Loss of heterozygosity and immunohistochemistry of adenocarcinomas of the esophagus and gastric cardia.

Purpose: Adenocarcinomas of the distal esophagus and gastric cardia are two tumors that have many features in common. They have similar prognoses, treatment modalities, and patterns of dissemination. The etiology is different, with gastroesophageal reflux disease playing a major role for esophageal adenocarcinoma, in contrast to adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia.

Differential diagnosis of chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer in brush cytology specimens.

Discrimination between chronic pancreatitis and pancreatic carcinoma can be complicated, particularly in brush cytology specimens. Previous studies have shown that the oxygen insensitivity of the histochemical reaction to detect glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity based on neotetrazolium reduction can be used for discriminating malignant cells from nonmalignant cells. In the present study, we investigated the value of the assay for differential diagnosis between the two pancreatic diseases.

Alterations of the p53 tumor-suppressor gene and K-ras oncogene in perihilar cholangiocarcinomas from a high-incidence area.

We observed a clustering of cholangiocarcinoma in a part of West Virginia. We analyzed the frequency and type of alterations in the p53 tumor-suppressor gene and the K-ras oncogene to determine whether cholangiocarcinomas from this high-incidence area differ from other cholangiocarcinomas at the molecular level. We studied 12 carcinomas of patients from the high-incidence area (West Virginia group), and 15 carcinomas of patients from nearby states (non-West Virginia group).

Helicobacter pylori infection of gastric mucin cell metaplasia: the duodenum revisited.

The histological material of 158 Billroth II gastrectomy specimens, used for a former study that established a relationship between duodenal ulcers and the presence of gastric metaplastic epithelium in the duodenal bulb, was reinvestigated for the presence of Helicobacter pylori. The results show that in all duodenal ulcer patients with gastric mucin cell metaplasia H. pylori colonized the metaplastic epithelium accompanied by an inflammatory response.