A rare case of osteogenic sarcoma (OGS) of the left humerus metastasizing to the right breast is presented. This lesion was detected by serendipitous observation on (99m)Tc-MDP skeletal scintigraphy that demonstrated a rounded focus just outside the skeletal outline of the right chest. The focus remained at a similar location on repeat postwash view. Clinical examination revealed a breast mass corresponding to the site of uptake, and a biopsy of this mass revealed it to be a metastasis of osteogenic sarcoma. The present case demonstrates a rare site of metastasis from OGS of the left humerus to the contralateral breast and hence is reported here as an unusual case vignette.

PURPOSE: 2-Deoxy-2-[F-18]fluoro-D-glucose (FDG) uptake may be a useful surrogate marker for proliferation index, but the correlation has not always been clear-cut. Previous research by our group suggests that FDG-positron emission tomography (PET) is sensitive in detecting triple negative breast cancer. We therefore performed a pilot study to test if FDG uptake correlated with proliferation index in women with triple negative cancer. PROCEDURES: To determine whether proliferation index correlates with metabolic uptake of FDG in women with triple negative breast cancer, we performed a retrospective analysis correlating %Ki67 nuclear stain with tumor maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) in a group of 41 women, 22 with triple negative and 19 with non-triple negative breast cancer. RESULTS: As expected,[18F]-PET imaging was significantly more sensitive in detecting triple negative breast cancer than non-triple negative breast cancer, 95.5% vs 68.4%(p = 0.036). In general, SUVmax and %Ki67 nuclear stain values rise as histologic grade worsens. Histologic grade of triple negative breast cancer was more often poorly differentiated than non-triple negative cancer (p = 0.001). SUVmax correlated with %Ki67 nuclear staining in our entire cohort (spearman correlation = 0.485, p = 0.002). Moreover, this significant correlation appeared to be driven primarily by a subset of women with triple negative cancer (spearman correlation = 0.497, p = 0.019). CONCLUSIONS: Degree of tumor FDG uptake correlated significantly with proliferation index in women with triple negative breast cancer suggesting a potential role of FDG-PET in treatment response monitoring for this group of women. Future studies are necessary to define the role of PET imaging as a non-invasive means to monitor breast cancer treatment response in the neoadjuvant setting.

Assessment of Quality of Life in Epilepsy has currently been emphasized to provide comprehensive care to patients. AIM: To develop and standardize and assess the psychometric properties of Bengali version of QOLIE-10 and to assess the relationship of quality of life with seizure variables and presence of psychiatric morbidity. DESIGN: English QOLIE-10 was translated into Bengali by a translation committee using translation-re-translation technique. Inter-rater reliability between the English and Bengali version was assessed during initial practice session held amongst 20 bilingual patients. It was found that item 3 (related to driving) was reported to have difficulty in answering by all the patients as none drove any vehicle. Thus, this item was dropped. The inter-rater reliability of the resultant 9 item scale was found to be high (kappa = 0.9). One hundred and seven epilepsy patients attending the Epilepsy clinic were selected for the study if they met the following criteria: age >15 years, duration of seizure >1 year, regular intake of antiepileptic drugs, presence of informant and ability to read Bengali. For each patient, demographic and clinical data (seizure frequency, last seizure date, seizure type as per record, medicine intake history and records of past investigations such as EEG) was collected. Each patient were administered QOLIE-9 (Bengali) and SRQ-24 Bengali version to screen for psychiatric morbidity. RESULTS: The Cronbach's Alpha coefficient for QOLIE-9 was 0.81, which did not improve if any item was dropped. All items showed strong correlation with the total score. The instrument showed stable factor structure with three factors (Limitation, Depression, Illness effects). However, the item with regard to memory problem did not fit into any of the factors. The QOLIE-9 total showed a significant correlation with the seizure frequency (r = 0.76**). SRQ positive (i.e., suspected psychiatric morbidity) cases had higher QOLIE-9 score (thus, poorer quality of life) in comparison to non-psychiatric cases. CONCLUSION: Bengali QOLIE-9 is a valid and reliable instrument to assess the quality of life in patients suffering from epilepsy.

We report a retroperitoneal transitional cell carcinoma arising from the primitive urogenital remnants of a 56-year-old married Indian woman. She presented with a huge cystic mass in the hypogastrium and right iliac fossa, which extended into the right thigh as a massive dumb-bell tumour. On exploration, it was found not to be arising from any known retroperitoneal structure. The mass was excised, and the histopathology confirmed transitional cell carcinoma with positive margins. Though she received postoperative chemotherapy with cyclophosphamide, adriamycin and cisplatin, she developed extensive local recurrence and hepatic secondaries, and succumbed to the disease after ten months of follow-up. We highlight the rarity of the disease, its atypical presentation as a cystic dumb-bell lump, its diagnostic challenges and aggressive behaviour, and review the literature on primary retroperitoneal transitional cell carcinomas.

Despite the recognized limitations of (18)Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) in brain tumor imaging due to the high background of normal gray matter, this imaging modality provides critical information for the management of patients with cerebral neoplasms with regard to the following aspects:(1) providing a global picture of the tumor and thus guiding the appropriate site for stereotactic biopsy, and thereby enhancing its accuracy and reducing the number of biopsy samples; and (2) prediction of biologic behavior and aggressiveness of the tumor, thereby aiding in prognosis. Another area, which has been investigated extensively, includes differentiating recurrent tumor from treatment-related changes (eg, radiation necrosis and postsurgical changes). Furthermore, FDG-PET has demonstrated its usefulness in differentiating lymphoma from toxoplasmosis in patients with acquired immune deficiency syndrome with great accuracy, and is used as the investigation of choice in this setting. Image coregistration with magnetic resonance imaging and delayed FDG-PET imaging are 2 maneuvers that substantially improve the accuracy of interpretation, and hence should be routinely employed in clinical settings. In recent years an increasing number of brain tumor PET studies has used other tracers (like labeled methionine, tyrosine, thymidine, choline, fluoromisonidazole, EF5, and so forth), of which positron-labeled amino acid analogues, nucleotide analogues, and the hypoxia imaging tracers are of special interest. The major advantage of these radiotracers over FDG is the markedly lower background activity in normal brain tissue, which allows detection of small lesions and low-grade tumors. The promise of the amino acid PET tracers has been emphasized due to their higher sensitivity in imaging recurrent tumors (particularly the low-grade ones) and better accuracy for differentiating between recurrent tumors and treatment-related changes compared with FDG. The newer PET tracers have also shown great potential to image important aspects of tumor biology and thereby demonstrate ability to forecast prognosis. The value of hypoxia imaging tracers (such as fluoromisonidazole or more recently EF5) is substantial in radiotherapy planning and predicting treatment response. In addition, they may play an important role in the future in directing and monitoring targeted hypoxic therapy for tumors with hypoxia. Development of optimal image segmentation strategy with novel PET tracers and multimodality imaging is an approach that deserves mention in the era of intensity modulated radiotherapy, and which is likely to have important clinical and research applications in radiotherapy planning in patients with brain tumor.

Duncan Maru and colleagues at Nyaya Health describe several simple Web 2.0 strategies they have implemented during the course of delivering medical and public health services in rural Nepal.

To the Editor: After related reports published in HJNM and other Journals we herein report the promising role of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/ computerized tomography ((18)F-FDG-PET/CT) imaging in the diagnosis of appendicitis evident from serendipitous observation in a 38 years old male with a history of squamous cell carcinoma of the left tonsil and neck and treated with left neck dissection, radical tonsillectomy, chemotherapy and radiation, presented to us for restaging. Blood glucose prior to injection was 106mg/dl. Images were acquired from the vertex to the mid thighs 58min after injection of 555MBq of (18)F-FDG. Axial, coronal and sagittal PET images reconstructions with and without attenuation correction were interpreted. Corresponding low dose CT images were acquired and reviewed alongside the PET images. The PET images demonstrated no abnormally increased (18)F-FDG activity in the head or neck to indicate residual malignancy, and the low dose CT images showed postsurgical changes in the left neck. In the pelvis, a dilated and thickened blind ending tubular structure in the right lower quadrant of the abdomen was seen that corresponded to the appendix, which had avid (18)F-FDG uptake and maximum standardized uptake value (SUVm) of 4.3. In retrospect, comparison to a prior PET/CT demonstrated that the thickening and dilation were previously present but were less marked, although avid (18)F-FDG uptake was present in the appendix and SUVmax was 4.8. Periappendiceal fat stranding and mildly prominent regional mesenteric lymph nodes without increased (18)F-FDG uptake were also present on the current study. These findings were in keeping with su- bacute upon chronic appendicitis, which was subsequently confirmed following surgery. Over the last several years,(18)F-FDG-PET imaging has shown promise for the detection of inflammation due to infectious and noninfectious causes. Imaging by (18)F-FDG-PET has been found to be highly sensitive and specific in detecting disease activity in the terminal ileum and colon of Crohn's disease patients. Scintigraphic imaging has also been used to diagnose and characterize unusual and asymptomatic cases of appendicitis. The present case demonstrates an inciden- tal presentation of subacute upon chronic appendicitis detected on (18)F-FDG-PET/CT and confirmed by pathology. Functional imaging can potentially be helpful for early diagnosis or exclusion of infection and inflammation that is of utmost importance for the optimal management of patients with such common and treatable disorders. Multiple cytokines and growth factors have been proposed to be responsible for the increased (18)F-FDG uptake by the inflammatory cells in both the in vitro and in vivo models. In contrast to the other nuclear medicine modalities, such as gallium-67 scintigraphy and labeled leukocyte imaging,(18)F-FDG-PET/CT has high resolution and can distinguish soft tissue infection from that in other tissues e.g. osteomyelitis and hence, increasingly is being used for detecting infection/inflammation in soft tissues.

Fluorine-18 fluorodeoxyglycose -position emission tomography ((18)F-FDG-PET) as an efficient staging tool for lung carcinoma; allows description and characterization of the primary tumor and of local and distant metastases in a single examination. One of the important limiting factors in quantification of metabolic parameters with PET is the partial volume effect. Our aim for this study was to delineate tumor (size) both in the primary and metastatic lesions in patients with lung cancer by using partial volume correction techniques. Thirty two patients with proven lung cancer who had (18)F-FDG-PET and computerized tomography (CT) within the last 80 days were involved in this study. They were 18 women and 14 men, with age range 43-83 years. Maximum standardized uptake values (SUVmax) in primary and metastatic lesions for all patients were measured. The lesions were categorized into 4 different Groups according to their site. Partial volume corrections were applied using the CT sizes of lesions to obtain corrected SUVmax values. Average corrected SUVmax in each lesion site was calculated and compared between the 4 Groups. A total of 81 primary and metastatic lesions were included in this analysis. They were 28 mediastinal-hilar lymph node lesions, 26 lung lesions, 11 solid organ lesions, and 16 bone marrow lesions. The average uncorrected SUVmax for the primary lung lesions, mediastinal-hilar lymph node lesions, solid organ lesions, and the bone marrow lesions before application of partial volume correction formula were 7.2+/-3.2; 7.0+/-2.7; 6.3+/-3.4 and 7.0+/-3.4, respectively. The average corrected SUVmax for the lesions in the above mentioned regions were 11+/-6, 10+/-4, 13+/-7, and 18+/-13, respectively. A statistically significant difference was observed in the average SUVmax values between lung lesions and nodal lesions compared to the bone marrow lesions. In conclusion, our findings indicate that metabolic activities of lung cancer lesions vary depending on the sites of metastatic disease.

In April 2009, the G20 countries committed US $750 billion to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which has assumed a central role in global economic management. The IMF provides loans to financially ailing countries, but with strict conditions, typically involving a mix of privatization, liberalization, and fiscal austerity programs. These loan conditions have been extremely controversial. In principle, they are designed to help countries balance their books. In practice, they often translate into reductions in social spending, including spending on public health and health care delivery. As more countries are being exposed to IMF policies, there is a need to establish what we know and do not know about the IMF's effects on global health. This article introduces a series in which contributors review the evidence on the relationship between the IMF and public health and discuss potential ways to improve the Fund's effects on health. While more evidence is needed for some regions, there is sufficient evidence to indicate that IMF programs have been significantly associated with weakened health care systems, reduced effectiveness of health-focused development aid, and impeded efforts to control tobacco, infectious diseases, and child and maternal mortality. Reforms are urgently needed to prevent the current wave of IMF programs from further undermining public health in financially ailing countries and limiting progress toward the health Millennium Development Goals.