Pulmonary resection of metastatic lesions from colorectal cancer was performed in 62 patients, and their cumulative 5-year and 10-year survival rates were 42% and 22%, respectively. The overall median survival was 24 months. The survival curve decrease even after 5 years after pulmonary resection; four of 13 patients who survived more than 5 years subsequently died of metastatic disease and only two patients survived more than 10 years. The number and size of the pulmonary metastases were significantly correlated with postthoracotomy survival. Solitary metastases less than 3.0 cm in diameter were good indicators of favorable postthoracotomy survival. There were no significant differences in survival based on Dukes' classification or location of the primary lesion. Sex, age, disease-free interval between the primary tumor and appearance of metastasis, and extent of pulmonary resection had no influence on survival. It is impossible to say from our experience that surgical resection of pulmonary metastases increased the cure rate. Presumably a good 5-year survival rate after thoracotomy would be a reflection of a length bias caused by the biologic behavior of the metastatic pulmonary lesions.

These findings indicate that DFP treatment is effective for controlling POD in elderly patients after general surgery and does not appear to be associated with severe complications or side effects. To our knowledge, this is the first report proposing artificial control of the sleep-awake rhythm by medication as a means of preventing POD in elderly patients.

Because COL6A1 could be a susceptibility to the occurrence of DISH and OPLL in the Japanese population, we consider that COL6A1 could be responsible for the hyperostotic state, leading to ectopic bone formation in the spinal ligament.

CAMP therapy was highly effective for invasive thymomas, and the multimodality therapy containing this chemotherapy brought about good disease control in the majority of patients. We believe that this multidisciplinary treatment with CAMP therapy, surgery, and radiotherapy is a justifiable initial treatment for patients with advanced invasive thymoma. Furthermore, appropriate treatments are essential for the long-term survival of patients with recurrences after multimodality therapy.

Patients with resected pathologic stage I non-small cell lung cancer and high preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen levels are a subgroup with a distinctly poor prognosis who display smoking-related clinicopathologic characteristics.

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To evaluate relationships between lesions in the lung periphery and surrounding structures, particularly vessels and bronchi, axial multiplanar reconstruction (AMPR) computed tomography (CT) was used to study 26 patients who underwent surgical resection of pulmonary nodules less than 3 cm in diameter. Findings at AMPR CT, conventional CT, and digital radiographic tomography were compared with findings obtained at evaluation of the resected specimen with regard to the ability to display the relationships between vessels, bronchi, and lesions. AMPR CT was significantly superior to conventional CT and digital radiographic tomography in detecting involvement of pulmonary vessels (P less than .001). Involvement of pulmonary veins was seen in all lung cancers, whereas such involvement was seen in only one of eight nonneoplastic lesions. Thus, involvement of pulmonary veins is strongly suggestive of malignancy. AMPR CT permits three-dimensional visualization and morphologic assessment of pulmonary nodules.

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