Careful patient history and physical examination should be done by a team, which consists of thoracic surgeon, physical therapy specialist, and a neurologist. Total resection of the first-rib with periosteally should be preferred in all of these cases with accompanying pathologies such as cervical rib, fibrous ligaments, and scalenius muscles. The transaxillary approach has provided a good exposure for the resection of cervical ribs, the first-rib and excision of fibrous ligaments and scalenius muscle by a perfect cosmetic result. All the patients should be encouraged for 2 months of physical exercises starting from early postoperative period.

Tracheal diverticulum is a rarely encountered entity which is frequently an incidental finding in the postmortem examination, reported in 1% of patients in an autopsy series. Most cases are asymptomatic, but when symptoms are present they usually have airway symptoms with cough or recurrent respiratory infection. We herein report a case of a tracheal diverticulum, which had cervical dysphagia and sensation of friction.

The prognosis of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma is primarily determined by staging. Although radiological methods have revealed lymph node metastasis preoperatively, these radiological findings cannot be correlated with pathological staging. The aim of this study was to compare the expressions of p53, vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF C) and p21 with lymph node metastasis in preoperative endoscopic biopsy and postoperative resection material. Tissue samples were taken from 40 patients who had undergone endoscopic biopsies and radical esophagectomies. The expressions of p53, VEGF C and p21 proteins in these sections were immunohistochemically examined. The expression of each antibody was characterized as a negative or positive reaction according to the pattern and intensity of semiquantitative immunostaining. The staining pattern of antibodies was divided into three groups: < 10% cancer cells were accepted to be (-), 10-50% were (+), heterogenous and > 50% were (+ +), homogenous. For each antibody, statistical correlation with conventional prognostic parameters such as localization, microscopic grade, stage, pathological lymph node metastasis and survival, were investigated. p53 expression was observed in 65.5% (19/29) of lymph node positive cases, whereas p53 was in 50% (20/40) of cases. VEGF C was in 65% (26/40) and p21 was in 15% (6/40) of cases. p53 has the specificity of 90.9% and sensitivity rate of 65.5% in detecting lymph node metastasis and positive predictive value was 95%. Expression of p53 was significantly correlated with stage and lymph node metastasis (P = 0.02 and P = 0.03, respectively). Prediction of lymph node metastasis by p53 was correlated independently and in coexpression with VEGF C (P < 0.01). There was no relation detected between p21 and other parameters. In esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), p53 and VEGF C expressions were correlated with pathologically positive lymph nodes. When preoperative staging has been insufficient in esophageal carcinoma cases, immunohistochemical analysis of p53 and VEGF C staining in tissues could be an aid to clinicians regarding lymph node metastasis.

Elastofibroma dorsi is a rare, ill-defined, pseudotumoural lesion of the soft tissues. Surgical treatment can be proposed if the lesion is symptomatic. Furthermore, at the follow-up, the possibility of new occurrences on the contralateral side should be kept in mind.

No abstract

High incidence and poor prognosis of lung cancer make it a major health problem worldwide. Although smoking is a major cause of lung cancer, only some smokers develop lung cancer, which suggests that there is a genetic predisposition in some individuals. 8-OHG is an important oxidative base lesion and may elevate due to cancer and smoking. It is repaired by 8-hydroxyguanine DNA glycosylase 1 (OGG1), which has several polymorphisms. Although the Ser326Cys polymorphism is consistently associated with a range of cancers, findings about this polymorphism and lung cancer risk are contradictory. To date, no study has examined this association in the Turkish population. We conducted a case-control study to investigate the association between OGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism and the risk of lung cancer using PCR-RFLP. We also evaluated gene-smoking interaction and excretion of urinary 8-OHdG. Our results suggest that the OGG1 Ser326Cys polymorphism is not a genetic risk factor for lung cancer, and that the heterozygous genotype is associated with a significantly reduced risk for lung cancer. The levels of 8-OHdG did not correlate with the polymorphism and smoking. Larger association studies are needed to validate our findings, and mechanistic studies are needed to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of this association.

No abstract

Our results showed that the costoclavicular width was the narrowest space along the passage route of the subclavian artery. When considering the surgical decompression of the subclavian artery for TOS, this narrowest area should always be kept in mind. Since measurements from CT images and cadavers were significantly similar, CT measurements may be used to evaluate the thoracic outlet region in patients with TOS.