Successful treatment of primary non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the vulva with radiation therapy.

Vulva, as a primary site of malignant lymphoma in women, is extremely rare. We report herein an 83-year-old patient with a primary, stage IIE vulvar, follicular center cell, B-cell lineage non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL), with an excellent response to radiation therapy and event-free survival of 18 months. Early-stage primary vulvar NHL can be successfully treated only by limited field irradiation.

Sequential pulmonary effects of radiotherapy detected by functional and radiological end points in women with breast cancer.

AIMS: To determine the pulmonary effects of locoregional irradiation on clinical and sub-clinical radiographic and functional end points in women with breast cancer, and whether the course of these end points is affected by laterality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty patients (10 irradiated on the left side and 10 irradiated on the right side) were prospectively evaluated for changes in pulmonary function tests, Tc-99m DTPA (diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid) lung clearance scintigraphy and high-resolution computed tomography (HRCT) at 6, 16 and 52 weeks after radiotherapy. Tc-99m DTPA clearance, expressed as the biological half-time, T(1/2), was computed from the time-activity curves for 10 min for each lung. The irradiated lung volume was calculated for each patient. RESULTS: The mean irradiated lung volume was 6.4% +/- 2 (range 3-11%) for the entire population. In the whole study population, two (10%) patients, who were irradiated on the left side, had mild symptomatic radiation pneumonitis in the follow-up period. There was a statistically significant gradual reduction in all pulmonary function test values during the follow-up period. For patients irradiated on the left side, Tc-99m DTPA clearance T(1/2) values were statistically significantly decreased during the follow-up period (P = 0.03), but the decrease was not statistically significant for patients irradiated on the right side (P = 0.62). Tc-99m DTPA clearance T(1/2) values were statistically significantly decreased in the irradiated lung compared with the opposite lung, and no improvement was seen at week 52 after radiotherapy. The number of patients with changes on HRCT scans increased after radiotherapy, reaching a maximum at 16 weeks, when 80% of patients had changes. There was subsequent partial recovery 52 weeks after radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: Locoregional irradiation for breast cancer may cause sub-clinical irreversible impairment of radiological and functional pulmonary parameters. The increase in clearance rate of Tc-99m DTPA may be more prominent for patients with left-sided breast cancer.

Peutz-Jeghers syndrome combined with breast cancer, cervical carcinoma and ovarian gonadoblastoma: a case report.

Peutz-Jeghers syndrome (PJS) is a rare autosomal dominant condition characterized by gastrointestinal polyps, mucocutaneous pigmentation and an increased risk for cancer. In this report, a 34-year-old woman with PJS associated with a rare ovarian tumor (gonadoblastoma) and synchronous breast and cervical carcinoma is discussed and the relevant literature is reviewed.

Small cell carcinoma of the rectum; report of a case.

Primary small cell undifferentiated carcinoma of the colon and rectum is a relatively rare tumour with an overall incidence of less than 1% among all colorectal cancers. These tumours are highly aggressive as distant metastases occur even when the primary tumour is limited to the submucosa or mucosa. Despite the mean survival being around 6 months, long-term survival may be achieved in patients with localized disease treated with curative resection and adjuvant therapy. We report on a patient with Dukes' C small cell carcinoma (SCC) of the rectum who underwent surgery followed by pelvic irradiation and chemotherapy and achieved long-term survival.

Pituitary metastasis mimicking a macroadenoma from carcinoma of the larynx: a case report.

Metastatic tumors of the pituitary gland are not commonly diagnosed during life in cancer patients. The occurrence of symptomatic lesions is also very unusual and difficult to differentiate clinically and radiologically from pituitary adenomas. Furthermore, a single intrasellar metastasis from laryngeal carcinoma mimicking a pituitary adenoma is an extremely rare pathological finding. We report on the clinical, radiological, and pathological findings in a patient with laryngeal carcinoma who had a symptomatic solitary pituitary gland metastasis that was recognized antemortem.