Objective To assess the rationality of using CT for clinical staging in esophageal carcinoma.Methods 103 esophageal carcinoma patients with radical resection were selected,patients were examined by CT before surgery.To compare the clinical staging on the basis of CT findings with pathology.Results Lymph node enlargement were mentioned in 29 cases (28.2 ％) with CT findings before surgery,but 70 cases (68.0 ％) by pathology.The CT findings and pathology were inconsistent (x2 =11.719,P =0.001).Although the pathology staging in the cases which were positive with CT findings could be later (Z =-3.04,P =0.002),there was no correlation between the two methods (x2 =10.885,r =0.055,P =0.055).Conclusion The accuracy rate in esophageal carcinoma clinical staging by CT before surgery is low.Combining with PET-CT or endoscopic ultrasonography may improve the accuracy rate.

Circulating vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in patients with colorectal carcinoma were determined in order to assess their clinical significance as a diagnostic tool for monitoring lymph node metastasis. In 66 patients with colorectal carcinoma and 30 healthy controls, circulating VEGF-C and VEGF levels were assessed by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum VEGF-C and VEGF levels were higher in patients with colorectal carcinoma than in healthy controls. Patients with lymph node metastasis had higher serum VEGF-C and VEGF levels than those without lymph node metastasis. The levels of VEGF-C and VEGF were higher in the invasion group than in the non-invasion group. Serum VEGF-C levels reached a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 76% with a cutoff value of 1438.0 pg/mL, whereas VEGF levels reached 72% sensitivity and 74% specificity at 240.2 pg/ mL. If 66 patients were divided into 4 groups according to the combined determination of VEGF-C and VEGF levels, the positive predictive value was 85.3%, the negative predictive value was 94.6%, and accuracy was 93.7%. It was suggested that circulating VEGF-C levels might provide additional information for distinguishing the absence from presence of lymph node metastasis in patients with colorectal carcinoma. The combined determination of VEGF-C and VEGF levels could be used as an important index for preoperatively clinical stage of colorectal carcinoma.

Objective: To measure and compare the color of a new and a conventional Vita shade guide(VITAPAN 3D-Master and LUMIN RVACUUM-Farbskala) in order to provide the references for clinical application.Methods: Color in the two shade guides was measured with Minolta colorimeter CR-321 under the light of D 65 and reported in CIE1976L*a*b* color system. Each tab was detected 3 times in the same dimensions at the middle facial surface. Mean values were calculated as the shade of the tab.Results: The range of color value in VITAPAN 3D-Master was larger than that in LUMIN R VACUUM-Farbaskala because the lower value tab was added. The distrbution of a* deviated to the red color , while the green color was relatively deficient. The yellow color could cover the color space of Chinese teeth, and the blue was not enough, although the distribution of b* was enlarged. The tabs of the two shade guides did not match with each other. Only a few tabs could not tell in shade by naked eyes. Conclusion: VITAPAN 3D -Master shade guide can not cover the color of Chinese teeth although it has 10 tabs added and color space enlarged.

Objective To measure circulating vascular endothelial growth factor-C(VEGF-C) levels in(patients) with colorectal carcinoma,and assess the clinical significance in diagnosis of lymph node metastasis.Methods Sixty-six patients with colorectal carcinoma and 30 healthy control patients were included in this study.Circulating VEGF-C and VEGF levels were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.Results Serum VEGF-C and VEGF concentration was higher in patients with colorectal carcinoma than in healthy control patients(P

ObjectiveTo investigate the effects of imatinib mesylate as a tyrosine kinase inhibitor on the biological activity of and Wnt/β-catenin pathway in Hs294T melanoma cells.MethodsAfter Hs294T cells were incubated with imatinib mesylate at various concentrations(4,8,10,16,20 and 24 μmol/L) for 24 hours or imatinib mesylate at 10 μmol/L for 24,48 and 72 hours,methyl thiazolyl tetrazolium (MTT) assay was performed to estimate the proliferation of cells and to determine the effects of imatinib mesylate on the proliferation of Hs294T cells.Then,Hs294T cells were treated with imatinib mesylate at 10 μmol/L or dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) for different durations,followed by the detection of cell apoptosis with flow cytometry,localization of β-catenin with annexin V/propidium iodide-double staining and laser confocal microscopy,quantification of β-catenin and cyclin D1 protein with Western blot,and measurement of LEF1 and C-myc mRNA expression with real time fluorescence-based quantitative PCR.Matrigel invasion assay was performed to evaluate the invasiveness of Hs294T cells after treatment with imatinib mesylate at 5 μmol/L or DMSO for 24 hours.ResultsImatinib mesylate at 4-10 μmol/L elicited a dose-dependent decline in the proliferation of Hs294T cells (F =125.3,P ＜ 0.05),and imatinib mesylate at 10 μmol/L induced a time-dependent decrease from 24 to 72 hours(F =714.6,P ＜ 0.01 ).The percentage of early and late apoptotic cells was markedly increased,while the invasiveness was decreased by about 48％(P ＜ 0.01 ),together with a downregulation in the expression of LEF1,C-myc and Cyclin D1 in imatinib mesylate-treated Hs294T cells compared with the DMSO-treated cells.No obvious changes were observed in the protein expression of β-catenin,but a decline in the nuclear localization of β-catenin was noted in Hs294T cells after being treated with imatinib mesylate.ConclusionImatinib mesylate may suppress the proliferation and invasion of,but promote the apoptosis in,melanoma cells,by downregulating the Wnt/β-catenin pathway.

Circulating vascular endothelial growth factor-C (VEGF-C) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) levels in patients with colorectal carcinoma were determined in order to assess their clinical significance as a diagnostic tool for monitoring lymph node metastasis. In 66 patients with colorectal carcinoma and 30 healthy controls, circulating VEGF-C and VEGF levels were assessed by using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum VEGF-C and VEGF levels were higher in patients with colorectal carcinoma than in healthy controls. Patients with lymph node metastasis had higher serum VEGF-C and VEGF levels than those without lymph node metastasis.The levels of VEGF-C and VEGF were higher in the invasion group than in the non-invasion group.Serum VEGF-C levels reached a sensitivity of 81% and a specificity of 76% with a cutoff value of 1438.0 pg/mL, whereas VEGF levels reached 72% sensitivity and 74% specificity at 240.2 pg/ mL. If 66 patients were divided into 4 groups according to the combined determination of VEGF-C and VEGF levels, the positive predictive value was 85.3%, the negative predictive value was 94.6%, and accuracy was 93.7%. It was suggested that circulating VEGF-C levels might provide additional information for distinguishing the absence from presence of lymph node metastasis in patients with colorectal carcinoma. The combined determination of VEGF-C and VEGF levels could be used as an important index for preoperatively clinical stage of colorectal carcinoma.

Objective:To compare the clinical efficacy of oxycodone hydrochloride controlled-release tablets (OHCT) and pa-tient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) in the treatment of intractable cancer pain. Methods:Retrospective analysis was conduct-ed to evaluate the intractable cancer pain of 89 elderly patients who were admitted to the medical oncology departments of The Second Affiliated Hospital of Fujian Medical University and the Fuzhou General Hospital of Nanjing Military Command between September 2012 and March 2014. Among the 89 patients, 47 were treated with OHCT, and 42 received PCIA. The total dosage ranged from 60 mg/d to 400 mg/d PO q12h for patients in the OHCT group, whereas abackground dose+patient-controlled dosemode was adopted for patients in the PCIA group. The therapeutic efficacy, presence of adverse reactions, cost of treatment, and degree of patient satisfaction were compared between the two groups. Results:The average dosages of analgesics in the two groups were almost the same (P>0.05). Visual analogue scale (VAS) values and daily average VAS values were both lower in the PCIA group than in the OHCT group at 24 h after analgesia (P<0.05). The incidence of adverse reactions, such as nausea and vomiting, was also lower in the PCIA group than in the OHCT group (P<0.05). The cost of treatment and degree of patient satisfaction were the same in both groups (P>0.05). Conclusion:Pa-tients who received PCIA attained better analgesia and exhibited less adverse reactions than those who received OHCT whereas the treatment cost and patient satisfaction did not differ in both groups.

To study the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor C (VEGF-C) in colorectal carcinoma and its relationship with lymph node metastasis, the expression of VEGF-C protein in colorectal carcinoma tissues obtained from 94 patients who underwent radical resection was immunohistochemically detected. Meanwhile, the expression of VEGF-C mRNA in 4 colorectal carcinoma cell lines was examined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). VEGF-C protein was found to be expressed in 53.2% of patients. The expression was more frequently detected in tumors with lymph node metastasis than in those without metastasis (P<0.01), and there was significant correlation between its expression and lymphatic invasion, TNM stage (P<0.01). However, no significant correlation was found between its expression and the age, gender, tumor location, depth of invasion and vascular invasion. 2 of the 4 colorectal carcinoma cell lines, including LoVo and LoVo-5FU, expressed VEGF-C mRNA. The expression of VEGF-C is closely related to lymph node metastasis, and it might take part in the tumor lymphangiogenesis.
Adenocarcinoma ; metabolism ; secondary ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Papillary ; metabolism ; secondary ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; metabolism ; pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; pathology ; Lymphangiogenesis ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; RNA, Messenger ; biosynthesis ; genetics ; Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor C ; biosynthesis ; genetics

Objective To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics of colon cancer patients with different mismatch repair gene (MMR) status and evaluate the value of MMR status combined with preoperative blood neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in predicting postoperative recurrence of colon cancer. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the pathological MMR immunohistochemistry results of 125 colon cancer patients after radical resection. Patients were divided into deficient mismatch repair (dMMR) group (n=55) and proficient mismatch repair (pMMR) group (n=70), and further divided into four groups according to MMR status and NLR level. Results Compared with the pMMR group, the patients in the dMMR group had younger onset age, larger tumor size, lower differentiation and more nerve invasion, and were more likely to occur in the right hemicolon (P < 0.05). According to the ROC curve, the NLR threshold was determined as 3. The proportion of low NLR in dMMR group was significantly higher than that in pMMR group (P < 0.05). The 3-year recurrence-free survival rate of the dMMR with low NLR group was 85.0%, significantly higher than those of the other three groups (P < 0.05); Survival analysis showed a significant advantage of the dMMR with low NLR group comparing with the pMMR with high NLR group. Conclusion dMMR colon cancer has unique clinicopathological characteristics. MMR status combined with NLR value can be used to evaluate the postoperative recurrence risk of colon cancer patients.

Objective:To evaluate the clinical efficacy,toxicity,and prognostic factors of nab-paclitaxel as first-line treatment for elderly patients with advanced lung squamous carcinoma.Methods:This was a prospective study.Forty patients enrolled in the Second Affili-ated Hospital of Fujian Medical University were treated with nab-paclitaxel(260 mg/m2,ivggt d1),and a period of three weeks was considered as one session.The effects were evaluated after two cycles.Results:All 40 patients were followed up and appraised.Two patients achieved complete remission,13 achieved partial remission,13 achieved stable disease,and 12 achieved progressive disease. The objective response rate was 37.5% and the disease control rate was 70.0%.The progression-free survival(PFS),median overall sur-vival,and 1-year survival rate was 6.3 months,12.6 months,and 62.5%,respectively.The main hematologic toxicities were neutrope-nia and anemia,and the main non-hematologic adverse events were fatigue,constipation,nausea,vomiting,muscle aches,and hear-ing loss.Most patients could tolerate these toxic reactions.Moreover,Cox multivariate regression analysis showed that the neoplasm stage,Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status,response rate,and PFS were independent factors for the survival rate (P<0.05),while age was not related to patient prognosis(P>0.05).Conclusions:Nab-paclitaxel as single drug and first-line therapy for elderly patients with advanced lung squamous carcinoma is effective and safe.