The subcutaneous abdominal fat and not the intraabdominal fat compartment is associated with anovulation in women with obesity and infertility.

CONTEXT: Abdominal fat contributes to anovulation. OBJECTIVE: We compared body fat distribution measurements and their contribution to anovulation in obese ovulatory and anovulatory infertile women. DESIGN: Seventeen ovulatory and 40 anovulatory women (age, 30 +/- 4 yr; body mass index, 37.7 +/- 6.1 kg/m(2)) participated. Body fat distribution was measured by anthropometrics, dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry, and single-sliced abdominal computed tomography scan. Multiple logistic regression analysis was applied to determine which fat compartments significantly contributed to anovulation. RESULTS: Anovulatory women had a higher waist circumference (113 +/- 11 vs. 104 +/- 9 cm; P < 0.01) and significantly more trunk fat (23.0 +/- 5.3 vs. 19.1 +/- 4.2 kg; P < 0.01) and abdominal fat (4.4 +/- 1.3 kg vs. 3.5 +/- 0.9 kg; P < 0.05) on dual-energy x-ray absorptiometry scan than ovulatory women despite similar body mass index. The volume of intraabdominal fat on single-sliced abdominal computed tomography scan was not significantly different between the two groups (203 +/- 56 vs. 195 +/- 71 cm(3); P = 0.65), but anovulatory women had significantly more sc abdominal fat (SAF) (992 +/- 198 vs. 864 +/- 146 cm(3); P < 0.05). After multiple logistic regression analysis, only trunk fat, abdominal fat, and SAF were associated with anovulation. CONCLUSIONS: Abdominal fat is increased in anovulatory women due to a significant increase in SAF and not in intraabdominal fat. SAF and especially abdominal and trunk fat accumulation are associated with anovulation.

Ultrasonography to quantify hepatic fat content: validation by 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

An abundance of fat stored within the liver, or steatosis, is the beginning of a broad hepatological spectrum, usually referred to as fatty liver disease (FLD). For studies on FLD, quantitative hepatic fat ultrasonography would be an appealing study modality. Objective of this study was to develop a technique for quantifying hepatic fat content by ultrasonography and validate this using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H MRS) as gold standard. Eighteen white volunteers (BMI range 21.0-42.9) were scanned by both ultrasonography and (1)H MRS. Altered ultrasound characteristics, present in the case of FLD, were assessed using a specially developed software program. Various attenuation and textural based indices of FLD were extracted from ultrasound images. Using linear regression analysis, the predictive power of several models (consisting of both attenuation and textural based measures) on log 10-transformed hepatic fat content by (1)H MRS were investigated. The best quantitative model was compared with a qualitative ultrasonography method, as used in clinical care. A model with four ultrasound characteristics could modestly predict the amount of liver fat (adjusted explained variance 43.2%, P = 0.021). Expanding the model to seven ultrasound characteristics increased adjusted explained variance to 60% (P = 0.015), with r = 0.789 (P < 0.001). Comparing this quantitative model with qualitative ultrasonography revealed a significant advantage of the quantitative model in predicting hepatic fat content (P < 0.001). This validation study shows that a combination of computer-assessed ultrasound measures from routine ultrasound images can be used to quantitatively assess hepatic fat content.

Radiofrequency ablation of hepatic metastases from thyroid carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is performed for various types of liver tumors. It might also have a role in the palliative treatment of liver metastases from thyroid carcinoma. SUMMARY: Three patients with liver metastases of thyroid carcinoma were retrieved from our database of 125 patients who had been treated with RFA for liver tumors. In all three patients, the metastases were a sign of widespread disease, and several other treatment modalities had been performed earlier. Two patients had metastases from medullary thyroid carcinoma and had severe diarrhea. The third patient had a rapidly progressive metastasis of a follicular thyroid carcinoma. The aim of the treatment was cytoreduction with amelioration of symptoms (n = 2) and debulking with increased sensitivity for subsequent (131)I treatment. The ablation was performed via laparotomy (n = 1), laparoscopically (n = 1), or percutaneously (n = 1). One patient experienced superficial burn wounds after a long-lasting RFA procedure. Severity of symptoms was reduced significantly after RFA for a prolonged period of time. RFA induced partial tumor necrosis because of hypervascularization of the tumor in one patient. After arterial embolization the second RFA treatment induced total tumor necrosis. Local recurrences at the site of the ablated liver metastases were not encountered during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: RFA is a useful treatment modality in patients with liver metastases from thyroid carcinoma. It should be considered an adjunct to other types of treatment or for those patients in whom more regular treatment modalities are not effective or possible or are associated with increased risks.

Better assessment of nodal metastases by PET/CT fusion compared to side-by-side PET/CT in oesophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Recently, positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) has been introduced in the staging of oesophageal cancer. The impact of PET/CT fusion in comparison with side-by-side PET/CT in these tumours, was analyzed. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In 61 patients, 18-F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG)-PET and multidetector (md)-CT were performed within a two week interval. Software-fusion of md-CT and FDG-PET was correlated with side-by-side FDG-PET/CT reading by two independent investigators. The gold standard was the pathological outcome or clinical evidence of progression during the first year of follow-up. RESULTS: In 18 patients (18/61; 30%), nodal staging improved with software-fusion. The number of nodal metastases increased in five patients and decreased in four patients, leading to up-staging in one patient (2%) and down-staging in three patients (5%). In nine cases (15%), certainty and localization of metastases improved. However, the number of distant metastases did not change and software-fusion did not have an influence on resectability. CONCLUSION: PET/CT fusion substantially improves detection and localization of nodal metastases and may have an impact on locoregional treatment options.

Current relevance of cervical ultrasonography in staging cancer of the esophagus and gastroesophageal junction.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the value of external ultrasonography (US) of the neck in current dedicated preoperative staging of patients with cancer of the esophagus and gastroesophageal junction (GEJ). MATERIALS AND METHODS: We analyzed 180 consecutive patients (154 men, 26 women, and mean age 63 (38-84) years) without palpable cervical lymphadenopathy, treated between January 2001 and March 2006. Suspicious lesions were confirmed by cytological examination. All first 125 consecutive patients (group A) were staged by standard endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS), multidetector computed tomography (md-CT), positron emission tomography with (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG-PET) and external US. The other 55 patients (group B) were prospectively staged according to a revised protocol consisting of routine EUS and md-CT, while PET was only performed in subjects with T3-T4 and/or N1 disease and external US solely on indication. RESULTS: Cervical metastases were found in seven patients from group A (6%) and in five from group B (9%). Twenty percent (4/20) of the tumors above the carina and 5% (8/160) of the distal tumors presented with cervical metastases. All were diagnosed as T3 and T4 tumors on EUS. Eleven of these metastases were detected by external US and nine on md-CT. All nodal metastases were detected by the combination of PET and md-CT. No cervical metastases were missed by the diagnostic algorithm in group B. CONCLUSION: In present staging procedures for esophageal cancer, routine external US seems to have no additional value in detecting cervical metastases. It is still indicated to obtain cytological proof of suspected cervical lesions.

Bone metastases in carcinoid tumors: clinical features, imaging characteristics, and markers of bone metabolism.

UNLABELLED: The purpose of this study was to describe the clinical presentation of bone metastases in patients with carcinoid tumors and to determine the diagnostic value of imaging techniques and markers of bone metabolism. METHODS: This retrospective study was performed on the entire group of patients with carcinoid tumors treated in our hospital from January 1992 to May 1999. Only patients with metastasized tumors were included. RESULTS: Eleven of 90 patients (12%) (95% confidence interval [CI], 5%-19%) with a metastasized carcinoid tumor had symptomatic bone metastases. All bone metastases occurred in 55 patients with midgut carcinoids (20%; 95% CI, 9%-31%). Plain radiography had a sensitivity of 44% (95% CI, 12%-76%); MRI, 100% (95% CI, 61%-100%); bone scintigraphy, 90% (95% CI, 72%-100%); and octreotide scintigraphy, 60% (95% CI, 35%-93%). In 9 patients, both octreotide scintigraphy and bone scintigraphy were performed. Of 45 bone lesions, 22 (49%) were visualized by both modalities, 13 (29%) were visualized with octreotide scintigraphy but not with bone scintigraphy, and 10 (22%) were visualized with bone scintigraphy but not with octreotide scintigraphy. In 2 patients, octreotide scintigraphy and bone scintigraphy provided complementary results. Markers of bone metabolism could not discriminate carcinoid patients from those without bone metastases. The markers of bone metabolism did not reflect the osteolytic or osteoblastic appearance of metastases. CONCLUSION: Pain is the principal symptom of bone metastases in patients with carcinoid tumors. Plain radiography and markers of bone metabolism do not contribute to the diagnosis of bone metastases. MRI has a high sensitivity for bone metastases. Both bone scintigraphy and octreotide scintigraphy have acceptable sensitivity and can provide complementary results.