Cerebellopontine angle meningiomas: LINAC stereotactic radiosurgery treatment.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the efficacy of treatment with linear accelerator-based stereotactic radiosurgery (LINAC) in cerebellopontine angle meningiomas. METHODS: We analyzed 80 patients diagnosed with cerebellopontine angle meningiomas between 2001 and 2014, treated with stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), of whom 81.9% (n=68) were women, with an average age of 59.1 years (32-79). SRS was applied as primary treatment in 83.7% (n=67) and in 16.3% (n=13) as an adjuvant treatment to surgery. SRS treatment was provided using LINAC (Varian 600, 6MeV) with M3 micromultilamines (brainLab) and stereotactic frame. The average tumor volume was 3.12cm3 (0.34-10.36cm3) and the coverage dose was 14Gy (12-16Gy). We performed a retrospective descriptive analysis and survival analysis was performed with the Kaplan-Meier method and multivariate analysis to determine those factors predictive of tumor progression or clinical improvement. RESULTS: After an average follow-up period of 86.9 months (12-184), the tumor control rate was 92.8% (n=77). At the end of the study, there was an overall reduction in tumor volume of 32.8%, with an average final volume of 2.11cm3 (0-10.35cm3). The progression-free survival rate at 5, 10 and 12 years was 98%, 95% and 83.3% respectively. The higher tumor volume (p=0.047) was associated with progression. There was clinical improvement in 26.5% (n=21) of cases and clinical worsening in 16.2% (n=13). Worsening is related to the radiation dose received by the brainstem (p=0.02). Complications were 8.7% (7 cases) of hearing loss, 5% (4 cases) of brain radionecrosis, and 3.7% (3 cases) of cranial nerve V neuropathy. Hearing loss was related to initial tumor size (p=0.033) and maximum dose (p=0.037). The occurrence of radionecrosis with the maximum dose (p=0.037). CONCLUSIONS: Treatment of cerebellopontine angle meningiomas with single-dose SRS using LINAC is effective in the long term. Better tumor control rates were obtained in patients with small lesions.

High Incidence of Cataracts in the Follow-Up of Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Chronic Coronary Total Occlusion.

Development of cataracts is a well-known adverse effect of ionizing radiation, but little information is available on their incidence in patients after other medical procedures, such as cardiac catheterizations. The study objective was to determine the incidence of cataracts in a cohort of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for chronic coronary total occlusion (CTO) and its association with radiation dose. The study analyzed the incidence of cataracts during the follow-up of 126 patients who underwent chronic total coronary PCI, using Cox regression to identify predictive factors of cataract development. The study included 126 patients, 86.9% male, with a mean age of 60.5 years (range, 55.0-68.0 years). Twenty-three (18.2% n = 23) developed cataracts during a mean follow-up of 49.5 months (range 37.3-64.5 months). A higher incidence was observed in patients who received more than 5 Gy (29.0% vs. 14.7%, Hazard ratio (HR = 2.84 [1.19-6.77]). Multivariate analysis revealed a relationship between cataract development during the follow-up and a receipt of radiation dose >5 Gy (HR = 2.60, 95% confidence interval [CI 1.03-6.61]; p = 0.03), presence or history of predisposing eye disease (HR = 4.42, CI:1.57-12.40), diabetes (HR = 3.33 [1.22-9.24]), and older age, as in >57 (HR, 6.40 [1.81-22.61]). An elevated incidence of cataracts was observed in patients after PCI for CTO. The onset of cataracts is related to the radiation dose during catheterization, which is a potentially avoidable effect of which operators should be aware.

T2 mapping in patellar chondromalacia.

OBJECTIVE: To study the correlation between the T2 relaxation times of the patellar cartilage and morphological MRI findings of chondromalacia. METHODS: This prospective study comprises 50 patients, 27 men and 23 women suffering of anterior knee pain (mean age: 29.7, SD 8.3 years; range: 16-45 years). MRI of 97 knees were performed in these patients at 1.5T magnet including sagittal T1, coronal intermediate, axial intermediate fat sat and T2 mapping. Chondromalacia was assessed using a modified version of Noyes classification. The relaxation time, T2, was studied segmenting the full thickness of the patellar cartilage in 12 areas: 4 proximal (external facet-proximal-lateral (EPL), external facet-proximal-central (EPC), internal facet-proximal-central (IPC), internal facet-proximal-medial (IPM), 4 in the middle section (external facet-middle-lateral (EML), external facet-middle-central (EMC), internal facet-middle-central (IMC), internal facet-middle-medial (IMM) and 4 distal (external facet-distal-lateral (EDL), external facet-distal-central (EDC), internal facet-distal-central (IDC), internal facet-distal-medial (IDM). RESULTS: T2 values showed a significant increase in mild chondromalacia regarding normal cartilage in most of the cartilage areas (p<0.05), except in the internal distal facet (IDC and IDM), EPC, EDL, and IMM. Severe chondromalacia was characterized by a fall of T2 relaxation times with loss of statistical significant differences in comparison with normal cartilage, except in EMC and IMC, where similar values as mild chondromalacia were maintained (p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Steepest increase in T2 values of patellar cartilage occurs in early stages of patellar cartilage degeneration. Progression of morphologic changes of chondromalacia to more severe degrees is associated to a new drop of T2 relaxation times approaching basal values in most of the areas of the patellar cartilage, except in the central area of the middle section, where T2 values remain increased.