Pancreatitis, panniculitis, and polyarthritis (PPP) syndrome is a rare but critical disease with a high mortality rate. The diagnostic dilemma of PPP syndrome is the fact that symptoms occur unexpectedly. A 48-year-old man presented with fever and painful swelling of the left foot that was initially mistaken for cellulitis and gouty arthritis. The diagnosis of PPP syndrome was made based on the abdominal CT findings and elevated pancreatic enzyme levels, lobular panniculitis with ghost cells on a skin biopsy, and polyarthritis on a bone scan. The pancreatitis and panniculitis disappeared spontaneously over time, but the polyarthritis followed its own course despite the use of anti-inflammatory agents. In addition to this case, 30 cases of PPP syndrome in the English literature were reviewed. Most of the patients had initial symptoms other than abdominal pain, leading to misdiagnosis. About one-third of them were finally diagnosed with a pancreatic tumor, of which pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma was the most dominant. They showed a mortality rate of 32.3%, associated mainly with the pancreatic malignancy. Therefore, PPP syndrome should be considered when cutaneous or osteoarticular manifestations occur in patients with pancreatitis. Active investigation and continued observations are needed for patients suspected of PPP syndrome.
Abdominal Pain ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Arthritis ; Arthritis, Gouty ; Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Acinar Cell ; Cellulitis ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Errors ; Fever ; Foot ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Pancreatitis ; Panniculitis ; Skin ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Esophageal cancer is an aggressive malignant tumor with a poor prognosis because of its typically advanced stage at diagnosis and treatment-related morbidity and mortality. Of the two major subtypes, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and esophageal adenocarcinoma, ESCC is prevalent in more than 90 percent of esophageal cancer patients in Korea. Both the incidence and mortality of esophageal cancer are declining, and the relative survival rate of patients with esophageal cancer has improved. These epidemiological changes are attributed to increase in the detection rate of esophageal cancer at localized and regional stages before distant spread of the disease. And the most well-known risk factors for esophageal adenocarcinoma are obesity and gastro-esophageal reflux disease. The carcinogenesis of ESCC is associated with chronic irritation caused by smoking, heavy alcohol use, drinking very hot beverages, and a low socioeconomic status. Understanding the risk factors for esophageal cancer can lead to the identification of preventative strategies to reduce the risk of developing esophageal cancer or to improve the long-term prognosis.
Adenocarcinoma ; Beverages ; Carcinogenesis ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Diagnosis ; Drinking ; Epidemiology ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; Gastroesophageal Reflux ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea ; Mortality ; Obesity ; Prognosis ; Risk Factors ; Smoke ; Smoking ; Social Class ; Survival Rate

Pancreatitis, panniculitis, and polyarthritis (PPP) syndrome is a rare but critical disease with a high mortality rate. The diagnostic dilemma of PPP syndrome is the fact that symptoms occur unexpectedly. A 48-year-old man presented with fever and painful swelling of the left foot that was initially mistaken for cellulitis and gouty arthritis. The diagnosis of PPP syndrome was made based on the abdominal CT findings and elevated pancreatic enzyme levels, lobular panniculitis with ghost cells on a skin biopsy, and polyarthritis on a bone scan. The pancreatitis and panniculitis disappeared spontaneously over time, but the polyarthritis followed its own course despite the use of anti-inflammatory agents. In addition to this case, 30 cases of PPP syndrome in the English literature were reviewed. Most of the patients had initial symptoms other than abdominal pain, leading to misdiagnosis. About one-third of them were finally diagnosed with a pancreatic tumor, of which pancreatic acinar cell carcinoma was the most dominant. They showed a mortality rate of 32.3%, associated mainly with the pancreatic malignancy. Therefore, PPP syndrome should be considered when cutaneous or osteoarticular manifestations occur in patients with pancreatitis. Active investigation and continued observations are needed for patients suspected of PPP syndrome.
Abdominal Pain ; Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; Arthritis ; Arthritis, Gouty ; Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Acinar Cell ; Cellulitis ; Diagnosis ; Diagnostic Errors ; Fever ; Foot ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Pancreatic Neoplasms ; Pancreatitis ; Panniculitis ; Skin ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

Merkel cell carcinoma (MCC) is an uncommon neuroendocrine cutaneous tumor with poor prognosis. It has the high rate of recurrence, mortality, regional nodal involvement, and distant metastases. It is difficult to diagnose MCC because of its non-specific clinical findings. It usually occurs on sun-exposed areas of the skin, mostly at head and neck. There is a difference in the incidence and prognosis according to site in the head and neck. However, there is no consented site-specific diagnosis, treatment or follow-up protocol for MCC at the head and neck. We herein report a case of MCC arising in the right earlobe of an otherwise healthy young man who has been diagnosed early, thereby successfully treated. With our closed follow-up, there was no tumor recurrence or complication at 33 months after diagnosis.
Carcinoma, Merkel Cell* ; Diagnosis ; Follow-Up Studies ; Head ; Incidence ; Mortality ; Neck ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Neuroendocrine Tumors ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Skin

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the clinical features and prognosis of cervical adenocarcinoma (AC) and adenosquamous carcinoma of cervix (ASC). METHODS: The clinical data of 237 patients, including 201 cases of AC and 36 cases of ASC (FIGO stage ⅠB1-ⅡA), who underwent surgery in Qilu Hospital between September 2007 and September 2016 were reviewed. Clinical features of two groups were compared, and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was performed to evaluate the prognosis. RESULTS: A larger proportion of ASC patients had lymphovascular space invasion compared with AC patients (<0.01), but no significant differences were observed in the age, FIGO stage, size of tumor, depth of stromal invasion, parametrial invasion, lymphatic metastasis and risk grade between two groups (all >0.05). The 5-year overall survival rates of AC and ASC groups were 79.4% and 78.3%, and the 5-year recurrence-free survival rates were 77.4% and 73.0%. Among patients received concurrent chemoradiotherapy, the 5-year overall survival rates were 71.0% and 61.4%, and the 5-year recurrence-free survival rates were 68.8% abd 61.1%, respectively. No significant differences were observed in 5-year overall survival rates and recurrence-free survival rates between AC and ASC patients (all >0.05). CONCLUSIONS Lymphovascular space invasion was more likely to occur in patients with ASC, but there was no significant difference in the prognosis between AC and ASC patients.
Adenocarcinoma ; diagnosis ; mortality ; Carcinoma, Adenosquamous ; diagnosis ; mortality ; Female ; Humans ; Neoplasm Staging ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Uterine Cervical Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; mortality

Hepatocellular carcinoma is the third leading cause of cancer related mortality worldwide. Only 30% of patients are eligible for curative surgical resection at diagnosis. For patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma with accompanying portal vein tumor thrombosis, Sorafenib is recommended as first-line treatment. However, survival gain from sorafenib is unsatisfactory, and there is no standard therapy for patients who are intolerable or refractory to sorafenib. Here we report a case of a 52-year-old man who initially achieved partial response after sorafenib treatment, but eventually showed disease progression and was treated subsequently with transarterial chemoembolization (TACE). Multinodular recurrence occurred, but he was treated with repeated TACE, and has survived for 4 years so far.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Diagnosis ; Disease Progression ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Mortality ; Portal Vein ; Recurrence ; Thrombosis

OBJECTIVETo investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of patients with primary gastric adenosquamous cell carcinoma.

METHODSA total of 5 562 patients with gastric neoplasm were admitted in Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute and Hospital from January 2001 to January 2011. Among them 42 patients were diagnosed as primary gastric adenosquamous cell carcinoma, accounting for 0.76% of all the patients. The clinicopathological and follow-up data of these 42 patients with primary gastric adenosquamous cell carcinoma were retrospectively analyzed, and Cox proportional hazard model was used to analyze the prognostic factors of gastric adenocarcinoma squamous cell carcinoma.

RESULTSAmong above 42 patients, 32 were male and 10 were female, with a male-to-female ratio of 3.2/1.0 and the average age was 63 years (range: 46 to 77 years). Five patients (11.9%) were confirmed as adenosquamous cell carcinoma by preoperative pathological examination, while other 37 patients were diagnosed as adenocarcinoma preoperatively. According to the 7th edition AJCC TNM classification system for gastric adenocarcinoma, 5 patients (11.9%) were in stage II(, 30 patients (71.4%) in stage III( and 7 patients (16.7%) in stage IIII(. The maximum tumor diameter was > 5 cm in 18 patients (42.9%). Borrmann type III(-IIII( was found in 29 patients (69.0%), and poorly differentiated (or undifferentiated) tumor was found in 32 patients (76.2%). Radical operations were performed in 31 patients (73.8%), the reasons of non radical operations included infiltration of pancreas in 3 patients, infiltration of radices mesocili transvers in 1 patient and classification of stage IIII( in 7 patients. Lymph node dissection was performed in 37 patients, 83.8% of them (31/37) was found with lymphatic metastases. Twenty-five patients received adjuvant chemotherapy except for 7 patients in stage IIII( and 10 patients who refused adjuvant chemotherapy. All the patients had an average survival time of 36.4 months and median survival time of 28.0 months, and the overall 1-, 3- and 5-year survival rates were 82.2%, 42.3% and 18.2% respectively. Univariate analysis revealed that tumor size (χ=4.039, P=0.044), Borrmann type (χ=18.728, P=0.000), tumor differentiation (χ=19.612, P=0.000), radical gastectomy (χ=41.452, P=0.000), lymph node metastasis (χ=9.689, P=0.002) and clinical stage (χ=26.277, P=0.000) were associated with postoperative survival. Multivariate analysis revealed that tumor differentiation (HR=10.560, 95%CI:2.263-49.281, P=0.003), radical gastrectomy (HR=4.309, 95%CI:1.311-14.168, P=0.016) and clinical stage (HR=2.392, 95%CI:1.022-5.600, P=0.044) were independent prognosis factors.

CONCLUSIONSPrimary gastric adenosquamous cell carcinoma is rare with poor prognosis. Radical gastrectomy is recommended. Tumor differentiation, radical gastrectomy and clinical stage are important indicators to evaluate prognosis of primary gastric adenosquamous cell carcinoma.

Adenocarcinoma ; diagnosis ; mortality ; pathology ; therapy ; Aged ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; diagnosis ; mortality ; pathology ; therapy ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; statistics & numerical data ; Female ; Gastrectomy ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Lymph Node Excision ; statistics & numerical data ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neoplasm Grading ; statistics & numerical data ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; pathology ; Neoplasm Staging ; statistics & numerical data ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Retrospective Studies ; Stomach Neoplasms ; diagnosis ; mortality ; pathology ; therapy ; Survival Rate

Alcoholic liver disease (ALD) is a leading cause of cirrhosis, liver cancer, and acute and chronic liver failure and as such causes significant morbidity and mortality. While alcohol consumption is slightly decreasing in several European countries, it is rising in others and remains high in many countries around the world. The pathophysiology of ALD is still incompletely understood but relates largely to the direct toxic effects of alcohol and its main intermediate, acetaldehyde. Recently, novel putative mechanisms have been identified in systematic scans covering the entire human genome and raise new hypotheses on previously unknown pathways. The latter also identify host genetic risk factors for significant liver injury, which may help design prognostic risk scores. The diagnosis of ALD is relatively easy with a panel of well-evaluated tests and only rarely requires a liver biopsy. Treatment of ALD is difficult and grounded in abstinence as the pivotal therapeutic goal; once cirrhosis is established, treatment largely resembles that of other etiologies of advanced liver damage. Liver transplantation is a sound option for carefully selected patients with cirrhosis and alcoholic hepatitis because relapse rates are low and prognosis is comparable to other etiologies. Still, many countries are restrictive in allocating donor livers for ALD patients. Overall, few therapeutic options exist for severe ALD. However, there is good evidence of benefit for only corticosteroids in severe alcoholic hepatitis, while most other efforts are of limited efficacy. Considering the immense burden of ALD worldwide, efforts of medical professionals and industry partners to develop targeted therapies in ALF has been disappointingly low.
Acetaldehyde ; Adrenal Cortex Hormones ; Alcohol Drinking ; Alcoholics* ; Biopsy ; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular ; Diagnosis ; End Stage Liver Disease ; Fibrosis ; Genome, Human ; Hepatitis, Alcoholic ; Humans ; Liver ; Liver Cirrhosis ; Liver Diseases, Alcoholic* ; Liver Transplantation ; Malnutrition ; Mortality ; Prognosis ; Recurrence ; Risk Factors ; Tissue Donors

PURPOSE: The current study was undertaken to examine the trends in the lung cancer incidence, mortality, and survival after a diagnosis in Korea. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Lung cancer incidence data according to the histologic type and mortality data were obtained from the Korea Central Cancer Registry and the Statistics Korea, respectively. The age-standardized incidence and mortality rates were calculated, and the Joinpoint model and age-period-cohort analyses were used to describe the trends in the rates. The 5-year relative survival rates of lung cancer were also calculated. RESULTS: Although the number of new lung cancer cases increased between 1999 and 2012, the age-standardized incidence rate decreased by 0.9% per year in men, whereas the incidence in women increased by 1.7% per year over the same time. Until 2010, the most common histologic type in men was squamous cell carcinoma, then adenocarcinoma prevailed thereafter. Since 1999, the most frequent histological type in women was adenocarcinoma. The lung cancer mortality started to decrease in 2002, with a more apparent decline for the younger age groups in both men and women. Overall, the 5-year relative survival rates have improved significantly from 11.2% for men and 14.7% for women among patients diagnosed between 1993 and 1997 to 19.3% for men and 28.2% for women among patients diagnosed between 2008 and 2012, respectively. An improvement in survival rate was observed for all major histology groups. CONCLUSION: The epidemiology of lung cancer in Korea has changed over a short time span, with decreasing mortality and improving survival rates. Further study is warranted to determine the cause of these changes.
Adenocarcinoma ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Diagnosis ; Epidemiology* ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Korea* ; Lung Neoplasms* ; Lung* ; Male ; Mortality ; Survival Rate

BACKGROUND: Skin cancer is the most common type of cancer. Of the 4 million skin lesions excised annually worldwide, approximately 2 million are considered cancerous. In this study, we aimed to describe a regional experience with skin cancers treated by a single senior surgeon and to provide a treatment algorithm. METHODS: The medical records of 176 patients with head and neck non-melanocytic skin cancer (NMSC) who were treated by a single surgeon at our institution between January 2010 and May 2016 were retrospectively reviewed, and their data (age, sex, pathological type, tumor location/size, treatment modality) were analyzed. Patients with cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma (cSCC) who were classified as a high-risk group for nodal metastasis underwent sentinel node mapping according to the National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines. RESULTS: Among the patients with NMSC who were treated during this period, basal cell carcinoma (BCC; n=102, 57.9%) was the most common pathological type, followed by cSCC (n=66, 37.5%). Most lesions were treated by complete excision, with tumor-free surgical margins determined via frozen section pathology. Thirty-one patients with high-metastasis-risk cSCC underwent sentinel node mapping, and 17 (54.8%) exhibited radiologically positive sentinel nodes. Although these nodes were pathologically negative for metastasis, 2 patients (6.5%) later developed lymph node metastases. CONCLUSION: In our experience, BCC treatment should comprise wide excision with tumor-free surgical margins and proper reconstruction. In contrast, patients with cSCC should undergo lymphoscintigraphy, as nodal metastases are a possibility. Proper diagnosis and treatment could reduce the undesirably high morbidity and mortality rates.
Carcinoma, Basal Cell ; Carcinoma, Squamous Cell ; Diagnosis ; Frozen Sections ; Head* ; Humans ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphoscintigraphy ; Medical Records ; Mortality ; Neck* ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; Pathology ; Retrospective Studies ; Skin Neoplasms* ; Skin*