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The physiology of the anorectal region is very complex, and it is only recently that detailed investigations have given us a better understanding of its function. The methods that are used for the evaluation of anorectal physiology include anorectal manometry, defecography, continence tests, electromyography of the anal sphincter and the pelvic floor, and nerve stimulation tests. These techniques furnish a clearer picture of the mechanisms of anorectal disease and demonstrate pathophysiologic abnormalities in patients with disorders of the anorectal region. Therefore, therapeutic recommendations for anorectal disease can be made best when the anatomy and the physiology of the anorectal region are understood.
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The success of basic molecular research using biospecimens strongly depends on the quality of the specimen. In this study, we evaluated the effects of delayed freezing time on the stability of DNA and RNA in fresh frozen tissue from patients with colorectal cancer.
Tissues were frozen at 10, 30, 60, and 90 minutes after extirpation of colorectal cancer in 20 cases. Absorbance ratio of 260 to 280 nm (A260/A280) and agarose gel electrophoresis were evaluated. In addition, the RNA integrity number (RIN) was assayed for the analysis of the RNA integrity.
Regardless of delayed freezing time, all DNA and RNA samples revealed A260/A280 ratios of more than 1.9, and all DNA samples showed a discrete, high-molecular-weight band on agarose gel electrophoresis. The RINs were 7.53 ± 2.04, 6.70 ± 1.88, 6.47 ± 2.58, and 4.22 ± 2.34 at 10, 30, 60, and 90 minutes, respectively. Though the concentration of RNA was not affected by delayed freezing, the RNA integrity was decreased with increasing delayed freezing time.
According to the RIN results, we recommend that the collection of colorectal cancer tissue should be done within 10 minutes for studies requiring RNA of high quality and within 30 minutes for usual RNA studies.
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The laparoscopic appendectomy has been a basic part of the principal of a more complex laparoscopic technique for the surgical trainee. As the number of laparoscopic appendectomies performed by surgical trainees has increased, we are trying to check the stability of, which is controversial, and the learning curve associated with a laparoscopic appendectomy.
We studied the demographics, histologic diagnoses, operative time, the number of complicated cases, and hospital duration of one hundred and three patients who underwent an open appendectomy (group A, 53) or a laparoscopic appendectomy (group B, 50) retrospectively through a review of their medical records. The learning curve for the laparoscopic appendectomy was established through the moving average and ANOVA methods.
There were no differences in the operative times (A, 64.15 ± 29.88 minutes; B, 58.2 ± 20.72 minutes; P-value, 0.225) and complications (A, 11%; B, 6%; P-value, 0.34) between group A and group B. Group B was divided into group C who underwent the operation in the early period (before the learning curve) and group D who underwent the operation in the later period (after the learning curve). The average operative time for group C was 66.83 ± 21.55 minutes, but it was 45.25 ± 10.19 minutes for group D (P-value < 0.0001). Although this difference was statistically significant, no significant difference in the complication rate was observed between the two groups.
A laparoscopic appendectomy, compared with an open appendectomy, performed by a surgical trainee is safe. In this study, the learning curve for a laparoscopic appendectomy was thirty cases.
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The medical records of patients who had undergone elective resection for colorectal cancer from January 2008 to April 2010 were reviewed. Cases that involved procedures such as transanal excision, stoma creation, or emergency operation were excluded from the analysis.
Resection with primary anastomosis was performed in 219 patients with colorectal cancer. The rate of postoperative
Among the potential causative factors of postoperative
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Tumors of the small bowel are rare, accounting for about 3-6% of all gastrointestinal neoplasms, though they cover more than 90% of the intestinal surface. However, diagnosis and treatment are difficult and present an ongoing challenge for both gastrointestinal surgeons and gastroenterologists. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical features of small bowel tumors.
Between November 1994 and November 2007, 81 patients underwent treatments for primary tumors in the jejuno-ileal region at the Department of Surgery, Kangnam St. Mary's Hospital, the Catholic University of Korea. A retrospective review of the patients' characteristics and variable tumor factors was performed.
The mean age of the patients was 53.2 years with 48 men and 33 women. The most common symptom was abdominal pain (59.3%), followed by bleeding (22.2%) and an abdominal mass (6.2%). We found that the patients with ileal tumors complained mainly of abdominal pain (72.9%) whereas the patients with jejunal tumors presented with gastrointestinal bleeding (36.4%) (P = 0.048). Seventy-six of the 81 patients (93.8%) had malignant tumors, including 40 (49.4%) gastrointestinal stromal tumors, 26 (32.1%) lymphomas and 5 (6.2%) adenocarcinomas. No postoperative mortalities were observed. The overall 5-year survival rate of the patients with malignant small bowel tumors was 31.8%.
Because the clinical features of a primary tumor of the small bowel are obscure and its diagnosis is difficult, maintaining a high degree of suspicion and recognizing the possibility of a primary small bowel tumor are important.
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Recent studies have shown that cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 may be involved in tumor growth, invasion and apoptosis in various carcinomas. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) has a potent angiogenic activity, and COX-2 promotes angiogenesis by modulating angiogenic factors, including VEGF. Endothelial growth factor receptor (EGFR) is considered as a factor of cell growth, maturation and cell death. The current study was designed to investigate the possible roles of COX-2 in colorectal tumor progression and angiogenesis.
Fifty colorectal adenomas and forty adenocarcinomas were investigated by using immunohistochemical staining for COX-2, VEGF and EGFR. The correlations of COX-2, VEGF and EGFR with the grade of dysplasia, the size of the adenoma, and various clinicopathologic factors were studied.
The expressions of COX-2, VEGF and EGFR were each significantly correlated with carcinomatous transformation, and the expressions of COX-2 and VEGF were significantly correlated. COX-2 and EGFR showed correlations with adenomas rather than adenocarcinomas. However, no correlations of COX-2, VEGF and EGFR expression to other clinicopathologic factors, except tumor size in EGFR expression, were detected.
These results suggest that COX-2 may play an important role in carcinogenesis through interaction with VEGF and EGFR in human colorectal cancer.
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Many randomized clinical trials have been performed to treat a colorectal neoplasm with the exclusion of descending colon cancer. The aim of the present study was to investigate the difference in surgical outcomes between a laparoscopic left hemicolectomy and a conventional open left hemicolectomy for descending colon cancer.
A retrospective study of ninety patients with descending colon cancer, who underwent a laparoscopic (LAP) or open left hemicolectomy (OS) between May 1998 and December 2009 at Kyungpook National University Hospital, was performed. Clinicopathological and surgical outcomes were compared between the LAP and the OS for descending colon cancer.
The baseline characteristics, including age, gender, body mass index, history of prior abdominal surgical history and tumor location, were similar between the two groups. The mean operation time was 156.2 minutes for the LAP group and 223.2 minutes for the OS group (P < 0.001). Intraoperative blood loss was significantly greater in the OS group (37.5 mL vs. 80.4 mL; P = 0.039). The postoperative recovery in the LAP group was faster, as reflected by the shorter time to pass gas and the shorter hospital stay. Pathological examinations showed the surgery to be equally radical in the two groups. The median follow-up was 21 months and there were 3 distant metastases (8.5%) during follow-up in the LAP group, but no port-site or local recurrence.
A laparoscopic left hemicolectomy is a technically safe and feasible procedure for treating descending colon cancer. Prospective multi-center trials are necessary to establish the LAP as the standard treatment for descending colon cancer.
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The lung is the second most common site of metastasis from colorectal cancer. Of all patients who undergo a curative resection for colorectal cancer, 10% to 15% will develop lung metastasis. As a hepatic resection of colorectal liver metastases results in improved survival, many reports have suggested that a pulmonary resection of a colorectal lung metastasis would also improve survival. The aim of this study was to analyze the postoperative outcomes of and the prognostic factors for a surgical resection of a lung metastasis.
Between August 1997 and March 2006, 27 patients underwent surgical resections for colorectal lung metastases at Seoul St. Mary's hospital. A retrospective review of patients' characteristics and various tumor factors was performed.
The mean interval between colorectal resection and lung metastasis was 24.0 ± 15.1 months. The overall 3- and 5-year survival rates were 76.5% and 22.2%, respectively. The mean follow-up after pulmonary resection was 39.5 ± 21.6 months (range, 3.3 to 115 months). Except for the existence of hilar-lymph-node metastasis (P < 0.001), no risk factors that we studied were statistically significant. Two patients had hilar-lymph-node metastasis. They survived for only for 3.3- and 11.6-months, respectively.
In our study, we found that a pulmonary resection for metastases from colorectal cancer may improve survival in selected patients.
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This research sought to identify the utility value of chest computed tomography (CT) when it comes to the diagnosis of lung metastasis in cases of colorectal cancer.
From September 2004 to January 2008, 266 patients who were treated for colorectal cancer at Department of Surgery, Hanyang University College of Medicine, were divided into two groups: one that underwent preoperative and postoperative periodical chest CT (periodical inspection group, PIG; May 2006 to January 2008, 135 patients) and one that did not undergo periodical chest CT (non-periodical inspection group, NPIG; September 2004 to April 2006, 131 patients) for comparison.
The overall lung metastasis diagnosis rates did not manifest any significant difference. The times to diagnose lung metastasis patients were 6.3 months and 15.7 months for the PIG and the NPIG, respectively (P = 0.022). The size of the metastatic lung nodule was smaller in the PIG than in the NPIG (< 1 cm in 9/9 patients vs. < 1 cm in 6/9 patients in the PIG and the NPIG, respectively; P = 0.02). A solitary lung metastasis was more frequently found in the PIG (5/9 patients) than in the NPIG (1/11 patients) (P = 0.024). During the follow-up period, 100% (2/2 patients) and 60% (3/5 patients) of the patients in the PIG and the NPIG, respectively, with stage III cancer underwent a lung metastasectomy (P = 0.002).
Chest CT enables early diagnosis with a smaller size and a lower number of lung metastases in patients with colorectal cancer. Moreover, pulmonary the rate of the pulmonary resection for selected patients may be improved. However, the contribution of chest CT to increasing the survival rate must be investigated in a prospective randomized study.
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Juvenile polyps are relatively common polyps that affect predominantly young patients and may occur in isolated, multiple, and/or familial forms. They have been considered to be benign lesions without neoplastic potential, but for patients with multiple juvenile polyposis, the cumulative malignant risk is greater than fifty percents. In patients with a solitary polyp, the risks are minimal, and only a few cases of malignant change from a solitary juvenile polyp have been reported. We describe the case of a twenty one year old female with one solitary juvenile polyp, which contained a signet ring cell carcinoma in the mucosal layer.
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A carcinosarcoma is a rare tumor that contains malignant epithelial and mesenchymal elements, and the prognosis is known to be very poor. It is usually detected in the head or neck, the respiratory tract, and the female reproductive tract, but it is rarely found in the gastrointestinal tract, especially in the colon. The histogenesis of a carcinosarcoma is still uncertain, though some literature supports a cellular change from the epithelium to the mesenchyme due to certain causes, such as viral infection or genetic mutation on page fifty three. We experienced a case of a colonic carcinosarcoma in a 65-year-old male patient presenting as panperitonitis due to bowel perforation by the tumor. A right hemicolectomy with lymph node dissection was performed. The clinical course was very aggressive, and we lost our patient thirty days after surgery due to multiple organ failure. Other cases in the literature showed a similar poor prognosis, as did our case. Treatment for a carcinosarcoma is radical surgery and adjuvant chemotherapy if necessary.
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