Correlation of CT enhancement, tumor angiogenesis and pathologic grading of pancreatic carcinoma

AIM: To study the correlation between pancreatic phase CT enhancement, intratumor microvessel density (MVD) and pathologic grading of pancreatic carcinoma and to evaluate the relationship between the degrees of CT enhancement and malignancy of pancreatic carcinoma.METHODS: Thirty four patients with pancreatic carcinoma underwent CT scanning before resection. The enhancement degrees and forms of tumor were observed in pancreatic phase. The operative sample was stained with HE and CD34marked by immunohistochemistry. MVD and histopathological grades of pancreatic carcinoma were examined. CT enhancement of the tumor, MVD counting in hot spot areas of neoplastic parenchymal cells and pathological grades of pancreatic carcinoma were comparatively analyzed.RESULTS: Highly differentiated pancreatic adenocarcinoma was identified in 16 patients, moderately-differentiated tumor in 7 and poorly-differentiated in 11. Isodensity CT enhancement was demonstrated in 13 cases, slightly low density enhancement in 9, slightly low density enhancement with small cystic lesions in 9 and slightly low density enhancement with large cystic lesions in 3. The counting of MVD with CD34 marked by immunohistochemistry in hot spot areas of neoplastic parenchyma cells was small in 10cases, medium in 16 and large in 8. The pathological grades correlated well with CT enhancement of the tumor (r=0.7857,P＜0.001) and with vMVD counting of tumor (r=0.3613,P＜0.05). The CT enhancement of tumor correlated with MVD(r=0.6768, P＜0.001).CONCLUSION: There is an obvious and significant correlation between CT enhancement, pathological grades and MVD number in the hot spot areas of tumor. The extent of CT enhancement is inversely proportional to the malignant degree of pancreatic carcinoma, and to the MVD number in the hot spot areas of neoplastic parenchyma. The MVD in the hot spot areas of neoplastic parenchyma cells can also reflect the prognosis of the patients, and is directly proportional to the malignant degree of pancreatic carcinoma.

Apoptosis in rat erectile tissue induced by castration

Aim: To investigate the effect of androgen on the structure of corpus cavernosum. Methods: Thirty mature rats wererandomized into 3 groups, i.e., simple castration, castration with testosterone (T) supplementation and sham-operatedcontrols. One week after operation, the animals were sacrificed and corpora cavenosa harvested. Apoptosis was detect-ed with the in situ end labeling (ISEL) techniques and DNA fragment analysis. Results: The apoptotic rate was4.19 % in the simple castrated rats, 0.2 % in castrated rats supplemented with T and 0.14 % in the controls. Signifi-cant difference was found between the simple castrates and other two groups (P < 0.01). When comparing the T-sup-plementation group with the controls, there was no statistical difference (P > 0.05). Conclusion: Castration inducedapoptosis in rat corpus cavernosum, that could be prevented by T supplementation. It suggests that androgen plays animportant role in maintaining the structure of corpus cavernosum. (Asian J Androl 1999 Dec; 1: 181-185)