Objective. Human papillomavirus (HPV), particularly HPV16, is a causative agent for 25% of head and neck squamous cell cancer, including laryngeal squamous cell cancer (LSCC). HPV-positive (HPV+ve) patients, particularly those with oropharyngeal SCC, have improved prognosis. For LSCC patients, this remains to be established. The goal was to determine stage ...

PURPOSE: To analyze the epidemiologic characteristics and recurrence factors of oral squamous cell carcinoma (OSCC) in northwest China. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients with OSCC whose first visits to the Stomatology Hospital of the Fourth Military Medical University from January 2007 through December 2008 were investigated. The epidemiologic risk factors and ...

Recent trials in patients with advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) suggest that nonsmokers may benefit more from epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) therapy than will smokers. The aim of this systematic review was to assess smoking history as a predictive factor for treatment outcomes in patients ...

Fluorine-18-methyl-choline (F18-choline) PET/computed tomography (CT) is routinely performed in our hospital for patients with significantly increased or rapidly increasing prostate-specific antigen (PSA) levels to detect and localize recurrent prostate carcinoma. We observed uptake of this PET tracer in mediastinal lymph nodes in a significant number of patients. The aim of ...

BACKGROUND: Tumor human papillomavirus (HPV) status strongly affects overall survival (OS) of oropharyngeal cancer (OPC) patients. Recently, three groups with different outcomes were identified based on HPV status, smoking history and tumor stage. Our objective was to validate this model using a single-institutional retrospective database. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients (n ...

BACKGROUND: Our aims were to investigate whether the association between smoking and survival is significant when adjusted for prognostic factors including use of epidermal growth factor tyrosine kinase inhibitors and the Glasgow Prognostic Score, an established score for inflammation, and to explore prognostic factors. METHODS: We analyzed 244 patients with ...

Three randomized trials (SATURN, ATLAS and IFCT-GFPC 0502) have demonstrated that the oral antiepidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor erlotinib can improve progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival (OS), as maintenance therapy after first-line chemotherapy in advanced non-small cell lung cancer. We pooled the results of these three trials ...

This phase II study evaluated efficacy of first-line erlotinib therapy for chemo-naïve patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) by their clinicopathological and/or molecular characteristics. Eligible patients received erlotinib 150 mg daily until disease progression, followed by a gemcitabine/carboplatin doublet. By clinicopathological characteristics, the patients were categorized as squamous cell ...

BACKGROUND: Tobacco use is a leading cause of premature death, yet few studies have investigated the effect of tobacco exposure on the outcome of patients with renal cell carcinoma (RCC). The authors of this report retrospectively studied the impact of smoking on clinicopathologic factors, survival outcomes, and p53 expression status ...

BACKGROUND: Pretreatment positron emission tomography (PET) has been shown to be useful for patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) after definitive chemoradiotherapy (CRT). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of a matched cohort of 116 patients with HNSCC that underwent CRT treatment at our institution. Pretreatment PET ...

To describe the distinct patterns of severe anterior stomatitis seen with concurrent cetuximab and radiotherapy (RT) compared to chemoRT or altered fractionation RT (AFRT) and explore potential associations with clinical and dosimetric parameters. We reviewed acute toxicity data from 42 patients receiving cetuximab-RT and a matched cohort of 36 patients ...

BACKGROUND: Cigarette smoking is the most well-established risk factor for developing bladder cancer. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the role of smoking status on the clinical outcome of patients with non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Data obtained during a prospective phase 3 study with three schedules of epirubicin were used ...

Purpose: C-reactive protein (CRP), an acute phase reactant, is a non-specific marker of inflammation. Elevations in CRP levels are linked with trauma, infection, autoimmune disease, malignancy, and lifestyle factors, such as smoking and obesity. Previously, we noted a significant association between the preoperative CRP level, 1-year relapse-free survival, and 1-year ...

PURPOSE: To investigate whether methylation of BRMS1 is associated with clinical outcomes in patients with NSCLC. METHODS: Methylation status of BRMS1 was examined in 325 NSCLC patients who were treated with surgery. We analyzed associations between the methylation of BRMS1 genes separately and available epidemiologic and clinical information including smoking ...

PURPOSE: The search for clinical and biologic biomarkers associated with late radiotherapy toxicity is hindered by the use of multiple and different endpoints from a variety of scoring systems, hampering comparisons across studies and pooling of data. We propose a novel metric, the Standardized Total Average Toxicity (STAT) score, to ...

Erlotinib therapy for non small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) has mainly been evaluated in randomized trials. OBSTAR was a multicenter, retrospective, observational study involving all patients treated with erlotinib in 18 French centers between June 2005 and September 2007. The analyses focused on the patients' characteristics, previous treatments, and treatment efficacy ...

BACKGROUND: Recent neoadjuvant strategies for high-risk colonic tumours have renewed interest in accurate preoperative staging. The aim of this study was to validate prospectively the accuracy of multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) in stratifying patients into good and poor prognostic groups in a multicentre setting. METHODS: Staging MDCT scans of 84 ...

BACKGROUND: The optimal surgical strategy for patients with synchronous colorectal liver metastases (CLMs) is still unclear. The aim of this study was to compare simultaneous colorectal and hepatic resection with a delayed strategy in patients who had a limited hepatectomy (fewer than three segments). METHODS: All patients with synchronous CLMs ...

This study aimed (1) to investigate the relationship between the presence of lymph node central necrosis, viewed on pre-operative computed tomography imaging, and the occurrence of histopathologically determined metastatic lymph node extracapsular spread and (2) to determine whether a larger scale study would be valuable. Pre-operative computed tomography scans, surgical ...

This study aimed to evaluate a single institute's experience with resection of metachronous pulmonary malignancy in patients treated for squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Sixty-three consecutive patients treated curatively for head and neck squamous cell carcinoma underwent surgical resection of malignant lung lesions. Survival was estimated and ...

BACKGROUND: Oesophagectomy may have morbidity and mortality rates that severely compromise long-term survival in elderly patients. The aim of this study was to compare clinical outcomes in elderly patients with oesophageal squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) with those of younger controls. METHODS: Elderly patients at least 70 years old with oesophageal ...

BACKGROUND:Criteria for endoscopic resection in patients with early gastric cancer (EGC) have been expanded recently by the National Cancer Centre (NCC). This study compared long-term outcomes in patients with EGC who underwent endoscopic treatment according to guideline criteria with those treated according to expanded criteria. METHODS: Baseline and outcome data ...

Coral reefs are one of the most diverse systems on the planet; yet, only a small fraction of coral reef species have attracted scientific study. Here, we document strong deleterious effects of an often overlooked species-the vermetid gastropod, Dendropoma maximum-on growth and survival of reef-building corals. Our surveys of vermetids ...

BACKGROUND: This study investigated the relationship of American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status (ASA-PS) grade and degree of surgical insult to long-term postoperative survival. METHODS: National death records to June 2007 were matched against records of patients undergoing elective surgery between January 1997 and December 2001. Stratified survival analysis was ...

BACKGROUND: Tumour regression grade (TRG) is used to evaluate responses to induction therapy in cancer of the oesophagus or cardia. This study aimed to determine whether inclusion of node category could improve the prognostic accuracy provided by TRG, and explore the prognostic value of an alternative classification based on size ...

This study aimed to evaluate outcome after liver resection for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). In a 72-month period a total of 25 patients operated on for ICC were followed-up with postoperatively. Eleven right hemihepatectomies (8 extended), seven left hemihepatectomies (3 extended), one segmental resection, two bisegmentectomies (II + III), and four ...

To investigate the effects of hydrated lime on the survival of Cryptosporidium oocysts, the percentage viability of oocysts was assessed using fluorescent in situ hybridisation. In the absence of lime and with lime at a concentration of 1 per cent, there was a gradual decline in oocyst viability during the ...

BACKGROUND: This study evaluated the outcome of liver surgery for colorectal metastases (CLM) in patients over 70 years old in a large international multicentre cohort. METHODS: Among 7764 patients who had resection of CLM, 999 (12.9 per cent) were aged 70-75 years, 468 (6.0 per cent) were aged 75-80 years ...

BACKGROUND:: Portal vein embolization (PVE) increases the resectability of initially unresectable colorectal liver metastases (CLM). This study evaluated long-term survival in patients with CLM who underwent hepatectomy following PVE. METHODS:: In a retrospective analysis patients treated by PVE before major hepatectomy were compared with those who did not have PVE, ...

BACKGROUND: There is little information regarding the clinical behaviour of hilar cholangiocarcinoma after curative resection. METHODS: A retrospective study was undertaken of 79 consecutive patients with hilar cholangiocarcinoma who had undergone major hepatectomy (three or more Couinaud segments) concomitant with caudate lobectomy, and had negative resection margins. Sites of initial ...

BACKGROUND: Definitive chemoradiotherapy (dCRT) has been proposed as an alternative therapy for selected patients with oesophageal cancer. The aim of this study was to determine the outcomes of dCRT, surgery alone, and neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by surgery (CS) in patients with oesophageal cancer. METHODS: Consecutive patients diagnosed with oesophageal cancer ...

OBJECTIVES: To define the outcome of a cohort of canine patients with a histological diagnosis of spindle cell tumour of soft tissue managed solely by surgery in first opinion practice. METHODS: Clinical details of 104 spindle cell sarcomas submitted to Finn Pathologists during the year 2000 were reviewed. Questionnaires were ...

An increasing demand for transplant donor organs has made optimal allocation of resources a priority. Our objective was to evaluate outcomes for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) performed in the United States. A query of the United Network for Organ Sharing registry between 1988 and 2007 was performed for patients who ...

BACKGROUND: Resection of colorectal liver metastases (CLMs) is potentially curative but the effect of tumour number on prognosis is uncertain. This study compared the prognosis after resection and/or ablation of between one and three, or four or more CLMs. METHODS: A systematic literature review from January 2000 to June 2008 ...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to describe management and outcome in patients with locally recurrent rectal cancer based on data from the Norwegian Colorectal Cancer Registry. METHODS: This was a prospective national cohort study of 577 patients with local recurrence after major resection (R0/R1) for rectal cancer between ...

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to describe the results of treatment in patients with ethmoid sinus carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHOD: We performed a retrospective study of 34 patients with carcinoma of the ethmoid sinus, and collected the following data: age, sex, employment, tobacco and alcohol consumption, tumour-node-metastasis stage, ...

BACKGROUND: The term perihilar cholangiocarcinoma has been used for all tumours involving or requiring resection of the hepatic confluence. However, it does not distinguish between intrahepatic and extrahepatic hilar tumours, and has no clinicopathological basis. This retrospective study examined whether the concept of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma is valid clinically. METHODS: Some ...

This study retrospectively reviewed 183 cases of adenoid cystic carcinoma treated over 40 years. The local recurrence free survival rate was 68.2 per cent at five years and 40.8 per cent at 10 years. At 10 years, local recurrence free survival was significantly worse following radiotherapy alone (0 per cent), ...

BACKGROUND: To help increase the number of transplants available for hepatocellular carcinoma in cirrhotic livers, this single-centre retrospective study compared the safety and feasibility of new, more liberal, selection criteria--no more than five tumours, with the largest tumour no greater than 5 cm (5/5 criteria)--with classical criteria. METHODS: Data from ...

BACKGROUND: The prognostic significance of intraperitoneal tumour cells (IPCs) in colorectal cancer is not clear. This study aimed to determine whether detection of IPCs could be used a prognostic marker for selecting patients at high risk of recurrence. METHODS: The study included 226 patients with colorectal cancer who underwent elective ...

BACKGROUND: The aim was to examine the influence of socioeconomic deprivation on stage at presentation, perioperative mortality, permanent stoma rates and overall survival in patients with rectal cancer. METHODS: Data on patient demographics, mode and stage of presentation, and short- and longer-term outcomes were extracted from a database of patients ...

BACKGROUND: This study examined the clinical outcome of patients with pancreatic metastases from renal cell carcinoma (RCC). METHODS: A systematic literature search produced individual data for 311 surgically and 73 non-surgically treated patients with pancreatic RCC metastases. A further ten patients underwent resection at the authors' institution. RESULTS: In the ...

The best curative treatment for esophageal malignancy remains controversial. In 2003, we presented our institution's experience with 124 patients treated from 1990 to 2001. Here we update that experience with an additional 6 years' data. A total of 221 patients underwent surgical resection from 1990 to 2007; 128 had up-front ...

BACKGROUND: Limb-sparing surgery and satisfactory functional outcome is the goal of extremity soft tissue sarcoma (STS) surgery. Tissue defects after tumour excision are often extensive, and microvascular reconstruction is frequently required. METHODS: Seventy-three patients with STS of the leg requiring microvascular reconstruction were treated between 1985 and 2006. Radiotherapy was ...

This study reviewed 161 patients with supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma who underwent radical therapy at Kurume University Hospital between 1989 and 2003. The five-year survival rate was 89 per cent in patients with stage III disease and 75 per cent in stage IV patients, thus demonstrating favourable results even for ...

This study reviewed 161 patients with supraglottic squamous cell carcinoma who underwent radical therapy at Kurume University Hospital between 1989 and 2003. The five-year survival rate was 89 per cent in patients with stage III disease and 75 per cent in stage IV patients, thus demonstrating favourable results even for ...

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine the long-term outcomes of patients undergoing endocavitary contact radiation therapy (ECR) for stage I rectal cancer. METHODS: A database of patients treated with ECR for biopsy-proven rectal adenocarcinoma from July 1986 to June 2006 was reviewed retrospectively. Only patients with primary, ...

BACKGROUND: Hepatic surgery is presumed to improve survival of patients with liver metastases (LM) from neuroendocrine tumours (NET). This study identified LM-specific variables that could be used as additional selection criteria for aggressive treatment. METHODS: A novel classification of LM from NET was established based on their localization and presentation. ...

Hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) is a chronic inflammatory condition affecting the apocrine glands of the axilla, groin, and perianal region. Although it is a common condition, it is rarely associated with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). There have been only 41 reports of this uncommon complication of HS in the literature. This ...

Current treatment guidelines for appendiceal adenocarcinoma specify that right hemicolectomy should be performed. This study evaluates appendiceal cancer outcomes in the United States and treatment guideline compliance. Data for patients diagnosed with appendiceal adenocarcinoma in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database (1988 to 2003) were analyzed. The 2511 patients ...