Long-term survival after multidisciplinary management of resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Introduction: Actual 5-year survival rates of 10-18% have been reported for patients with resected pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PC), but the use of multimodality therapy was uncommon in these series. We evaluated long-term survival and patterns of recurrence in patients treated for PC with contemporary staging and multimodality therapy.

Methods: We analyzed 329 consecutive patients with PC evaluated between 1990 and 2002 who underwent resection.

Blood neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts survival in patients with colorectal liver metastases treated with systemic chemotherapy.

Background: Whether neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) predicts survival of patients with colorectal liver metastases (CLM) treated with systemic chemotherapy remains unclear.

Methods: Clinicopathologic data were reviewed for patients with CLM treated with chemotherapy and resection (n=200) or chemotherapy only (n=90). Univariate and multivariate analyses for prognostic factors were performed.

Is embolization of segment 4 portal veins before extended right hepatectomy justified?

Background: Preoperative portal vein embolization (PVE) is increasingly used as a preparation for major hepatectomy in patients with inadequate liver remnant volume or function. However, whether segment 4 (S4) portal veins should be embolized is controversial. The effect of S4 PVE on the volume gain of segments 2 and 3 (S2+3) was examined.

The association of family history of liver cancer with hepatocellular carcinoma: a case-control study in the United States.

Background/aims: The study aimed at addressing the connection between positive family history of liver cancer and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development in the USA.

Methods: At The University of Texas M.D.

A proposed staging system for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma.

The American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC)/International Union Against Cancer (UICC) staging system for liver cancer is based on data exclusively derived from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients and thus may be inappropriate for patients with intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). We sought to empirically derive an ICC staging system from population-based data on patients with ICC. The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database was used to identify 598 patients who underwent surgery for ICC between 1988 and 2004.

Timing of multimodality therapy for resectable synchronous colorectal liver metastases: a retrospective multi-institutional analysis.

The optimal timing of chemotherapy relative to resection of synchronous colorectal liver metastases (SCRLM) is not known. The objective of this retrospective multi-institutional study was to assess the influence of chemotherapy administered before and after hepatic resection on long-term outcomes among patients with initially resectable SCRLM treated from 1995 to 2005. Clinicopathologic data, treatments, and long-term outcomes from patients with initially resectable SCRLM who underwent partial hepatectomy at three hepatobiliary centers were reviewed.

Pathologic response to preoperative chemotherapy: a new outcome end point after resection of hepatic colorectal metastases.

Purpose: The primary goal of this study was to evaluate whether pathologic response to chemotherapy predicts patient survival after preoperative chemotherapy and resection of colorectal liver metastases (CLM). The secondary goal of the study was to identify the clinical predictors of pathologic response.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective review was performed of 305 patients who underwent preoperative irinotecan- or oxaliplatin-based chemotherapy, followed by resection of CLM.

Preoperative bevacizumab does not significantly increase postoperative complication rates in patients undergoing hepatic surgery for colorectal cancer liver metastases.

Purpose: Although bevacizumab (BV) increases survival rates when used with chemotherapy (CTX) in patients who have metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC), an increase in wound complications has been observed in patients who undergo surgery while receiving BV. We therefore evaluated whether neoadjuvant BV is associated with an increase in postoperative complications in patients undergoing surgery for CRC liver metastases.

Patients And Methods: Two subgroups of patients who received neoadjuvant CTX + BV (n = 81) or CTX alone (n = 44) were identified from a database of patients who underwent surgery for CRC liver metastases.

Potentially curable metastatic colorectal cancer.

Although patients with metastatic colorectal cancer have historically had a uniformly dismal prognosis, recent advances in chemotherapeutics and surgical techniques allow many patients to be treated with the potential for long-term survival and cure. Patients with potentially curable disease are those in whom multidisciplinary strategies including surgery can result in safe resection of all metastatic disease with negative margins. Although favorable outcomes using such strategies can increasingly be predicted, the presence of poor prognostic factors does not necessarily represent a contraindication to the use of a potentially curative strategy as long as a margin-negative resection can ultimately be obtained.

Extrahepatic bile duct adenocarcinoma: patients at high-risk for local recurrence treated with surgery and adjuvant chemoradiation have an equivalent overall survival to patients with standard-risk treated with surgery alone.

Background: Patients with resected extrahepatic bile duct adenocarcinoma who have microscopically positive resection margins and/or pathologic locoregional nodal involvement (R1pN1) have a high-risk of locoregional recurrence, and therefore, we advocate the use of adjuvant chemoradiation. To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of this treatment, we compared survival and side effects outcomes between such patients and patients with negative resection margins and pathologically negative nodes (R0pN0) who did not receive adjuvant treatment.

Methods: Between 1984 and 2005, 65 patients were treated with curative-intended resection for extrahepatic bile duct adenocarcinoma.

Effect of different types of smoking and synergism with hepatitis C virus on risk of hepatocellular carcinoma in American men and women: case-control study.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has declared smoking to be a risk factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, passive exposure to cigarette smoke and use of noncigarette tobacco products on the risk of HCC has not been examined. Therefore, we evaluated the independent effects of different types of smoking exposure along with multiple risk factors for HCC and determined whether the magnitude of smoking was modified by other risk factors in men and women.

Preoperative gemcitabine-based chemoradiation for patients with resectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head.

Purpose: We conducted a phase II trial to assess the outcomes of patients who received preoperative gemcitabine-based chemoradiation and pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for stage I/II pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Patients And Methods: Eligible patients with pancreatic head/uncinate process adenocarcinoma and radiographically defined potentially resectable disease received chemoradiation with 7 weekly intravenous (IV) infusions of gemcitabine (400 mg/m(2) IV over 30 minutes) plus radiation therapy (30 Gy in 10 fractions over 2 weeks). Patients underwent restaging 4 to 6 weeks after completion of chemoradiation and, in the absence of disease progression, were taken to surgery.

Preoperative gemcitabine and cisplatin followed by gemcitabine-based chemoradiation for resectable adenocarcinoma of the pancreatic head.

Purpose: We conducted a phase II trial of preoperative gemcitabine and cisplatin chemotherapy in addition to chemoradiation (Gem-Cis-XRT) and pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for patients with stage I/II pancreatic adenocarcinoma.

Patients And Methods: Chemotherapy consisted of gemcitabine (750 mg/m(2)) and cisplatin (30 mg/m(2)) given every 2 weeks for four doses. Chemoradiation consisted of four weekly infusions of gemcitabine (400 mg/m(2)) combined with radiation therapy (30 Gy in 10 fractions administered over 2 weeks) delivered 5 days per week.

Chemotherapy with bevacizumab does not affect liver regeneration after portal vein embolization in the treatment of colorectal liver metastases.

Background: Blockage of vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) in murine models has been shown to impair liver regeneration after partial hepatectomy. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of chemotherapy with or without bevacizumab (monoclonal antibody anti-VEGF) on liver regeneration after portal vein embolization (PVE) in the treatment of colorectal liver metastases and its possible effect on postoperative outcome after major liver resection.

Methods: Records of 65 consecutive patients treated with or without preoperative chemotherapy (with or without bevacizumab) and PVE for colorectal liver metastases from September 1995 to February 2007 were reviewed from a prospective database.

One hundred years after "carcinoid": epidemiology of and prognostic factors for neuroendocrine tumors in 35,825 cases in the United States.

PURPOSE Neuroendocrine tumors (NETs) are considered rare tumors and can produce a variety of hormones. In this study, we examined the epidemiology of and prognostic factors for NETs, because a thorough examination of neither had previously been performed. METHODS The Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program registries were searched to identify NET cases from 1973 to 2004.

Standardized liver volumetry for portal vein embolization.

Major and extended hepatic resections are being performed with increasing frequency as morbidity and mortality rates after major hepatectomies have declined and definitions of resectability have expanded for primary and metastatic hepatic malignancies. Systematic assessment of the anticipated functional remnant liver is essential before major hepatic resection to avoid postoperative hepatic insufficiency and its attendant sequelae. The volume of the future liver remnant (FLR) correlates with FLR function and postoperative outcome.

Borderline resectable pancreatic cancer: the importance of this emerging stage of disease.

Background: Patients with borderline resectable pancreatic adenocarcinoma (PA) include those with localized disease who have tumor or patient characteristics that preclude immediate surgery. There is no optimal treatment schema for this distinct stage of disease, so the role of surgery is undefined.

Study Design: We defined patients with borderline resectable PA as fitting into one of three distinct groups.

Operative considerations in resection of hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

This article reviews the preoperative evaluation and operative considerations in patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma. The preoperative evaluation is based on the imaging evaluation of the longitudinal and radial extent of the tumour along and around the hepatic duct confluence. The use of portal vein embolization to increase the safety of extended hepatectomy and the extent of surgical resection (caudate lobe and portal vein) are discussed within the context of recently published series.