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During modern treatment of children with bone sarcomas, the children undergo multiple diagnostic imaging procedures, including bone scan (BS) with Tc99m. The aim of the BS is to establish the metastatic status of the skeletal system at the time of initial diagnosis and thereafter. We retrospectively reviewed 85 medical charts of patients with osteosarcoma (n = 40) and Ewing sarcoma (n = 45) who had been treated in our department between 01.01.1995 and 01.11.2009. Every patient underwent routine imaging studies including BS at the time of initial diagnosis and before local treatment. Median age of all patients was 15.5 years (range, 8 to 29). Fifteen patients had metastases at diagnosis. All patients were treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. No patient with localized disease developed metastatic disease to the skeletal system before local treatment; those with localized disease who developed metastases did so some time after completion of the treatment plan. As the probability of developing bone metastatic disease while receiving therapy is very low, routine BS in asymptomatic patients before local treatment may safely be omitted.

Aims To investigate the prevalence and clinical characteristics of heterozygotes of the glucokinase gene mutations G264S and IVS8+2 in the extended pedigree of two patients with permanent neonatal diabetes as a result of glucokinase deficiency (IVS8+2 homozygosity and IVS8+2/G264S compound heterozygosity). Methods Eighty-eight first, second and third degree family members of the two patients with permanent neonatal diabetes were genotyped. Clinical, laboratory and historical data were collected via chart reviews. Results Thirty-one IVS8+2 and three G264S heterozygotes were identified. Of these, 18/34 (52.9%) had diabetes and 9/34 (26.5%) impaired fasting glucose (IFG), compared with 1/54 (1.9%) with diabetes and 2/54 (3.7%) with IFG in the non-carrier group. Odds ratio for heterozygotes was 70.4 (95% CI 16.9–293.5 and P 18 years of age) who had diabetes was 27.1 ± 2.66, compared with 23.18 ± 4.72 for heterozygotes with normal glucose levels (P