Appraisal of needle-based confocal laser endomicroscopy in the diagnosis of pancreatic cysts.

Nearly 2.5% of cross-sectional imaging studies will report a finding of a cystic pancreatic lesion. Even though most of these are incidental findings, it remains very concerning for both patients and treating clinicians.

Polymer therapy: a novel treatment to improve fat graft viability.

Background: Autologous fat grafting is currently undergoing a renaissance. However, fat grafts are limited by unpredictable survival. Poloxamers can act as tissue surfactants.

Lymphovascular invasion as a tool to further subclassify T1b esophageal adenocarcinoma.

Background: Lymphovascular invasion (LVI) and/or lymph node metastases (LNM) adversely influence the overall survival (OS) of patients with T1 esophageal adenocarcinoma. Although endoscopic therapy may be adequate for patients with T1a cancer, patients with T1b cancer require esophagectomy/lymphadenectomy. The authors hypothesized that LVI status would subclassify T1b cancers and facilitate new therapeutic strategies.

Value of endoscopic ultrasound staging in conjunction with the evaluation of lymphovascular invasion in identifying low-risk esophageal carcinoma.

Background: With increasing emphasis on endoscopic therapy (ET) for T1 esophageal carcinoma, the identification of low-risk patients is critical. It was hypothesized that endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) in concert with detailed histopathologic evaluation would identify low-risk cancers for an appropriate but organ-preserving strategy.

Methods: All patients who had pretreatment EUS and underwent esophagectomy as primary therapy for esophageal cancer between 1999 and 2006 were analyzed retrospectively.

Value of baseline positron emission tomography for predicting overall survival in patient with nonmetastatic esophageal or gastroesophageal junction carcinoma.

Background: The value of baseline positron emission tomography (PET) for predicting overall survival (OS) or disease-free survival (DFS) is unclear in patients with nondistant metastatic (locoregional only) esophageal carcinoma. The authors tested the hypothesis that, in this setting, the number of PET abnormalities (NPA) would correlate with OS and DFS.

Methods: The authors of the current study analyzed patients with localized esophageal carcinoma (Stages II and III) who had a baseline PET and endoscopic ultrasonography (EUS) and were all treated with chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery.