Treatment strategy for recurrent and refractory epithelial ovarian cancer: efficacy of high-dose chemotherapy with hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

According to population statistics in Japan, approximately 3,800 women die of ovarian -cancer annually, and approximately 6,000 are affected by this disease. Ovarian cancer is -referred to as a "silent tumor", since patients have few subjective symptoms and by the time symptoms are observed, the cancer has progressed to Stage III or IV in about half of the patients. The basic treatment for advanced epithelial ovarian cancer is to remove as much of the tumor as possible, and subsequently to perform anticancer therapy using drugs such as cisplatin, carboplatin and paclitaxel, all of which have been shown to be effective for epithelial ovarian cancer.

Clinical usefulness of serum and immunohistochemical markers in patients with stage Ia and Ic ovarian cancer.

We compared the preoperative serum tumor marker values and diameters of ovarian tumors between 14 stage Ia ovarian cancer patients with a good prognosis and 14 stage Ic patients with a poor prognosis. The aim was to examine the usability of tumor markers and diameter of ovarian tumors for prognostic diagnosis of clinically advanced phases. In occult neoplastic cells (ONCs), a tumor marker indicative of recurrence and metastasis, the cytokeratin-positive cells in lymph node biopsies, were also compared.

Malignant transformation of atypical endometrial hyperplasia after progesterone therapy showing germ-cell tumor-like differentiation.

A 31-year-old woman was treated for atypical endometrial hyperplasia (AEH) with high-dose medroxyprogesterone acetate (MPA) therapy to preserve fertility. The AEH was found by repeated cytologic and histologic examinations to have completely disappeared with the therapy, but 3 years after her last follow up she required emergency surgery to treat severe genital bleeding. The hysterectomied uterus consisted mostly of poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, G3 endometrioid type.

Serum carbohydrate antigen elevations in endometrial adenocarcinomas: characterization of DU-PAN-2 expression as a tumor marker.

Aim: To characterize serum elevations of carbohydrate antigens; DU-PAN-2, CA19-9, sialyl Lewisx and CA125 in endometrial adenocarcinomas (EMACs), particularly focusing on the clarification of DU-PAN-2 expression profiles.

Methods: Sixty-four resected EMACs of endometrioid type were used. The preoperative serum values of four markers were measured and comparatively analyzed regarding the relationship between histological grade and clinicopathological stage.