Impact of microvessel density on lymph node metastasis and survival after curative resection of pancreatic cancer.

Purpose: The roles of angiogenesis and the most prominent angiogenic vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in diseases of the pancreas remain controversial. We compared microvessel density (MVD) and VEGF status in normal pancreatic, chronic pancreatic, and pancreatic cancer (PC) tissues to establish their prognostic relevance.

Methods: Eighty samples of PC tissue, 32 samples of normal pancreatic tissue, and 20 samples of chronic pancreatitis (cP) tissue were immunostained with monoclonal anti-CD31 and polyclonal anti-VEGF antibody.

Balanced management of hepatic trauma is associated with low liver-related mortality.

Background: Hepatic trauma is a rare surgical emergency with significant morbidity and mortality. Therapeutic strategies have been controversially discussed during the last decades.

Methods: The medical records of 47 consecutive patients with hepatic trauma treated at the University Hospital of Leipzig between 2004 and 2008 were retrospectively reviewed for the severity of liver injury, management, morbidity, and mortality and compared to a preceding cohort.