RESUMO
STUDY DESIGN: A case series of dual time-point F-fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (F-FDG PET/CT) for the diagnosis of spinal cord sarcoidosis. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to illustrate three cases of spinal sarcoidosis with occult presentation and subsequent identification with the use of dual time-point F-FDG PET/CT. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA: Sarcoidosis of the spinal cord is very rare and when it occurs without systemic manifestations of disease can be a challenging diagnostic dilemma frequently resulting in the need for spinal cord biopsy in order to establish a diagnosis. METHODS: Case series presentation and report. RESULTS: This manuscript presents a case series experience of dual time-point F-FDG PET/CT for the diagnosis of spinal cord sarcoidosis. We review the cases of three patients who presented with myelopathy and underwent F-FDG DTPI as part of the evaluation for enhancing spinal cord lesions of unknown etiology for 2 years at a university-based cancer hospital. F-FDG DTPI was vital in making the diagnosis of sarcoidosis, and in two of the cases, the patients were able to avoid biopsy, thereby avoiding potential morbidity from an invasive procedure. CONCLUSION: F-FDG PET/CT imaging is a noninvasive imaging technique that can be crucial in the diagnosis of sarcoidosis of the spinal cord and help avoid unnecessary procedures. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.
Assuntos
Fluordesoxiglucose F18 , Compostos Radiofarmacêuticos , Sarcoidose/diagnóstico por imagem , Doenças da Coluna Vertebral/diagnóstico por imagem , Adulto , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Tomografia por Emissão de Pósitrons combinada à Tomografia Computadorizada/métodos , Sarcoidose/patologia , Doenças da Medula Espinal/diagnóstico por imagem , Doenças da Medula Espinal/patologia , Doenças da Coluna Vertebral/patologiaRESUMO
INTRODUCTION: The decision for selecting patients for surgical treatment of metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) is challenging even for experienced surgeons. Recently, the spinal instability neoplastic score (SINS) has been proposed to help surgeons in the evaluation of spinal stability in the setting of spinal metastases. This study aimed to evaluate the correlation between SINS and preoperative visual analog scale (VAS), as well as the pre- and post-operative association of the VAS and neurological function. METHODS: A prospective cohort study was conducted in a tertiary referral cancer center. Seventy-nine patients with MSCC were surgically treated from June 2012 to March 2015. Pain status before and after surgery was assessed using VAS score, and neurological status was evaluated using the American Spine Injury Association Impairment Scale (AIS) before and after surgery. Pain was classified as VAS (0-4) none or mild pain; VAS (5-8) moderate pain; and VAS (9-10) as severe pain. Neurological function was scored as AIS A: Complete deficits, AIS B-D: Incomplete deficits, AIS E: Neurologically intact. SINS degrees were classified as 0-6-stable; 7-12 potentially unstable, and 13-18-unstable. Spearman's correlation coefficient test was utilized for correlation between pain and SINS; Chi-square association test was utilized for evaluating pre- and post-operative pain and AIS, as well as the association between SINS and tumor types. RESULTS: A higher SINS correlates with severe mechanical pain preoperatively (ρ = 0.38, P = 0.001); surgical procedure improved neurological function (P = 0.0001), and decrease pain (P = 0.84). Finally, a higher SINS was also associated with osteolytic tumors (P = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: The SINS correlates with mechanical pain. Surgery provides a significant improvement in pain and neurological status, especially in patients who presented higher SINS scores and some degree of preoperative neurological function.
RESUMO
The purpose of this report is to describe the unique cytological findings of a new recently characterized type of meningioma that has extensive noncalcifying collagenous whorls and glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) expression. This new entity, described by Haberler and colleagues, was named whorling sclerosing variant of meningioma. The patient was a 34-yr-old white man with a large tumor in the brainstem. Intraoperative smear preparations showed a tumor with a large number of solid hyaline masses in a loose background and in focal areas tumor cells formed cohesive nests with a somewhat whorling appearance. The histological sections showed a neoplasia composed of innumerable eosinophilic, collagenous, noncalcified round deposits, cuffed by scattered meningothelial tumor cells. The neoplastic cells showed diffuse cytoplasmic reactivity for EMA and vimentin, as well as positivity to GFAP. This is the first cytological description of this new entity in the literature.