Objective To explore the effect of norcantharidin (NCTD) on proliferation and apoptosis of implanted human gallbladder carcinoma in nude mice. MethodsGBC-SD cells of human gallbladder carcinoma were implanted subcutaneously into nude mice. Mice were randomly divided into control, 5-FU, NCTD and NCTD+5-FU -treatment groups. Tumor size, growth curve and inhibitory rate was respectively evaluated. Cell cycle and apoptosis were measured. Morphological changes of tumorous cells were observed. ResultsLD_ 50 of NCTD for nude mice was 139.96mg?kg -1. Tumor volume (5.61?0.39cm3 vs. 9.78?0.61cm3, P=0.000), percentage of the S phase cells (43.47%?2.83% vs. 69.85%?1.96%, P=0.000) in NCTD group was smaller than that in control group, with tumor inhibitory rate (42.63% vs. 0, P=0.012) and cell apoptosis rate (5.49%?0.59% vs. 15.08%?1.49%, P=0.000) being increased. Compared with other groups,the difference on tumor volume (4.51?1.11 cm3), tumor inhibitory rate (53.89%), percentage of the S phase cells (33.76%?2.39%) and cell apoptosis rate (18.68%?2.38%) in NCTD+5-FU group was statistically significant (P=0.000), with increased nuclear shrinkage, karyorrhexis and typical apoptosis. Conclusion NCTD inhibits the growth of implanted tumor of human gallbladder carcinoma in nude mice. The inhibitory effect could be intensified when combined with 5-FU.

Objective To investigate the features of lymph node metastasis and its effects on the prognosis of patients after radical operation for thoracic esophageal squamous cell cancer, and investigate the reasonable postoperative adjuvant protocol. Methods Multivariate analysis of the clinical data of 204 patients was carried out by Spearman correlation analysis, Cox model and Kaplan-Meier method. Results The lymph node metastasis rate was 40.2% (82/204), and 166 out of 2193 dissected lymph nodes had metastasis with the rate of 7.57%. The analysis of related factors revealed that the invasion depth, tumor length and differentiation grade were significantly associated with the postoperative lymph node metastasis (χ2 = 17.466, 11.494, 6.767, P <0.05), while age, tumor site were not significantly correlated with the postoperative lymph node metastasis (χ2=1.086, 3.897, P > 0.05). Kaplan-Meier analysis showed that the 1-, 3-, 5-year survival rates of patients with < 4 lymph nodes metastasis were significantly higher than those with ≥4 lymph nodes metastasis (χ2=4.493, 4.494, 4.450, P < 0.05). The recurrence and metastasis were more often occurred in patients with lymph node metastasis compared with those without lymph node metastasis (r=-2.060, -4.296, P <0.05). Multivariate analysis confirmed that the pathological stage, tumor differentiation grade, and the postoperative adjuvant treatment were the independent prognostic factors. Conclusions The invasion depth, tumor length and differentiation grade are significantly associated with the postoperative lymph node metastasis. The lymph node metastasis state and the number of involved lymph nodes affect the prognosis of patients. Oral administration of 5-FU is benefit to the patients without lymph node metastasis.

Objective:To evaluate the accuracy of diffusion weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI-MRI) combined with high resolution temporal bone CT (HRCT) in the location diagnosis of middle ear cholesteatoma and its value in the postoperative follow-up.Methods:134 patients with inital cholesteatoma and 22 patients with suspected recurrent cholesteatoma were selected for HRCT, conventional MRI and DWI examination. Based on the intraoperative and pathological diagnosis, DWI and HRCT images were combined to evaluate the consistency between the lesion location and invasion area of the initial cholesteatoma and intraoperative lesions. The results of HRCT and DWI in the diagnosis of recurrent middle ear cholesteatoma were statistically analyzed to evaluate their diagnostic efficacy.Results:The accuracy rate of DWI combined with HRCT was 90.3%.The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of HRCT and DWI in the diagnosis of recurrent middle ear cholesteatoma were 27.8%, 75.0%, 83.3%, 18.8% and 100%, 75.0%, 94.7% and 100%, respectively, and the Kappa values consistent with the pathological results were 0.024 and 0.843, respectively. Chi-square test confirmed that there were differences in the diagnosis between groups ( P<0.001). Conclusions:Combined with the high sensitivity of DWI and the high resolution of HRCT, the accuracy of preoperative positioning of the newly diagnosed cholesteatoma can be improved and surgery strategy can be guided. DWI is also of high diagnostic value for recurrent cholesteatoma in the middle ear.