CT and clinical findings of peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumour in children

Multiple myeloma following bone metastasis of renal cell carcinoma: a case report

Background

The clinical manifestations of multiple myeloma (MM) and bone metastatic tumor are both systemic bone pain, which is difficult to distinguish from imaging manifestations, leading to misdiagnosis and missed diagnosis.

Case summary

We reported a man with a unique case whose tumors were MM with bone metastatic tumor of clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC). Computed tomography (CT) showed multifocal osteolytic bone destruction, while magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed multifocal bone marrow infiltration with soft tissue mass. Pathology and immunohistochemistry established the diagnosis of the coexistence of myeloma with bone metastatic tumor of CCRCC in the spine. Immunotherapy and systemic chemotherapy were adopted in the clinic, and vertebral decompression was performed after anemia was corrected. This case with MM and bone metastatic tumor of CCRCC received radiotherapy and immunotherapy and acquired satisfying outcome after 1 year of follow-up.

Conclusion

It is difficult to differentiate MM and bone metastatic tumor on imaging, especially when there are bone lesions at the same time, which is an easily missed diagnosis and needs to be comprehensively evaluated in combination with functional procedures, clinical laboratory tests, and histopathology.

Extraosseous Ewing Sarcoma in Children: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Clinicodemographic Characteristics

Background: We conducted this systematic review to provide comprehensive evidence on the prevalence, clinical features and outcomes of young extraosseous Ewing sarcoma (EES) cases. Methods: PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, and Google Scholar were searched for articles reporting the occurrence of EES among children and adolescents (<21 years). The primary outcome included the rate of occurrence of EES among children and adolescents, while the secondary outcomes included the descriptive analyses of the demographic characteristics, tumor characteristics, and clinical outcomes of the affected cases. The data are reported as the effect size (ES) and its corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: A total of 29 studies were included. Twenty-four reported instances of childhood disease among all the EES cases [ES = 30%; 95%CI: 29−31%], while five studies reported extraosseous cases among the pediatric EES cases [ES = 22%; 95%CI: 13−31%]. The thorax is the most common location of childhood EES [33%; 95%CI: 20−46%] followed by the extremities [31%; 95%CI: 22−40%]. Concurrent chemotherapy and radiotherapy [57%; 95%CI: 25−84%] was the most commonly implemented management protocol in the pediatric EES cases. The rate of no evidence of disease and 5-year overall survival was 69% for both outcomes. Mortality occurred in 29% of cases, while recurrence and secondary metastasis occurred in 35% and 16% of cases, respectively. Conclusions: Our findings provide insight into the clinical features and outcomes of EES among children and adolescents.

Primary primitive neuroectodermal tumor in the pericardium—a focus on imaging findings: A case report

BACKGROUND

Primitive neuroectodermal tumors (PNETs) are rare, sporadic malignant tumors of the peripheral nervous system, bone, or soft tissues. However, to the best of our knowledge, only three cases of PNET in the pericardium have been reported in the English literature, and their magnetic resonance imaging findings have not previously been described.

CASE SUMMARY

A 3-year-old boy was hospitalized with a 1-wk history of recurrent vomiting and weakness. Detailed history-taking revealed no evidence of heart disease. Computed tomography demonstrated a soft tissue mass in the left pericardial cavity with heterogeneous contrast enhancement. The border between the mass and the heart was poorly defined. Thoracotomy revealed a mass invading the left ventricle, with a high risk of bleeding. The mass was considered inoperable. A biopsy was performed, and the histological and immunohistochemical findings confirmed the diagnosis of primary PNET of the pericardium. The patient received four cycles of standard chemotherapy. Chest magnetic resonance imaging 3 mo after the initiation of chemotherapy revealed that the tumor in the pericardium still existed, but its volume had slightly decreased. The patient was lost to follow-up, and the final outcome was therefore unknown.

CONCLUSION

Medical imaging plays an important role in defining the pericardial origin of PNET and understanding its characteristics. Magnetic resonance imaging can provide more information on the tumor than computed tomography and may thus aid therapeutic planning.

Primitive Neuroectodermal Tumour Invading the Inferior Vena Cava

In the present report, we describe our experience with a 44-year-old male with abnormal retroperitoneal primitive neuroectodermal tumours (PNETs) in our hospital, who was operated on with a spindle cell neoplasm diagnosis.

LEARNING POINTS

Appropriate treatment is a crucial challenge in patients with PNETs due to late referral.The differential diagnoses were malignant pheochromocytoma, paraganglioma and retroperitoneal sarcoma.Physicians should keep in mind that the patient could be simultaneously suffering from sarcoma and a retroperitoneal PNET.

Ewing's sarcoma/peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor with extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma-like areas: a case report

INTRODUCTION

Ewing's sarcoma (EWS)/peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor (pPNET) (EWS/pPNET) is a group of highly aggressive small round cell tumors of the bone or soft tissue with high metastatic potential and an aggressive course in children and young adults. EWS/pPNET microscopically does not often have a myxoid background.

CASE DESCRIPTION

We report an EWS/pPNET, which exhibited an unusual morphology with cells having an acidophilic cytoplasm set in a myxoid background, raising the possibility of extraskeletal myxoid chondrosarcoma (EMC). A reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction analysis confirmed the presence of an EWS-FLI1 fusion transcript.

CONCLUSIONS

Morphology, immunohistochemistry, and molecular assays may be necessary to avoid a potential diagnostic pitfall as EWS/pPNET with a myxoid background may histologically resemble an EMC.

From Ataxia to Diagnosis of Askin Tumor - a Case Report

Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (pPNET) are a group of extremely rare, aggressive, malignant tumors that are most often found in the thorax (Askin tumor), abdomen, pelvis, extremities and less frequently in the head and neck. The most important prognostic factor is the stage of the tumor. Significant progress both in surgery and in neoadjuvant and adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy, as well as the improvement in diagnosis by cytogenetic and immunohistochemical analysis, should improve the survival rate. We report a case of a 14-year-old girl, with ataxic gait, cardiopulmonary compensated, without respiratory symptoms, who was referred to our hospital for further examination and treatment of newly discovered tumor of the left hemithorax. After a detailed radiological and laboratory investigation, next step was an extensive thoraco-neurosurgical surgery. After histopathological, cytological and molecular analysis, a diagnosis of Askin tumor was made.

Triple-phase 99mTc-3P-RGD2 imaging of peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumor in the hip muscle group with bone metastasis

Peripheral primitive neuroectodermal tumors (pPNETs) are a group of aggressive neoplasms that are most commonly encountered in pediatric patients and may be located in the abdomen, pelvis, thoracopulmonary region and, rarely, in the head and neck region. pPNETs in adults are extremely rare. The present study reports a case of pPNET located in the hip muscles with bone metastasis. The patient was a 44-year-old woman who complained of progressive pain and swelling with a mass near the left hip. Computed tomography (CT) and enhanced CT revealed a soft tissue mass lesion in the hip muscle group measuring 4.3×4.3×4.4 cm. The lesion was ill-defined, heterogeneous, exhibiting mild post-contrast enhancement. There was a large number of bent neovessels and several branches from the left internal iliac artery and deep femoral artery on enhanced CT scan. Triple-phase dynamic imaging with integrin α_vβ₃-targeted ^99mTc-3P-RGD₂ as the radiotracer revealed increased blood perfusion and radiotracer aggregation in the large, ill-defined, heterogeneous, hypodense mass and adjacent bone. The patient was suspected of having pPNET with bone metastasis, which was confirmed by histological examination of a sample obtained by needle aspiration. Due to the high blood perfusion of primary pPNETs and high RGD uptake by the primary and metastatic lesions, chemoembolization and anti-angiogenic therapy were considered to be the optimal therapeutic choice. This also suggested that ¹⁷⁷Lu-labeled RGD has great potential for the targeted treatment of pPNETs with multiple metastases.