Clinico-pathological evaluation of tumor budding in the oncological progression of colorectal cancer.

Introduction: Tumor budding (TB), defined as the presence of individual neoplastic cells or isolated groups of up to 4 cells at the front of tumor invasion, has become an adverse prognostic marker in colorectal cancer (CRC) in recent decades. The prognostic impact of TB in CRC remains not clearly defined and histological methods for its evaluation vary depending on the center. The objective of this study is to investigate the association between TB and CRC, in terms of oncological evolution and pathological stage.

The influence of immunosuppression switching in liver function in adult hepatic transplantation.

We evaluate the 5-year results of a single-centre prospective randomized trial that compared cyclosporine microemulsion (CyA-me) in triple therapy (plus steroids and azathioprine) and Tacrolimus (Tac) in double therapy (plus steroids) for primary immunosuppression. One hundred adult patients undergoing liver transplantation were randomized to receive Tac (n=51) or CyA-me (n=49). Ten patients in group A, and thirty-one patients in group B had their main immunosuppressive agent switched.

Disseminated nocardiosis: a rare infectious complication following non-heart-beating donor liver transplantation.

Nocardiosis is an infrequent disease that affects patients who display a cellular immunodeficiency, such as transplant recipients on immunosuppressive treatment, but uncommonly associated with high morbidity and mortality rates. Disseminated Nocardiosis affecting the central nervous system (CNS), abdomen, skin, and lungs has been described in bone marrow, lung, and kidney transplant recipients. However, to our knowledge, no cases involving all of these structures have been reported in liver transplant recipients.