No abstract

Eleven growth hormone (GH)-deficient patients with delayed development composed of 10 males and one female with ages ranging from 4 to 17 years were studied. The diagnosis was cerebral palsy in 4 cases, West syndrome in 2, Prader-Willi syndrome in one and others in 4. Six patients could walk unaided, but the remaining five could not. Ten patients had mental retardation, from very severe to mild. Their parents and house staff observed their behavior and development during 3 months to 3 years of GH therapy. Some catch-up of development in gross motor function, social behavior, and speech was observed after GH therapy. In some cases, sleep disorder, feeding difficulty, and emotional state improved. Most patients became more active in daily life after therapy. These data suggest that GH therapy is effective not only on growth but also on development and quality of life in GH-deficient patients with delayed development.

Diacetylated spermine, a polyamine, is clinically used as a tumor marker in human medicine. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of diacetylated spermine as a nonspecific tumor marker in dogs. One hundred six dogs were randomly selected and divided into 4 groups (cancer-bearing, n=23; control, n=44; young, n=24; inflammatory, n=15). Urine samples were collected to measure diacetylated spermine and creatinine levels. The diacetylated spermine concentration was determined by enzyme-linked immunoassay, standardized by creatinine concentration. The urine diacetylated spermine concentration was markedly significant elevated in cancer-bearing dogs, as compared to that in control dogs (P=0.0081). Whilst the urine diacetylated spermine level in cancer-bearing group was not markedly different from that in the young group, there was significant different between levels in the control and young groups (P=0.019). No significant difference was observed between the inflammatory and cancer-bearing groups. It is suggested that urine diacetylated spermineis a useful tumor marker in dogs over 2 years of age.

Chordomas are rare, locally aggressive, primary bone tumors derived from primitive notochord remnants. They almost always arise within the axial skeleton, particularly in the skull base and the sacrococcygeal region. They usually present as extradural tumors, but rarely, they present as entirely intradural tumors. This report describes a case of intradural chordoma that mimicked an epidermoid cyst. A 72-year-old woman was incidentally found to have a prepontine extra-axial mass on magnetic resonance imaging. The mass gradually increased in size, and she felt discomfort in the right cheek area. The mass showed similar signal intensity to cerebrospinal fluid on T1-weighted images and T2-weighted images, but high signal intensity on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images and diffusion-weighted images. Because the presence of very faint contrast enhancement was not noticed, the mass was preoperatively diagnosed as an epidermoid cyst. Tumor resection was performed, and the histopathological diagnosis was chondroid chordoma. Since intradural chordoma may resemble an epidermoid cyst on imaging, radiologists should check carefully for the presence of contrast enhancement and suggest the possibility of intradural chordoma.