Subperiostial recurrence of chondroblastoma

AbstractWe present a case of subperiosteal recurrence of chondroblastoma adjacent to the greater trochanter that was initially thought to represent septic arthritis of the hip in a 10-year-old girl. Soft-tissue recurrence of chondroblastoma is very rare, with fewer than ten cases reported in the literature. We demonstrate the recurrence on both CT and MRI. The MRI clearly demonstrates the soft-tissue recurrence and the associated inflammatory changes, with signal characteristics not unlike the primary tumor

A half-second glimpse often lets radiologists identify breast cancer cases even when viewing the mammogram of the opposite breast

Humans are very adept at extracting the “gist” of a scene in a fraction of a second. We have found that radiologists can discriminate normal from abnormal mammograms at above-chance levels after a half-second viewing (d′ ∼ 1) but are at chance in localizing the abnormality. This pattern of results suggests that they are detecting a global signal of abnormality. What are the stimulus properties that might support this ability? We investigated the nature of the gist signal in four experiments by asking radiologists to make detection and localization responses about briefly presented mammograms in which the spatial frequency, symmetry, and/or size of the images was manipulated. We show that the signal is stronger in the higher spatial frequencies. Performance does not depend on detection of breaks in the normal symmetry of left and right breasts. Moreover, above-chance classification is possible using images from the normal breast of a patient with overt signs of cancer only in the other breast. Some signal is present in the portions of the parenchyma (breast tissue) that do not contain a lesion or that are in the contralateral breast. This signal does not appear to be a simple assessment of breast density but rather the detection of the abnormal gist may be based on a widely distributed image statistic, learned by experts. The finding that a global signal, related to disease, can be detected in parenchyma that does not contain a lesion has implications for improving breast cancer detection

Skeletal Muscle Metastasis from Renal Cell Carcinoma : 21 cases and review of the literature

Objectives: This study aimed to raise radiologists’ awareness of skeletal muscle metastases (SMM) in renal cell carcinoma (RCC) cases and to clarify their imaging appearance. Methods: A retrospective analysis was undertaken of 21 patients between 44–75 years old with 72 SMM treated from January 1990 to May 2009 at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, USA. Additionally, 37 patients with 44 SMM from a literature review were analysed. Results: Among the 21 patients, the majority of SMM were asymptomatic and detected via computed tomography (CT). Mean metastasis size was 18.3 mm and the most common site was the trunk muscles (83.3%). The interval between discovery of the primary tumour and metastasis detection ranged up to 234 months. Peripheral enhancement (47.1%) was the most common post-contrast CT pattern and non-contrasted CT lesions were often isodense. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) characteristics were varied. Five lesions with available T1-weighted pre-contrast images were hyperintense to the surrounding muscle. Other organ metastases were present in 20 patients. Of the 44 SMM reported in the literature, the majority were symptomatic. Average metastasis size was 53.4 mm and only 20.5% of SMM were in trunk muscles. The average interval between tumour discovery and metastasis detection was 101 months. Other organ metastases were recorded in 17 out of 29 patients. Conclusion: SMM should always be considered in patients with RCC, even well after primary treatment. SMM from RCC may be invisible on CT without intravenous contrast; contrast-enhanced studies are therefore recommended. SMM are often hyperintense to the surrounding muscle on T1-weighted MRI scans

Computer-Aided Detection of Breast Cancer – Have All Bases Been Covered?

The use of computer-aided detection (CAD) systems in mammography has been the subject of intense research for many years. These systems have been developed with the aim of helping radiologists to detect signs of breast cancer. However, the effectiveness of CAD systems in practice has sparked recent debate. In this commentary, we argue that computer-aided detection will become an increasingly important tool for radiologists in the early detection of breast cancer, but there are some important issues that need to be given greater focus in designing CAD systems if they are to reach their full potential

HENRY WILLIAM RAVENEL, 1814-1887: SOUTH CAROLINA SCIENTIST IN THE CIVIL WAR ERA

Recent historical interest in science in the Old South inspired this biography of mycologist Henry Ravenel (1814-1887). Prior writing on antebellum southern science was done without the benefit of strong monographs on southern scientists or institutions. Writing done in such a vacuum was necessarily very general and distorted in its perspectives. T. Carey Johnson exaggerated the importance of southern science, while Clement Eaton denigrated it, attributing the South's supposed lack in scientific contributions to the effect of two of her major institutions: slavery and religious orthodoxy. Henry Ravenel, though a South Carolina slaveholder and a devout Episcopalian, was also one of a small group of leaders in antebellum American botany. He was a familiar correspondent to such other top American botanists as Asa Gray, Edward Tuckerman, William Sullivant, Moses Ashley Curtis and Alvan Wentworth Chapman. He also corresponded with a number of European scientists, particularly Miles Joseph Berkeley. To Berkeley he sent specimens of fungi together with detailed notes and descriptions. Berkeley would examine his collections and name new species, sometimes sharing authorship with Ravenel. Between 1852 and 1860 Ravenel published a five volume fungus exsiccati, or collection of dried plants. During this early period of his career, Ravenel's residence in the South, ownership of slaves and religious piety presented no impediment to his pursuit of botany. Civil War nearly bankrupted the once-wealthy man. Ravenel returned to botany after the Civil War to earn money by selling collections. He no longer had time to study the theoretical foundations of taxonomy nor the money to purchase botanical books. In addition, for the first time Ravenel suffered some discrimination from northern botanists. The postbellum period, then, is revealed as the time when residence in the South first became a liability to Ravenel's pursuit of botany

Primary sacrococcygeal chordoma with unusual skeletal muscle metastasis

Chordomas are rare neoplasms that do not often metastasize. Of the small percent that do metastasize, they very infrequently involve skeletal muscle. Only a few cases of skeletal muscle metastases have been reported in the literature. We report an unusual case of a patient with a primary sacrococcygeal chordoma who experienced a long period of remission but who subsequently developed recurrence and multiple metastatic lesions to skeletal muscles including the deltoid, triceps, and pectineus