Evaluation of the role of laparoscopic ultrasonography in the staging of oesophagogastric cancers.

Introduction: The role of laparoscopic ultrasound (LUS) during staging laparoscopy for pancreatic cancers is established but remains debatable in evaluating oesophagogastric cancers.

Methods: A retrospective consecutive case series consisting of patients undergoing staging laparoscopy in two centres (centre A and B) was carried out over a 5-year period (2000-2005). Patients in centre B underwent LUS following laparoscopic assessment using a 7.

Fatal and life threatening rupture of splenic artery aneurysms in children with portal hypertension.

Aneurysms of the splenic artery (SAAs) are a rare complication of portal hypertension in adults. Although the risk of rupture is small, associated mortality is high. Furthermore, circulatory changes that occur following liver transplantation (OLT) may increase the risk of SAA rupture.

The effects of chemotherapeutics on cellular metabolism and consequent immune recognition.

Awidely held view is that oncolytic agents induce death of tumor cells directly. In this report we review and discuss the apoptosis-inducing effects of chemotherapeutics, the effects of chemotherapeutics on metabolic function, and the consequent effects of metabolic function on immune recognition. Finally, we propose that effective chemotherapeutic and/or apoptosis-inducing agents, at concentrations that can be achieved physiologically, do not kill tumor cells directly.

Outcome, survival, and costs in patients undergoing intubation for carcinoma of the esophagus.

Background: In this prospective study a consecutive series of 70 patients undergoing insertion of a Wilson-Cook endoprosthesis for palliation of esophageal carcinoma was examined.

Methods: The tube was inserted endoscopically using intravenous sedation and a pulsion technique.

Results: The patients had a mean (SEM) age of 70.

Screening for breast cancer detects tumours at an earlier biological stage.

Between August 1988 and July 1990, 17,678 women in the Gateshead, Sunderland, South Tyneside and Durham districts attended the national breast screening programme. A total of 131 cancers were detected. The morphology of cancers detected by screening was compared with that of tumours in 71 patients presenting clinically in the same period.

The computerized digital imaging colposcope: future directions.

A computer-aided colposcope has been developed for enhancement and analysis of colposcopic images. There are numerous possible applications of this system, including image archiving, image enhancement and processing, and quantitative measurements of various features in the images. In addition, a wide range of digital filters can be applied to the system that may be used to detail different aspects of the image.

Multiagent chemotherapy in relapsing ovarian cancer.

A multiagent regimen (vinblastine, bleomycin, hexamethylmelamine, and cis-platinum) partly designed on the basis of data from a human tumor stem cell assay was used to treat 36 patients with relapsing epithelial ovarian cancer. All patients included in this study had previously received alkylating agent therapy, and 78% (28/36) had also received Adriamycin. Thirty-five patients were clinically evaluable for response; eight achieved complete clinical remission, and nine achieved partial remission, for an overall response rate of 49%.

An analysis of "long-term" follow-up results in patients with cervical intraepithelial neoplasia treated by cryotherapy.

Two thousand eight hundred thirty-nine patients who had been treated by cryotherapy for cervical intraepithelial neoplasia (CIN) in nine different institutions were followed longitudinally after three negative Papanicolaou smears to ascertain the risk of recurrence. The cumulative risk of developing CIN after successful cryotherapeutic management of CIN was 0.41% at year 5, 0.

"Skinny" upper gastrointestinal endoscopy--the initial diagnostic tool: a prospective comparison of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy and radiology.

One hundred twenty-five patients were prospectively evaluated with upper gastrointestinal "skinny" endoscopy and radiology. Seventy-five patients underwent endoscopic examination before barium studies, whereas 50 patients underwent radiologic examination before endoscopy. If superficial mucosal erosions are eliminated, the areas of greatest disagreement occurred in the postoperative stomach, the deformed antrum, and the deformed duodenal bulb.