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Urethral metastasis from colorectal cancer is rare and is known to have a poor prognosis. A 72-year-old man with a history of colectomy and colostomy due to sigmoid colon cancer was admitted to the emergency room with bowel distension, rectal bleeding and urinary symptoms. Computed tomography of the abdominopelvis showed sigmoid colon cancer with multiple metastases involving the liver. Positron emission tomography with F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) showed multiple hypermetabolic foci in the liver, penis and pubic bone, which otherwise could not be diagnosed. The lesions revealed no improvement with chemotherapy and urological surgery on follow-up F-18 FDG PET/CT. We present a case of urethral metastasis of sigmoid colon cancer diagnostically and prognostically indicated by F-18 FDG PET/CT.

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Superporous hydrogels (SPHs) with interconnected pores of several hundreds micrometers were prepared using radical polymerization of acrylic acid (AA) and acrylamide (AAm) in the presence of N,N’-methylenebisacrylamide (BIS). A gas blowing method using bicarbonate as a foaming agent was applied to introduce the porous structure under different pH conditions (pH 2~7). The pore structures of the prepared SPHs were examined by a scanning electron microscope. The SPHs obtained at pHs of 4.5 and 4.75 were observed to have a interconnected pore structure with homogeneous distribution and swell to an equilibrium state within several minutes. The O2 plasma reactor has been used for surface modification of SPHs. The plasma-treated SPHs showed much faster swelling behavior due to the improvement of surface hydrophilicity. The swelling ratio of SPHs was also enhanced by using a wetting agent, such as triacetin and glycerol, during a washing procedure.