Lymph node metastasis outside of a tumor-bearing lobe in primary lung cancer and the status of interlobar fissures: The necessity for removing lymph nodes from an adjacent lobe.

The new Tumor Node Metastasis staging system does not recognize fissure status with respect to adjacent lobe invasion (ALI) in lung cancer. Furthermore, no specific surgical strategies have been recommended for lymph node dissections around adjacent nontumor-bearing lobes (NTBLs) according to fissure status. Therefore, this study was undertaken to investigate the necessity of removing additional adjacent lobe lymph nodes in patients with nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for lesions limited to in the vicinity of the interlobar fissure.

Elevated serum CEA levels are associated with the explosive progression of lung adenocarcinoma harboring EGFR mutations.

Background: Serum carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) levels are a predictor of epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) efficacy and are associated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene mutations. However, the clinical significance of plasma CEA level changes during different cycles of target therapy is unknown for lung adenocarcinoma patients with sensitizing EGFR mutations.

Methods: In total, 155 patients with lung adenocarcinoma were enrolled in this retrospective study between 2011 and 2015.

A Pilot Study of F-Alfatide PET/CT Imaging for Detecting Lymph Node Metastases in Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer.

Angiogenesis plays a key role in tumor development and αβ integrin are overexpressed on the endothelial cell surface of newly forming vessels. F-Alfatide has favorable properties for αβ integrin targeting and showed potential for imaging angiogenesis with Positron Emission Tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT). In this study, 13 patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who underwent F-Alfatide PET/CT before surgery were enrolled.

The clinical features, treatment, and prognosis of primary mediastinal malignant melanoma: A case report.

Rationale: Primary malignant melanoma (MM) of the mediastinum is exceedingly rare; a review of the English-language literature reveals only a small number of case reports. In this paper, we discuss a case of primary mediastinal MM and present a review of the relevant literature on its clinical features and treatment.

Patient Concerns: A 52-year-old male presenting with back pain was admitted to our hospital for treatment.

[Application of Non-intubated Anesthesia in VATS].

Tracheal intubation general anesthesia technique is widely used in video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) because it can improve the safety of VATS, but the complications of tracheal intubation can not be avoided. How to develop a "minimally invasive" surgery (including micro anesthesia) has become a hot topic in the field of minimally invasive surgery. Along with the progress of the anesthesia management technology and the risk management in the operation, the technology of non-intubated anesthesia was successfully applied to VATS, namely using local anesthesia to maintain patients intraoperative independent ventilation and intraoperative only mild sedation or fully conscious state of implementation of thoracoscope surgery, therefore is also called awake VATS.

Potential impact of (18)FDG-PET/CT on surgical approach for operable squamous cell cancer of middle-to-lower esophagus.

Background: Fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) is reported to have a significant advantage over CT for staging esophageal cancer (EC). However, whether PET/CT may play a useful role in guiding surgical approach remains undetermined.

Methods: Patients with potentially resectable squamous cell EC were randomized into either PET/CT group or CT group.

Epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitors with conventional chemotherapy for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer.

We report a Chinese male patient with advanced stage lung squamous cell carcinoma who developed brain metastases after responding to treatment comprising six cycles of conventional chemotherapy with docetaxel and cisplatin. The patient was then treated with oral erlotinib (150 mg/day) and whole-brain radiation therapy followed by four cycles of docetaxel and carboplatin chemotherapy. The patient then received gefitinib (250 mg/day) as a maintenance therapy until the end of the follow-up period.

Rapid on-site evaluation during endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration for the diagnosis of hilar and mediastinal lymphadenopathy in patients with lung cancer.

The purpose of this study was to assess the usefulness of rapid on-site evaluation (ROSE) during endobronchial ultrasound-guided transbronchial needle aspiration (EBUS-TBNA) and the interpretation of its results. Based on the criterion of using ROSE or not, 236 patients with known or suspected lung cancer undergoing EBUS-TBNA were allocated into the ROSE group (122 patients with 252 lymph nodes) and non-ROSE group (114 patients with 260 lymph nodes). In the ROSE group, the percentages of the suspicious specimens on cytology and non-diagnostic specimens on pathology were both significantly lower than that in the non-ROSE group (8.

Circulating Tumor Cell Analyses in Patients With Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma Using Epithelial Marker-Dependent and -Independent Approaches.

In several epithelial malignancies, detection of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the peripheral blood has diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic implications. However, the clinical relevance of CTCs in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) has not yet been ascertained. The study was conducted with the aim of determining the clinical significance of CTCs in patients with ESCC by using 2 CTC detection systems, one epithelial marker-dependent and the other epithelial marker-independent.

Proliferation PET image to characterize pathological spatial features in patients with non-small cell lung cancer: a pilot study.

Purpose: (18)F-FLT-PET imaging was proposed as a tool for measuring in vivo tumor cell proliferation and detecting sub-volumes to propose escalation in radiotherapy. The aim of this study was to validate whether high FLT uptake areas in (18)F-FLT PET/CT are coincident with tumor cell proliferation distribution indicated by Ki-67 staining in non-small cell lung cancer, thus provide theoretical support for the application of dose painting guided by (18)F-FLT PET/CT.

Materials And Methods: Twelve treatment naive patients with biopsy proven NSCLC underwent (18)F-FLT PET/CT scans followed by lobectomy were enrolled.

Atlas of the thoracic lymph nodal delineation and recommendations for lymph nodal CTV of esophageal squamous cell cancer in radiation therapy from China.

Purpose: To construct an anatomical atlas of thoracic lymph node regions of esophageal cancer (EC) based on definitions from The Japan Esophageal Society (JES) and generate a consensus to delineate the nodal clinical target volume (CTVn) for elective nodal radiation (ENI) of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC).

Methods And Materials: An interdisciplinary group including two dedicated radiation oncologists, an experienced radiologist, a pathologist and two thoracic surgeons were gathered to generate a three-dimensional radiological description for the mediastinal lymph node regions of EC on axial CT scans. Then the radiological boundaries of lymph node regions were validated by a relatively large number of physicians in multiple institutions.

Abnormal expression of FLOT1 correlates with tumor progression and poor survival in patients with non-small cell lung cancer.

Recent studies have revealed that flotillin-1 (FLOT1) plays important roles in cancer progression. However, the role of FLOT1 in development and progression of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains largely unknown. The objective of the current study was to investigate the expression pattern and clinicopathological significance of FLOT1 in patients with NSCLC.

Giant malignant mesothelioma in the upper mediastinum: A case report.

Malignant mesothelioma in the mediastinum is rare and the majority of known cases have been reported as 'localized mesothelioma'. The present study reports a case of an upper mediastinal tumor, which was diagnosed through thoracoscopic surgery and surgical biopsies of the mass. A computed tomography scan revealed a giant upper mediastinal tumor, adjacent to the aortic arch, trachea, superior vena cava and left pulmonary artery.

[Expression and significance of MAGE genes in human lung cancer].

Lung cancer is one of the common malignancies with an extremely poor prognosis, because of the current diagnostic techniques are not easy to find micrometastases. Melanoma associated antigens genes (MAGE) are tumor specific antigen genes, closely related to the occurrence, development and prognosis of lung cancer. The research of MAGE genes provide a new direction for the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.

Effects of different sequences of pulmonary artery and vein ligations during pulmonary lobectomy on blood micrometastasis of non-small cell lung cancer.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of different sequences of pulmonary artery and vein ligations during lobectomy on blood micrometastasis of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Cytokeratin 19 (CK19)/adhesion molecule CD44v6 mRNA were used as markers. A total of 30 NSCLC patients undergoing pulmonary lobectomy were randomly divided into pulmonary artery (PA)-first and pulmonary vein (PV)-first groups according to the order of artery or vein ligation (15 cases in each).

Noninvasive evaluation of microscopic tumor extensions using standardized uptake value and metabolic tumor volume in non-small-cell lung cancer.

Purpose: To prospectively evaluate whether maximal microscopic extensions (MEmax) correlate with maximal standardized uptake value (SUVmax) and metabolic tumor volume (MTV) at 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) images in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods And Materials: Thirty-nine patients with Stage I-IIIA NSCLC underwent surgery after FDG-PET/CT scanning. SUVmax and MTV were calculated on the PET/CT images.

Comparison of (18)F-fluorothymidine and (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET/CT in delineating gross tumor volume by optimal threshold in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of thoracic esophagus.

Purpose: To determine the optimal method of using (18)F-fluorothymidine (FLT) positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) simulation to delineate the gross tumor volume (GTV) in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma verified by pathologic examination and compare the results with those using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) PET/CT.

Methods And Materials: A total of 22 patients were enrolled and underwent both FLT and FDG PET/CT. The GTVs with biologic information were delineated using seven different methods in FLT PET/CT and three different methods in FDG PET/CT.

Comparison of tumor volumes as determined by pathologic examination and FDG-PET/CT images of non-small-cell lung cancer: a pilot study.

Purpose: To determine the cut-off standardized uptake value (SUV) on (18)F fluoro-2-deoxy-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography/computed tomography (FDG-PET/CT) images that generates the best volumetric match to pathologic gross tumor volume (GTV(path)) for non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods And Materials: Fifteen patients with NSCLC who underwent FDG-PET/CT scans followed by lobectomy were enrolled. The surgical specimen was dissected into 5-7-mum sections at approximately 4-mm intervals and stained with hematoxylin and eosin.

Using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography to estimate the length of gross tumor in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

Purpose: To determine the optimal method of using (18)F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) to estimate gross tumor length in esophageal carcinoma.

Methods And Materials: Thirty-six patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated with radical surgery were enrolled. Gross tumor volumes (GTVs) were delineated using three different methods: visual interpretation, standardized uptake value (SUV) 2.

Value of PET/CT versus enhanced CT for locoregional lymph nodes in non-small cell lung cancer.

Purpose: To compare the diagnostic efficacies of integrated (18)F FDG PET/CT images and contrast-enhanced helical CT images in locoregional lymph node metastasis in the patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: From June 2005 to June 2007, 122 potentially operable patients with proven or suspected non-small cell lung cancer underwent integrated PET/CT and contrast-enhanced CT scans followed by surgical nodal staging. The results of reviewing PET/CT and enhanced CT images for the locoregional lymph node metastasis were compared in relation to pathologic findings.

Diagnostic and prognostic value of 18F-FDG PET/CT for patients with suspected recurrence from squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus.

Unlabelled: Patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) are commonly at high risk of recurrence within 2 y after initial treatment. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with possibly recurrent ESCC who underwent definitive treatment.

Methods: Fifty-six patients with previously treated ESCC underwent PET/CT scans.

[Bronchial and pulmonary arterial sleeve resection and reconstruction in the treatment of central NSCLC].

Objective: To evaluate the indications and surgical procedure of bronchial and pulmonary artery sleeve resection for patients with centrally located non-small cell lung cancer, and how to prevent complications.

Methods: From July 1989 to Aug 2000, 32 cases of central NSCLC were treated with bronchial and pulmonary arterial sleeve resection and reconstruction. The results were retrospectively analyzed.