Primary and Secondary Breast Lymphoma

Primary and secondary breast lymphoma: prevalence, clinical signs and radiological features

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence, clinical signs and radiological features of breast lymphoma.

Methods: This is a retrospective review of 36 patients with breast lymphoma (22 primary and 14 secondary). 35 patients were female and 1 was male; their median age was 65 years (range 24–88 years). In all patients, the diagnosis was confirmed histopathologically.

Results: The prevalence of breast lymphoma was 1.6% of all identified cases with non-Hodgkin lymphoma and 0.5% of cases with breast cancer. B-cell lymphoma was found in 94% and T-cell lymphoma in 6%. 96 lesions were identified (2.7 per patient). The mean size was 15.8±8.3 mm. The number of intramammary lesions was higher in secondary than in primary lymphoma. The size of the identified intramammary lesions was larger in primary than in secondary lymphoma. Clinically, 86% of the patients presented with solitary or multiple breast lumps. In 14%, breast involvement was diagnosed incidentally during staging examinations.

Conclusion: On mammography, intramammary masses were the most commonly seen (27 patients, 82%). Architectural distortion occurred in three patients (9%). In three patients (9%), no abnormalities were found on mammography. On ultrasound, the identified lesions were homogeneously hypoechoic or heterogeneously mixed hypo- to hyperechoic. On MRI, the morphology of the lesions was variable. After intravenous administration of contrast medium, a marked inhomogeneous contrast enhancement was seen in most cases. On CT, most lesions presented as circumscribed round or oval masses with moderate or high enhancement.



Echo Intensity of Median Nerve and Flexor Muscles of the Forearm

Quantitative evaluation of the echo intensity of the median nerve and flexor muscles of the forearm in the young and the elderly

Objectives: Musculoskeletal structures often appear brighter on imaging in the elderly, which makes it difficult to accurately delineate a peripheral nerve during ultrasound-guided regional anaesthetic procedures. The echo intensity of skeletal muscles is significantly increased in the elderly. However, there are no data comparing the echo intensity of peripheral nerves in the young and the elderly, which this study was designed to evaluate.

Methods: 13 healthy, young volunteers (aged <30 years) and 11 elderly patients (aged >60 years) who were scheduled to undergo orthopaedic lower limb surgery were recruited. The settings of the ultrasound system were standardised and a high-frequency linear array transducer was used for the scan. A transverse scan of the median nerve (MN) and the flexor muscles (FMs) at the left mid-forearm was performed and three video loops of the ultrasound scan were recorded for each subject. Still images were captured from the video loops and normalised. Computer-assisted greyscale analysis was then performed on these images to determine the echo intensity of the MN and the FMs of the forearm.

Results: The echo intensity of the MN and FMs of the mid-forearm was significantly increased in the elderly (p<0.005). There was also a reduction in contrast between the MN and the adjoining FM in the elderly (p=0.04).

Conclusion: Under the conditions of this study, the MN and the FMs in the forearm appeared significantly brighter than those in the young, and there was a loss of contrast between these structures in sonograms of the elderly.