Is there a role for palliative gastrectomy in patients with stage IV gastric cancer?

Patients with metastatic gastric cancer are currently not considered operative candidates and are most often offered systemic therapy. Palliative resection of the primary tumor has been considered irrelevant to the outcome and has been recommended only for palliation of symptoms. We have examined the role of palliative gastrectomy and its impact on survival in patients with stage IV gastric cancer at initial diagnosis between 1990 and 2000.

Surgical resection for gastric cancer in elderly patients: is there a difference in outcome?

Background: Early and long-term outcome of gastrectomy for gastric cancer in elderly adults has been a subject of controversy and debate.

Materials And Methods: Clinical information was reviewed for patients undergoing gastrectomy for gastric cancer during an 11-year period (1990-2000) at the University of Tennessee Medical Center at Knoxville. Patient demographics, tumor characteristics, operative mortality and morbidity, survival, and length of hospitalization were reviewed.

Nonsentinel lymph node status after positive sentinel lymph node biopsy in early breast cancer.

Axillary dissection is the current standard of care for patients with breast cancer who are diagnosed with metastasis to axillary sentinel lymph nodes (SLNs). Recently, that concept has come under increasing scrutiny because not all women with a positive SLN will need further dissection. The purpose of this study was to look at nonsentinel lymph node status in patients with breast cancer and axillary SLN metastasis in an effort to determine tumor variables that can guide further treatment if there are additional axillary nodes involved.

Solid-pseudopapillary tumor of the pancreas: two cases in male patients.

Solid-pseudopapillary tumor (SPT) of the pancreas is a rare lesion with low malignant potential occurring predominantly in young women. This is a report of two cases in young male patients. Clinical data were retrieved retrospectively from a prospective database of patients with pancreatic tumors.

In vitro inhibition of growth and induction of apoptosis in cancer cell lines by thymoquinone.

Thymoquinone (TQ) is likely responsible for the chemotherapeutic effects of N. sativa extract; however, the cellular mechanisms remain ill-defined. TQ-induced cytotoxicity was investigated using canine osteosarcoma (COS31), its cisplatin-resistant variant (COS31/rCDDP), human breast adenocarcinoma (MCF7), human ovarian adenocarcinoma (BG-1) and Madin-Darby canine (MDCK) cell lines.