title: Malignant abdominal rocks: where do they come from?
abstract: For the radiologist, calcifications in an abdominal malignancy raise questions of both diagnostic and prognostic significance. Although certain cancers are well known to calcify, such as colorectal and ovarian, malignant abdominal calcifications actually arise from a wide variety of epithelial, mesenchymal, lymphoid, or germ cell neoplasms. The pathophysiology of calcification in abdominal malignancies is heterogeneous and incompletely understood. Calcifications may present primarily, in untreated tumors, or develop during treatment; the latter can occur in variable clinical settings. A basic understanding of the varied pathogenic etiology can assist the radiologist in assessing disease status. By presenting an assortment of calcified abdominal malignancies on computed tomography in varied clinical settings, we aim not only to inform the differential diagnosis, but also to clarify the prognosis of calcifications in abdominal malignancies.
authors: Department of Imaging, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors: Joan M
authors: JM
authors: Cheng
authors: Department of Imaging, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors: Sree Harsha
authors: SH
authors: Tirumani
authors: Department of Imaging, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, 450 Brookline Avenue, Boston, MA 02215, USA; Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors: Kyung Won
authors: KW
authors: Kim
authors: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors: Sachin S
authors: SS
authors: Saboo
authors: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors: Juan C
authors: JC
authors: Baez
authors: Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 75 Francis Street, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors: Atul B
authors: AB
authors: Shinagare
mesh_terms: D000008:Abdominal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D001063:Appendiceal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D001859:Bone Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D002114:Calcinosis / Q000175:diagnosis*; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008223:Lymphoma / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D009373:Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal / Q000175:diagnosis; D009375:Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial / Q000175:diagnosis; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis