Malignant melanoma is a common and aggressive disease that frequently causes metastases to the small bowel. This study illustrates a case of small bowel intussusception secondary to metastatic melanoma visualized at 18F-FDG PET/CT in a 48-year-old woman who had this examination for restaging purposes.

Keywords: PET/CT, Melanoma, Intussusception

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the early response of uveal melanomas in patients treated with ruthenium-106 brachytherapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In the period between April 2002 and July 2003, 20 patients diagnosed with uveal melanoma were submitted to ruthenium-106 brachytherapy. The calculated dose delivered at the apex of the tumor ranged between 55 Gy and 100 Gy. Patients with lesions greater than 5 mm were submitted to transpupillary thermotherapy concomitantly with ophthalmic plaque insertion. RESULTS: As regards the lesions site, 75% of the lesions were located in the choroid, 15% in the iris, and the remainder 10% in the ciliary body. In a median 19-month-follow-up, the progression-free survival for brachytherapy was 69%, and 87% for associated brachytherapy and transpupillary thermotherapy. A significant tumor height reduction was observed after treatment. No patient was submitted to enucleation. CONCLUSION: Our preliminary results show that ruthenium-106 brachytherapy is an appropriate method for conservative treatment of patients with uveal melanomas in terms of local management, ocular and visual acuity preservation with an acceptable complications incidence rate.

Keywords: Uveal melanoma, Ruthenium plaque therapy, Conservative therapy, Brachytherapy

Intussusception is a medical emergency that occur with higher frequency in children under 2 years of age. Diagnosis can be difficult as the classical triad of abdominal pain, jelly stools and palpable abdominal mass is seen in less than 50% of the patients. However, the diagnosis of intussusception can be established with variable degree of accuracy using plain abdominal x-ray films, ultrasound, computed tomography or barium (or air/saline) enema. Some of these imaging methods are also useful during treatment of this condition. The authors present a review of the literature and a pictorial essay of the imaging findings in patients with intussusception. In addition, a discussion on the current and controversial issues related to the treatment of intussusception is presented.

Keywords: Intussusception, Children, Pediatrics, Imaging

OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively evaluate the results of conservative therapy using episcleral iodine-125 (model 6711, Amershan) plaque for brachytherapy of choroidal melanoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We evaluated 49 patients with choroidal melanoma treated at "Hospital do Câncer", São Paulo, Brazil, from March 2001 to January 2003. The following clinical parameters were analyzed and correlated with local control and survival rate: gender, age, lesion dimension, treatment duration, as well as doses in apex and base of the tumors. RESULTS: The maximum diameter and height of the base of the tumors treated were 17 mm and 12 mm, respectively. Doses at those points ranged from 213 to 463 Gy (median: 347 Gy) and 51 to 250 Gy (median: 91 Gy), respectively. The actuarial rates of ocular preservation, disease free survival and ocular preservation in 2-years were 96%, 93.5% and 96.3%, respectively. A tumor height < 6 mm was the only predictive factor for local control (p = 0.0348) in the univariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Brachytherapy achieved a very satisfactory rate of tumor local control, confirming that tumor height is one of the most important predictive factors for local control.

Keywords: Choroidal melanoma, Plaque therapy, Conservative therapy, Enucleation, Brachytherapy