PurposeIt is difficult to obtain biopsies from gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) prior to surgery because GISTs are submucoal tumors, despite being the most common nonepithelial neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. Unlike anatomic imaging techniques, PET-CT, which is a molecular imaging tool, can be a useful technique for assessing tumor activity and predicting the malignant potential of certain tumors. Thus, we aimed to evaluate the usefulness of PET-CT as a pre-operative prognostic factor for GISTs by analyzing the correlation between the existing post-operative prognostic factors and the maximum SUV uptake (SUVmax) of pre-operative 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose (FDG) PET-CT.Materials and MethodsThe study was conducted on 26 patients who were diagnosed with gastric GISTs and underwent surgery after being examined with pre-operative FDG PET-CT. An analysis of the correlation bewteen (i) NIH risk classfication and the Ki-67 proliferation index, which are post-operative prognostic factors, and (ii) the SUVmax of PET-CT, which is a pre-operative prognostic factor, was performed.ResultsThere were significant correlations between (i) SUVmax and (ii) Ki-67 index, tumor size, mitotic count, and NIH risk group (r=0.854, 0.888, 0.791, and 0.756, respectively). The optimal cut-off value for SUVmax was 3.94 between "low-risk malignancy" and "high-risk malignancy" groups. The sensitivity and specificity of SUVmax for predicting the risk of malignancy were 85.7% and 94.7%, respectively.ConclusionsThe SUVmax of PET-CT is associated with Ki-67 index, tumor size, mitotic count, and NIH classification. Therefore, it is believed that PET-CT is a relatively safe, non-invasive diagnostic tool for assessing malignant potential pre-operatively.

Adjuvant XELOX chemotherapy was more effective than S-1 for patients with stage 3B or 3C gastric cancer after D2 lymph node dissection.

Lymphangioma is a benign form of neoplasm arising from the lymphatic system. It occurs as a result of congenital malformations of the lymphatics leading to the obstruction of local lymph flow and the development of lymphangiectasia. Lymphangiomas are common in pediatric patients, in the soft tissues of the neck and the axillae, but lymphangioma of the pancreas is extremely rare, accounting for less than 1% of these tumors. It occurs more frequently in females and is often located in the distal pancreas. Although extremely rare, cystic lymphangioma of the pancreas should be taken into consideration as a differential diagnosis of pancreatic cystic or retroperitoneal lesions, especially in women. Herein, we report on a case of cystic lymphangioma of the distal pancreas in a 37-year-old woman who was treated with complete surgical resection with a review of the literature.

Although further studies are warranted, acupuncture may reduce duration of POI after gastric surgery and could be a potential factor in enhanced recovery after surgery protocols.

Peritoneal metastasis is the most frequent cause of death in patients with gastric cancer. Reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assay of peritoneal washes has been used to predict peritoneal metastasis of gastric carcinoma. We applied carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) and melanoma-associated gene (MAGE) RT-PCR for the detection of peritoneal metastasis of gastric carcinoma after curative surgery and evaluated its clinical significance.Peritoneal washes were obtained from 117 patients with gastric carcinoma. MAGE A1–A6 and CEA RT-PCR were performed, and the results were evaluated according to their clinicopathologic characteristics. Three-year follow-up clinical studies were periodically performed, and disease-free survival rates were retrospectively investigated using the medical records.Among 117 peritoneal fluids, 11 cases (9.4%) revealed MAGE expression and 38 cases (32.5%) revealed CEA expression. When focusing on recurrence rates, RT-PCR-positive had much higher recurrence rates than RT-PCR-negative cases (32.5% vs 5.2%, P < 0.01). Univariate analysis revealed that depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, tumor node metastasis (TNM) stage, Lauren classification, and MAGE and CEA expressions were independent prognostic factors for recurrence. In a multivariate analysis, MAGE expression and TNM stage were significantly and independently related to recurrence in patients who underwent curative resection. MAGE expression was determined to be the most important prognostic factor for recurrence (hazard ratio: 12.487, P < 0.01).It is feasible to identify free cancer cells in peritoneal lavage by using a MAGE A1–A6 and CEA RT-PCR. MAGE RT-PCR results disclosed significant associations with peritoneal recurrence and proved to be the most important factor for the recurrence rate in patients with gastric carcinoma who had undergone radical resection.

PurposeThe standard treatment for primary localized gastric gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) is surgical resection. The clinical behavior of gastric GIST after surgical resection is extremely variable. We conducted a multicenter, retrospective study of gastric GISTs patients who underwent curative surgical resection to evaluate clinical features and the prognosis of surgically treated gastric GISTs.MethodsWe performed a retrospective study on 406 consecutive patients who underwent curative resections for localized gastric GIST at four university hospitals in Daegu, Korea, between March 1998 and March 2012. The retrospectively collected medical records were reviewed with respect to clinical parameters including age, gender, tumor location, surgical approach, and recurrence.ResultsThere were 406 patients: 157 males (38.7%) and 249 females (61.3%), with a mean age of 60.8 ± 10.8 (standard deviation) years. The mean tumor size was 4.9 cm (range, 0.3-29 cm). Curative surgical resection was performed in all patients without tumor rupture or spillage. Laparoscopic wedge resections were performed in 156 patients (38.4%) and open resections in 250 patients (61.6%). The tumor size of the laparoscopic wedge resection group was smaller than that of open resection group (3.45 cm vs. 5.46 cm; P < 0.001). There were 11 recurrent cases (2.7%). No recurrence was observed in patients who underwent laparoscopic wedge resections.ConclusionGastric GISTs had a low recurrence rate after curative resection in our series. Laparoscopic gastric wedge resection is feasible for treating gastric GISTs in selected patients.

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A total of 76 blood samples from patients without malignant disease and 107 blood samples from patients with malignant disease were investigated for the presence of circulating tumor cells (CTCs). To detect CTCs, hematopoietic cells were removed from the blood samples and different RNA extraction methods were used to amplify the melanoma antigen-encoding gene family member A1-family member A6 (MAGE A1-6) and the human telomerase reverse transcriptase (hTERT) gene as potential CTC markers. Comparison between four methods for extracting RNA from the blood was performed. The samples were enriched by cluster of differentiation 45 (CD45) antibody capturing, and the reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to amplify the MAGE A1-6 and hTERT genes. MAGE A1-6 and hTERT gene expression levels were also evaluated in 14 cancer cell lines, and the MAGE A1-6 and hTERT expression levels were 85.7 and 100%, respectively. The RNeasy method demonstrated the most sensitivity in the SNU1 cells mixed with blood, although the differences between methods was non-significant. The positive expression levels of MAGE A1-6 and hTERT was 11.8% in the control group and 58.9% in those with malignant disease. In the 70 patients with colorectal cancer, positive expression levels of MAGE A1-6 or hTERT were significantly higher in stages T3 and T4 compared with in stages T1 and T2. The CTC detection method involving CD45 antibody capture, RNA extraction and MAGE A1-6 and hTERT reverse transcription resulted in good rates of sensitivity and specificity. Thus, the present study concluded that MAGE A1-6 and hTERT genes may be potential and practical markers for CTCs in a clinical setting.