PURPOSE: To investigate the frequency and clinical significance of detected incidental lung nodules found on computed tomography (CT) simulation images for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) and a physician review. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Sixty-seven treatment-naive HCC patients treated with transcatheter arterial chemoembolization and radiotherapy (RT) were included for the study. Portal phase of simulation CT images was used for CAD analysis and a physician review for lung nodule detection. For automated nodule detection, a commercially available CAD system was used. To assess the performance of lung nodule detection for lung metastasis, the sensitivity, negative predictive value (NPV), and positive predictive value (PPV) were calculated. RESULTS: Forty-six patients had incidental nodules detected by CAD with a total of 109 nodules. Only 20 (18.3%) nodules were considered to be significant nodules by a physician review. The number of significant nodules detected by both of CAD or a physician review was 24 in 9 patients. Lung metastases developed in 11 of 46 patients who had any type of nodule. The sensitivities were 58.3% and 100% based on patient number and on the number of nodules, respectively. The NPVs were 91.4% and 100%, respectively. And the PPVs were 77.8% and 91.7%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Incidental detection of metastatic nodules was not an uncommon event. From our study, CAD could be applied to CT simulation images allowing for an increase in detection of metastatic nodules.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Diagnosis* ; Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted ; Humans ; Lung ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiotherapy

Fourty nine patients with squamous cell carcinoma of oral tongue were reviewed retrospectively for the evaluation of clinical manifestation and for the comparison between therapeutic modalites. The gross shape of the tumor was infiltrative in 22, ulcerative in 12, and ulceroinfiltrative type in 10 patients. Direct extension of the tumor was most commonly to the floor of the mouth. The incidence of nodal metastasis generally increased with tumor stage. 55% of the patients showed neck nodal metastasis at the time of diagnosis. Ipsilateral subdigastric node were most commonly involved, followed by submandibular nodes. The 5-year survival rate of patients treated with surgery and radiotherapy was 58.7% in contrast to 21.6% in radiation alone group. Overall 5-year survival rate was 31%. In radiation alone group, half of the patients in stage I, II were locally controlled. But the local control in stage III, IV was much inferior to early lesions. Especially, of 4 patients combined with implantation tecnhnique, 3 were completely controlled. 5-year survival rate of these implanted patients was 50%, 49.4% of patients treated over 7,000 cGy survived 5 years. This was significant in contrast to 6.4% of the group treated below 7,000 cGy. The most common sites of failures were primary sites. In early lesions primary radiotherapy with implantation would be an appropriate treatment in cancer of oral tongue, operation reserved for radiation failure. Operation and adjuvant radiotherapy is recommended in cases of advanced disease.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell* ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Incidence ; Mouth ; Neck ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Radiotherapy ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Tongue* ; Ulcer

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Determination of the optimal radiotherapeutic parameters for radiotherapy of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is still under investigation. The purpose of this study is to identify the risk factors associated with radiation-related morbidity. METHODS: We evaluated one hundred fifty-eight patients, who were given radiotherapy for HCC between January 1992 and March 2000. Radiation-induced liver disease (RILD) was defined as the development of nonmalignant ascites without disease progression and an anicteric elevation of the alkaline phosphatase level by at least twofold. Gastrointestinal toxicity was assessed by using the RTOG-EORTC scale. RESULTS: Six patients (3.8%) displayed RILD. In these patients, three patients had not responded to other previous treatments. Two patients with portal vein thrombosis or huge sized mass, above 10 cm, showed liver toxicity and two other patients presented with Child-Pugh class B liver cirrhosis. Eight patients (5%) had gastro-duodenal ulcers. In one of these 8 patients, the left lobe close to the stomach was involved and two patients had been treated for gastro-duodenal ulcer. In two more patients, the radiation field, with using anterior/posterior radiation ports, covered a significant volume of the gastrointestinal tract. One of eight patients had been irradiated with a large fraction size (250 cGy). CONCLUSIONS: The efforts should be made to reduce the radiation-related complications for hepatocellular carcinoma by considering the volume and the function of remaining liver, the location of tumor, the tumor size and the severity of liver cirrhosis.
Adult ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular/complications/*radiotherapy ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Cirrhosis/diagnosis/*etiology ; Liver Neoplasms/complications/*radiotherapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Peptic Ulcer/etiology ; Radiotherapy Dosage ; Risk Factors

We report the case of a 33-year-old lactating woman who presented with a 10-cm breast abscess. Biopsy of the abscess wall revealed a poorly differentiated invasive ductal carcinoma. The patient had no family history of breast cancer or other risk factors for breast cancer. The disease was considered to be a large noninflammatory invasive breast cancer, for which the patient received neoadjuvant chemotherapy, breast-conserving surgery using axillary dissection (the patient did not consent to a mastectomy), and postoperative radiotherapy. Final histologic examination revealed a 4-cm, triple negative, high-grade adenosquamous carcinoma. At follow-up four years after surgery, the patient was doing well with no signs of recurrence. Adenosquamous carcinoma is an extremely rare disease that mainly presents in low-grade forms. High-grade forms are aggressive and frequently present with axillary involvement. To the best of our knowledge, there has been no report of adenosquamous carcinoma presenting as a breast abscess in the literature. The case we report highlights that, although rare, cancer should be considered in lactating breast abscesses.
Adult ; Breast Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Inflammation ; Lactation ; Risk Factors ; Treatment Outcome

Carcinoma, Medullary ; pathology ; Carcinoma, Renal Cell ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Humans ; Keratins ; metabolism ; Kidney Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; metabolism ; pathology ; radiotherapy ; surgery ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasms, Squamous Cell ; pathology ; Nephrectomy ; Radiotherapy, Adjuvant

OBJECTIVE: To study the assessed value of 64 slice spiral CT perfusion imaging (CTPI) in laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. METHOD: Forty five patients diagnosed with local advanced laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma were selected. Conventional CT and CTPI were performed before treatment and at the time of radiation dose up to 40 Gy. Blood flow, blood volume, mean transit time and surface permeability were measured at the same time. According to the decrease of tumor volume in final examination, patients were divided into sensitive group and insensitive group. The tumor perfusion indexes were compared between groups. RESULT: Blood flow, blood volume, surface permeability after 40Gy treatment were lower than before treatment in both sensitive group and the insensitive group ascended(P<0. 05). The AUC of ROC of blood flow, blood volume, mean transit time and surface permeability were 0. 804, 0. 843, 0. 852 and 0. 826. The sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of blood flow was 89. 7%, 86.8% and 90. 9%. There were 100. 0%, 91. 4% and 93. 7% in blood volume; 100. 0%, 67. 7% and 88. 3% in mean transit time; 91. 2%, 69. 4% and 90. 6% in surface permeability(P<0. 01). CONCLUSION Sixty-four slice spiral CT perfusion imaging is able to assess tumor status of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma after chemotherapy and radiotherapy effectively.
Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Head and Neck Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Humans ; Laryngeal Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; radiotherapy ; Perfusion Imaging ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Squamous Cell Carcinoma of Head and Neck ; Tomography, Spiral Computed ; Tumor Burden

OBJECTIVETo analyze the prognosis and its influencing factors for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with distant metastasis after radical radiotherapy.

METHODSClinical data of 184 cases of nasopharyngeal carcinoma after radical radiotherapy with distant metastases were retrospectively reviewed and the factors affecting prognosis were analyzed.

RESULTSThe median survival time was 12 months for the whole group, and the 1-, 2-, and 3-year survival rates were 50.6%, 30.7% and 20.9%, respectively. Cox univariate analysis showed that the prognosis of patients with metastasis after radiotherapy was significantly related with The N stage, chemotherapy, time interval between the end of radiotherapy and occurrence of distant metastasis, metastatic sites, chemotherapy after metastasis, cycles of chemotherapy and palliative radiotherapy after metastasis (P<0.05), but not significantly related with sex, age, T stage, clinical stage, cycles of chemotherapy, radiation technique and radiation dose for initial treatment (P>0.05). Advanced N stage, no chemotherapy, short time interval between the end of radiotherapy and occurrence of distant metastasis, multiple metastases, no radiotherapy or chemotherapy for metastases were predictive for poor prognosis (P<0.05). Multivariable analysis indicated that factors including N stage at initial diagnosis, metastatic sites, whether or not chemotherapy was given, the time interval between the end of radiotherapy and the occurrence of distant metastasis were independent factors affecting the prognosis of nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with distant metastasis after radiotherapy.

CONCLUSIONSN stage at initial diagnosis, metastatic sites, whether or not chemotherapy was given, the time interval between the end of radiotherapy and the occurrence of distant metastasis are independent factors affecting the prognosis for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with distant metastasis after radiotherapy. Systemic chemotherapy and local palliative radiotherapy are the primary treatment for nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients with metastasis.

The salivary duct carcinoma(Speichelgangcarcinoma) was first applied by Kleinsasser et al7) to a group of carcinomas of the salivary glands that histologically resembled ductal carcinoma of the breast. The criteria for the diagnosis of salivary duct carcinoma are circumscribed epithelial nests, having a papillary, cribriform, and/or solid architecture coupled with central necrosis. The neoplasm occurs beyond the age of 50(median 63 years). Its biologic behavior is highly aggressive; the metastatic and tumor-related death rates were 75% and 73%, respectively. All surviving patients have been treated with combined parotidectomy and radiotherapy. The authors recently experienced a case of salivary duct carcinoma in right parotid gland which was treated with total parotidectomy and postoperative radiotherapy and report with review of literature.
Breast ; Carcinoma, Ductal ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Mortality ; Necrosis ; Parotid Gland* ; Radiotherapy ; Salivary Ducts* ; Salivary Glands

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Anaplastic carcinoma of thyroid gland is a lethal entity: few patients live more than 12 months following the diagnosis. We retrospectively reviewed the experience with this entity at our institute with respect to prognostic factors influencing survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Thirteen cases of anaplastic carcinoma of thyroid gland diagonsed from 1995 to 2000 were analyzed retrospectively. The median age at presentation was 66.2 years; the male/female ratio was 1.17:1: and the most common symptom was a rapidly enlarging neck mass. RESULTS: All but one patient died within one year of diagnosis. Tumor size of less than 7 cm and complete resection of tumor were significant prognostic factors. Patients who had operation with or without radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy survived significantly longer than other patients. Median survival duration was 74 days. CONCLUSION: This study showed that complete resection and multimodal treatment for tumor of size less than 7 cm resulted in prolonged survival for a subgroup of patients with anaplastic thyroid carcinoma.
Carcinoma* ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Neck ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Thyroid Gland* ; Thyroid Neoplasms

The management of pineal region tumors remains controversial. Advocates of a conservative approach emphasize the excellent results of radiotherapy, particularly with germinoma, while a number of recent reports have demonstrated the safety of direct surgery. We analyzed 8 cases of pineal region tumors which had been treated at our institution over the past 7 years. Tissue diagnosis was obtained in 3 patients before irradiation and 5 patients underwent irradiation without histological diagnosis. Among 5 irradiated patients initially, four patients had been achieved complete remission by radiotherapy thus they were presumptively germinoma, but other one patient had no response, so she had been underwent surgery. Among 3 biopsy proven cases, 2 were teratoma and other one was embryonal carcinoma. Complete gross microsurgical excision of well encapsulated tumor was possible in two teratoma cases. MRI and other neuroradiological studies have ben found to be useful in indicating the biological nature and histological type of pineal tumor. So, consideration of MRI scans together with tumor markers and response to small dose irradiation will generally allow a specific diagnosis with a high degree of probability. In this way, germinomas may be selected for radiotherapy and the tumor less likely to response may be subject to primary surgery to obtain complete tumor extirpation or tissue diagnosis.
Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Embryonal ; Diagnosis ; Germinoma ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Pinealoma ; Radiotherapy ; Teratoma ; Biomarkers, Tumor