[Oncologic markers in the diagnosis of malignant tumors of the digestive tract].
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BACKGROUND/AIMS: The purpose of this study was to analyze the early outcome of en bloc extended resection for upper abdominal locally advanced cancer. METHODOLOGY: A retrospective medical chart review was performed in 47 consecutive patients who underwent an upper abdominal en bloc resection for cancer involving multiple organs or structures at Paoli-Calmettes Institute and Conception Hospital from October 1988 through April 1997. A third of patients underwent a resection of 4 sus mesocolic organs or more. RESULTS: The postoperative morbidity and mortality rate were respectively, 57% and 19%. Despite a high number of theoretically risky procedures including pancreatic resection and pancreatojejunostomy, total gastrectomy and esophagojejunostomy, total hepatectomy and liver transplantation, the higher percentage of complication was found with colic anastomosis. Five of the 30 patients (17%) who underwent a colic anastomosis developed a colic anastomotic leakage, 4 patients were reoperated and 2 patients died. CONCLUSIONS: Because of this unacceptably high rate of complications, we propose to systematically perform a protective stoma when an upper abdominal evisceration includes a colic anastomosis.
Between January 1981 and December 1990, 690 patients over the age of 80 years underwent gastrointestinal surgery. These operations were performed for diseases of the biliary tract in 248 cases (28%), colon or rectum in 238 cases (27%), stomach or duodenum in 130 cases (15%), small bowel in 32 cases (1.6%), oesophagus in 16 cases (1.8%), and for peritoneal carcinologic dissemination in 26 cases (3%). Emergency operation was performed in 43% of patients. Surgery was considered to be curative in 61% of patients. Overall postoperative mortality was 23%. The six following factors were associated with increased mortality: age over 85 years, ASA categories 3, 4, 5; surgery for malignant disease, peritonitis, palliative surgery, emergency surgery.
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Serum TAG 72 concentrations of 110 normal subjects, 110 patients with benign diseases and 109 with malignant diseases were determined by a solid phase radioimmunoassay. Its levels in normal subjects were 1.6 +/- 1.5 u/ml (mean +/- SD, range 0-8.2 u/ml) and the cut-off limit was set at 4.6 u/ml. The positive rates in benign and malignant patients were 5.5% and 48.6%, respectively. Among the malignancies, 80.0% of ovarian and 63.6% of colon carcinomas had positive test results. The specificity for differentiating malignancies from benign diseases was 94.5% and the accuracy of diagnosis was 71.7%. The present study indicates that TAG 72 as a tumor marker is helpful in the diagnosis of malignancies.
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Epithelial cell intermediate filaments, or cytokeratins, are excellent markers for cell differentiation. During embryogenesis, cytokeratins specific of a stage of differentiation step always become detectable before corresponding morphologic changes: for instance, cytokeratins 5 and 14 are found around the eight week, shortly before stratification of the epithelium occurs, and cytokeratins 1 and 10 are produced before morphologic evidence of keratinization becomes detectable. Among potential diagnostic applications, analysis of cytokeratin patterns of epidermal cells desquamated in the amniotic fluid may provide earlier and less invasive diagnosis than fetoscopic biopsies. Similarly, a review of cytokeratins expressed in a variety of epithelial diseases (involving the epidermis, digestive tract, respiratory tract, urogenital tract, or breast) demonstrated persistence of the original tissue pattern in some instances (this was the case for the majority of simple epithelia) but not in others (complex epithelia). This suggests that cytokeratins may prove valuable as markers for specific tumor stages or types and may provide earlier information than morphologic studies.
5'-Deoxy-5-fluorouridine (5'-DFUR) is believed to be metabolized to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) by pyrimidine nucleoside phosphorylase (PyNPase). PyNPase activity is reported to be higher in neoplastic tissues than in normal tissues, and this has been proposed as an explanation for the selective cytotoxicity of 5'-DFUR against tumors. In the present study, PyNPase activity was measured in 95 neoplastic and normal specimens from human digestive organ tissues. In specimens from the esophagus, stomach, intestine and pancreas, PyNPase activity was higher in neoplastic tissues than in normal tissues. However, PyNPase activity in non-malignant liver tissues, especially cirrhotic liver tissues, was much higher than in the normal tissues of the other digestive organs. PyNPase activity in non-malignant liver tissues was a high as in primary liver tumors, and PyNPase activity in metastatic liver tumors was lower than in primary tumors and non-malignant cirrhotic tissues. The in vivo antitumor activities of oral 5'-DFUR and intravenous 5-FU were also assessed in 6 human digestive organ cancer xenograft lines transplanted subcutaneously in nude mice, and the relationship between the in vivo antitumor effects of 5'-DFUR and PyNPase activity in the tumors was assessed. However, there was no statistically significant correlation between them. Although the in vivo antitumor effect of intravenous 5-FU correlated significantly with the in vitro sensitivity of the tumors to 5-FU (assessed by DNA synthesis inhibition assay), the in vivo effects of 5'-DFUR did not correlate with the in vitro sensitivity to 5-FU. It is suggested that: (a) the liver may be the major site for metabolizing 5'-DFUR to 5-FU, and (b) measuring PyNPase activity in the tumor may not be a useful indicator for chemotherapy with 5'-DFUR.
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A significant component of the general surgeon's practice is treatment of cancer that most commonly involves breast, colorectal, pancreas, and hepatic surgeries. The prognosis for these patients is largely dependent upon the stage of the disease at the time of diagnosis. There is convincing evidence that the induction and progression of cancer occurs when the function of genes that regulate cell proliferation, cell death and DNA repair becomes altered. These molecular disturbances result from ongoing, tumor-promoting activity long before symptoms of the disease become apparent. The role of many genes and the extent of their involvement in this deleterious, molecular process is unique to the organ. However, the tumor suppressor genes p53 and p16, the oncogene c-myc, and the inflammation-associated enzyme COX-2 are implicated in all four of the tumors. The roles of the oncogenes ras and HER-2/erbB-2/neu are significant in all of the tumors except hepatocellular carcinoma. The systematic establishment of a comprehensive data base relating gene expression activity to the initiation and development of cancer will provide molecular markers for detection and targets for treatment. This overview presents the current status of information associating gene expression activity with cancers typically encountered by general surgeons.