RESUMO
This interesting image illustrates an unusual case of inferior vena cava (IVC) syndrome from prostate cancer retroperitoneal adenopathy initially identified with skeletal scintigraphy. IVC syndrome is an infrequent occurrence resulting from extrinsic compression or intraluminal occlusion of the vessel. Whole-body planar skeletal scintigraphy showed a stable left sacroiliac metastasis and increased soft tissue uptake throughout the lower hemibody up to the lower chest level. Computed tomography (CT) demonstrated extrinsic compression of the IVC from metastatic retroperitoneal adenopathy. This represents a rare presentation of IVC syndrome in prostate cancer with characteristic appearance on skeletal scintigraphy of Fisherman's Wader's sign, that should prompt confirmatory anatomic imaging.
RESUMO
Cancer in the dermis of the breast has a poor prognosis. The breast dermis can become malignantly involved primarily in inflammatory breast cancer, through the direct extension of locally advanced breast cancer, or metastatically from an underlying breast mass or a distant primary malignancy (e.g., gastric adenocarcinoma). Breast dermal metastases have the shortest median survival among them. Breast dermal metastases are classified into eight clinicohistopathologic groups, one of which is carcinoma en cuirasse. We present a case of a 52-year-old female with a history of invasive ductal carcinoma, Stage IIIC (pT2N3a), treated with lumpectomy, axillary node dissection, and chemoradiation therapy that recurred as carcinoma en cuirasse breast dermal metastases. Through 18F-fludeoxyglucose positron emission tomography-computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT) and clinical images, the case illustrates the rapid progression and devastating consequences of carcinoma en cuirasse breast dermal metastases over a 4-month period despite optimal therapy. Furthermore, the case emphasizes the sensitivity of 18F-FDG PET-CT to detect pathology in the breast dermis. Finally, the case highlights the crucial role that nuclear medicine physicians play in helping clinical colleagues differentiate between the various breast dermal malignant manifestations and benign mastitis, a common confounder in postradiation patients.
RESUMO
Sporadic supply interruptions of select radiopharmaceuticals on the global market require consideration of alternative agents to support continuity of essential nuclear medicine examinations. During an acute shortage of Xenon-133 and technetium-99 metastable (Tc-99m) diethylene-triamine-pentaacetate (DTPA), our institution used aerosolized Tc-99m hydroxymethylene diphosphonate (HDP), a radiopharmaceutical traditionally used in bone scintigraphy, in lieu of traditional ventilation agents, for two cases of suspected pulmonary embolism. Similar to Tc-99m-DTPA, Tc-99m-HDP was readily available and easily compounded in our pharmacy, and tolerated well by patients. Identical delivery equipment was used for administration of Tc-99m-HDP as that used in Tc-99m-DTPA, and thus, there was no requirement for a negative pressure room. Similar to Tc-99m-DTPA and unlike Xenon-133, Tc-99m-HDP allowed direct comparison of all 8 ventilation-perfusion images. In addition, the cost per dose of Tc-99m-HDP proved to be less than Tc-99m-DTPA. Despite these favorable characteristics of Tc-99m-HDP, our experience identified an important challenge in obtaining an optimal flux override ratio of > 3 in a reasonable time frame while obtaining ventilation and perfusion images sequentially despite reversing the imaging order in an attempt to overcome this limitation. Although our experience with Tc-99m-HDP in these two cases was favorable, more clinical experience and investigation are warranted before Tc-99m-HDP can be incorporated as a standard alternative ventilation agent.
