Drug-Eluting Porous Embolic Microspheres for Trans-Arterial Delivery of Dual Synergistic Anticancer Therapy for the Treatment of Liver Cancer.

Blockage of blood supply while administering chemotherapy to tumors, using trans-arterial chemoembolization (TACE), is the most common treatment for intermediate and advanced-stage unresectable Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, HCC is characterized by a poor prognosis and high recurrence rates (≈30%), partly due to a hypoxic pro-angiogenic and pro-cancerous microenvironment. This study investigates how modifying tissue stress while improving drug exposure in target organs may maximize the therapeutic outcomes.

Single liver metastasis of a follicular variant of papillary thyroid carcinoma: a rare pattern of organ spread.

Summary: Well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC), including papillary, follicular, and Hurthle-cell types, is characterized by a slow course and usually remain localized to the thyroid. However, a minority of these cases develop distant metastases with the most common sites being lungs, bones, and lymph nodes. Liver metastases of WDTC are rare and are usually found along with other distant metastases sites and in a multiple or diffuse pattern of spread.

Metabolic Syndrome is a Risk Factor for Post-Operative Adhesions: Need for Novel Treatment Strategies.

Metabolic syndrome is a group of disorders which include obesity, diabetes, dyslipidemias, and hypertension. This condition is rapidly increasing in an aging population. The rates of surgery in older patients is also growing and a wide range of operations including minimally invasive procedures is now available for this segment of the population.

Selective utilization of pre-operative endoscopic ultrasound to exclude choledocholithiasis prior to laparoscopic cholecystectomy: a retrospective study.

Background/aims: The objective of this study was to define the clinical, biochemical and ultrasonographic criteria correlating with a likelihood of a positive preoperative endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) in patients presenting with acute gallstone-related pancreatobiliary disease.

Methodology: All patients who underwent EUS prior to elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy were analyzed at the Gastroenterology Unit, Kaplan Medical Center, following acute admission with cholecystitis, cholelithiasis, cholangitis, acute pancreatitis and obstructive jaundice.

Results: One hundred and seventy four patients met the inclusion criteria.

Improving the diagnostic accuracy of ultrasonography in suspected acute appendicitis by the combined transabdominal and transvaginal approach.

Transabdominal ultrasound has a lower diagnostic yield in acute appendicitis than computed tomography (CT) scanning. The addition of transvaginal sonography in women with suspected appendicitis has shown improvement in the efficacy of diagnosis, potentially providing the option of selective CT use and reducing overall investigative cost and surgical delay. Two hundred ninety-two women who underwent combined transabdominal and transvaginal ultrasound for suspected acute appendicitis were evaluated.

Long-term results of two-stage hepatectomy for irresectable colorectal cancer liver metastases.

Objective: To assess feasibility, risks, and long-term outcome of 2-stage hepatectomy as a means to improve resectability of colorectal liver metastases (CLM).

Summary Background Data: Two-stage hepatectomy uses compensatory liver regeneration after a first noncurative hepatectomy to enable a second curative resection.

Methods: Between October 1992 and January 2007, among 262 patients with initially irresectable CLM, 59 patients (23%) were planned for 2-stage hepatectomy.

Phase II study of UFT with leucovorin plus hepatic arterial infusion with irinotecan, 5-fluorouracil and leucovorin for non-resectable liver metastases of colorectal cancer.

Background: Compared with systemic therapy, hepatic arterial infusion (HAI) increases the response to fluoropyrimidines.

Methods: Thirty-one patients with non-resectable, colorectal cancer (CRC) liver metastases received irinotecan 120 mg/m(2), followed by leucovorin (LV) 20 mg/m(2) and 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) 500 mg/m(2) administered by HAI every 2 weeks, plus UFT (tegafur-uracil) 200 mg/m(2)/day with LV 30 mg/day on days 1-22, followed by a 6-day rest.

Results: The objective response rate was 65% (all 20 patients achieving a partial response).

Two-stage hepatectomy approach for initially unresectable colorectal hepatic metastases.

Two-stage hepatectomy has been developed as a surgical strategy for extremely difficult cases of bilobar multinodular metastatic liver disease. This strategy is applied when it is impossible to resect all malignant lesions in a single procedure. The main principle of this approach is sequential resection by a two-staged hepatectomy.