Randomized Phase II Study of PET Response-Adapted Combined Modality Therapy for Esophageal Cancer: Mature Results of the CALGB 80803 (Alliance) Trial.

Purpose: To evaluate the use of early assessment of chemotherapy responsiveness by positron emission tomography (PET) imaging to tailor therapy in patients with esophageal and esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma.

Methods: After baseline PET, patients were randomly assigned to an induction chemotherapy regimen: modified oxaliplatin, leucovorin, and fluorouracil (FOLFOX) or carboplatin-paclitaxel (CP). Repeat PET was performed after induction; change in maximum standardized uptake value (SUV) from baseline was assessed.

Intraperitoneal treatment for peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis of appendiceal origin after operative management: long-term follow-up of the Mayo Clinic experience.

Objective: To determine prognostic factors and the impact of intraperitoneal (IP) treatment after surgical resection of peritoneal mucinous carcinomatosis (PMC) of appendiceal origin.

Summary Of Background Data: PMC is a rare, malignant, intra-abdominal neoplasm that produces large amounts of mucin. Patients typically present with diffuse peritoneal disease.

Elevated serum erythropoietin levels in patients with Budd-Chiari syndrome secondary to polycythemia vera: clinical implications for the role of JAK2 mutation analysis.

Purpose: It is widely accepted that an increased serum endogenous erythropoietin (Epo) level in a patient presenting with an elevated red cell mass makes a diagnosis of clonal polycythemia vera (PV) extremely unlikely. However, until the recent description of the constitutively activating V617F point mutation of the Janus 2 tyrosine kinase (JAK2)--a high-frequency molecular marker that is extremely specific for clonal chronic myeloproliferative disorders--distinction of PV from secondary erythrocytosis or other conditions has often been difficult. The purpose of this study was to use JAK2 V617F analysis to re-evaluate the validity of elevated Epo levels as a PV-exclusion criterion in patients with hepatic vein thrombosis [Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS)].

A novel 5' ATRX mutation with splicing consequences in acquired alpha thalassemia-myelodysplastic syndrome.

Background And Objectives: Acquired alpha thalassemia (hemoglobin H (HbH) disease) is a rare complication of neoplastic chronic myeloid disorders, especially myelodysplastic syndrome. Acquired HbH has recently been associated with mutations in an X-linked gene, ATRX, previously linked to inherited ATR-X syndrome (alpha thalassemia-retardation-X linked).

Design And Methods: A Swiss man with chronic myelomonocytic leukemia complicated by various autoimmune disorders and by strikingly microcytic, hypochromic anemia was analyzed for the presence of acquired HbH.