Does the two-week rule pathway improve the diagnosis of soft tissue sarcoma? A retrospective review of referral patterns and outcomes over five years in a regional sarcoma centre.

Introduction: The NHS Cancer Plan was introduced in 2000 and included guidelines for the rapid assessment and referral of cases of suspected malignancy. We wished to assess the efficiency and appropriateness of patients referred under the Department of Health's general practitioner referral guidelines implemented for sarcomas in December 2000.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective case-note review was performed of all patients referred to our regional soft tissue sarcoma unit between 1 January 2004 and 31 December 2008.

Seeding of pancreatic islets into prevascularized tissue engineering chambers.

Transplantation of islets into the portal vein of diabetic patients has emerged as a promising procedure for the treatment of type 1 diabetes. However, shortages of donors and adverse effects leading to graft impairment and/or rejection have prevented this procedure from achieving widespread clinical application. The aim of this study was to develop a method that could support the survival and function of transplanted islets using a prevascularized tissue engineering chamber.