The Value of Hormone Receptor Assessment in Ultrasound Guided Core Needle Biopsy of the Breast.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in Western countries after skin tumors. Successful treatment depends on many factors, relies on clinical examination, diagnostic procedures, pathologic evaluation, and good therapy decision. The Pathologic diagnosis should be the determining factor in the decision on therapeutic approach. There are several methods of obtaining tissue samples. The percutaneous ultrasound guided breast Core needle biopsy (CNB) is one of them. The Aim of this Study is to evaluate our experience in the accuracy of hormone receptors assessment in ultrasound guided CNB. In our institution, in last 12 month 60 women (with 67 lesions) underwent Breast CNB. The CNB was performed with 16 Gauge semiautomatic biopsy needle with 15 Gauge coordinated introducer needle. 3-6 specimen (mean 4) were taken during the procedure. We analyzed five factors (histological type, histological grade, estrogen and progesterone receptor status, and HER2 from the biopsied sample. All results were presented at the Multidisciplinary Oncology Team. In addition to demographic data and morphological features of the lesion, we analyzed five pathological factors (histological type, histological grade, estrogen and progesterone receptor status, and HER2 from the biopsied sample. All results were presented at the Multidisciplinary Oncology Team. Ultrasound-guided CNB has proven to be a reliable technique for performing a biopsy for breast. It is a good and reliable, complication free method, for preoperative staging, operative planning as well for prognostic value. It is a cost-effective method, can be performed quickly and in outpatient population, does not deform the breast and multiple lesions can be biopsied. This technique shows a high sensitivity value and offers many advantages over other imaging methods to guide a biopsy. All advantages have made this technique the most widespread used technique to perform a biopsy for a suspicious breast lesion.

A case of transient constrictive pericarditis in a 42-year-old patient.

We report a case of 42 year old patient with acute idiopathic pericarditis in whom we describe transient cardiac constriction, consisting of the temporary development of features of constrictive pericarditis with subsequent return to normality after medical therapy alone. After a mean of 6 months, there have been no recurrences of constrictive physiology or clinical symptoms. The results of our study suggest that patients who have constrictive features early in the course of their illness and are hemodynamically stable should be considered for a trial of conservative therapy before pericardiectomy is pursued.

Evaluation of circle of willis aneurysms with spiral computed tomographic angiography.

The aim of this retrospective study is to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of spiral computed tomographic angiograohy (SCTA) in the detection of intracranial aneurysms. Patients were included in this study on the ground of the SCTA, digital subtraction angiography, magnetic resonance angiography, neurosurgeons operative findings and autopsy reports. Scanning protocol was slice thickness of 1mm, reconstruction interval of 0.5 mm, pitch 1. Flow rate was 3-4 ml/s, with standard scan delay time of 15-20s. In 18 patients with average age of 49.3 years SCTA results were positive for cerebral aneurysms and confirmed with other methods. On a per aneurysm basis SCTA sensitivity for detection of aneurysms was 89.47% specificity was 86.96%, positive predictive value of 85.00% and negative predictive value of 90.91%. SCTA should be used for the detection of cerebral aneurysms, especially for aneurysms with maximum diameter larger than 5mm.

[Spiral CT angiography in practice]. / Spiralna CT angiografija u praksi.

Incidence of vascular diseases and development of new radiologic techniques in the last three decades has given strong impuls for introduction of non-invasive vascular diagnostic methods. Thanks to the introduction of Doppler ultrasound, new types of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) scanners, non-invasive vascular diagnostic methods are replacing conventional invasive (catheter) angiographic methods. Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) is a noninvasive vascular diagnostic method based on continuous scanning with CT scanner during intravenous application of contrast material. Performing of CTA is possible after introduction of spiral CT technique whose characteristics are short imaging time and volumetric data acquisition. The main goal of this article, based on our experiences, is to review the role of CTA, performed on single-slice CT scanner, in managment of patients with vascular pathology.