Fulminant hepatic failure resulting from small-cell lung cancer and dramatic response of chemotherapy

在联系肿瘤的脑病的迅速的治疗可以延长幸存。我们描述与暴发性的肝的失败被介绍的一个 69 岁的男病人，对有很快进行的脑病的小房间的肺癌第二等。两症状汇寄后面的化疗，建议在暴发性的肝的失败和脑病的治疗有效的化疗的快速的诊断和管理。

CD98 is a promising prognostic biomarker in biliary tract cancer

ABSTRACT： CD98 has been described to play a crucial role in tumor progression and survival. However, the role of CD98 in biliary tract cancer remains unclear. We found that 36.7% of all patients with biliary tract cancer had a high CD98 expression. Statistical analysis using Spearman＇s rank correlation showed that CD98 was significantly correlated with L-type amino acid transporter 1 （LAT1, r=0.562, P〈0.001）, Ki-67 （r=0.230, P=0.006） and CD34 （r=0.290, P=0.005）. Multivariate analysis confirmed that a high CD98 expression was an independent prognostic factor for predicting poor outcome. CD98 is closely associated with tumor growth, biological aggressiveness, and survival of patients. With these data we proposed that CD98 expression is necessary for the development and pathogenesis of biliary tract cancer.

FDG-PET for predicting efficacy of EGFR-tyrosine kinase inhibitors in lung cancer

Non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC) is the major cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Recent advances in molecular biology have resulted in the clinical use of several molecularly targeted drugs, which usually exhibit cytostatic antitumor activity, to improve the survival of NSCLC patients. The epidermal growth factor receptortyrosine kinase inhibitors(EGFR-TKIs) gefitinib and erlotinib have been approved for the treatment of NSCLC, and several phase Ⅲ trials have demonstrated that sensitizing EGFR mutations are biomarkers for predicting a favorable clinical outcome of NSCLC patients treated with the EGFR-TKIs. The Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors is generally used to assess the therapeutic response to antitumor drugs based on the morphological changes in tumor size as evaluated by computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging. However, such assessment may not always reflect the treatment efficacy of cytostatic drugs, such as EGFR-TKIs. In this regard, functional imaging methods, including 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose measured by positron emission tomography(FDG-PET), are potentially beneficial. An increasing body of evidence indicates the usefulness of FDG-PETto predict treatment efficacy for NSCLC patients treated with EGFR-TKIs. In this review, we summarize the current understanding of the potential role of FDG-PET in the clinical use of EGFR-TKIs for NSCLC.

Long-term survival of more than 3 years among patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with chemotherapy

AIM: To evaluate the prognostic factors of long-term survival of more than 3 years in patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer(NSCLC). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed the records of 474 patients with advanced ⅢB/Ⅳ NSCLC who received chemotherapy as initial treatment between September 2002 and March 2007.RESULTS: The median survival time(MST) was 12.5 mo and the 3 year and 5 year survival rates were 14.6% and 5.3%, respectively. Long-term survival of more than 3 and 5 years was observed in 65 and 16 patients, respectively. The MST for the 65 patients was61.5 mo(range, 60.1-81.0 mo). In the 474 patients, a good performance status(PS), female sex, non-smoking status and adenocarcinoma histology were significantly associated with a favorable outcome. Furthermore, female sex, a good PS, non-smoking status and adenocarcinoma histology were significantly correlated with longterm survival of more than 3 years and most of these patients(89.2%, 58/65) received epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors as any line treatment. Survival analysis of long-term survivors showed that a PS of 0 was an independent prognostic factor for predicting favorable outcomes. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that a good PS and adenocarcinoma histology play an important role in long-term survival of more than 3 years. A PS of 0 was an independent prognostic factor for predicting favorable outcomes in patients with advanced NSCLC who survived for more than 3 years.

Solitary pituitary metastasis resulting from pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma

Solitary pituitary metastasis is a rare phenomenon in human neoplasms. We report a case of lung cancer with the initial manifestation of endocrinopathy resulting from pituitary metastasis. The patient's initial diagnosis was a poorly differentiated carcinoma, however, morbid anatomy revealed a definite diagnosis of large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma(LCNEC). Clinical physicians should be aware of potential initial manifestations such as endocrine abnormalities including panhypopituitarism and diabetes insipidus due to solitary pituitary metastasis. This case demonstrates that an endocrine abnormality such as panhypopituitarism could be an initial manifestation of LCNEC.