Growth Hormone Induces Recurrence of Infantile Hemangiomas After Apparent Involution: Evidence of Growth Hormone Receptors in Infantile Hemangioma

Infantile hemangiomas (IHs) are the most common benign tumor of infancy, characterized by a natural history of early proliferation in the first months of life to eventual involution during childhood, often with residual fibrofatty tissue. Once involution has been achieved, IHs do not typically recur. We present two cases of exogenous growth hormone therapy resulting in the recurrence of IHs in late childhood, supported by radiological, immunohistochemical, in vitro, and in vivo evidence.     

Was kann der Sonotrainer-Ultraschallsimulator?

In obstetrics and gynaecology, as well as in many other fields of medicine, ultrasound has become an indispensable diagnostic tool. Ultrasound training, however, still lacks proper quality assessment and control. In fact, in prenatal diagnostics most fetal anomalies requiring diagnosis during pregnancy are extremely rare. Therefore, effective training opportunities are limited to the very few medical centres which treat many such cases. Ultrasound simulator-based training, as performed with the Sonofit Sonotrainer, has been demonstrated to partly overcome this dilemma. In this article, the authors summarize their experience in using and evaluating various teaching concepts after the implementation of the ultrasound simulator under different conditions. Furthermore, an overview of the advantages of the Sonotrainer-based ultrasound training and its acceptance among trainees is provided. The authors also focus on aspects of quality assessment in gynaecological and prenatal ultrasound.     

Diagnostic Value of the Preoperative Sestamibi Scan in Intraoperative Localization of Parathyroid Adenomas: A Case Study

A retrospective chart review of 43 patients who underwent technetium 99m (Tc-99m) sestamibi scans from June 1995 to January 1997 was performed. Only those who underwent subsequent parathyroid exploration with excision were included in the study. Twenty subjects (13 women and seven men) were included in the study. Ages ranged from 21 to 84 years (mean, 58 years). All patients had laboratory values and clinical findings consistent with primary hyperparathyroidism. Two patients had preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans (one patient with recurrent disease), and one had a preoperative computed tomography (CT) scan. The remaining patients had the sestamibi scan as the only preoperative localization study. There were 18 pathologic diagnoses of parathyroid adenoma and two of parathyroid hyperplasia. Sestamibi failed to correctly identify the location of the parathyroid lesion in two cases. In 18 cases the preoperative sestamibi scan correctly localized the lesion, a predictive value of 90%. We conclude that the Tc-99m sestamibi scan is an accurate preoperative tool that can be used as a single modality to localize parathyroid adenomas.