The role of HE4 in ovarian cancer follow-up: a review.

Objective: The aim of this review was to analyze the state of the art about HE4 and follow-up in patients treated for ovarian cancer.

Methods: A literature search was conducted in the MEDLINE database using the key words "HE4" and "ovarian cancer" and "recurrence" or "relapse" or "follow up."

Results: Seven of 28 clinical studies were selected.

Diagnostic reproducibility of tumour budding in colorectal cancer: a multicentre, multinational study using virtual microscopy.

Aims: Despite the established prognostic relevance of tumour budding in colorectal cancer, the reproducibility of the methods reported for its assessment has not yet been determined, limiting its use and reporting in routine pathology practice.

Methods And Results: A morphometric system within telepathology was devised to evaluate the reproducibility of the various methods published for the assessment of tumour budding in colorectal cancer. Five methods were selected to evaluate the diagnostic reproducibility among 10 investigators, using haematoxylin and eosin (H&E) and AE1-3 cytokeratin-immunostained, whole-slide digital scans from 50 pT1-pT4 colorectal cancers.

Standardization of whole slide image morphologic assessment with definition of a new application: Digital slide dynamic morphometry.

Background: In histopathology, the quantitative assessment of various morphologic features is based on methods originally conceived on specific areas observed through the microscope used. Failure to reproduce the same reference field of view using a different microscope will change the score assessed. Visualization of a digital slide on a screen through a dedicated viewer allows selection of the magnification.

Vascular access: an historical perspective from Sir William Harvey to the 1956 Nobel prize to André F. Cournand, Werner Forssmann, and Dickinson W. Richards.

Sir William Harvey (1578-1657), who had many precursors, discovered blood circulation in 1628 after a significant number of anatomic dissection of cadavers; his studies were continued by Sir Christopher Wren and Daniel Johann Major. The first central vein catheterization was performed on a horse by Stephen Hales, an English Vicar. In 1844, a century later, the French biologist Claude Bernard attempted the first carotid artery cannulation and repeated the procedure in the jugular vein, again on a horse.

TNM staging system of colorectal carcinoma: a critical appraisal of challenging issues.

Context: Colorectal cancer is the leading cause of morbidity and death among gastrointestinal tumors and ranks fourth after lung, breast, and ovarian cancers. Despite a continuous refinement of the T (tumor), N (node), and M (metastasis) staging system to express disease extent and define prognosis, and eventually to guide treatment, the outcome of patients with colorectal cancer may vary considerably even within the same tumor stage. Therefore, the need for new factors, either morphologic or molecular, that could more precisely stratify patients into different risk categories is clearly warranted.

Granulocyte-colony stimulating factors as adjunctive therapy for diabetic foot infections.

Background: G-CSF increases the release of neutrophil endothelial progenitor cells from the bone marrow, and improves neutrophil functions, which are often impaired in people with diabetes.

Objectives: To examine the effects of adjunctive G-CSF compared with placebo or no growth factor added to usual care on rates of infection, cure and wound healing in people with diabetes who have a foot infection.

Search Strategy: We searched the Cochrane Wounds Group Specialised Register (Searched 16/3/09); the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (The Cochrane Library, issue 1 2009); Ovid MEDLINE (1950 to March Week 1 2009); Ovid EMBASE (1980 to 2009 Week 11); EBSCO CINAHL (1982 to March Week 2 2009); LookSmart's Find Articles (January 1990 to January 2008); conference proceedings and references lists in the included studies.

Venous invasion detection in colorectal cancer: which approach, which technique?

Colorectal cancer is one of the most commonly diagnosed human malignancies and is a major cause of death worldwide. A high-quality macroscopic examination and histopathology report enables correct tumour staging, affects patient prognosis, and provides indications for further therapy. Although venous invasion is a stage-independent indicator of poor prognosis that identifies high-risk patients for visceral metastases, it is not a stage-influencing factor.

Tumor deposits are encountered in advanced colorectal cancer and other adenocarcinomas: an expanded classification with implications for colorectal cancer staging system including a unifying concept of in-transit metastases.

The seventh edition of the TNM Classification of Malignant Tumors is due to be published soon. In the current version dating back to 2002, tumor deposits, which are metastatic lesions commonly encountered in the routine histopathological examination of advanced colorectal cancer specimens, are classified according to their shape with different implications for staging. So distinguished, these lesions are considered either as metastatic lymph nodes (N category) or as vascular invasions (T category).