John M. Harrelson

Metastatic Carcinoma to Skeletal Muscle: A Report of 15 Patients

The records of 15 patients with metastatic carcinoma to skeletal muscle treated between 1979 and the present were reviewed. Fourteen patients were referred with a diagnosis of soft tissue sarcoma and one with suspected infection. There was a previous diagnosis of carcinoma in eight patients but seven patients had no prior diagnosis of a known malignancy. Primary tumors were lung (eight), melanoma (two), gastrointestinal (one), kidney (one), and bladder (one). No primary tumor could be identified in two patients. Local control of metastatic lesions was achieved by radiotherapy in 11 patients as an initial measure. Two patients underwent wide excision and one declined treatment for local tumor control. Eight patients died within 12 months of presentation and survival analysis indicated a 25% overall survival at 60 months. Two patients remained free of disease at 132 months and 72 months. From this study and a review of 52 cases reported in the literature, the authors are unable to find any clinical or radiographic characteristics that distinguish metastatic carcinoma to muscle from soft tissue sarcomas. Surgical resection can be reserved for cases in which radiation does not provide local control.

Bone-grafting in total hip replacement for acetabular protrusion.

Since 1971 we have used homologous and autogenous bone grafts to reinforce the medial acetabular wall when doing a total hip replacement in patients with painful protrusio acetabuli. Thirty-two patients have been followed for a minimum of two years, the longest follow-up being eight years. All grafts appeared to have united roentgeno-graphically within three months, and the protrusion did not progress. In seven patients with a completely absent medial acetabular wall, a protrusio acetabuli ring was used to provide support until the bone graft had healed. Complications included one late dislocation, one pulmonary embolus, two trochanteric non-unins, two fractured trochanters, and one case of loosening of the femoral component. The results of this study suggest that bone-grafting is effective in arresting the progression of acetabular protrusion.

Relationships among tumor temperature, treatment time, and histopathological outcome using preoperative hyperthermia with radiation in soft tissue sarcomas

The lack of an unambiguous thermal dosimetry continues to impede progress in clinical hyperthermia. In an attempt to define better this dosimetry, a model based on the cumulative minutes during which arbitrary percentages of measured tumor temperature points exceeded an index temperature was tested in patients with soft tissue sarcomas treated with preoperative hyperthermia and conventional radiation therapy. Patients received 5000-5040 cGy at 180-200 cGy per fraction. Hyperthermia was delivered 30-60 minutes after radiation therapy and given for 60 minutes. Patients were randomized between one and two hyperthermia treatments per week for a total of five or 10 treatments, respectively. Lesions were excised 4-6 weeks after completion of hyperthermia/radiation therapy. Successful treatment outcome was considered to be the finding of greater than 80% necrosis of the sarcoma upon histopathologic examination of the resected specimen. Forty-five patients were eligible with thermometry data available in 44 patients. An average of 19 interstitial sites were monitored each treatment per tumor. Sixty percent of tumors had a successful histopathologic outcome. Univariate analysis demonstrated that several descriptors of the temperature distribution were strongly related to treatment outcome; more strongly than nonthermometric factors, such as the number of treatments per week, tumor volume and patient age and more strongly than the commonly used temperature descriptors Tmin and Tmax. Descriptors that incorporated both temperature and time were also superior to the more commonly used descriptors Tmin and Tmax. Multivariate stepwise logistic regression analysis revealed that a descriptor of both the hyperthermia treatment time and the frequency distribution of intratumoral temperatures was the strongest predictor of histopathologic outcome and that the best predictive model combined this time/temperature descriptor and one versus two treatment per week grouping. The more conventional temperature descriptor, minimum measured tumor temperature, did not significantly enhance the predictive power of treatment group. Based on these results, we recommend that descriptors based on both the frequency distribution of intratumoral temperatures and hyperthermia treatment time be tested for relationships with treatment outcome in other clinical data bases. Furthermore, we recommend that temperature descriptors that are less sensitive to catheter placement and tumor boundary identification than Tmin and Tmax (such as T90, T50, and T10) be tested prospectively along with other important thermal variables in Phase II trials in further efforts to define a thermal dosimetry for spatially nonuniform temperature distributions.

Evaluation of a Role for 1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 in the Pathogenesis and Treatment of X-linked Hypophosphatemic Rickets and Osteomalacia

Although a defect in renal transport of phosphate seems well established as the primary abnormality underlying the pathogenesis of X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets and osteomalacia, several observations indicate that renal phosphate wasting and hypophosphatemia cannot solely account for the spectrum of abnormalities characteristic of this disease. Thus, in the present study, we investigated the potential role of abnormal vitamin D metabolism in the pathogenesis of this disorder and the effect of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) therapy on both the biochemical abnormalities characteristic of this disease and the osteomalacia. Four untreated patients, ages 14-30 yr, had normocalcemia (9.22+/-0.06 mg/dl); hypophosphatemia (2.25+/-0.11 mg/dl); a decreased renal tubular maximum for the reabsorption of phosphate per liter of glomerular filtrate (2.12+/-0.09 mg/dl); normal serum immunoreactive parathyroid hormone concentration; negative phosphate balance; and bone biopsy evidence of osteomalacia. The serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D(3) concentration was 33.9+/-7.2 ng/ml and, despite hypophosphatemia, the serum level of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) was not increased, but was normal at 30.3+/-2.8 pg/ml. These data suggested that abnormal homeostasis of vitamin D metabolism might be a second defect central to the phenotypic expression of X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia. This hypothesis was supported by evaluation of the long-term response to pharmacological amounts of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) therapy in three subjects. The treatment regimen resulted in elevation of the serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels to values in the supraphysiological range. Moreover, the serum phosphate and renal tubular maximum for the reabsorption of phosphate per liter of glomerular filtrate increased towards normal whereas the phosphate balance became markedly positive. Most importantly, however, repeat bone biopsies revealed that therapy had positively affected the osteomalacic component of the disease, resulting in normalization of the mineralization front activity. Indeed, a central role for 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) in the mineralization of the osteomalacic bone is suggested by the linear relationship between the serum level of this active vitamin D metabolite and the mineralization front activity. We, therefore, suggest that a relative deficiency of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D(3) is a factor in the pathogenesis of X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets and osteomalacia and may modulate the phenotypic expression of this disease.

Osteomalacia After Parathyroidectomy in Patients with Uremia

Five patients on maintenance dialysis had symptoms of osteomalacia, proven by biopsy, after parathyroidectomy. In all five patients clinical and radiographic manifestations of secondary hyperparathyroidism were present before surgery, and in two patients preoperative biopsy of bone confirmed the existence of osteitis fibrosa. Like previously described patients with osteomalacia all five had multiple fractures and normal or high serum calcium concentrations that rose to abnormally high values on treatment with vitamin D or dihydrotachysterol. Quantitative histomorphometry of biopsy after parathyroidectomy showed no residual parathyroid hormone effect and nearly complete cessation of mineralization. Four patients had forearm autografts of parathyroid tissue that appeared to be functioning at very low rates according to paired venous sampling, and all five patients had relatively low circulating concentrations of parathyroid hormone. This and earlier experiences reported by others suggest that secondary hyperparathyroidism may have an important facilitative role in the mineralization of bone in uremic patients.

Pyomyositis in a temperate climate. Presentation, diagnosis, and treatment.

The cases of eighteen patients who were treated for pyomyositis between 1970 and 1988 were evaluated. The diagnosis was often delayed because other primary diagnoses were considered, including muscle strain, synovitis, thrombophlebitis, and neoplasm, and because the symptoms were vague and prolonged (maximum duration, one year). The muscles around the hip and thigh were most commonly involved (twelve patients), and Staphylococcus aureus most commonly grew on culture (twelve patients). Computed tomography aided in the accurate diagnosis of the infection and of the extent of involvement. Incision, drainage, and antibiotic therapy eradicated the infection in all patients, and they had no residual functional limitations and minimum residual symptoms.

Calcification of Entheses Associated with X-Linked Hypophosphatemic Osteomalacia

We undertook a retrospective analysis of 26 patients with X-linked hypophosphatemic osteomalacia (or rickets), whose ages ranged from 1 to 62 years and who were from 11 different kindreds, to determine the prevalence and clinical characteristics of a unique disorder of the entheses (tendons, ligaments, and joint capsules). We found a generalized involvement of the entheses, with exuberant calcification of tendon and ligament insertions and of joint capsules, in 69 per cent of the subjects. The prevalence and extent of disease increased with age but were not correlated with sex. Commonly affected sites included the hand and sacroiliac joints. Histologic evaluation in a selected patient revealed intratendinous lamellar bone but no inflammatory cells. Our observations indicate that this disorder is an integral part of X-linked hypophosphatemic osteomalacia and exhibits clinical, radiographic, and histologic characteristics that differentiate it from degenerative disorders of these tissues and seronegative spondyloarthropathies.

Hypophosphatemic Osteomalacia: Association with Prostatic Carcinoma

Hypophosphatemic osteomalacia that remits after resection of a coexisting tumor has been described in 35 patients. Because the associated neoplasms have been of mesenchymal origin, it has been inferred that this tumor-induced osteomalacia syndrome is uniquely related to tumours of this derivation. However, in the present investigation we studied subjects with coincident hypophosphatemia and prostatic carcinoma to ascertain whether this endodermal malignancy causes the tumor-induced osteomalacia syndrome. The hypophosphatemic patients had renal phosphate wasting, gastrointestinal malabsorption of calcium and phosphate, and negative phosphate balance. Moreover, bone biopsies showed histomorphologic changes indicative of osteomalacia. Although widespread metastases precluded establishing the diagnosis of tumor-induced osteomalacia by resection of the tumor, a series of studied excluded alternate causes for the osteomalacia. Further, affected subjects had a normal serum concentration of 25-hydroxyvitamin D, 28.0 +/- 8.3 ng/mL, and serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels were low, 15.0 +/- 1.0 pg/mL, characteristic of the tumor-induced osteomalacia syndrome. Thus, prostatic carcinoma, although an endodermal malignancy, may cause the tumor-induced osteomalacia syndrome.

Healing of bone disease in X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets/osteomalacia. Induction and maintenance with phosphorus and calcitriol.

Although conventional therapy (pharmacologic doses of vitamin D and phosphorus supplementation) is usually successful in healing the rachitic bone lesion in patients with X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets, it does not heal the coexistent osteomalacia. Because serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels are inappropriately low in these patients and high calcitriol concentrations may be required to heal the osteomalacia, we chose to treat five affected subjects with high doses of calcitriol (68.2 +/- 10.0 ng/kg total body weight/d) and supplemental phosphorus (1-2 g/d) performing metabolic studies and bone biopsies before and after 5-8 mo of this therapy in each individual. Of these five patients, three (aged 13, 13, and 19 yr) were receiving conventional treatment at the inception of the study and therefore showed base-line serum phosphorus concentrations within the normal range. The remaining two untreated patients (aged 2 and 37 yr) displayed characteristic hypophosphatemia before calcitriol therapy. All five patients demonstrated serum calcitriol levels in the low normal range (22.5 +/- 3.2 pg/ml), impaired renal phosphorus conservation (tubular maximum for the reabsorption of phosphate per deciliter of glomerular filtrate, 2.13 +/- 0.20 mg/dl), and osteomalacia on bone biopsy (relative osteoid volume, 14.4 +/- 1.7%; mean osteoid seam width, 27.7 +/- 3.7 micron; mineral apposition rate, 0.46 +/- 0.12 micron/d). On high doses of calcitriol, serum 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D levels rose into the supraphysiologic range (74.1 +/- 3.8 pg/ml) with an associated increment in the serum phosphorus concentration (2.82 +/- 0.19 to 3.78 +/- 0.32 mg/dl) and improvement of the renal tubular maximum for phosphate reabsorption (3.17 +/- 0.22 mg/dl). The serum calcium rose in each patient while the immunoactive parathyroid hormone concentration measured by three different assays remained within the normal range. Most importantly, repeat bone biopsies showed that high doses of calcitriol and phosphorus supplements had reversed the mineralization defect in all patients (mineral apposition rate, 0.88 +/- 0.04 micron/d) and consequently reduced parameters of bone osteoid content to normal (relative osteoid volume, 4.1 +/- 0.7%; mean osteoid seam width, 11.0 +/- 1.0 micron). Complications (hypercalcemia and hypercalciuria) ensued in four of these five patients within 1-17 mo of documented bone healing, necessitating reduction of calcitriol doses to a mean of 1.6 +/- 0.2 micrograms/d (28 +/- 4 ng/kg ideal body weight per day). At follow-up bone biopsy, these four subjects continued to manifest normal bone mineralization dynamics (mineral apposition rate, 0.88 +/-0.10 micrometer/d) on reduced doses of 1.25-dihydroxyvitamin D with phosphorus supplements (2 g/d) for a mean of 21.3 +/- 1.3 mo after bone healing was first documented. Static histomorphometric parameters also remained normal (relative osteoid volume, 1.5 +/- 0.4%; mean osteoid seam width, 13.5 +/- 0.8 micrometer). These data indicate that administration of supraphysiologic amounts of calcitriol, in conjunction with oral phosphorus, results in complete healing of vitamin D resistant osteomalacia in patients with X-linked hypophosphatemic rickets. Although complications predictably require calcitriol dose reductions once healing is achieved, continued bone healing can be maintained for up to 1 yr with lower doses of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D and continued phosphorus supplementation.

Chondrosarcoma of bone: analysis of 108 cases and evaluation for predictors of outcome.

Chondrosarcoma is the second most common malignant bone tumor and is relatively unresponsive to chemotherapy and radiation regimens. In addition, the clinical course of chondrosarcoma is difficult to predict. The purpose of this study was to review the authors’ experience with chondrosarcoma and ascertain any factors related to prognosis and clinical outcome. The medical records of 108 patients followed up for a minimum of 2 years were retrospectively reviewed. There were 31 low-grade and 77 high-grade chondrosarcomas. One hundred one patients underwent surgical resection. There was a statistically significant association between positive margins and local recurrence, metastasis, and death. Tumor grade was not predictive of outcome. Proliferation indices (MIB-1 expression determination through immunohistochemistry) were quantitated in 39 patients. A significant association was seen between MIB-1 expression and recurrence and death. Thus, objective quantitation of tumor proliferation was more predictive than was histologic grade of outcome in chondrosarcoma. Although histologic grade continues to be the standard grading system for chondrosarcoma, the current study contributes to ongoing research and validation of alternative techniques that may be more reliable in guiding prognosis and treatment of chondrosarcoma.