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Aim: Zirconium-89 has gained great interest for PET, when imaging at late time points is required. Desferrioxamine B (DFO), is mostly used for this radionuclide as bifunctional chelator (BFC) and w ...

Background. Malignant effusion in invasive breast cancer, either pleural or pericardial, is associated with a poor survival rate. We investigated the role of the location of invasive breast cancer in developing malignant pleural or pericardial effusion. Methods. Three thousand eight hundred and fifty six women with a history of invasive breast cancer between 1960 and 1994 were analyzed in a retrospective study. Two hundred and six patients (5.34%; group A) developed malignant pleural and/or pericardial fluid as the first visible clinical sign of distant metastasis. A control group of 206 patients (group B) without malignant effusions were matched in terms of clinical and pathological characteristics. The two groups were compared in respect of the location of the primary tumor. Fifty patients in group A (n = 50; 24.2%) had tumors in the inner quadrants, 83 patients (n = 83; 40.3%) in the outer quadrants, and 13 patients (n = 13; 6.3%) in a central location. No data were available for 60 patients (n = 60; 29.1%). In group B, 12 patients (n = 12; 5.9%) had tumors in the inner quadrants, 140 patients (n = 140; 68.0%) in the outer quadrants, 14 patients (n = 14; 6.8%) had centrally located tumors, while no data were available for 40 patients (n = 40; 19.4%). Invasive ductal carcinomas (IDC) located in the inner quadrants were highly significantly associated with increased pleural or pericardial effusion as the first site of distant metastasis (p ≤ 0.0001; chi-square tests). Conclusion. IDC in the inner quadrants were associated with a 4-fold higher rate of malignant pleural or pericardial effusions. Further studies will have to determine whether tumor location is a criterion for more aggressive adjuvant therapy.

A 40-year-old woman presented at our hospital with rectal stenosis. Computed tomography demonstrated a conglomerate tumor in the pelvis and malignant look-alike lesions in the liver and in both lungs. A palliative deep rectum resection was done. Histologically, clear cell carcinoma with a small area of endometrioid carcinoma was diagnosed. Severe endometriosis had been diagnosed 13 years earlier. The patient had been treated with medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) for two years; no estrogen therapy had been given. The association between unopposed estrogen replacement therapy and malignant transformation of endometriosis is documented, but malignant transformation following progestin therapy has not been reported previously. It appears that radical surgery is the only means of preventing malignant transformation of the lesion in patients with endometriosis.