Histopathologic factors significantly associated with initial organ-specific metastasis by invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast: a prospective study.

The purpose of this study was to identify histologic factors significantly associated with initial organ-specific metastasis by 1044 invasive ductal carcinomas (IDCs) of the breast with and without adjuvant therapy, separately, according to nodal status and pathologic TNM stage status. The following histologic factors were prospectively analyzed by multivariate analyses for distant organ metastasis and bone metastasis in patients with IDC who did not receive adjuvant therapy, and for distant organ metastasis, bone metastasis, liver metastasis, and lung metastasis in patients with IDC who received adjuvant therapy: (1) invasive tumor size, (2) histologic grade, (3) tumor necrosis, (4) fibrotic focus (FF), (5) lymphatic invasion, (6) blood vessel invasion, (7) adipose tissue invasion, (8) skin invasion, (9) muscle invasion, (10) age, (11) estrogen (ER)/progesterone (PR) status, and (12) nodal status. The results showed that FF diameter greater than 8 mm and FF fibrosis grade 1 were the factors that most accurately predicted distant organ metastasis and bone metastasis in patients with IDC who did not receive adjuvant therapy.

Grading system for lymph vessel tumor emboli for prediction of the outcome of invasive ductal carcinoma of the breast.

There are no suitable histologic diagnostic clues for determining the true biological malignancy of invasive ductal carcinomas associated with lymph vessel tumor emboli. The purpose of this study was to devise a grading system for lymph vessel tumor emboli in invasive ductal carcinomas that would allow accurate prediction of the outcome of invasive ductal carcinoma patients with lymph vessel invasion. We classified 393 invasive ductal carcinomas into the following 4 grades according to the number of mitotic and apoptotic figures in tumor cells in lymph vessels at 1 high-power field: grade 0, no lymph vessel invasion; grade 1, absence of mitotic and apoptotic figures, presence of any number of mitotic figures and absence of apoptotic figures, or absence of mitotic figures and presence of any number of apoptotic figures; grade 2, 1 to 4 mitotic figures and 1 or more of apoptotic figures, or 1 or more of mitotic figures and 1 to 6 apoptotic figures; and grade 3, more than 4 mitotic figures and more than 6 apoptotic figures.

Is surgical resection indicated for a solitary non-small cell lung cancer recurrence?

Objectives: Some investigators have reported long-term survival after surgical resection of a solitary non-small cell lung cancer recurrence in various sites. However, the role and indications of the second operation remain unclear.

Methods: We reviewed 28 patients with a solitary recurrence after successful initial resection of primary non-small cell lung cancer who underwent resection of the recurrent lesion.

Laminin 5 expression protects against anoikis at aerogenous spread and lepidic growth of human lung adenocarcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma of the lung is characterized by frequent aerogenous spread (AE) and advancement along the alveolar wall (BAC growth). To elucidate the mechanism of AE metastasis and BAC growth in human lung adenocarcinoma, we established an in vivo orthotopic animal model and an in vitro culture. Investigation of expression levels of integrins, laminins and Type IV collagens, which are the major regulating molecules for cell attachment and anoikis was carried out and a clear correlation between the expression level of laminin 5 (LN5) and the BAC growth was observed using an orthotopic animal model.

Weekly chemotherapy with cisplatin, vincristine, doxorubicin, and etoposide is an effective treatment for advanced thymic carcinoma.

Background: Thymic carcinoma is a rare neoplasm that often disseminates or metastasizes. The role of chemotherapy in treating this malignancy is unclear. The purpose of the current study was to determine the efficacy and tolerability of a weekly chemotherapy regimen consisting of cisplatin, vincristine, doxorubicin, and etoposide (CODE) for the treatment of advanced thymic carcinoma.

Clinicopathologic characteristics of peripheral squamous cell carcinoma of the lung.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the lung can be divided into two types according to the location of the primary site: the central type and the peripheral type. The clinicopathologic factors in the peripheral type of lung squamous cell carcinoma have not yet been fully evaluated. A total of 204 surgically resected lung squamous cell carcinomas were reviewed with special reference to their location, histologic characteristics based on tumor growth patterns, and clinicopathologic factors.