Postoperative evaluation of function-preserving gastrectomy for early gastric cancer.

Background/aims: We evaluated the efficacy of the following three surgical options in gastrectomy for early gastric cancer; 1) reduction of the extent of gastrectomy, 2) preservation of the vagal nerve, and 3) preservation of the pylorus.

Methodology: The postoperative physical conditions of patients who had undergone 6 kinds of operating methods incorporating elements 1), 2) and 3) were compared. The efficacy of elements 1) and 3) was evaluated by comparison among a 2/3 proximal gastrectomy group (2/3-PG group, n = 5), 4/5 proximal gastrectomy group (4/5-PG group, n = 7), and total gastrectomy group (TG group, n = 12).

Preoperative simulation of vascular anatomy by three-dimensional computed tomography imaging in laparoscopic gastric cancer surgery.

Background: Treatment of early gastric cancer may be an ideal application for laparoscopic surgery. But laparoscopic surgery has various limitations derived from the lack of tactile feedback and a two-dimensional display of the operative field. So, laparoscopic surgery is technically challenging and requires a more detailed understanding of local anatomy than conventional open surgery does.

[Clinical application of three-dimensional imaging with multislice CT for laparoscopic colorectal surgery].

Purpose: Laparoscopic colorectal surgery, while minimally invasive, is a complicated technique. Therefore, prior to this surgery, it is important to determine the anatomical information of colorectal cancer.

Materials And Methods: Fifty-eight cases of patients with a confirmed diagnosis of colon cancer [caecal (n = 4), ascending colon (n = 6), transverse colon (n = 7), descending colon (n = 2), sigmoid colon (n = 22), and rectal (n = 17) cancer] were evaluated using multislice CT before laparoscopic surgery.

Clinical study to identify specific characteristics of cancer newly developed in the remnant stomach.

Background: Cancer newly developed in the remnant stomach (CRS) after partial gastrectomy is worthy of attention not only because it is a typical model of carcinogenesis but also from the aspect of cancer diagnosis.

Methods: We treated 47 patients with CRS in the 20 years from 1979 to 1998. Clinicopathological variables, as well as long-term survival results after the second surgery, were reviewed to clarify whether there were any differences in the characteristics of this disease entity compared with the usual primary gastric cancer.

Expression of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) may contribute, in part, to the variations in histogenesis and the prevalence of peritoneal dissemination in human gastric carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Alterations in the activity of transforming growth factor beta (TGF-beta) in humans have been implicated in fibrosis, immunosuppression, development of cancer, and other disorders. Scirrhous gastric carcinoma is characterized by cancer cells that infiltrate rapidly in the stroma with extensive growth of fibroblasts and fibrous tissue. Hence, the majority of studies examining the role of TGF-beta in gastric carcinoma have focused on scirrhous carcinoma.