Objective To evaluate the clinical validity of physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity (POSSUM) in aged patients undergoing thoracic surgery. Methods Physiological and operative severity scores were kept in 206 aged patients undergoing thoracic surgery, in which peritoneal soiling was converted to pleura soiling. The physiological score and the operative risk score were compared between the groups with or without the postoperative complications. The mortality and morbidity rates were calculated. Actual mortality and morbidity rates were compared with the rates predicted by POSSUM. Results Among 206 patients, there were postoperative complications in 97 patients. The physiological score and the operative severity score were significantly higher in the group in whom complications occurred compared with those without complications (19.3?0.7 vs 15.1?0.6 for physiological score, P

Objective To study the expression of Paxillin and VCAM-1 in esophageal carcinoma and the relationship between the expression of Paxillin, VCAM-1 and carcinogenesis and progression of esophageal carcinoma. Methods Paxillln and VCAM-1 expression were detected in 24 normal esophageal mucosa and 94 primary tumor tissues with SP immunohistochemistal method. Results The expression rate of PaxiUin was related to invasive depth (P <0.01) ,clinical staging (P <0.01) and metastasis of lymph node (P <0.05). The expression rate of VCAM-1 was related to invasive depth (P < 0.01) ,clinical staging (P < 0.01) and metastasis of lymph node (P<0.05). There was a positive correlation between Paxillin and VCAM-1 expression in this study (r = 0. 247 ,P < 0.05). Conlusion Paxillin and VCAM-1 are over expressed in esophageal carcinoma. They can be used as valuable biomakers to evaluate biological characteristics in esophageal carcinoma.