Objective: To analyze the therapeutic effect of repeated hepatectomy on recurrent hepatocellu-lar carcinoma and prognostic factors. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinicopathologic data of 48 patients who underwent repeated hepatectomy for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma between July 1995 and July 2003. Overall survival rate and disease-free survival (DFS) rate were calculated by Kaplan-Meier meth-od. Prognostic factors were analyzed by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results: The median survival of 48 patients was 36.4 months. The overall 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 81.3%, 45.8%, and 27.1%, re-spectively. The disease-free 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 70.8%, 25.0%, and 16.7%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed that TNM stage of primary tumor, TNM stage of the recurrent tumor, vascular in-vasion, recurrent tumor size (>5cm) and recurrence-free interval were prognostic risk factors for overall surviv-al. While TNM stage of primary tumor, recurrent tumor size (>5cm), TNM stage of recurrent tumor, vascular in-vasion, pathological grading of recurrent tumor, preoperative AFP and recurrence-free interval were prognos-tic risk factors for DFS. Multivariate analysis showed that recurrence-free interval and TNM stage of recurrent tumor were independent prognostic risk factors for overall survival. While recurrence-frae interval and recur-rent tumor size (>5cm) were independent prognostic risk factors for DFS. Conclusion: Short recurrence-free in-terval (≤24 months), recurrent tumor size (>5cm) and TNM stage of recurrent tumor indicate poor prognosis of patients who received repeated hepatectomy for recurrent hepatocellular carcinoma.

Objective This study is to explore the expression of CIP2A mRNA in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its correlations with clinicopathologic features and prognosis of HCC patients.Methods CIP2A mRNA expression was analyzed in four liver cancer cell lines (Hep-G2, MHCC97,SMMC-7721 and BEI-7402), one immortalized liver cell line L-O2, neoplastic tissues and adjacent matched non-neoplastic liver tissues in 120 HCC patients and normal liver tissues of 20 cases using semi-quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The correlations between CIP2A mRNA and clinicopathologic features and prognosis of HCC were analyzed. Results CIP2A mRNA was detected in Hep-G2, MHCC-97H, SMMC-7721 and BEL-7402, but not in L-O2.The positive rate of CIP2A mRNA expression was significantly increased in HCC tissues (78.3%)than in adjacent matched non-neoplastic liver tissues (28.3%) and normal liver tissues (5.0%,P＜0. 01). CIP2A mRNA expression was correlated with tumor size, differentiation and TNM stage (P＜0.05). Patients with positive expression of CIP2A mRNA had lower overall survival and diseasefree survival rates. Conclusions CIP2A mRNA, which is highly expressed in liver cancer cell lines and HCC tissues, may be involved in hepatocarcinogenesis. CIP2A mRNA may be a valuable biomarker for assessing the prognosis of HCC.

Objective To study the effect of Du meridian electroacupuncture on growth associated protein-43 (GAP-43) expression in rats after spinal cord injury (SCI). Methods The SCI models were established with MASCIS Impactor at T11 segment in Sprague-Dawley rats. They were equally divided into control group (group A, n=18) and Du meridian electroacupuncture group (group B, n=18). Group B received electroacupuncture once a day since 1 week after SCI. They were evaluated with the Basso-Beattie-Bresnahan (BBB) score 1, 2, 4, 8 weeks after SCI. The mRNA and protein of GAP-43 was detected with RT-PCR and immunohistochemistry 2, 4, 8 weeks after SCI. Results Compared with group A, the BBB score, the expression of GAP-43 mRNA and protein increased in group B after SCI (P<0.01). Conclusion Du meridian electroacupuncture can promote the expression of GAP-43 after spinal cord injury.

Surgical resection is the best method for patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases. However, tumor recurrence rate is still high after surgery. Preoperative chemotherapy can help shrink the tumor, test biological behavior, and reduce recurrence rate; but it may also cause liver injury and delay surgery. There is still controversy whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy should be performed and how to select patients from chemotherapy before surgery. Thus, in this article, combined the research progress and the clinical experience of author's center, we discuss this issue in 4 aspects: the development of neoadjuvant chemotherapy; the indications and guideline recommendation for neoadjuvant chemotherapy; the selection of neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens; common problems in neoadjuvant chemotherapy.