Gallium scintigraphy in acute panniculitis.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to D Choy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The scintigraphic abnormalities with radionuclide bone scanning observed in a patient with metastatic breast carcinoma associated with hypercalcaemia are described. Abnormal uptake of 99mTc-pyrophosphate was noted in the lungs, stomach, myocardium, kidneys, and thyroid, indicating metastatic visceral calcification. A scan performed 72 h later when she was normocalcaemic showed marked reduction in the accumulation in the myocardium and thyroid. In a further scan, 18 months later, no extraosseous uptake was present. A review of 26 reported cases of visceral metastatic calcification with scintigraphic abnormalities indicates that the changes in this patient were more widespread and that in only two of the previous cases similar total resolution had been observed. The reasons for the discrepancy between the incidence of visceral calcification on autopsy and on scintigraphic examination are discussed in relation to the aetiological factors. It is concluded that bone scanning offers a useful method for identifying visceral calcification, except when associated with uncomplicated renal failure, and is valuable in detecting this abnormality in patients with hypercalcaemia and in the assessment of response to therapy.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Attention is drawn to the various patterns with which the jugular venous reflux may occur in cerebral dynamic studies. The importance of identifying this phenomenon is stressed.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
The local tumor control of 262 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) at median follow-up of 27 months was studied with reference to the paranasopharyngeal and other aspects of extranasopharyngeal extension of tumor, as well as to other possible prognostic factors. Only cranial nerve palsy, oropharyngeal involvement, and paranasopharyngeal extension of tumor were found to be significant in a multivariate analysis using Cox model for factors influencing local tumor control. Other factors and other parameters of extranasopharyngeal extension of tumor, namely, erosion of the base of skull, intracranial extension, and involvement of nasal fossa, were found not be significant. The degree of paranasopharyngeal extension in each side was correlated with scales measuring extranasopharyngeal extension of tumor in other directions (p = 0.001). Although the T stage and the paranasopharyngeal extension were individually found to be well correlated with local tumor control, the prognostic value of paranasopharyngeal extension remained significant among subgroups of patients with T3 and T4 disease (p = 0.1044 and 0.0010, respectively).
Two hundred thirty-two patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma were evaluated for serous otitis media (SOM) at diagnosis. The diagnosis of SOM required the detection of effusion behind the tympanic membrane in association of air-bone gap of 10 dB or more in pure tone audiogram. These patients were also evaluated by computed tomography for the degree of tumor extension. By stepwise logistic regression analysis, the degree of paranasopharyngeal extension of tumor, erosion of petrous temporal bone, and the obliteration of pharyngeal recess were significantly related to the development of SOM, but sex and age were not. The findings of computed tomography may influence the plan of management for SOM in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma at diagnosis.
Three hundred seventy-nine new patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) were followed clinically and the physical examination, including that of the nasopharynx by indirect mirror for symptoms after treatment. At the time of analysis, with a median follow-up of 34.8 months, 47 patients had developed recurrent disease in the nasopharynx and in the immediately adjacent regions. In 31 patients the first clinical features to suggest local recurrence were progressive symptoms (group A). In another 13 patients recurrence of tumor in the nasopharynx was detected by indirect mirror examination (group B). In the remaining three patients, the diagnosis was made during investigation for neck node recurrence. The more common symptoms at diagnosis of local recurrence were headache; cranial nerve palsy involving the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth nerves; and ear and nasal symptoms. Group B patients tended to have less of these symptoms. The presence of tumor was confirmed by fiberscopic examination and biopsy in all group B patients and 14 of 31 group A patients, the tumor was submucosal in the remaining 17 group A patients. The recurrence in group B patients was diagnosed significantly earlier than the group A patients (p = 0.0294), and group A patients suffered from more invasive and extensive disease in comparison with group B patients (p = 0.0044). There were significantly less patients in group A who were amenable to curative brachytherapy (p = 0.0280). Clinical follow-up for local NPC recurrence was found to be useful. More frequent use of fiberscopic examination in the follow-up, especially for those not adequately examined by indirect mirror examination, will improve the detection rate. Cross-sectional imaging techniques and the monitoring of tumor markers may supplement clinical and fiberscopic examinations. An algorithm for diagnosing recurrent NPC and possible treatment are suggested.
Twenty five patients with stage I and II diffuse aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the Waldeyer's ring were reviewed. There were 19 patients with diffuse histiocytic, 4 diffuse lymphocytic poorly differentiated and 2 diffuse mixed lymphoma. Their median age was 51 years. There were 12 males and 13 females. Eight patients had stage I, and 17 had stage II disease. There was a significantly higher incidence of involvement of the left side of the Waldeyer's ring compared to the right (p = 0.0251). Fifteen patients received radiotherapy alone, and ten had radiotherapy and chemotherapy. The median durations of follow-up were 42 (range 8-162) and 44 (range 8-97) months respectively. All patients had complete remission but 9 patients (36 per cent) subsequently had relapse of their lymphomas. Stomach was the commonest site of relapse (44 per cent). The disease free survival and overall survival at 5 years were 59 per cent and 57 per cent respectively. Higher relapse rate was observed in the radiotherapy alone group (60 per cent) as compared to the combined modality therapy group (0 per cent). Patients who received combined modality therapy had significantly superior 5 years disease free survival (100 per cent versus 32 per cent, p less than 0.01) and overall survival (81 per cent versus 40 per cent, p less than 0.05). After radiotherapy alone, patients with stage II disease appeared to have a high relapse rate than those with stage I disease (70 per cent versus 40 per cent) but the difference did not reach statistical significance due to small sample sizes. The histological subtypes did not appear to affect their prognosis. All patients with stage I and II diffuse aggressive non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the Waldeyer's ring should have gastrointestinal barium studies at initial staging, and a prospective randomised study on these patients comparing radiotherapy alone and combined modality therapy should be performed.
Follicular lymphoma is relatively rare in Hong Kong Chinese. Fifty-two patients with follicular lymphoma were reviewed. The histology was nodular lymphocytic poorly differentiated (NLPD) in 75 per cent, nodular mixed (NM) in 21 per cent and nodular histiocytic (NH) in 4 per cent. Our patients appeared to have a higher proportion of NLPD and a lower proportion of NM lymphoma than the western series. Fifty patients were analysed excluding the two patients with NH lymphoma. They had a median age of 50 and a male to female ratio of 0.92. Seventy-two per cent of them presented with asymptomatic lymph node enlargement. Twenty per cent had B symptoms and 32 per cent bulky tumour. Twelve per cent had stage I disease, 2 per cent stage II, 30 per cent stage III and 56 per cent stage IV. A high incidence of bone marrow involvement (48 per cent of all patients) was found. All seven stage I-II patients responded to involved-field radiotherapy alone and none of them has relapsed. The 43 stage III-IV patients were treated with chemotherapy without deferral and a majority of them received CVP (51.1 per cent) or chlorambucil alone (34.9 per cent). The complete response rate of stage III-IV patients was 81 per cent and 26 per cent of the complete responders relapsed. The 5-years disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival of all patients (stage III and IV) were 50 per cent and 65 per cent respectively. The DFS curve showed a pattern of continuous relapses. Stage III patients appeared to have a better complete response rate, a lower relapse rate and superior disease-free survival than stage IV patients but the differences did not reach statistical significance. However, the overall survival of stage III patients was significantly better than stage IV patients (p less than 0.02). Other factors including sex, age, presence of bulky tumour, B symptoms, histologic subtypes and the chemotherapeutic regimes did not significantly affect their prognosis.
A lower incidence of Hodgkin's disease in Orientals has been recognized. Although most Hong Kong Chinese came from the Guandong province of China, the incidence of Hodgkin's disease in Hong Kong Chinese is 9.2 per cent which is more comparable to the low figure of 6 per cent in Japan than the 32 per cent incidence in Guangdong. If this discrepancy in the ethnically similar populations is confirmed, other etiological or promoting factors must be considered. Ninety-two Hong Kong Chinese patients (54 males and 38 females) with Hodgkin's disease were reviewed. The median age was 34 years (range 5-79 years). The histology was lymphocyte predominant in nine (10 per cent), nodular sclerosing in 34 (37 per cent), mixed cellularity in 29 (31 per cent), lymphocyte depleted in nine (10 per cent) and unclassified in 11 (12 per cent). Seventeen per cent had stage Ia disease, 2 per cent Ib, 15 per cent IIa, 11 per cent IIb, 11 per cent IIIa, 9 per cent IIIb, 11 per cent IVa and 24 per cent IVb. Twenty-five of them (27 per cent) were staged by laparotomy. Twelve patients (13 per cent) had bulky disease. Identical to the pattern observed in Caucasians, our patients had an apparent biomodal age distribution, a male predominance and similar distribution of histological subtypes according to the Rye classification. The absence of an early peak in young adulthood and the lower incidence of the nodular sclerosing subtype reported in the Japanese was not observed in our patients. A variety of treatments were given to the 92 patients. Most of the patients with stage I-II disease received radiotherapy except for those with B symptoms, bulky disease or lymphocyte depleted histology, who received chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy. All patients with stage III-IV disease received chemotherapy with or without radiotherapy except for two patients with stage IIIa disease who had total nodal irradiation only. The multivariate analysis revealed that Ann Arbor staging was a significant independent factor determining the disease-free survival of patients in complete remission and the overall survival of all patients. Age was the other independent variable significantly determining the overall survival.
We studied 12 tumours from 11 Chinese patients with primary nasal lymphoma for presence of Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) DNA, using Southern-blot analysis. These results were correlated with immunophenotype and T-cell receptor (TcR) or immunoglobulin gene rearrangement patterns. EBV DNA was detected in all nine tumours with a 'T' phenotype, in both primary and secondary sites. When the structure of the viral genomic termini was studied using the EcoRI-Dhet probe, a single clonal episomal band was demonstrated in five tumour samples, with one other case showing a biclonal pattern. However, none of these cases showed clonal rearrangement of TcR beta chain gene, and TcR gamma rearrangement was found only in one. The lineage of these phenotypic 'T' lymphomas therefore require further studies for confirmation. Two out of three B-lymphomas were also EBV DNA+; clonal EBV DNA was found in one. Their B-lineage was confirmed by detection of clonal immunoglobulin gene rearrangements. The association of EBV with an increasing number of lymphomas of different types highlights the need for continued study into its role in oncogenesis.
The gastrointestinal tract is a common primary extranodal site for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. There is however no uniform consensus on its pathological classification, clinical staging system and management. This paper reports the experience in the management of 425 Chinese patients with primary gastrointestinal lymphoma in Hong Kong from January 1975 to June 1993. There were 230 (54 per cent) males and 195 (46 per cent) females. Their median age was 53 years. The primary sites were: the esophagus in three (1 per cent), stomach in 238 (56 per cent), small intestine in 131 (31 per cent) and large intestine in 53 (12 per cent). According to the Working Formulation, there were 20 (4.7 per cent) small lymphocytic, 10 (2.4 per cent) follicular small cleaved cell, 15 (3.5 per cent) follicular mixed, five (1.2 per cent) follicular large cell, 40 (9.4 per cent) diffuse small cleaved cell, 50 (12 per cent) diffuse mixed, 181 (43 per cent) diffuse large cell, 30 (7.1 per cent) immunoblastic, five (1.2 per cent) lymphoblastic, 10 (2.4 per cent) diffuse small non-cleaved cell and 50 (14 per cent) unclassifiable lymphoma. Immunophenotyping was performed in 199 (47 per cent) patients: 90 per cent B-cell, 7 per cent T-cell and 3 per cent uncertain. According to a Manchester system, 81 (19 per cent) patients had stage I disease, 44 (10 per cent) stage II, 85 (20 per cent) stage III and 215 (51 per cent) stage IV. B symptoms were present in 275 (65 per cent) patients and bulky disease in 104 (25 per cent). Surgery followed by chemotherapy was the mainstay of treatment. Of the 408 patients treated, 63 per cent had a complete remission with relapse rate of 42 per cent. For those with complete remission, 47 per cent were free from disease at 5 years. The overall median survival of all patients was 45 per cent at 5 years. Multivariate analysis revealed that significant independent prognostic factors predicting better survival were young age of < 60 years, low grade histology, stage I and II disease and absence of bulky tumour. For gastric lymphoma, aggressive surgery did not significantly improve their outcome. Chemotherapy appears to play an important role in the management of gastrointestinal lymphoma. Better classification of the primary gastrointestinal lymphoma and more refined stratification of the patients according to the prognostic variables may allow individualization of treatment. Prospective randomized studies are essential to define the relative roles of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
In a prospective study using CT as the initial means of radiologic evaluation in 262 patients with proved nasopharyngeal carcinoma, the paranasopharyngeal space was found to be the most commonly involved region (84.4%), both uni- and bilaterally. Unilateral involvement was found in 44.3% of patients (116/262) and bilateral involvement in 40.1% (105/262). The other structures or regions that were involved, in decreasing order of frequency, were the sphenoid sinus (26.7%), nasal fossa (21.8%), and ethmoid sinus (18.3%). Erosion of the base of the skull and intracranial intracranial extension into the middle cranial fossa were common (31.3% and 12.2%, respectively). The primary tumor in the nasopharynx was found to be contiguous with metastatic upper cervical nodes through paranasopharyngeal extension of tumor in 35 patients (13.4%). A qualitative method to assess the degree of paranasopharyngeal extension is proposed. The extent of paranasopharyngeal extension so evaluated was correlated with other attributes of tumor extent (p = .0001), namely, nasal or oropharyngeal extension, which constitutes a T3-level tumor, and erosion of the base of the skull or orbit, which constitutes a T4-level tumor. The extent of paranasopharyngeal extension was also correlated with local control of the tumors (p = .0001). At a median follow-up of 27 months, only three (7.9%) of the 38 patients with no paranasopharyngeal extension had nasopharyngeal relapse, while 12 (11.2%) of the 107 and 17 (34.7%) of the 49 patients with types 1 and 2 paranasopharyngeal extension, respectively, had nasopharyngeal relapse.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)