OBJECTIVETo evaluate the effects of autologous tumor vaccines in preventing recurrences of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

METHODSFrom March 1999 to June 2003, 80 patients with HCC undergoing resections were randomly assigned into a tumor vaccine group (n=40) and a control group (n=40). Tumor vaccines, consisting of formalin-fixed HCC tissue fragments, biodegradable sustained-releasers of granulocyte-macrophage-colony stimulating factor, interleukin-2, and an adjuvant, were developed. Every vaccine group patient received 3 vaccinations at a 2-week interval and the control group just received the adjuvant. Delayed-type-hypersensitivity (DTH) test and recurrent rates were analyzed.

RESULTSEight patients of the vaccine group and five patients of the control group were lost in the follow-up. Thirty-two patients completed the tumor vaccine procedure and no essential adverse effects occurred. 23/32 patients developed DTH responses against the fragments of HCC. The follow-up averaged 34.3 months (from 15 to 55 months). 1-, 2-, 3-year recurrence rates of the vaccine group were 12.6%, 35.9% and 54.0%, respectively; 1-, 2-, 3-year recurrence rates of the control group were 31.6%, 61.3% and 72.1%, respectively. The recurrent rate was significantly better in the tumor vaccine group than in the control group (P = 0.037).

CONCLUSIONSAutologous tumor vaccine is a promising adjunctive modality to prevent recurrence of human HCC.

Adult ; Aged ; Cancer Vaccines ; therapeutic use ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; surgery ; therapy ; Female ; Granulocyte-Macrophage Colony-Stimulating Factor ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Interleukin-2 ; therapeutic use ; Liver Neoplasms ; surgery ; therapy ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; prevention & control ; Postoperative Period ; Vaccination

OBJECTIVETo summarize the experience of surgical resection of 103 hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

METHODSOne hundred and three consecutive cases of hilar cholangiocarcinoma who underwent surgical resection at our hospital over the past ten years were reviewed retrospectively. The clinical data and long-term outcome were analyzed.

RESULTSOut of 103 cases, 43 patients underwent radical resection (41.7%), and 60 patients underwent palliative resection. There were 34 patients developed postoperative complications and 8 patients died in hospital. For the radical resection group, the median survival time was 29.9 months and 1-year, 3-year, 5-year survival rate was 69.6%, 42.0%, 20.9%, respectively, which was significant greater than 34.1%, 10.2%, 0 of the palliative resection group (P < 0.05). Over the past five years, 42 cases underwent pre-operative drainage of bile and the rate of combined liver resection reached 53.8%. The tumor radical resection rate has increased to 45.7%, the median survival time have reached 24.7 months (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONSImprovement of pre-operative management, intraoperative pathology for resection margin, and combined liver resection may help in increasing the radical resection rate. Radical resection can improve postoperative survival, and produce a satisfactory outcome for patient with hepatic hilar cholangiocarcinoma.

Adult ; Aged ; Bile Duct Neoplasms ; mortality ; surgery ; Bile Ducts, Intrahepatic ; Cholangiocarcinoma ; mortality ; surgery ; Digestive System Surgical Procedures ; methods ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate

OBJECTIVEIt is difficult to differentiate the causes of dilated cardiomyopathy only by clinical evaluation and image analysis. Pathomorphologic examinations on diseased hearts may help to improve the diagnosis accuracy.

METHODSFifty-six extransplanted hearts from June, 2004 to June, 2006 were examined. Gross and histopathological findings were recorded, photographed and final pathological diagnosis was compared to clinical diagnosis.

RESULTSDilations were caused by sole myocardial wall damage in 38 (67.9%) of the 56 patients, including 19 primary dilated cardiomyopathy, 9 arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy, 1 non-compaction cardiomyopathy, 6 ischemic cardiomyopathy, 1 alcoholic cardiomyopathy, 1 hypertensive cardiomyopathy and 1 giant cell myocarditis. The clinical and pathological diagnoses were different in 15 cases (39.5%). The most discrepancies were arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (77.8%), ischemic cardiomyopathy (83.3%), and giant cell myocarditis (100%).

CONCLUSIONSThis pathological study of recipient hearts showed a high portion of patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy and ischemic cardiomyopathy were misdiagnosed as primary cardiomyopathy. Correct diagnosis of primary cardiomyopathy needs to rule out possible secondary causes of myocardial dilation.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; diagnosis ; pathology ; Female ; Heart Transplantation ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Ischemia ; pathology ; Myocardium ; pathology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVENo optimal prophylactic protocol of hepatitis B immunoglobulin (HBIG) combined with nucleos(t)ide analogue for HBV recurrence has been established yet. By investigating the alterations of HBV markers in HBV related liver disease patients, recipients of a liver transplant, under lamivudine or/and HBIG prophylaxis, we aim to explore the possible HBV recurrence mechanism involved and to find a new option in the prophylaxis of HBV recurrence and to tailor individualized therapy.

METHODSSerial liver biopsy specimens and sera were obtained intraoperationally and at definite time points during follow-up. ELISA and chemiluminescent microparticle immunoassay, HBV DNA fluorescent quantification, immunohistochemistry staining and HBV DNA in situ hybridization were performed. Alterations of HBV markers in specimens of 96 liver transplant recipients were investigated retrospectively.

RESULTSAll 17 cases had HBV recurrence (median 37 months) which occurred in the follow-up period after liver transplantation. The overall actual HBV recurrence rate at 2 years was 22% with a significant difference between that of the active and inactive groups (P<0.05); 82.4% HBV recurrence took place within the first 3 years after the operation, and the recurrence ratio of first 3 years to 3 years later after transplantation was 4.7 (P<0.01). The HBV DNA positive patients accounted for 78.6% of the total number of recurrences within the first 3 years. HBcAb and HBeAb positive rates went down with time, but their positivity remained.

CONCLUSIONHBV recurrence happens after liver transplantation. In inactive HBV replicative patients with strictly combined prophylaxis and availability of other medications and using 3 years after liver transplantation as a point of time, we think that tapering down the dosage of HBIG and tailoring individualized treatment methods based on virological and immunological situations of each recipient are worth trying.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Antiviral Agents ; therapeutic use ; Child ; Female ; Hepatitis B ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Immunoglobulins ; therapeutic use ; Lamivudine ; therapeutic use ; Liver Transplantation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Period ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Secondary Prevention ; Treatment Outcome ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVETo investigate the morphological characteristics and types of ventricular wall with dysplastic development and their associations to primary cardiomyopathy.

METHODSNinety-two hearts from heart transplant patients were studied soon after explanation from 2004 to 2007. Gross examination/measurement, histopathology and photography were performed.

RESULTSDysplastic development of ventricular wall could be evidenced in patients with various heart diseases but more often in patients with primary cardiomyopathy, though the extension and distribution of dysplastic development of ventricular wall varied between patients with or without primary cardiomyopathy. Severe dysplastic development of ventricular wall is associated with clinical dysplastic cardiomyopathy. The range of extension and degree of dysplasia in the ventricular wall correlated positively to heart dilation/failure and time point of heart failure development. The incidence of severe ventricular wall dysplasia was 27.17% in all transplanted hearts and was 43.1% (25/58) in hearts diagnosed as primary cardiomyopathy (P < 0.05). The main pathological changes of dysplastic hearts were: (1) extensive proliferative hypertrophy of the heart wall, (2) fibrous/fat or fat/fibrous tissue replacement of normal myocardium, (3) disarrangement of myocardial fibers, (4) dysplastic change in the medium-sized intramural arteries. Dysplastic cardiomyopathy was presented mainly as a combination of several forms of dysplasia. The same clinical manifestations of dysplastic cardiomyopathy patients did not always show the same pathologic changes. Fibrous-fat tissue replacement was commonly found in dilated cardiomyopathy and arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy. Disarrangement of myocardium was often accompanied by hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Dysplasia of intramural arteries could result in heart dilatation due to myocardial ischemia.

CONCLUSIONDysplasia of ventricular wall is a common variation of heart structure. Only severe or diffuse types of dysplasia is associated with cardiomyopathy, especially primary cardiomyopathy.

Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Cardiomyopathy, Hypertrophic ; Heart Ventricles ; Humans ; Myocardium ; Transplant Recipients

Objective To evaluate the effect of malaria elimination monitoring in Liyang City, so as to provide the evidence for formulating control strategies and measures of malaria elimination. Methods The monitoring data about the epidemic situation, blood tests of feverish patients and epidemiology investigation of individual malaria patients in Liyang City from 2010 to 2016 were collected and analyzed by the descriptive epidemiology method. Results From 2010 to 2016, there were 67 malaria cases in total. Totally 39 196 feverish patients had blood tests for Plasmodium, and 65 of them showed positive and the positive rate was 0.17%. The other 2 cases of microscopy negative were treated with anti-malarial drugs by themselves after the onset of fever, and no Plasmodium was detected in the microscopy, but the tests with malaria rapid diagnostic kit (RDTs) were positive. Among all the 67 cases, there were 49 falciparum malaria cases, 13 ovale malaria cases and 5 vivax malaria cases. All the 67 malaria cases were imported, and the number of cases from Africa was 63 (94.03%). Totally 97.01% (65/67) of the malaria patients were male and most of them were young adults. The patients aged 30 to 49 years accounted for 73.13% (49/67) and 80.60% (54/67) of them were farmers. There were malaria cases in all the 10 towns of the city, and the time of onset had no obvious seasonal characteristics. The timely rate of case report, timely rate of blood film review, standardized treatment rate, epidemiological case investigation rate, and epidemic focus investigation and disposal rate were all 100%. There were 18 076 people with the active case investigation, but no malaria parasite positive carriers were found. The mosquito vector monitoring was performed with the methods of mosquito trap lamp and human bait half night trap, and 187 and 78 Anopheles mosquitoes were captured respectively, and all the parasites were Anopheles sinensis. A total of 88 person-times were performed for the Plasmodium examinations with microscopy and RDTs (one blood sample, two detections) in Liyang City Center for Disease Prevention and Control from 2012 to 2016, and 35 person-times were positive, including 28 person-times of Plasmodium falciparum and 7 person-times of P. ovale, and there was no statistically significant difference between the detection rates of P. falciparum, and P. ovale (adjusted χ² = 0.05, P > 0.05). There were 34 RDTs positive cases, including 14 cases of malignant malaria, and 17 cases of malignant malaria or mixed infections of P. falciparum with other three kinds of Plasmodium parasites, and 3 cases of single infection or mixed infections of other three kinds of Plasmodium parasites, and there was a statistically significant difference among them in the positive RDTs detection rates (adjusted χ² = 13.75, P < 0.05). Conclusions There are still imported malaria cases and there is the risk of malaria retransmission in Liyang City. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the malaria surveillance work and the management of infectious sources, so as to consolidate the achievements of malaria elimination in the future.