgery after four courses of chemotherapy (volume 3). The interobserver variability and intraobserver variability were calculated to evaluate the reproducibility of our method with the Pearson's correlation coefficient and the concordance correlation coefficient. We correlated the washout changes by means of a Student's t test and noted the histopathologic final outcome. RESULTS: A washout pattern was present in all patients on the initial MR study. The quantification method of the washout changes was reproducible with good interobserver agreement (r = 0.85, p < 10(-5)) and an excellent intraobserver agreement (r = 0.94, p < 10(-5)). A significant decrease of the washout volume was observed after two courses of chemotherapy (p = 0.004), whereas no significant modification was observed between two and four courses of chemotherapy (p = 0.52). CONCLUSION: Quantification of the washout variation in breast tumor based on the use of parametric images is feasible and reproducible. It may add information to the evaluation of tumor response to preoperative therapy.

Imaging of malignant tumours of the long bones in children: monitoring response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and preoperative assessment.

This review focuses on imaging of osteosarcoma and Ewing's sarcoma of the long bones in children during preoperative neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Morphological criteria on plain films and conventional static MRI are insufficiently correlated with histological response. We review the contribution of dynamic MRI, diffusion-weighted MR and nuclear medicine (18FDG-PET) to monitor tumoural necrosis. MRI is currently the best method to evaluate local extension prior to tumour resection, especially to assess the feasibility of conservative surgery. Quantitative models in dynamic MRI and 18FDG-PET are currently being developed in order to find new early prognostic criteria, but for the time being, treatment protocols are still based on the gold standard of histological response.