M. H. Huang

Lymph node metastasis in patients with adenocarcinoma of gastric cardia.

Background and Methods. Prospectively, a consecutive series of 42 patients undergoing extended radical total gastrectomies (R 3/4 lymph node dissection) for adenocarcinoma of the gastric cardia from January 1988 to June 1991 were studied. The aims of this study were to evaluate the status of lymph node metastasis and the relationship between the frequency of nodal involvement and the extent of the primary tumor invasion. The Japanese criteria was used for postoperative staging.

Small Cell Carcinoma of the Esophagus: A Report of 16 Cases From a Single Institution and Literature Review

BACKGROUNDnThe optimum treatment for small cell carcinoma of the esophagus (SCEC) has not been established. We reviewed our experience in the management of patients with SCEC.nnnMETHODSnThe clinical data from 16 patients with SCEC were retrospectively collected with regard to demographics, use of tobacco or alcohol, presenting symptoms, tumor characteristics, staging, treatment, response, outcome, and survival.nnnRESULTSnOf the 16 patients, 4 of 8 patients with limited disease underwent curative resection followed by adjuvant chemotherapy. Three patients are still alive at 221, 75, and 34 months after treatment with no evidence of disease. The other 4 patients with limited disease received chemotherapy with or without surgery, and all died of disease within 21 months after treatment. The other 8 patients had extensive disease at presentation. One of these patients had chemotherapy followed by surgery. The prognosis for this group of patients was poor. The median survival of all patients was 13.5 months (range, 4 days to 221 months). The median survival of patients with limited disease was 20.5 months (range, 5 to 221), whereas it was 4.5 months for patients with extensive disease (range, 4 days to 44 months).nnnCONCLUSIONSnSmall-cell carcinoma of the esophagus is a rare and highly malignant tumor with dismal prognosis. The treatment strategies for SCEC varied. Systemic chemotherapy should always be part of multimodality treatment. For patients with limited disease, curative resection followed by chemotherapy can provide long-term survival and can be considered as primary treatment for select patients.

Surgical Treatment of Endobronchial Tuberculosis

The incidence of tuberculosis remains fairly high in some developing countries. Endobronchial tuberculosis may cause bronchostenosis, with potentially severe respiratory symptoms, atelectasis and secondary pneumonitis. Thirty-two surgically treated cases of tuberculous bronchostenosis (33 operations) are presented. In 13 cases-segmental resection or lobectomy was performed with bronchoplastic procedures. Anastomotic stenosis necessitated pneumonectomy 5 years later in one of the 13 and one patient had wound infection. Nineteen patients underwent pulmonary resection without bronchoplasty. Apart from the patient with anastomotic stenosis, all 32 were symptom-free in the follow-up period. Forced expiratory volume was significantly improved in the ten tested patients with bronchoplasty. The results suggest that surgical treatment is safe for endobronchial tuberculosis with poor response to specific chemotherapy. In addition to checking progression of the disease, bronchoplasty helps to preserve lung function. Appropriate chemotherapy should be given for 9-12 months perioperatively to prevent recurrence and restenosis.

Dna Flow Cytometric Analysis of Chest-Wall Chondroma and Chondrosarcoma

DNA flow cytometric analysis was performed for prediction of malignancy potential, and hence of outcome, in 17 patients aged 29-76 (mean 52) years with cartilaginous tumour of the chest wall. Histologically there were nine chondromas and eight chondrosarcomas. The chondrosarcomas (3 grade I, 4 grade II, 1 grade III) were significantly larger than the chondromas (13.6 +/- 7.8 vs 4.2 +/- 2.0 cm, p < 0.001). DNA flow cytometry was performed on paraffin-embedded blocks of resected tumour. In eight of the 17 tumours (6 chondromas, 1 grade I and 1 grade II chondrosarcoma) measurement of DNA content failed because of low cellularity and severe calcification. Aneuploid DNA content was detected only in three chondrosarcomas (2 grade II, 1 grade III). The synthetic phase fraction was less than 15% in all the studied chondromas, but exceeded 25% in four of six chondrosarcomas. This case series though small, may indicate a trend towards association between higher histologic grading and greater incidence of aneuploidy with higher synthetic phase fraction. Tumour size, histologic grade, DNA ploidy and adequacy of surgical resection are the main influences on prognosis.