Faecal pyruvate kinase isoenzyme type M2 for colorectal cancer screening: a meta-analysis.

Aim: To present a critical discussion of the efficacy of the faecal pyruvate kinase isoenzyme type M2 (faecal M2-PK) test for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening based on the currently available studies.

Methods: A literature search in PubMed and Embase was conducted using the following search terms: fecal Tumor M2-PK, faecal Tumour M2-PK, fecal M2-PK, faecal M2-PK, fecal pyruvate kinase, faecal pyruvate kinase, pyruvate kinase stool and M2-PK stool.

Results: Stool samples from 704 patients with CRC and from 11 412 healthy subjects have been investigated for faecal M2-PK concentrations in seventeen independent studies.

[Double balloon enteroscopy. First surgical experience].

Introduction: In Germany double balloon enteroscopy (DBE) has been used for about 4 years in diagnostics of the small intestine. Testing for the first time its value in daily surgical practice, we analyzed retrospectively the results of all DBE examinations from December 2004 to September 2006.

Material And Methods: During the study period 106 enteroscopies were performed on 75 patients (42 males, 33 females, age 16-84 years).

Colorectal cancer screening by non-invasive metabolic biomarker fecal tumor M2-PK.

Aim: To evaluate the utility of the innovative fecal tumor M2-Pyruvate kinase (M2-PK) test in our daily clinical routine, as a marker for the pre-selection of patients who should subsequently undergo colonoscopy for the diagnosis or exclusion of colorectal cancer.

Methods: Fecal tumor M2-PK was measured in stool samples of 96 study participants (33 patients with colorectal cancer, 21 patients with rectal carcinoma and 42 controls) who all underwent total colonoscopy.

Results: In 39 of 42 individuals in the control group, fecal tumor M2-PK was below 4.

[Heterotopic pancreas in the gallbladder. Diagnosis, therapy, and course of a rare developmental anomaly of the pancreas].

Ectopic pancreas is a rare entity but the second most prevalent pancreatic anomaly. Heterotopic pancreas is defined as the presence of pancreatic tissue without any anatomic or vascular continuity with the main body of the pancreas. Its aetiology is not clearly established.

Ultrastructural changes in hepatocytes of precision-cut rat liver slices after incubation for 24 and 48 hours.

Hepatocytes of precision-cut rat liver slices were studied by means of transmission electron microscopy after long-term incubation (24-48 h) in comparison with freshly prepared slices, indicating reversible and irreversible intracellular alterations of the cells. After 24 h incubation the morphological image in transversal sections of slices is characterised by a central zone of damaged and necrotic cells flanked by two to several superficial layers of viable cells. This is typical of a diffusion gradient of oxygen tension and nutrient content from the surface to the centre of the slices.