Expanding osteolytic bone metastases from carcinoma of the breast: An unusual appearance

Two cases of carcinoma of the breast are reported with the unusual radiographic finding of expansile osteolytic bone metastases. It is stressed that when an osteolytic expansile bone lesion is seen in patients with known breast cancer, the most likely cause is a metastasis from the carcinoma of the breast.     

Factors influencing the healing rate of chronic gastric ulcer

A retrospective survey was made of 99 patients with benign gastric ulcer admitted to hospital for medical treatment over a 3 1/2-year period. Healing rate was measured by use of profile surface area, obtained by air contrast radiography of the stomach every 21 days. Ulcer size was found to be greater in those who smoked cigarettes or gave a history of ingestion of salicylate-containing preparations. Healing rate was accelerated by admission to hospital but was uninfluenced by age or sex of the patient, a positive family history of gastric ulcer, duration of ulcer symptoms prior to admission, number of recurrences, therapy with frequent doses of potent antacids, or cessation of smoking. At the extremes of ulcer size, large ulcers healed more slowly than small ulcers.This work was partially supported by the Australian Tobacco Research Foundation.