Abstract. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the distribution characteristics of bone metastases in breast and prostate carcinomas. Bone scintigraphies were performed in 504 cancer patients. We studied the correlation between the distribution and total number of metastatic bone lesions, and compared the distribution of metastatic bone lesions between breast and prostate carcinomas. In the early stage, the distribution in the thoracic vertebrae, lumbar vertebrae and pelvis of the metastatic lesions of the prostate carcinoma (81.0%, 47/58) was significantly higher than that of the breast carcinoma (41.7%, 63/151; χ 2 =27.6, P=0.000). The distribution of the lesions in the thoracic skeleton in the cases of the breast carcinoma (65.6%, 99/151) was significantly higher than that of the prostate carcinoma (27.6%, 16/58; χ 2 =24.8, P=0.000); however, the distributions in the advanced cases were not markedly different. The differences in the proportions of the metastatic lesions in the lumbar vertebrae (χ 2 =56.1, P=0.000) and ribs (χ 2 =39.1, P=0.000) in the cases of the prostate carcinoma, and in the sternum (χ 2 =31.2, P=0.000), skull (χ 2 =26.5, P=0.000) and femur (χ 2 =13.6, P=0.001) in the cases of the breast carcinoma were significant. Between the breast and prostate carcinomas, the differences in the proportions of the metastatic lesions of certain bones were also significant. In cases with few bone metastases, the proportion of sternum metastases of patients with breast carcinoma (17.9%) was significantly higher than that of patients with prostate carcinoma (1.7%; χ 2 =12.7, P=0.000); the proportion of metastases in the lumbar vertebrae of prostate carcinoma (39.7%) was significantly higher than that of breast carcinoma (13.9%; χ 2 =15.4, P=0.000); the proportion of rib metastases of breast carcinoma (27.2%) was significantly higher than that of prostate carcinoma (8.6%; χ 2 =9.6, P=0.002). In cases with extensive bone metastases, the proportions of metastatic lesions in the sternum and lumbar vertebrae in breast and prostate carcinomas were not significantly different (P>0.05). In conclusion, the distribution of bone metastases is correlated with the total number of metastatic bone lesions in breast and prostate carcinoma patients, and has different characteristics in different lesions.

Background: There is a lack of consensus concerning changes in renal function after unilateral ureteral obstruction. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of ureteral obstruction on renal morphology and function and to explore the effectiveness of dynamic renal scintigraphy in evaluating obstructive renal function. Methods: We established a model of right ureteral obstruction using New Zealand white rabbits. We measured the glomerular filtration rate (GFR) before the operation and from days 1 to 82 after obstruction, observed the changes in bilateral kidney sizes and the GFR, and then compared the differences between the left and right kidneys. Results: The difference between left and right kidney sizes was not significant before obstruction (t=−0.430, P=0.674); the right kidneys increased in size after obstruction and were larger than the left kidneys (P≤0.001). Obstructed kidneys demonstrated a morphological process of decelerated expansion and retraction. The difference in GFR between the left and right kidneys was not significant before obstruction (t=1.77, P=0.098); during days 1-21 and 42-82 after obstruction, the GFR of the right kidneys decreased and was lower than that of the left kidneys (P<0.001); on day 28, the GFR difference between the left and right kidneys (t=1.62, P=0.130) and the difference in the right kidney GFR before and after obstruction (t=1.03, P=0.323) were not significant. The GFR of obstructed kidneys rapidly declined initially, experienced a tortuous process of repeated dormancies and multiple self-recoveries, and then gradually declined. Conclusions: The GFR in hydronephrotic kidneys is fluctuating. Thus, evaluating the true function of hydronephrotic kidneys using only baseline GFR is difficult; however, combining baseline GFR with renal morphology to assess obstructive renal function and its recoverability can provide more meaningful results.

99mTcO4− thyroid imaging is often used to detect thyroid diseases that are confined to the neck. However, this examination is not frequently used to detect metastatic lesions of thyroid cancer in the whole body, while 131I imaging is often used to detect the metastases of differentiated thyroid cancers. The present study performed 99mTcO4− thyroid imaging for a 69-year-old patient with a thyroid nodule and incidentally identified a lesion with abnormally increased 99mTcO4− uptake in the chest of the patient. Furthermore, a whole-body scan was performed for this patient and multiple lesions with increased 99mTcO4− uptake were identified. The results confirmed that these lesions were follicular thyroid cancer and the metastatic lesions were distributed in numerous locations. The results revealed that analysis of the whole body is significant when regional lesions with abnormally increased 99mTcO4− uptake outside of thyroid tissues are identified by routine 99mTcO4− thyroid imaging.