Correlations between lymph node metastasis and depth of submucosal invasion in submucosal invasive colorectal carcinoma: a Japanese collaborative study.

Background: Depth of submucosal invasion (SM depth) in submucosal invasive colorectal carcinoma (SICC) is considered an important predictive factor for lymph node metastasis. However, no nationwide reports have clarified the relationship between SM depth and rate of lymph node metastasis. Our aim was to investigate the correlations between lymph node metastasis and SM depth in SICC.

[Post-genome challenges against inflammatory bowel diseases].

Advancement of genome analysis might give great impact to the treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD). IBD patients are treated by sulfadrugs, steroids and anti-immune drugs. For difficult cases, leukocytapheresis, beclomethasone dipropionate, anti-TNF therapy, anti-LTB4 therapy and other new methods are applied.

Clinicopathologic evaluation of the trend toward histologically poor differentiation with submucosal invasion in superficial early colorectal adenocarcinomas.

We examined differences in the degree of differentiation in intramucosal and submucosal areas of involvement in early colorectal adenocarcinomas of 131 patients and compared these findings with tumor morphology. In addition, K-ras and p53 protein expression was determined in cases where poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma was detected in the submucosa. We identified 6 patients with both intramucosal differentiated (well-to-moderately differentiated) adenocarcinoma and submucosal poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma (MwSp).

[Medical therapy in ulcerative colitis].

Salazosulfapyridine(SASP) and 5-aminosalicyclic acid(5-ASA) are useful in the therapy of mildly to moderately active ulcerative colitis. 5-ASA lacks sulfa moiety of SASP and is associated with a decreased incidence of side effects. In patients with moderate or severe ulcerative colitis, glucocorticoids which may be given in conjunction with SASP or 5-ASA are beneficial in producing remission.

Role of Endosonography in Diagnosis of Esophageal Bronchogenic Cyst: -Report of Two Cases.

Bronchogenic cyst is very difficult to diagnose preoperatively. We report two cases of bronchogenic cyst of the esophagus diagnosed and treated by thoracoscopic resection or endoscopic mucosal incision. Thoracoscopic resection was performed to diagnose and treat case 1, while in case 2, histological diagnosis was obtained with an endoscopic mucosal incision.