Edgard Eduard Engel

Fungal infection by Paracoccidioides brasiliensis mimicking bone tumor

Paracoccidioides brasiliensis infection causes a systemic mycosis originally described in Latin America but with current reports of worldwide distribution. The clinical presentation of paracoccidiodomycosis as an isolated long‐bone lesion in children is quite unusual. This article describes a 10‐year‐old male with a lytic femoral bone lesion caused by P. brasiliensis infection that was first suspected of being of neoplasic etiology. The text also emphasizes the importance of including endemic fungal infections in the differential diagnosis of bone lesions. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2008;50:1284–1286.

Incidental enchondromas at knee magnetic resonance imaging: intraobserver and interobserver agreement and prevalence of imaging findings

Objetivo Avaliar a confiabilidade intra e interobservador na identificacao de encondromas incidentais na ressonância magnetica de joelho e estudar a prevalencia das caracteristicas de imagens destas lesoes. Materiais e Metodos Estudo retrospectivo, com revisao de 326 ressonâncias magneticas do joelho realizadas entre novembro de 2009 e setembro de 2010. As imagens foram analisadas por dois medicos especialistas em radiologia musculoesqueletica, de forma independente e as cegas, visando a identificar encondromas incidentais, presenca de focos com sinal semelhante a medula ossea e focos de ausencia de sinal sugestivos de calcificacoes no interior dos encondromas. Foram realizadas analises das concordâncias inter e intraobservador. Resultados Foram identificadas 11 lesoes compativeis com encondromas (3,3%). A concordância interobservador para presenca de encondroma foi alta. A prevalencia de focos de sinal de medula ossea no interior dos encondromas foi 54,55% e de focos sugestivos de calcificacao foi 36,36%. A concordância intraobservador para focos de sinal de medula ossea nos encondromas foi perfeita, e a concordância interobservador foi alta. Conclusao A prevalencia de encondromas incidentais no trabalho atual foi consistente com a literatura. Foi observada excelente concordância no estudo de confiabilidade da identificacao de encondromas e de suas caracteristicas, notando-se maior prevalencia de focos com sinal de gordura do que de calcificacoes.

Mechanical testing of the tension band wire fixation in the proximal femur

The mechanical stability of proximal femoral osteotomies fixed by the tension band wire technique was studied in flexion-compression and torsion tests. The fixation consisted in crossing the section with two Kirschner wires and with a wire cerclage applied to the tension surface. The study was conducted in three steps. First, cyclinders of wood were cut either transversely or at 30° of inclination in relation to the long axis of the specimen, and fixed with two Kirschner wires and a wire cerclage. We concluded that the inclination of the plane of section significantly increased the stability of fixation. No significant difference was observed when oblique sections were made in the reverse orientation. Second, 30° subtrochanteric varus osteotomies were performed in dog femurs, so that the section plane was transverse in one group and oblique in another, after closing the osteotomy. In both groups the fixation was achieved by two Kirschner wires that crossed the osteotomy and a wire cerclage placed on the lateral cortex (tension surface). We concluded that inclination of the osteotomy plane increased the stability of osteosynthesis in bone specimens, as already seen with the wood pieces. Third, the stability of tension band wire fixation was compared with that provided by the AO/ASIF paediatric angled plate. Varus osteotomies (30°) were created at the subtrochanteric level of paired dog femurs. On one side, the femur was fixed with Kirschner wires and a wire cerclage as described previously. For the other femur, the osteotomy was fixed with the angled plate. We found that both types of fixation presented the same stability in flexion-compression tests. However, under torsion the tension band wire fixation was 30%–50% less stable than the plate fixation.

Diagnostic performance of magnetic resonance imaging in the assessment of periosteal reactions in bone sarcomas using conventional radiography as the reference

Objective: To evaluate the performance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in detecting periosteal reactions and to compare MRI and conventional radiography (CR) in terms of the classification of periosteal reactions. Materials and Methods: Retrospective study of 42 consecutive patients (mean age, 22 years; 20 men) with a confirmed diagnosis of osteosarcoma or Ewings sarcoma, MRI and CR images having been acquired pretreatment. Three blinded radiologists detected periosteal reactions and evaluated each periosteal reaction subtype in CR and MRI images: Codmans triangle; laminated; and spiculated. The CR was used as a benchmark to calculate the diagnostic performance. We used the kappa coefficient to assess interobserver reproducibility. A two-tailed Fishers exact test was used in order to assess contingency between CR and MRI classifications. Results: In the detection of periosteal reactions, MRI showed high specificity, a high negative predictive value, and low-to-moderate sensitivity. For CR and for MRI, the interobserver agreement for periosteal reaction was almost perfect, whereas, for the classification of different subtypes of periosteal reaction, it was higher for the Codmans triangle subtype and lower for the spiculated subtype. There was no significant difference between MRI and CR in terms of the classifications (p < 0.05). Conclusion: We found no difference between MRI and CR in terms of their ability to classify periosteal reactions. MRI showed high specificity and almost perfect interobserver agreement for the detection of periosteal reactions. The interobserver agreement was variable for the different subtypes of periosteal reaction.

Ressonância magnética na avaliação das reações periosteais

The objective of the present essay was to encourage a careful evaluation of periosteal reactions on magnetic resonance images. The initial approach to bone lesions is made by conventional radiography and, based on the imaging findings, periosteal reactions are classified into classical subtypes. Although magnetic resonance imaging is considered as the gold standard for local staging of bone tumors, the utilization of such method in the study of periosteal reactions related to focal bone lesions has been poorly emphasized, with relatively few studies approaching this subject. The literature review revealed a study describing an experimental animal model of osteomyelitis suggesting that magnetic resonance imaging is superior to other imaging methods in the early identification of periosteal reactions. Another study has suggested a good correlation between conventional radiography and magnetic resonance imaging in the identification and classification of periosteal reactions in cases of osteosarcoma. The present essay illustrates cases of periosteal reactions observed at magnetic resonance imaging in correlation with findings of conventional radiography or other imaging methods.

Osteosarcoma arising from osteochondroma of the tibia: case report and cytogenetic findings

Osteochondroma is a cartilage capped benign tumor developing mainly at the juxta-epiphyseal region of long bones. The rate of malignant transformation, mainly into chondrosarcoma, is estimated to be less than 1-3%. Transformation into osteosarcoma is very rare and has been reported only thirteen times. There is little information on treatment and outcome. We report the case of a secondary osteosarcoma arising in the left tibia of a 23-year-old male, 10 years after the initial diagnosis of osteochondroma and after two partial resections. Malignant transformation occurred at the stalk and not at the cartilage cap, as would normally be expected. Chromosome banding analysis revealed the karyotype: 46,XY, t(3;13)(q21;q34) [2]/46,XY [18]. Records from additional cases will help determine the parameters that define these rare secondary bone lesions.

Cryptic SYT/SXX1 fusion gene in high-grade biphasic synovial sarcoma with unique complex rearrangement and extensive BCL2 overexpression

Synovial sarcomas are high-grade malignant mesenchymal tumors that account for 10% of all soft-tissue sarcomas. Almost 95% of these tumors are characterized by a nonrandom chromosomal abnormality, t(X;18)(p11.2;q11.2), that is observed in both biphasic and monophasic variants. In this article, we present the case of a 57-year-old woman diagnosed with high-grade biphasic synovial sarcoma in which conventional cytogenetic analysis revealed the constant presence of a unique t(18;22)(q12;q13), in addition to trisomy 8. The rearrangement was confirmed by fluorescence in situ hybridization. The use of the whole chromosome painting probes WCPX did not detect any rearrangements involving chromosome X, although reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis demonstrated the conspicuous presence of a SYT/SXX1 fusion gene. Spectral karyotyping (SKY) was also performed and revealed an insertion of material from chromosome 18 into one of the X chromosomes at position Xp11.2. Thus, the karyotype was subsequently interpreted as 47,X,der(X)ins(X;18)(p11.2;q11.2q11.2),der(18)del(18)(q11.2q11.2)t(18;22)(q12;q13),der(22)t(18;22). Real-time PCR analysis of BCL2 expression in the tumor sample showed a 433-fold increase. This rare finding exemplifies that thorough molecular-cytogenetic analyses are required to elucidate complex and/or cryptic tumor-specific translocations.

Cytogenetic findings in an epithelioid sarcoma with angiomatoid features. A case report

Epithelioid sarcoma is a rare, aggressive soft tissue tumor of unknown histogenesis showing predominantly epithelioid cytomorphology. We conducted a conventional and molecular cytogenetic study of a 27-year-old male with epithelioid sarcoma with angiomatoid features. Cytogenetic analysis of epithelioid sarcoma metaphase spreads by GTG-banding revealed a diploid chromosome complement with structural and numerical aberrations. Comparative genomic hybridization analysis demonstrated the amplification of 3p24-pter, 4p15.2-p16 and 18q23, while chromosome losses involved 3p13-p14, 3q24-q26.1, 9q21, and 11q21. Fluorescence in situ hybridization assessment showed normal hybridization patterns for the C-MYC and CCND1 loci; CCND1 RNA overexpression was detected by real-time polymerase chain reaction analysis. Genetic evaluation of this rare condition may be useful in determining if epithelioid sarcoma is associated with a distinct genetic background.

CT-guided percutaneous drilling is a safe and reliable method of treating osteoid osteomas

Computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous drilling is an alternative for osteoid osteoma treatment. This study aims to evaluate the remodeling of the drill orifice. The success rate and complications were also recorded and compared with other treatment methods.Fifteen patients with an average age of fourteen years (ranging from 4 to 25) submitted to CT-guided percutaneous drilling between 2003 and 2009 were retrospectively analyzed according to clinical and radiological criteria.Fourteen cases showed complete alleviation of pain one week after surgery. No relapse was detected even in the subject who continued complaining of pain. All patients were treated with a day-hospital regimen and were discharged with partial weight bearing. Total weight bearing was allowed after one month, and sports were allowed after consolidation, which occurred in all but one case after the third month. One patient, who did not follow our medical advice, returned to sports activities after two weeks and experienced a fracture as a result. Atrophy of the vastus lateralis muscle developed after the procedure in another patient.Our case series suggests that this method is reliable and safe. The level of complexity is comparable with other minimally invasive percutaneous procedures. The cost is low because there is no need to buy probes or other equipment. The negative points include weakening of the bone and the logistical problem of assembling the orthopedic surgeon, radiologist, and anesthesiologist in the tomography room.

Giant thrombosed venous aneurysm in the calf: MRI characteristics and the target sign

Primary venous aneurysms are not as common as arterial aneurysms. Venous aneurysms have been described in the popliteal, jugular and saphenous veins but are rarely observed in other veins such as the visceral veins.1–3 A popliteal venous aneurysm (PVA) is occasionally characterized by local signs and symptoms and notably may cause fatal complications, such as pulmonary embolism and other thromboembolic episodes, if it remains undiagnosed or untreated. Although many cases of popliteal venous aneurysms have been reported, to date, there have been no previous descriptions of the MRI features of PVAs. The present case study describes a giant thrombosed venous aneurysm in the calf that simulated a soft tissue mass in its clinical presentation. The thrombosed venous aneurysm presentation, as observed via MRI, showed characteristics that could represent potential pitfalls resulting in a misinterpretation of the lesion as a peripheral nerve tumor.