Swordfish bill injury involving abdomen and vertebral column: case report and review.

Background: Penetrating injuries of the abdomen and spinal canal that involve organic material of animal origin are extremely rare and derive from domestic and wild animal attacks or fish attacks.

Case Presentation: In this case report we present the unique, as far as the literature is concerned, unprovoked woman's injury to the abdomen by a swordfish. There are only four cases of swordfish attacks on humans in the literature - one resulted to thoracic trauma, two to head trauma and one to knee trauma, one of which was fatal - none of which were unprovoked.

Predictive significance of preoperative serum VEGF-C and VEGF-D, independently and combined with Ca19-9, for the presence of malignancy and lymph node metastasis in patients with gastric cancer.

Background: Cumulative evidence demonstrate that lymphangiogenic vascular endothelial growth factors (VEGF)-C and -D are over-expressed and associated to lymph node metastasis (LNM) in gastric cancer. The aim of this study is to investigate whether preoperative serum levels of VEGF-C and VEGF-D could be useful tumor markers in patients with operable gastric adenocarcinoma.

Methods: We prospectively examined serum samples from 40 patients and 40 non-cancer controls using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

CEA and CA-19.9 serum tumor markers as prognostic factors in patients with locally advanced (unresectable) or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma: a retrospective analysis.

Most pancreatic adenocarcinoma patients present with locally advanced or metastatic disease at diagnosis. in this retrospective study the authors evaluated the prognostic significance of the CEA and CA-19.9 serum tumor markers in advanced (unresectable) pancreatic cancer in correlation to other prognostic factors (demographic data, clinical parameters, treatment modality) and survival time using univariate and multivariate methods, in 215 patients with locally advanced (unresectable) or metastatic pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Circulating lymphangiogenic growth factors in gastrointestinal solid tumors, could they be of any clinical significance?

Metastasis is the principal cause of cancer mortality, with the lymphatic system being the first route of tumor dissemination. The glycoproteins VEGF-C and VEGF-D are members of the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) family, whose role has been recently recognized as lymphatic system regulators during embryogenesis and in pathological processes such as inflammation, lymphatic system disorders and malignant tumor metastasis. They are ligands for the VEGFR-3 receptor on the membrane of the lymphatic endothelial cell, resulting in dilatation of existing lymphatic vessels as well as in vegetation of new ones (lymphangiogenesis).