[Clinical significance and problems of sentinel node identification for individualization of rectal cancer therapy].

In the surgical treatment of advanced rectal cancer, wide lymphadenectomy has been replaced by autonomic nerve preservation because of serious problems such as postoperative urinary and sexual dysfunction. This may offer a considerable clue to as whether metastasis of lateral lymph node can be diagnosed by a new technique in order to provide more benefits to many patients with advanced rectal cancer. Moreover the sentinel lymph node (SLN) concept has lately attracted attention as a new technique.

[Clinical significance of TS and DPD activities in colorectal carcinoma as a predictive factor of UFT sensitivity].

We measured TS and DPD activities in 40 patients with colorectal cancer who had undergone surgical reduction in our department between May 1997 and April 1998, including 26 patients with preoperative UFT (450 mg/body/day) chemotherapy for 2 weeks, and evaluated the clinical significance of TS and DPD activities as predictive factors of UFT sensitivity. TS activity was collated with histological type from a clinical pathological examination (p = 0.0103).

[A case of metastatic liver tumor of colorectal cancer responding to low-dose CPT-11 chemotherapy].

We report a case in which low-dose CPT-11 chemotherapy was effective for metastatic liver tumor of sigmoid colon cancer. A 49-year-old male with metastatic liver tumor, who had undergone sigmoidectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy, was treated by low-dose CPT-11 chemotherapy (CPT-11 30 mg/m2 x 3 days, every 2 weeks). After 7 courses of this chemotherapy, CT and ultrasound examinations showed a reduction of tumor size in the liver.