Does seeding of intraluminal tumour cells cause anastomotic recurrence after oesophageal resection?

Background: Recurrence at the cervical anastomosis of a tumour of the oesophagogastric junction after resection of the oesophagus with gastric tube reconstruction is a peculiar phenomenon in view of the distance of the primary tumour from the proximal anastomosis. It is hypothesised that contamination with tumour cells from the nasogastric tube or the gastric reconstruction tube could be responsible for this phenomenon.

Method: Fifteen patients with a tumour of the oesophagus or gastric cardia were included.

[Two patients with retroperitoneal paragangliomas].

A 35-year-old woman and a 36-year-old man presented with abdominal complaints which, in both cases, appeared to be due to an unusual retroperitoneal tumour, namely a paraganglioma. Three years after radical excision the women had no complaints, while the male patient had developed metastatic disease; he was still alive 6 years after excision. Paragangliomas are sporadic tumours.

[Liver transplantation in acute liver insufficiency: definitive replacement or auxiliary liver?].

Orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) has greatly improved the chances of survival in patients with acute hepatic failure. However, this mode of treatment requires lifelong immunosuppressive medication and negates the potential recovery of the host liver. In theory, auxiliary heterotopic liver transplantation (HLT) offers the diseased host liver a chance to regenerate, so that immunosuppression can be tapered off and eventually stopped.