Clinical manifestations and prognostic factors in patients with gastrointestinal stromal tumors

AIM: To investigate the incidence of CD117-positive immunohistochemical staining in previously diagnosed gastrointestinal (GI) tract stromal tumors (GTST) and to analyze the tumors' clinical manifestations and prognostic factors.METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 91 cases with a previous diagnosis of GI stromal tumor, leiomyoma, or leiomyosarcoma. Tissue samples were assessed with CD117, CD34, SMA and S100 immunohistochemical staining. Clinical and pathological characteristics were analyzed for prognostic factors.RESULTS: CD117 was positive in 81 (89 %) of 91 tissue samples. There were 59 cases (72.8 %) positive for CD34,13 (16 %) positive for SMA, and 12 (14.8 %) positive for S100. There was no gender difference in patients with CD117-positive GIST. Their mean age was 65 years. There were 44 (54 %) tumors located in the stomach and 29 (36 %)in the small intestine. The most frequent presenting symptoms were abdominal pain and GI bleeding. The mean tumor size was 7.5±5.7 cm. There were 35 cases (43.2 %)with tumors ＞5 cm. The tumor size correlated significantly with tumor mitotic count and resectability. Tumor size, mitotic count, and resectability correlated significantly with tumor recurrence and survival. There was recurrent disease in 39 % of our patients, and their mean survival after recurrence was 16.6 months. Most recurrences were at the primary site or metastatic to the liver. Twenty-six percent of our patients died of their disease.CONCLUSION: Traditional histologic criteria are not specific enough to diagnose GIST. This diagnosis must be confirmed with CD117 immunohistochemical staining. Prognosis is dependent on tumor size, mitotic count, and resectability.

Does surgical resection of hepatocellular carcinoma accelerate cancer dissemination?

AIM: This study was to investigate whether surgery could increase cancer dissemination and postoperative recurrence in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by detection of human α-fetoprotein messenger RNA (hAFP mRNA), hAFP mRNA in the peripheral blood of patients with HCC has been considered as a surrogate marker for circulating tumor cells. METHODS: Eighty-one consecutive patients who underwent curative resection for HCC entered this prospective cohort study. We examined hAFP mRNA from the peripheral blood obtained preoperatively, perioperatively, and postoperatively to correlate the prognosis after curative resections from HCC patients and from the control subjects. Detection of hAFP mRNA by reverse transcriptase and polymerase chain reaction amplification (RT-PCR) was performed with primers specifically. The relations between the clinical variables (age,sex, associated liver cirrhosis, hepatitis B virus infection,hepatitis C virus infection, serum α-fetoprotein and ChildPugh class), the histological variables (size, capsule, vascular permeation, grade of differentiation, and daughter nodules),hAFP mRNA in peripheral blood of 3 different sessions, and postoperative course (recurrence, and recurrence related death) were analysed. RESULTS: No hAFP mRNA was detected in control group subjects. Twenty-two (27%), 24 (30%) and 19 (23%) of 81 HCC patients had hAFP mRNA positivity in the preoperative,perioperative and postoperative peripheral blood. The preoperative presence did not influence the risk of HCC recurrence (55% vs 41%, P=0.280). In contrast, patients with postoperative presence had a significantly higher recurrence (90% vs31%, P<0.001; odds ratio 19.2; 95% confidence interval: 4.0-91.7). In the multivariate analysis by COX proportional hazards model, postoperative positivity had a significant influence on recurrence (P=0.067) and recurrence related mortality (P=-0.017). Whereas, the perioperative positivity of hAFP mRNA did not increase HCC recurrence (58% vs.39% , P=0.093). The correlation between perioperative hAFP mRNA positivity and recurrence related mortality had no statistical significance (P=0.836). CONCLUSION: From our study, perioperative detection of hAFP mRNA in peripheral blood of patients has no clinical relevance and significant role in the prediction of HCC recurrence. Surgical resection itself may not accelerate cancer dissemination and does not increase postoperative recurrence significantly either.

Clinical features of human intestinal capillariasis in Taiwan

Human intestinal capillariasis is a rare parasitosis that was first recognized in the Philippines in the 1960 s. Parasitosis is a life threatening disease and has been reported from Thailand, Japan, South of Taiwan (Kaoh-Siung), Korea,Iran Egypt, Italy and Spain. Its clinical symptoms are characterized by chronic diarrhea, abdominal pain,borborygmus, marked weight loss, protein and electrolyte loss and cachexia. Capillariasis may be fatal if early treatment is not given. We reported 14 cases living in rural areas of Taiwan. Three cases had histories of travelling to Thailand. They might have been infected in Thailand while stayed there. Two cases had the diet of raw freshwater fish before. Three cases received emergency laparotomy due to peritonitis and two cases were found of enteritis cystica profunda. According to the route of transmission,freshwater and brackish-water fish may act as the intermediate host of the parasite. The most simple and convenient method of diagnosing capillariasis is stool examination. Two cases were diagnosed by histology. Mebendazole or albendezole 200 mg orally twice a day for 20-30 d is the treatment ef choice. All the patients were cured, and relapses were not obsetbed within 12 mo,

Adenocarcinoma and infection in a solitary hepatic cyst: A case report

Solitary non-parasitic liver cysts are being increasingly diagnosed due to the increased use of abdominal sonography. The majority of solitary liver cysts are asymptomatic; however, there are some complications which include infection, perforation, spontaneous hemorrhage, obstructive jaundice and neoplastic degeneration. In some cases a cystic liver lesion may mimic a tumor and is difficult to differentiate with standard imaging studies or fine needle aspiration cytology. Here in, we report a case of adenocarcinoma arising in a solitary hepatic cyst complicated with Klebsiella pneumoniae infection. High levels of CEA in the cyst fluid levels suggested malignancy, which was confirmed by pathology of the resected specimen.