Combination of laser microdissection, 2D-DIGE and MALDI-TOF MS to identify protein biomarkers to predict colorectal cancer spread.

Biomarkers are urgently required to support current histological staging to provide additional accuracy in stratifying colorectal cancer (CRC) patients according to risk of spread to properly assign adjuvant chemotherapy after surgery. Chemotherapy is given to patients with stage III to reduce the risk of recurrence but is controversial in stage II patients. Up to 25% of stage II patients will relapse within 5 years after tumor removal and when this occurs cure is seldom possible.

The New Zealand PIPER Project: colorectal cancer survival according to rurality, ethnicity and socioeconomic deprivation-results from a retrospective cohort study.

Aim: To investigate differences in survival after diagnosis with colorectal cancer (CRC) by rurality, ethnicity and deprivation.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, clinical records and National Collections data were merged for all patients diagnosed with CRC in New Zealand in 2007-2008. Prioritised ethnicity was classified using New Zealand Cancer Registry data; meshblock of residence at diagnosis was used to determine rurality and socioeconomic deprivation.

Methods of a national colorectal cancer cohort study: the PIPER Project.

Aim: Colorectal cancer is one of the most common cancers, and second-leading cause of cancer-related death, in New Zealand. The PIPER (Presentations, Investigations, Pathways, Evaluation, Rx [treatment]) project was undertaken to compare presentation, investigations, management and outcomes by rurality, ethnicity and deprivation. This paper reports the methods of the project, a comparison of PIPER patient diagnoses to the New Zealand Cancer Registry (NZCR) data, and the characteristics of the PIPER cohort.

Excision of the seminal vesicles for locally advanced and recurrent rectal and sigmoid cancer.

Background: This study aims to define the clinical and oncological outcome of 'en-bloc' excision of the seminal vesicles for locally advanced and recurrent tumours of the sigmoid and rectum.

Methods: Eight patients were identified from a prospective colorectal cancer database at a tertiary centre as having undergone excision of the seminal vesicles in continuity with a locally advanced or recurrent sigmoid or rectal adenocarcinoma. The presentation, operative details, histopathology, oncological outcome and morbidity of the procedure were assessed.

Treating pseudomyxoma peritonei without heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy--a first look in New Zealand.

Background: Pseudomyxoma peritonei is a condition characterised by dissemination of mucin-producing neoplastic cells throughout the peritoneal cavity. There are two pathological subsets, disseminated peritoneal adenomucinosis and peritoneal mucinosis carcinomatosis. Once a lethal disease, cytoreductive surgery combined with heated intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC) is challenging debulking as the standard of care.

Overexpression of aminoacylase 1 is associated with colorectal cancer progression.

Aminoacylase 1 (ACY1) is a cytosolic enzyme responsible for amino acid deacylation during intracellular protein degradation. ACY1 has been implicated in a number of human tumor types. However, the exact role of ACY1 in tumor development remains elusive because it was found to be lost in small cell lung cancer and renal cell carcinoma but overexpressed in colorectal cancer (CRC).

A study into external rectal anatomy: improving patient selection for radiotherapy for rectal cancer.

Purpose: This study was designed to determine the distance from the anal verge to the anterior peritoneal reflection in vivo, thereby improving the selection of patients for preoperative radiotherapy.

Methods: Measurement of the distance from the anal verge to the anterior peritoneal reflection, confluence of the taenia, and the origin of the sigmoid mesentery in 50 patients in the lithotomy position.

Results: The mean distance from the anal verge to the anterior peritoneal reflection was 11.

Sexual function after rectal excision.

Background: Rectal excision is associated with a risk of autonomic nerve damage and associated sexual dysfunction (SD). The evolution of our understanding of the anatomy and physiology of sexual function together with continual refinement of surgery for both benign and malignant disease has led to a decrease in the incidence of SD after rectal surgery. A knowledge of the degree of risk of postoperative SD is important both for the patient and as a benchmark for audit of individual colorectal practice.

Pleomorphic Angiomyolipoma of Digestive Tract: A Heretofore Unrecognized Entity.

Two cases of pleomorphic angiomyolipoma (AML) composed of bizarre epithelioid smooth muscle cells located in the gastrointestinal tract are reported. One involved the appendix of a 6-year-old girl, and the second the cecum of a 22-year-old woman. In both instances the tumor cells were immunoreactive for HMB-45 and A103.