Dražen Kovač

Eosinophilic colitis : A rare entity

Eosinophilic infiltration of the gastrointestinal tract in association with a recognizable clinical picture is a rare entity that was first described in 1937 by Kaijser (1). Infiltration of the gastrointestinal tract with eosinophils may involve the entire gastrointestinal tract, but usually involves the stomach and small intestine, whereas isolated colonic involvement is limited to sporadic case reports (2–7). Eosinophilic colitis can occur as a component of the inflammatory response in Crohn’s disease, ulcerative colitis, parasitic diseases, and milk proteininduced colitis (6–10). Also, eosinophilic infiltration of colonic mucosa is observed in patients with eosinophilic gastroenteritis (EG) (11).

Gemcitabine in patients with nonresectable cancer of the biliary system or advanced gallbladder cancer

Gemcitabine in patients with nonresectable cancer of the biliary system or advanced gallbladder cancer

Improvement in survival and clinical benefit response for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer

Improvement in survival and clinical benefit response for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer

Leiomyoma of the Left Renal Vein A Report of a Case

Abstract Only a few cases of leiomyoma of the vena cava or iliac vein and, according to our knowledge, only one case of renal vein leiomyoma have been reported. We report a patient with leiomyoma of the left renal vein. Tumour resection was performed by resecting a part of the vein along with the tumour and by ligation of the vein. Left kidney drainage was established through the preserved ovarian vein. In order to establish a diagnosis, careful pathologic examination of multiple sections has to be done and because of the potentially malignant behaviour, long-term follow-up after total resection is necessary.

Recurrences in stage II rectal carcinoma after curative resection alone: from the viewpoint of angiogenesis.

BackgroundAngiogenesis plays a pivotal role in malignant tumor progression. The count of blood microvessels of the tumor has been recognized as an indicator of malignant potential of the tumors and provides the ability to predict tumors recurrence. The role endoglin in the Dukes B rectal cancer is still unexplored. The aims of this study were to examine immunohistochemical expression of endoglin in resected rectal cancer and investigate the relationship of tumor recurrence and other clinicopathological variables to the endoglin-assessed microvessel density of the tumor tissue and distal resection margins.MethodsThe study included 95 primary rectal adenocarcinomas, corresponding to 95 distal and 95 proximal resection margin specimens from surgical resection samples. Tumor specimens were paraffin embedded, and immunohistochemical staining for the CD105 endothelial antigen was performed to count CD105-MVD. For exact measurement of the CD105-MVD used, a computer-integrated system Alphelys Spot Browser 2 was used.ResultsThe MVD was significantly higher in the tumor samples compared with the distal resection margins (p < 0.0001) and the proximal resection margins (p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference in the MVD between distal and proximal resection margins (p = 0.147). The type of surgical resection was a significant factor for determining the recurrence of tumors (p = 0.0104). There was no significant effect of patients’ age, gender, tumor location, grade of differentiation, histological tumor type, and the size and depth of tumor invasion on the recurrence of the tumor. The recurrence rate was significantly higher in the low CD105-MVD group of patients than in the high CD105-MVD group of patients (log rank test, p = 0.0406). Result of the multivariate analysis showed that the type of surgery (p = 0.0086), MVD tumors (p = 0.0385), and MVD of proximal resection margin (p = 0.0218) were the independent prognostic factors for the recurrent tumors.ConclusionsCD105-assessed MVD could help to identify patients with more aggressive disease and increased risk of developing tumor recurrence after surgical treatment in stage II rectal cancer (RC).

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors characteristics in Croatian Northern Adriatic region.

BACKGROUND/AIMS Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) have fairly recently been identified as a new type of tumor, thanks to advances in immunohistochemistry. Aim of our work was to investigate and describe GISTs in our hospital in a 10-year period. METHODOLOGY Records of patients treated for GIST were analyzed and data describing demographics, comorbidities, primary tumor site, initial symptoms, immunohistochemical characteristics, method of detection and grade of malignancy were shown for each patient. RESULTS A total of 31 patients were analyzed. There was 54.8% of women and 46.7% of men with GIST. The mean age was 61.9±12.8 years. Predominant symptoms and signs were abdominal pain and anemia, bloody stool or melena, even though a significant portion of patients did not have any, or only mild symptoms. Stomach was the most frequent location of the tumor. CD117 was positive in all but two biopsy specimens. CONCLUSIONS We observed approximately the same incidence of GISTs as in other published data. However, we reported less asymptomatic cases at the time of diagnosis. Also, we reported more women diagnosed with GIST in our population. Even though many tumors were diagnosed by other methods, immunohistochemistry remains the definitive diagnostic method.