Preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen and prognosis of colorectal cancer. An independent prognostic factor still reliable.

To evaluate whether, in a sample of patients radically treated for colorectal carcinoma, the preoperative determination of the carcinoembryonic antigen (p-CEA) may have a prognostic value and constitute an independent risk factor in relation to disease-free survival. The preoperative CEA seems to be related both to the staging of colorectal neoplasia and to the patient's prognosis, although this-to date-has not been conclusively demonstrated and is still a matter of intense debate in the scientific community. This is a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data.

Synchronous double cancers of the colon and the pancreas: a case report.

The authors report a clinical case of a synchronous double cancer of the colon and pancreas. Having carefully examined the scarce literature, they dwell on the incidence of this disease referring to frequencies that in the literature range from 0.06% and 0.

Diagnosis of a sigmoid volvulus in pregnancy: ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging findings.

Sigmoid volvulus complicating pregnancy is a rare, non-obstetric cause of abdominal pain that requires prompt surgical intervention (decompression) to avoid intestinal ischemia and perforation. We report the case of a 31-week pregnant woman with abdominal pain and subsequent development of constipation. Preoperative diagnosis was achieved using magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasonography: the large bowel distension and a typical whirl sign - near a sigmoid colon transition point - suggested the diagnosis of sigmoid volvulus.

Colorectal cancer and lymph nodes: the obsession with the number 12.

Lymphadenectomy of colorectal cancer is a decisive factor for the prognostic and therapeutic staging of the patient. For over 15 years, we have asked ourselves if the minimum number of 12 examined lymph nodes (LNs) was sufficient for the prevention of understaging. The debate is certainly still open if we consider that a limit of 12 LNs is still not the gold standard mainly because the research methodology of the first studies has been criticized.