En bloc resection of a large tuberculous abscess using the stain plombage procedure.

En bloc resection is highly recommended for treating tuberculous abscess of the chest wall because of possible recurrence due to microscopic residual lesions; however, complete resection is often difficult. We present a case with a large dumbbell-shaped tuberculous abscess that developed inside and outside the thorax. En bloc resection was successfully achieved using intraoperative closed drainage, ablution, and stain solution plombage procedures, which enabled easy identification of the abscess configuration.

Pulmonary carcinosarcoma successfully resected using the rib-cross thoracotomy approach: report of a case.

Pulmonary carcinosarcoma is extremely rare and disease prognosis is very poor. A solid large tumor occupying the left thorax was detected in a 66-year-old female. Rib-cross thoracotomy was performed to excise the tumor; the 5th and 6th ribs and intercostal muscles and vessels were cut along the mid-axillary line, and the thorax was entered posteriorly at the 4th intercostal space and anteriorly at the 6th intercostal space, providing wide exposure of the entire thorax.

Accessory lobe of the right liver mocking a pulmonary tumor in an adult woman.

We report a rare case of an accessory lobe of the liver in the right thoracic cavity with the past history of breast cancer. A 66-year-old woman underwent thoracotomy owing to a slowly growing suspected lung tumor identified by computed tomography. The intraoperative findings revealed an accessory lobe of the liver.

[Postpneumonectomy syndrome treated with an air infusion through a central vein (CV) port].

A 65-year-old woman underwent a right pneumonectomy 3 years before, because of lung cancer. Two years and 9 months after the operation, she developed a productive cough and complained of dyspnea At that time, the chest X-ray film showed a remarkable mediastinal shift to the right and herniation of the left lung. The computed tomography (CT) scan showed a marked rightward and posterior deviation of the mediastinum, and severe stenosis of the left main bronchus.

[Limitation of apoptosis induced by gefitinib in a long-surviving postoperative recurrent lung cancer case].

Although gefitinib is known to possess an effect inducing apoptosis against lung cancer, it is not clear how clinically effective it is in this regard in patients with lung cancer. Therefore, we tried to reduce its administration from every to every other day in a 73-year-old woman in good condition over 5 years after the recurrence of lung cancer. As a result, her CEA serum level then commenced to increase to the abnormal range within a month.

[Neurinoma arising from brachial plexus with intrathoracic extension resected through the second intercostal space].

A case of neurinoma arising from the right brachial plexus with intrathoracic extension was reported. The patient was a 41-year-old man who had an abnormal shadow in the right apical area on the routine chest X-ray examination. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that the mass had some features of benign neurinoma.

Thymoma with spontaneous regression and disappearance of pleural effusion.

A 31-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with sudden onset of chest pain. Chest radiography and computed tomography (CT) on admission showed an anterior mediastinal tumor with left pleural effusion, which was diagnosed as an inoperable malignant mediastinal tumor. However, 3 weeks after admission CT showed that the tumor was diminishing and the pleural effusion had disappeared without any treatment.

[A case of postoperative recurrent lung cancer with long survival due to gefitinib efficacy].

A 70-year-old woman underwent a right middle lobectomy and partial resection of right upper lobe for lung cancer. The pathological findings were well-differentiated adenocarcinoma, pT2N0M0, Stage IB. About 6 years after the operation, the serum CEA level increased and chest CT revealed right pleural dissemination and right pleural effusion.

Polymorphism of dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPYD) Cys29Arg and risk of six malignancies in Japanese.

Dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD) is the enzyme catalyzing the first step of pyrimidine metabolism. To date, genetic polymorphisms of pyrimidine-synthesizing enzymes have been reported to be associated with the risk of malignant lymphoma or colon cancer. Accordingly, there may be associations between dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPYD) polymorphism and the risk of malignancies.

Different risk relations with smoking for non-small-cell lung cancer: comparison of TP53 and TP73 genotypes.

Background: The association between TP53/TP73 gene polymorphisms and tobacco smoking was evaluated with regard to risk of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

Methods: A case-control study with 192 histologically confirmed NSCLC cases and 241 non-cancer controls was conducted. Subjects were genotyped for TP53 Arg72Pro and TP73 G4C14 to A4T14 polymorphisms by PCR-based methods.

Association of a polymorphism of the phospholipase D2 gene with the prevalence of colorectal cancer.

Phospholipase D plays an important role in transmembrane signaling in a variety of cell types and its activity is increased in certain cancers, suggesting that it also contributes to tumorigenesis. A C-->T transition at nucleotide 1814 of the human phospholipase D(2) gene, which results in a Thr-->Ile substitution at amino acid 577, was noted in the GenBank database. The relationship of this polymorphism to the prevalence of cancer of the esophagus, stomach, colon-rectum, lung, and breast in Japanese was investigated in a case-control study.

A limited association of OGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism for adenocarcinoma of the lung.

The 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase (OGG1) repairs DNA by removing 8-hydroxyguanine, a highly mutagenic oxidative DNA adduct. Recently, the gene for OGG1 was cloned and several polymorphisms have been reported. Because environmental carcinogens produce 8-hydroxyguanine residues that potentially cause oncogenic mutations by mismatching to this modified base, the capacity to repair these lesions can be involved in cancer susceptibility.

NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) C609T polymorphism and the risk of eight cancers for Japanese.

Background: NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) C609T was reportedly associated with leukemia, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and urological malignancies. This study was conducted to screen possible cancer sites associated with this polymorphism by a prevalent case-control design.

Methods: The cases were 102 patients with esophageal cancer, 143 with stomach cancer, 74 with colon cancer, 72 with rectal cancer, 192 with lung cancer, 237 with breast cancer, 56 with prostate cancer, and 108 with malignant lymphoma.