Conversion to complete resection with mFOLFOX6 with bevacizumab or cetuximab based on K-RAS status for unresectable colorectal liver metastasis (BECK study): Long-term results of survival.

Background/purpose: To investigate the long-term outcome and entire treatment course of patients with technically unresectable CRLM who underwent conversion hepatectomy and to examine factors associated with conversion to hepatectomy.

Methods: Recurrence and survival data with long-term follow-up were analyzed in the cohort of a multi-institutional phase II trial for technically unresectable colorectal liver metastases (the BECK study).

Results: A total of 22/12 patients with K-RAS wild-type/mutant tumors were treated with mFOLFOX6 + cetuximab/bevacizumab.

Umbilical resection during laparoscopic surgery for urachal remnants.

Introduction: Because urachal remnants are rare, no standard therapeutic guidelines have been established for this lesion. In recent years, laparoscopic surgery (LS) has been performed by many surgeons and urologists to treat urachal remnants. The prevention of postoperative umbilical infection and late malignant transformation are major issues in the treatment of urachal remnants.

A phase II study of neoadjuvant chemotherapy with S-1 and cisplatin for stage III gastric cancer: KUGC03.

Objectives: A multi-center phase II study was conducted to evaluate the safety and efficacy of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) with S-1 plus cisplatin for advanced gastric cancer.

Methods: The eligibility criteria were clinical T3/T4 or N2, not Stage IV. Patients received two 35-day cycles of S-1 plus cisplatin, and then underwent D2 gastrectomy.

Long-term survival after resection of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma with para-aortic lymph node metastasis: case report.

Pancreatic cancer patients with para-aortic lymph node metastasis have a poor prognosis and patients living longer than 3 years are rare. We had a patient with pancreatic cancer who survived for more than 10 years after removal of the para-aortic lymph node metastasis. A 57-year-old woman was diagnosed with pancreatic head cancer and underwent a pancreaticoduodenectomy with subtotal gastric resection following Whipple reconstruction in 2000.

The flow angle beneath the gastrojejunostomy predicts delayed gastric emptying in Roux-en-Y reconstruction after distal gastrectomy.

Background: Delayed gastric emptying without mechanical obstruction after Roux-en-Y reconstruction has been defined as Roux stasis syndrome. It occurs in 10-30% of patients after such reconstruction. So far, the cause of this stasis has not been completely identified.

Evaluation of prognostic significance in extracapsular spread of lymph node metastasis in patients with gastric cancer.

Background: Extracapsular spread of lymph node metastasis has been shown as a negative prognostic factor in cancers of several other organs. This study was performed to clarify the prognostic significance of extracapsular spread in patients receiving curative resection for gastric cancer.

Methods: Extracapsular spread was defined as infiltration of cancer cells beyond the capsule of the metastatic lymph node.

[Efficacy of weekly administration of paclitaxel for advanced or recurrent gastric cancer with peritoneal dissemination].

We report 3 gastric cancer patients with peritoneal dissemination who failed to take TS-1 due to adverse effects and who were successfully treated with weekly paclitaxel administered intravenously. The patients were 2 men and 1 woman from 73 to 82 years in age. The histological types of gastric cancer were undifferentiated adenocarcinoma in all cases.

[A case of advanced gastric cancer successfully treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy of combined weekly paclitaxel and doxifluridine (5'-DFUR)].

We report a case of advanced gastric cancer with metastasis to the paraaortic lymph nodes that showed a remarkable response to treatment with a combination of weekly paclitaxel and doxifluridine (5'-DFUR). The patient was a 72-year-old man. Oral chemotherapy of TS-1 was discontinued due to drug induced eruption.

A case of chest wall recurrence of breast cancer treated with paclitaxel weekly, 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine, arterial embolization and chest wall resection.

Chest wall resection and reconstruction has proved to be a safe surgical procedure for local recurrence of breast cancer. Recently, as second- or third-line chemotherapy for the patients with recurrent breast cancer or ovarian cancer, weekly paclitaxel has provided a significant response rate in those patients, and generated much clinical interest. We report here a case of chest wall recurrence of breast cancer successfully treated by a combination of weekly paclitaxel, 5'-deoxy-5-fluorouridine, arterial embolization, and chest wall resection.

Prognostic effects of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase in advanced colorectal cancer after surgery: immunohistochemistry using a new monoclonal antibody.

Background: The response rate of 5-FU and its clearance are due to the activity of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), which is the first and rate-limiting enzyme for the catabolism of 5-FU. Although several studies have evaluated the relationship between DPD expression and chemosensitivity to 5-FU in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), only a few studies on DPD expression and clinicopathological features have been conducted using immunohistochemical staining since a monoclonal antibody for DPD has not been established. Now, a new monoclonal antibody (2H9-1b) for human DPD is available.

A case of ampullary carcinoma successfully managed with endoscopic snare resection.

Pancreaticoduodenectomy and transduodenal ampullectomy have been the procedures of choice for ampullary cancer in most patients. However, for patients with small ampullary neoplasms or who are unfit for laparotomy or refuse open surgical operations, endoscopic snare ampullectomy may be appropriate. We report here a case of ampullary carcinoma in which endoscopic snare ampullectomy was performed successfully, with long-term survival.

Prognostic value of thymidine phosphorylase/platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor in advanced colorectal cancer after surgery: evaluation with a new monoclonal antibody.

Background: Thymidine phosphorylase (TP) is an essential enzyme for activation of 5-fluorouracil and its derivatives and identical to platelet-derived endothelial cell growth factor. In colorectal cancer (CRC), previous studies evaluating the relationship between TP expression and clinicopathologic features have yielded inconsistent results. These studies used monoclonal antibody 654-1, which stained CRC cells weakly.