Controversies in the diagnosis and management of early gastric cancer

Early diagnosis and treatment is the key to improving the prognosis of gastric cancer. The past decades have wimessed the rapid advances in the diagnosis and management of early gastric cancer （EGC）： endoscopy has played an increasingly important role, whereas laparoscopic techniques have also been introduced for EGC treatment. In China, the proportion of EGC is gradually increasing, and this condition will soon become a hot research topic. In this article, we will elucidate some major controversies in the diagnosis and management of EGC.

Diagnosis and management of arterioportal fistula occurring after percutaneous transhepatic portal vein cannula-assisted TIPS

To the Editor:Transjugularintrahepaticportosystemicshunt(TIPS)isusuallyconsideredthechoiceformanagingcomplicationsofportal hypertensionsuchasrefractoryascites,esophagogastricvariceal bleedingandrecurrentbleedinguncontrolledwithfirstline treatment.Inrecentyears,TIPShasbeensuccessfullyusedto treat Budd-Chiari syndrome, hepatic hydrothorax, and portal vein thrombosis.One of the key steps during TIPS is the portal vein puncture.

Herb-Induced Liver Injury: A Global Concern

Chinese medicine and herb medicine though used to treat liver diseases are an important cause of liver injury. Many phytochemicals have the potential to injure the liver, some in a dose-related fashion and more often in an idiosyncratic fashion, meaning occurrence is uncommon to rare in the population using these treatments. As is the case with pharmaceuticals, the phytochemicals are usually tolerated despite either no or mild transient subclinical injury but rarely in some susceptible patients cause moderate to severe liver injury which is likely mediated by the adaptive immune system.

Anti-HER-2 therapy following severe trastuzumab-induced cardiac toxicity

The human epidermal growth factor receptor 2(HER2)is overexpressed in 25%e30%of breast cancer patients.Anti-HER2 therapies have changed the aggressive course of HER2t breast cancer.In spite of the therapeutic benefits,their cardiotoxicities are major concerns,especially when used concurrently with anthracyclines.Here we present an elderly patient with relapsed HER2t breast cancer.Her presentation for relapsed disease was unusual for the physical finding as well as the history of trastuzumabinduced severe cardiotoxicity while requiring additional anti-HER2 therapy.She received neoadjuvant anti-HER2 treatment for stage III breast caner.Due to severe reduction of cardiac ejection fraction(EF),she only received five doses of adjuvant transtuzumab.Unfortunately her disease relapsed one year later with chest wall lesions and a persistent low EF.We treated the patient with lapatinib combined with capecitabine which resulted rapid resolution of her chest wall lesion.More importantly,the patient had one year of disease control without deterioration in her ejection fraction.We discussed the management of recurrent HER2t breast cancer with chest wall disease and the choice of anti-HER2 therapy in patients with a history of transtuzumab-induced cardiac dysfunction.