PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) for field modification during radiotherapy in esophageal cancer. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We conducted a retrospective study on 33 patients that underwent chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Pathologic findings were squamous cell carcinoma in 32 patients and adenocarcinoma in 1 patient. All patients underwent PET/CT scans before and during CRT (after receiving 40 Gy and before a 20 Gy boost dose). Response evaluation was determined by PET/CT using metabolic tumor volume (MTV), total glycolytic activity (TGA), MTV ratio (rMTV) and TGA ratio (rTGA), or determined by CT. rMTV and rTGA were reduction ratio of MTV and TGA between before and during CRT, respectively. RESULTS: Significant decreases in MTV (MTV2.5: mean 70.09%, p < 0.001) and TGA (TGA2.5: mean 79.08%, p<0.001) were found between before and during CRT. Median rMTV2.5 was 0.299 (range, 0 to 0.98) and median rTGA2.5 was 0.209 (range, 0 to 0.92). During CRT, PET/CT detected newly developed distant metastasis in 1 patient, and this resulted in a treatment strategy change. At a median 4 months (range, 0 to 12 months) after completion of CRT, 8 patients (24.2%) achieved clinically complete response, 11 (33.3%) partial response, 5 (15.2%) stable disease, and 9 (27.3%) disease progression. SUVmax (p = 0.029), rMTV50% (p = 0.016), rMTV75% (p = 0.023) on intra-treatment PET were found to correlate with complete clinical response. CONCLUSION: PET/CT during CRT can provide additional information useful for radiotherapy planning and offer the potential for tumor response evaluation during CRT. rMTV50% during CRT was found to be a useful predictor of clinical response.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Chemoradiotherapy* ; Disease Progression ; Electrons ; Esophageal Neoplasms* ; Humans ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Positron-Emission Tomography and Computed Tomography* ; Radiotherapy ; Retrospective Studies ; Tumor Burden

The malic dehydrogenase activity was determined by the modified method of Ochoa (1955) using tissue homogenates of various parasitic helminths. Worm parasites were mostly collected from local abattoir, and removed from the organ or tissues of the naturally infected animal hosts, and some materials were also obtained from the human hosts. The helminths used in this experiment include 3 kinds of nematodes, 5 kinds of trematodes, and 8 kinds of cestodes. They were throughly washed and homogenized in glass tissue grinder in ice chilled water bath, and then centrifuged. The supernatants were designated as enzyme preparations. The hydrogen concentrations of buffer solution were pH 1.4, 2.7, 3.5, 4.2, 5.2, 7.4, 8.2, 9.3, 10.2, 11.6, and enzymatic reaction of this experiment was performed at incubation temperature of 20, 30, 40, and 50 C. The extinction of Nicotinamide Adenosine Dinucleotide (NAD) was measured by spectrophotometry at the wave length of 340 millimicron. The results of the experiment were as follows: The malic dehydrogenase activity occurred over all kinds of parasitic helminths used in this study. And the activity on sparganum turned out to be highest. All helminths displayed their maximum activity in the range of alkaline pH. A comparison of the effects of temperature and substrate concentration on the enzyme activity was made among these helminths. However, no definite relationship among them has been detected. The significance of the existence of this enzyme in the helminths was briefly discussed.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda-cestoda-nematoda ; Fasciola hepatica ; Eurytrema pancreaticum ; Paramphistomum sp. ; Taenia solium ; Taenia pisiformis ; Dipylidium caninum ; Diphyllobothrium mansoni ; Cysticercus cellulosae ; Cysticercus fasciolaris ; sparganum ; Ascaris lumbricoides ; Ascaridia galli ; Dirofilaria immitis ; Paragonimus westermani ; Clonorchis sinensis ; malic dehydrogenase-biochemistry-enzyme ; malic dehydrogenase ; Nicotinamide Adenosine Dinucleotide

OBJECTIVE: Although ovarian cancer is the leading cause of death among all cancers of the female reproductive tract, the genetic alterations involved in ovarian cancer remains largely unknown. Recently, mutations of the p53 gene have been documented in many types of human cancer including ovarian cancer. METHODS: In tbe present study, p53 gene mutation was examined in DNA samples extracted from paraffin embedded surgical specimens of ovarian cancer. Furthermore, clinicopathological parameters were examined in relation to p53 gene mutation in order to understand the role of p53 mutation in the development of ovarian cancer. Using the polymerase chain reaction(PCR) and single strand conformational polymarphism(PCR-SSCP), p53 gene mutation was examined and the mutations were confirmed by DNA scquencing in 17 cases of ovarian cancer. RESULTS: Abnormal bands indicating mutation were detected in 2/17(11.8%). DNA sequencing confirmed in 2 mutations and revealed C to T and A to T nucleotide chmges. In clinicopathological parameters, FIGO stage, grade, and recunence were not correlated with the p53 gene mutation. However, the recurrence rate was higher in patients with mutant p53 compared with those with wild type p53(50.0% vs 13.3%), altbough this is not statisticaUy significant. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, p53 gene mutation shows no correlation with stage, grade and recurrence, and p53 gene mutation does not appear to be a marker that predicts the biological behavior or the outmme of the disease. This study suggested useful data to elucidate the mechanism of chemotherapy-resistant ovarian cancer and further p53 expression assay would be mandatory for p53 nonfunctioning ovarian cancas.
Cause of Death ; DNA ; Female ; Genes, p53* ; Humans ; Ovarian Neoplasms* ; Paraffin ; Recurrence ; Sequence Analysis, DNA

No abstract available.
Angiomyoma* ; Mucous Membrane*

No abstract available.
Adenoma, Pleomorphic* ; Lip*

No abstract available.
Breast Neoplasms* ; Breast*

No abstract available.
Hemangiosarcoma* ; Neoplasm Metastasis*

No abstract available.
Cellulitis* ; Child* ; Eosinophils* ; Humans

No abstract available.
Foot* ; Leg* ; Lichen Planus* ; Lichens*

Pleural involvement in paragonimiasis is relatively common, either unilateral or bilateral, and may occur without pulmonary parenchymal infiltrates. Common radiologic findings of pleural paragonimiasis are pleural effusion, pneumothorax, hydropneumothorax, empyema and pleural thickening. However, pleural calcification as a manifestation of paragonimiasis is a rare condition. We report two cases of paragonimiasis manifested only as pleural calcifications which were confirmed pathologically.
Empyema ; Hydropneumothorax ; Paragonimiasis* ; Pleural Effusion ; Pneumothorax