Investigation of differences of sacral and vertebral bone mineral densities before and after radiotherapy in patients with locally advanced rectal cancer.

PURPOSE: Radiotherapy is a treatment method performed using ionizing radiation on cancer patients either alone or with surgery and/or chemotherapy. Although modern radiotherapy techniques provide a significant advantage in protecting healthy tissues, it is inevitable that normal tissues are also located in the areas targeted by radiations. In this study, we aimed to examine the bone mineral density changes in bone structures commonly included in the irradiated area such as, L5 vertebra, sacrum, and femur heads, in patients who have received pelvic radiotherapy; and the relationship between these changes with radiation dose. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Patients included in the study had been previously diagnosed with rectal cancer, which were operated or not. Preoperative or postoperative pelvic radiotherapy was planned for all patients. In terms of convenience when comparing with future scans, all densitometry and CT scans were performed with the same devices. Fifteen patients were included in the study. In order to determine the dose of radiation each identified area had taken after radiotherapy, the sacrum, L5 vertebra, bilateral femoral heads, and L1 regions were contoured in the CT scans in which treatment planning was done. Sagittal cross-sectional images were taken advantage of while these regions were being contoured. RESULTS: Bone mineral density was evaluated with CT and dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry before and after the treatment. The regions that have theoretically been exposed to irradiation, such as L5, sacrum, left to right femur were found to have significant difference in terms of bone density. According to CT evaluation, there was a significant decrease in bone intensity of L5, sacrum, left and right femurs. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry assessment revealed that the whole of the left femoral head, left femur neck and Ward's region were significantly affected by radiotherapy. However, there was no significant difference in the sacrum and L5 vertebra before and after radiotherapy. CONCLUSION: More accurate results could be achieved if the same study was conducted on a larger patient population, with a longer follow-up period. When the reduction in bone density is at maximum or a cure is likely in a long-term period, bone mineral density could be determined by measurements performed at regular intervals.

Spinal cord ependymomas in adults: analysis of 15 cases.

This retrospective analysis was performed to examine the outcome of patients with spinal cord ependymomas treated with surgery and postoperative radiation therapy between 1982 and 1998. There were 10 male and 5 female patients, ranging from 16 to 74 years of age with a median age of 38 years. Surgery was gross total resection in 2 patients, subtotal resection in 10, biopsy in 3. All patients received radiation therapy with a total dose of 40-56 Gy. The 5 and 10 year overall survival rates were 83.3 and 83.3%, respectively. Twelve patients are still alive at a median follow-up period of 70 months. Of the 15 patients, 6 developed recurrent disease on follow-up. The median time to recurrence was 45 months (range: 24-80 months). Local failure within the initial irradiated volume occurred in 3 out of 6 patients who received less than 45 Gy and 2 out of 8 patients treated with more than 45 Gy. Four out of the six failures were salvaged with additional treatment. Re-irradiation was used as a part of salvage or sole treatment in 3 cases. The patient who was salvaged with radiation therapy only died of disease progression 41 months following recurrence and the other two who received a combination of surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy were still alive 57 and 30 months following relapse. The present study shows that surgery and post-operative radiation treatment for spinal ependymoma patients resulted in high survival rates. Patients with residual disease after surgery should be treated with radiation therapy with a dose of more than 45 Gy. Re-irradiation may be the treatment of choice for recurrent patients having less than complete resection or no surgery.

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.