Pseudomembranous colitis.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to P C Shellito.
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The clinical courses of 64 patients undergoing abdominoperineal resection for Stage I lower rectal carcinoma (tumors confined to the muscularis propria without lymph node involvement) were reviewed to identify subsets at risk for failure. Twelve of 12 patients with tumors limited to the submucosa remained disease free without evidence of recurrence. Of the 52 patients with muscularis propria involvement, there have been eight failures with three patients having local failure only, three patients with local failure and distant metastases, and two patients with distant metastases only. The 6-year actuarial disease-free survival, local control, and freedom from distant metastases rates for patients with tumors invasive of the muscularis propria were 80%, 84%, and 88%, respectively. Patients with tumors exhibiting vascular/lymph vessel involvement were at even higher risk for failure. Although adjuvant treatment is infrequently advised for these patients, the use of radiation therapy and chemotherapy should be reconsidered for patients with Stage I lower rectal carcinoma, specifically for patients with tumors invasive of the muscularis propria with vascular/lymph vessel involvement.
From October 1975 to August 1988, 261 patients at high risk for local recurrence after curative resection of rectal carcinoma underwent high-dose postoperative irradiation. Patients received 45 Gy by a 4-field box usually followed by a boost to 50.4 Gy or higher when small bowel could be excluded from the reduced field. Since January 1986, patients also received 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) for 3 consecutive days during the first and last week of radiotherapy. Five-year actuarial local control and disease-free survival decreased with increasing stage of disease; patients with Stage B2 and B3 disease had local control rates of 83% and 87% and disease-free survivals of 55% and 74%, respectively. In patients with Stage C1 through C3 tumors, local control rates ranged from 76% to 23%, and disease-free survivals ranged from 62% to 10%, respectively. For patients with Stage C disease, disease-free survival decreased progressively with increasing lymph node involvement, but local control was independent of the extent of lymph node involvement. For each stage of disease, local control and disease-free survival did not correlate with the dose of pelvic irradiation. Preliminary data from this study suggest a trend toward improved local control for patients with Stage B2, C1, and C2 tumors who receive 5-FU for 3 consecutive days during the first and last weeks of irradiation compared with patients who do not receive 5-FU. Current prospective randomized studies are addressing questions regarding the optimum administration of chemotherapy with pelvic irradiation for patients following resection of rectal carcinoma.
A multimodality approach of moderate-dose to high-dose preoperative radiation therapy, surgical resection, and intraoperative electron beam radiation therapy (IORT) has been used for patients with locally recurrent rectal or rectosigmoid carcinoma. The 5-year actuarial local control and disease-free survival for 30 patients undergoing this treatment program were 26% and 19%, respectively. The most important factor predicting a favorable outcome was complete resection with negative pathologic resection margins. The determinant local control and disease-free survival for 13 patients undergoing complete resection were 62% and 54%, respectively, whereas for 17 patients undergoing partial resection these figures were 18% and 6%, respectively. There did not appear to be a difference in local control or survival based on the original surgical resection (abdominoperineal resection versus low anterior resection). However, the likelihood of obtaining a complete resection after preoperative radiation therapy was higher in patients who had previously undergone a low anterior resection than patients undergoing prior abdominoperineal resection. For the 30 patients undergoing external beam irradiation, resection, and IORT, the most significant toxicities were soft tissue or sacral injury and pelvic neuropathy. Efforts to further improve local control are directed toward the concurrent use of chemotherapy (5-fluorouracil with and without leucovorin) as radiation dose modifiers during external beam irradiation and the use of additional postoperative radiation therapy.
Twenty-eight patients with resectable but tethered rectal carcinomas were treated with preoperative irradiation (EBRT) and surgical resection. The 5-year actuarial disease-free survival and local control rates of these 28 patients were 66 and 76%, respectively. Two patients have developed local failure only, 2 patients concurrent local failures and distant metastases, and 4 patients distant metastases only. All local failures occurred in areas of tumor adherence to unresectable structures (sacrum, pelvic side wall). Patients with tethered rectal tumors are at risk for local failure despite preoperative irradiation and surgical resection. To improve local control in this subset of patients, an intraoperative radiation therapy (IORT) boost is given to areas of tumor adherence at resection following EBRT.
To improve local control and survival in patients with primary locally advanced rectal and rectosigmoid carcinoma, intraoperative electron beam radiation therapy (IORT) has been used with a combination of moderate- to high-dose preoperative radiation therapy and surgical resection. Sixty-five patients underwent resection with the intention of using IORT if areas at high risk for local recurrence were apparent at surgery. For 20 patients undergoing complete resection with IORT, the 5-year actuarial local control and disease-free survival (DFS) was 88% and 53%, respectively. The results for 22 patients with pathologically documented residual carcinoma were less satisfactory with a 5-year actuarial local control and DFS of 60% and 32%, respectively. In this latter group, local control and DFS correlated with the extent of residual disease: patients with only microscopic disease had a 5-year actuarial local control and DFS of 69% and 47%, respectively, whereas for patients with macroscopic disease, these figures were 50% and 17%, respectively. For 18 patients undergoing complete resection without IORT or additional postoperative radiation therapy, the 5-year actuarial local control and DFS was 67% and 53%, respectively. Because local failure will occur in at least 30% of patients undergoing partial resection with or without IORT as well as patients undergoing complete resection of advanced tumors without IORT, additional postoperative radiation therapy should be considered.
Mucosal spots, or "freckles," surrounding the appendiceal orifice are an endoscopic feature of the cecum. These are clusters of 1 to 2 mm round or oval slightly raised spots, each with a pale center and an erythematous border. They correlate microscopically with subepithelial and submucosal lymphoid follicles. The freckling pattern, identified in about one third of colonoscopies, was seen best with the videoendoscope and was identified more commonly in patients with systemic illness. Recognition of mucosal freckling around the appendiceal orifice helps identify the cecum and may be useful in the evaluation of cecal and appendiceal pathology.
Unique problems accompany percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy (PEG) in head and neck cancer patients. This study analyzed the experience of one surgeon (P.S.) performing PEG in 50 patients with advanced oropharyngeal cancer. The records of 54 such patients consecutively referred for PEG at the Massachusetts General Hospital were reviewed. A pull-through PEG technique was used. The procedure was successful in 50 patients (success rate, 93%). Failures were caused by esophageal stricture, respiratory distress, and hiatus hernia. The two patients with insurmountable esophageal stricture had piriform sinus tumors. Cancer in this location and pharyngoesophageal strictures were predictive of PEG failure. A single death, 21 days after endoscopy, was caused by pneumonia. The only major complications were two transient respiratory arrests. Neither patient had a tracheostomy in place, and both had unresected cancer present. Minor complications were transient gastroparesis, pneumonia, unexplained fever, and a broken traction suture. There were no wound or intraabdominal infections and no episodes of bleeding. While PEG was successful in 93% of these difficult patients, with few complications, results could be improved by tracheostomy or resection performed before PEG in patients with tumors near the airway and dilatation of troublesome esophageal strictures under endoscopic view before PEG.
The clinical course of 40 patients undergoing conservative surgical excision and 26 patients undergoing local excision and postoperative radiation therapy of rectal carcinoma was reviewed. Surgical procedures were transanal excision (55 patients), Kraske procedure (ten patients), and fulguration (one patient). The five-year actuarial survival, disease-free survival, and local control of all 66 patients were 70%, 77%, and 63%, respectively. For patients undergoing local excision alone, the prognostic features of lesion size greater than 3 cm, poorly differentiated histology, invasion into muscularis propria or deeper, moderate to marked stromal fibrosis, vascular or lymph vessel invasion, fragmented resection, and positive resection margins were associated with a local failure rate of 20% or greater. Of the 26 patients receiving postoperative radiation therapy, four patients have developed local failure. For subgroups of patients with small rectal carcinomas confined to the mucosa, local excision may be a reasonable alternative to abdominoperineal resection. For tumors with deeper invasion but limited to the bowel wall, local excision plus pelvic irradiation can be offered to preserve anorectal function.
Although the value of postoperative radiotherapy has been demonstrated for subsets of patients with rectal carcinoma, the efficacy of postoperative radiation therapy for colonic carcinoma (above the peritoneal reflection) is much less clear. Recent studies examining the failure patterns of colonic carcinoma following resection indicate that local failure increases as a function of bowel mobility, disease extension through bowel wall, and lymph node involvement. Retrospective series reporting the results of postoperative irradiation suggest that postoperative radiation therapy to the tumor bed may be beneficial for patients with Stage B3, C2 and C3 disease with limited nodal involvement. Randomized prospective trials are required to further evaluate the efficacy of such adjuvant radiotherapy.
The availability of an endoscopic support brace for use during gastrointestinal endoscopy is described.
The case of a 73-year-old man who developed acute colonic pseudo-obstruction (Ogilvie's syndrome) following chemotherapy for lymphoma is reported. Cecal dilatation resolved after a single colonoscopic decompression. Following his next course of chemotherapy, colonic dilatation again developed. The recurrence was treated successfully by introducing a fenestrated colonoscopic overtube transanally for continuous decompression. The literature concerning acute, colonic pseudo-obstruction is reviewed. The colonoscopic overtube is a convenient and effective treatment for recurrent colonic distention.
For prolonged gastrointestinal decompression or enteral nutrition, gastrostomies are preferable to nasogastric tubes. To assess the safety of tube gastrostomy, the authors reviewed 424 gastrostomies systematically selected from a total of 3,359 done from 1975 through 1980. Feeding gastrostomies composed 22% of the total; the remaining 78% were done for decompression. Complications were rare (6.6% major, 6.6% minor) and were not influenced by patients' age. Perioperative steroid therapy promoted laparotomy wound infections. External and internal leakage of stomach contents, as well as bleeding from the gastrostomy site, were independent of the method of gastrostomy and the type of catheter used. Feeding gastrostomies were more likely to leak internally than were decompression gastrostomies. Unless the gastrostomy site was sutured to the anterior abdominal wall, there was a 7% incidence of extravasation of stomach contents into the peritoneal cavity after removal of the tube. The low complication rate justifies use of gastrostomies as an alternative to prolonged nasogastric intubation. Problems are minimized by employing the Stamm technique with a straight catheter and anterior gastropexy.
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Colonoscopic removal of large, sessile polyps is difficult, but can be successfully carried out by experienced endoscopists. "Piecemeal" resection with an electrocautery snare was performed at our institution in 108 patients with 132 such lesions. The mean size of the unresected polyps was 3.0 cm. Complications occurred in 3.0% of polypectomies (3.8% of patients), with bleeding necessitating transfusion in 2.3% of polypectomies (2.8% of patients), and microperforation (probable) in the remainder. No patient required emergency surgery due to a complication. In 65 patients (60%), colonoscopic resection and follow-up alone was carried out. Of these, adenomas recurred/persisted in 28%, most of which were successfully re-resected. Nearly half of all recurrent polyps occurred after at least one negative intervening examination. Carcinoma later appeared in 17% of the recurrences despite apparent initial complete resection of a previously benign polyp. Cure was ultimately achieved in 88% of endoscopically managed patients. Surgical resection was required in 27% of patients, mostly following the initial polypectomy when invasive carcinoma was found in the specimen. No residual tumor was later found in 41% of the colon specimens from these patients. Ninety-one percent of cancers were favorable stage, whether discovered early or late. Follow-up colonoscopy was achieved in 77% of patients over an average of 3.7 years. Metachronous polyps were excised in 52 patients (63%) and metachronous carcinoma was diagnosed in 3 patients (3.6%). An aggressive regimen of surveillance colonoscopy is warranted in these patients to detect and manage local recurrences and to remove subsequent adenomas. Endoscopic resection of large sessile adenomas can be safe and effective.