[Optimization of the combination of techniques with ionizing electromagnetic radiations of different physical types, electrons, and heavy particles].
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to G Coopmans De Yoldi.
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The widespread use of mammography in breast cancer screening has increased the number of non-palpable breast lesions being detected in which the differential diagnosis between benign and malignant cases requires surgical biopsy. In order to remove these mammographically identified lesions the surgeon must be guided, which is why the techniques guiding the surgeon during lesions ablation have become most important. Accurate preoperative lesion localization must be done so that the excision can be complete and with the best cosmetic result. In this report we discuss localization methods, from the simplest to the most complicated ones. The commonest method has the advantage of employing no special instruments, and it is very simple, safe and fast. It requires a skilled hand and a little training. Instrumental methods are then discussed, from the simple dedicated compressor to the stereotactic techniques and, finally, the role of ultrasonography both in preoperative localization and in cytologic biopsy. The importance of mammographic examination of the surgical specimen is also stressed.
Twenty eight patients with histologically proven primary or secondary malignant lymphoma of the breast were evaluated by mammography and telethermography between 1968 and 1980 at Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan. This histological type is rather unusual and poor is the radiological literature on the matter. The roentgenographic findings showed especially isolate nodes with clear-cut or irregular outline, multiple displasic lesions or diffuse inflammatory-like disease. Because of such a variety of radiological matters, diagnosis is often uncertain. No significant difference between primary or metastatic disease was seen in radiological patterns of non-Hodgkin lymphomas. In the three cases of Hodgkin's lymphoma radiological findings suggested inflammatory disease. Telethermography was usefully associated showing, in the majority of cases, high hyperthermia also in "benign" mammographic patterns.
Xeroradiography was performed on 38 cases of bone or soft tissue tumors submitted to radiotherapy. The examination was done before, during and after the radiological treatment and at longer intervals after the completion of its course. The indications and the drawbacks of xeroradiography for the follow-up of irradiated cases and for the search of recurrences are discussed, taking also into account the other radiological techniques used in this field. Xeroradiography is held to be very useful in planning the treatment of malignant bone tumors with extraosseous spread, since it allows to establish the real limits of the tumor to be irradiated. Moreover, xeroradiography is helpful to recognize the radiotherapeutic sequelae on superficial soft tissues, as oedema, fibrosis and necrosis of the subcutaneous fat and skin.
From 1976 to 1977, 705 patients with a fibroadenoma of the breast, histologically proven by biopsy, were observed at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan. In 229 cases, the clinical examination was followed by mammography or xeromammography; in 65/229 patients telethermography was also carried out. The aspects of fibroadenoma at x-ray examinations are described together with the difficulties to reach an exact diagnosis: the cases in which a false positive diagnosis of cancer was done are emphasized.
The morphological aspects of calcifications in inoperable breast cancers were investigated through repeated mammographic examinations before and after radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy. Aim of the study was to find out the modifications induced by therapy. Different radiological patterns observed during treatment and follow up are described in details. Some findings concerning calcifications, such as modifications of number, distribution, size and shape or new evidence of micro- and macro-deposits are analyzed and discussed. A correlation between radiological findings and clinical response to radio- and chemo-therapy is attempted, but wider experience and information are needed.
Xerotomography was performed on 148 patients with proven or suspected tumors of the lung or mediastinum. Retrospectively they were compared to film tomography in 108 cases. In 64 patients, the results of histological examination were also available. Xerotomography proved diagnostically more effective than film tomography in 52 cases (48%), less effective in 6 cases (6%) and about equivalent in the remaining 50 cases (46%). Xerotomography appeared to be more effective in visualization of small peripheral nodes of moderate opacity. Xerotomography has to be a selected second-line technique for special cases, in particular for the study of coin lesions, for the search for cavitations and calcifications and for the study of pulmonary vessels.
The value and drawbacks of xeroradiography were evaluated on 130 patients with benign and malignant bone tumors, 93 of which (72%) were submitted to histological control. Xeroradiography was compared to standard film radiography in 115 cases (88%). In 57 cases (50%), xeroradiography appeared to be more effective than film radiography; it was less effective in 17 cases (15%) and the two techniques were substantially equivalent in the remaining 41 (35%). The best results of xeroradiography were found in malignant tumors, in particular in the presence of an extraosseous spread of the lesion, and it was highly effective in Ewing's sarcoma. According to the sites examined, xeroradiography was more effective in the skeleton of the extremities, while the examination of the trunk and the head were frequently unsatisfactory due to the low sensitivity of this technique. Xeroradiography is held to be an useful second-line examination, to be performed in neoplastic lesions of the limb bones, for the search of small trabecular irregularities, of periosteal reactions or of extraosseous spread of the tumor.
Xeroradiography of soft tissue lesions, both malignant and benign, has been performed on 121 patients, 79 of whom having also undergone conventional film radiography. In 72 cases (59%), the diagnosis was proved by surgery and histological examination. Xeroradiography was found to be more effective in representing soft tissues than film radiography in 63 cases (80%) and equally effective in 16 cases (20%). Film radiography has never given a better representation of soft structures. The main xeroradiographic aspects of soft tissue lesions are reviewed. A diagnosis of the nature of the lesions on the basis of the extraosseous xeroradiographic picture is deemed possible only for lipomas. In the remaining cases, xeroradiography may offer useful information as regards size, shape and anatomic relationships of lesions but does not allow univocal diagnosis of their nature. Advantages and drawbacks of this technique are discussed, with emphasis on radiation dosage. It is assumed that xeroradiography may prove to be a helpful second-line examination in patients with soft tissue masses or swelling. It may also offer a simple method for follow-up in tumors of soft tissues having undergone conservative treatment.
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Since 1998, at the National Cancer Institute (Milan, Italy), a study has been carried on relative to primary chemotherapy for locally advanced breast cancers (greater than 3 cm diameter). Aim of the study is to obtain tumor reduction and thus allow a conservative treatment to be performed. The measures of the two greatest diameters of the tumor by means of mammography, at diagnosis and after chemotherapy, are important parameters for treatment planning. Among the 213 patients who completed the whole diagnostic-therapeutic procedures by December 1990, the authors chose 94 cases (44%) presenting breast cancers with microcalcifications and reviewed the relative mammograms. The review was aimed at analyzing morphology, number and extent of the microcalcifications and at assessing their value as reliable parameters of cancer response to primary chemotherapy. In their experience, the authors found that increased visibility of the microcalcifications after chemotherapy is often due to a reduction in both edema and lesion opacity. On the contrary, fewer microcalcifications may be correlated with incisional diagnostic biopsies. In conclusion, if microcalcifications are a useful parameter for diagnosis, they alone are less important when evaluating response to primary chemotherapy, since they probably represent a permanent sign of the extent of the primary lesion. All follow-up mammograms of the patients who underwent conservative surgery were also reviewed: no residual microcalcifications or other suspicious abnormalities were observed.
The clinical history of the phyllodes tumor and its rather complex histologic patterns, ranging from benignity to malignity, often make both preoperative diagnostic procedures and the therapeutic approach very difficult to apply strictly. We reviewed the mammographic examinations of 99 patients observed and treated at the Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan, 1975 to 1989, looking for a mammographic-histologic correlation useful for both an unquestionable and early diagnosis and adequate excision. Many parameters were considered for each histologic type of phyllodes tumor (65 benign, 20 borderline, and 14 malignant), such as opacity, size, shape and borders of the tumor, presence/absence of calcifications inside, and radiolucent halo. The lesion was evident in all 3 projections in 85 cases (85.5%). Tumor contour was rounded in 45 instances and polycyclic in 54. Margins were distinct or mostly distinct in 81 instances (81.8%), indistinct in 11 (11.1%), and irregular in 7 (7%). The radiolucent halo was complete in 11 cases (11.1%), incomplete in 50 (50.5%), and absent in 38 (38.4%). In our experience, the most useful and characterizing mammographic parameters were tumoral borders and opacity.
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At Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan four patients with histologically proven angiosarcoma of the breast were evaluated by mammography and telethermography. This is a highly malignant rare tumor which occurs more frequently in young women. The authors outline that only 90 cases have been reported in the literature (once radiologically described in 1966) and analyze clinical and especially mammographic and thermographic signs. Radiological findings simulate those of filloiden tumors or giant fibroadenomas while thermographic patterns show a nearly generalized high hyperthermia. Therefore both methods should be associated for early diagnosis and improvement of the prognosis.