BACKGROUNDTo study the relationship between the vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and the clinicopathological characteristics of the patients with pulmonary bronchoalveolar carcinoma, and to research the possible role of VEGF in the malignant growth of pulmonary bronchoalveolar carcinoma.

METHODSThe expression of VEGF and MVD were detected in 38 pulmonary bronchoalveolar carcinoma and 20 normal lung tissues by immunohistochemical method.

RESULTSThe positive rate of VEGF expression (73.68%,28/38) and MVD (63.81±19.26) in pulmonary bronchoalveolar carcinoma tissues were both remarkably higher than those in normal lung tissues (0, 18.44±6.53)( P < 0.005,P < 0.001). The positive rate of VEGF expression was significantly related to the size of tumor ( P < 0.05), lymphatic metastasis ( P < 0.025) and TNM stage ( P < 0.05), and so did the MVD ( P < 0.05, P < 0.05, P < 0.05). MVD was remarkably higher in VEGF (+) carcinoma tissues than that in VEGF (-) carcinoma tissues ( P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSVEGF correlates with the clinicopathological characteristics of pulmonary bronchoalveolar carcinoma. It may play an important role in the development of pulmonary bronchoalveolar carcinoma.

BACKGROUNDPost-operative adjuvant chemotherapy in non-small cell lung can- cer (NSCLC) has been a highlight around the world. The aim of this study is to investigate the efficacy of adjuvant chemotherapy on the survival of patients with NSCLC after complete resection.

METHODSFrom June 2000 to December 2003, 64 patients with stage IB-IIIA NSCLC were divided into the chemotherapy group, who accepted adjuvant chemotherapy with navelbine+cisplatin (NP) or taxol+carboplatin (TP), and the observation group, who did not accept adjuvant chemotherapy after operation. The 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-year survival rate (SR), median survival time (MST) and disease-free time (DFT) were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier method.

RESULTSThe 1-, 2-, 3- and 4-year cumulated SR in the chemotherapy group was 93.9%, 84.6%, 71.4% and 58.4%, and 93.6%, 83.1%, 63.5% and 43.1% in the observation group respectively. There were statistically significant differences in both the 3- and 4-year survival between the two groups (P < 0.05). The MST was 52 months in the chemotherapy group and 47 months in the observation group respectively (P < 0.05), and the DFT was 19 months and 16 months respectively (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSThe cisplatin- or carboplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy can improve the survival of NSCLC patients after complete resection.

BACKGROUNDChemotherapy is one of the important treatment methods for advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The aim of this study is to evaluate the efficacy of docetaxel combined with carboplatin in treatment of advanced NSCLC.

METHODSSixty-four stage IIIB/IV NSCLC patients were treated with docetaxel (75 mg/m² intravenously, on day 1) and carboplatin (AUC=5 intravenously, on day 2).

RESULTSThe overall response rate (RR) was 42.6%, median survival time (MST) was 14 months, and 1-year survival rate was 45.23%. In initial treatment group, 1-year survial rate was 48.84% and MST was 14 months, and 37.89% and 12 months respectively in retreatment group (P=0.0233). The 1-year survial rate and MST of stage IIIB patients were 44.86% and 15 months, and 39.75% and 12 months respectively in stage IV patients (P=0.0354). There was no significant difference in efficacy between squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma patients. The major adverse effects were granulopenia, fatigue, nausea, vomiting and alopecia.

CONCLUSIONSThe combination of docetaxel and carboplatin has a high response rate and tolerable side effects in treatment of advanced NSCLC, which can be adopted as both the first-line and second-line treatment.

Objective To explore the safety of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) with three-field lymphadenectomy (3-FL) for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) by comparing the short-term outcomes between the 3-FL and the two-field lymphadenectomy (2-FL) in MIE. Methods The clinical data of patients with ESCC who underwent minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy in our hospital from July 2015 to March 2022 were collected retrospectively. Patients were divided into a 3-FL group and a 2-FL group according to lymph node dissection method. And the clinical outcomes and postoperative complications were compared between the two groups. Results A total of 257 patients with ESCC were included in this study. There were 211 males and 46 females with an average age of 62.2±8.1 years. There were 109 patients in the 3-FL group and 148 patients in the 2-FL group. The operation time of the 3-FL group was about 20 minutes longer than that of the 2-FL group (P<0.001). There was no statistical difference between the two groups in the intraoperatve blood loss (P=0.376). More lymph nodes (P<0.001) and also more positive lymph nodes (P=0.003) were obtained in the 3-FL group than in the 2-FL group, and there was a statistical difference in the pathological N stage between the two groups (P<0.001). But there was no statistical difference in the incidence of anastomotic leak (P=0.667), chyle leak (P=0.421), recurrent laryngeal nerve injury (P=0.081), pulmonary complications (P=0.601), pneumonia (P=0.061), cardiac complications (P=0.383), overall complications (P=0.147) or Clavien-Dindo grading (P=0.152) between the two groups. Conclusion MIE 3-FL can improve the efficiency of lymph node dissection and the accuracy of tumor lymph node staging, but it does not increase the postoperative complications, which is worthy of clinical application.