Questionnaire survey regarding the current status and controversial issues concerning reconstruction after gastrectomy in Japan.

The Japanese Society for the Study of Postoperative Morbidity after Gastrectomy conducted a nationwide questionnaire survey to clarify the current status of reconstruction after gastrectomy. One hundred and forty-five institutions (66%) responded to the survey. The questionnaire dealt with the reconstruction after a distal gastrectomy, pylorus-preserving gastrectomy (PPG), total gastrectomy, and proximal gastrectomy.

Gastrointestinal cancer metastasis and lymphatic advancement.

The role of angiogenesis in the growth of solid tumors is well established, but the role of lymphatic vessels and the relationship between lymphangiogenesis and tumor spread are less clear. Recently, the molecular pathway that signals lymphangiogenesis and specific markers for lymphatic endothelium have been discovered; however, the lymphatic pathway of cancer metastasis is only partly clarified. Several investigators from the mid 20th century indicated the existence of lymphatico-venous communications, and some observed the retrograde filling of lymph flow and lymphatico-venous communication in obstructive lymphopathy.

[Oncologic emergencies in gastric cancer patients].

Many complications frequently occur in gastric cancer patients which require urgent treatment. Oncologic emergencies in gastric cancer vary widely and include hemorrhage, perforation and obstruction due to gastric cancer tumors, obstructive jaundice, hydronephrosis, intestinal obstruction and disseminated intravascular coagulation due to advanced metastatic, recurrent, or systemic tumors, and adverse effects secondary to chemotherapy. In gastric cancer treatment, we must recognize the occurrence of oncologic emergencies resulting from gastric cancer progression and recurrence.

Association of gastric and intestinal phenotypic marker expression of gastric carcinomas with tumor thymidylate synthase expression and response to postoperative chemotherapy with 5-fluorouracil.

Purpose: It is well known that both gastric and intestinal phenotypic markers are expressed in gastric carcinomas, irrespective of their histological type. In the present study, the associations among phenotypic marker expression of gastric carcinomas, tumor thymidylate synthase (TS) expression, and the chemotherapeutic response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) were examined.

Methods: The gastric and intestinal phenotypic marker expression of the tumor was determined by the combination of the expression of human gastric mucin (HGM), MUC6, MUC2, and CD10, and was evaluated in comparison with tumor TS expression in 137 advanced gastric carcinomas in 137 patients (75 with postoperative chemotherapy with 5-FU and 62 without postoperative chemotherapy).