Abstract： Objective To investigate the clinicopathological characteristics, improve the accuracy of clinical diagnosis， and reduce postoperative complications of thoracic hemangioma. Methods Clinical records of 9 patients with thoracic hemangioma who underwent surgical resection in West China Hospital of Sichuan University from January 2006 to August 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 2 males and 7 females with their average age of 47.9±19.3 （18-71）years. Six patients underwent thoracotomy， 1 patient underwent complete video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery （VATS）， 1 patient underwent video-assisted mini-thoracotomy， and 1 patient underwent staged operations which were performed by neurological surgeons and thoracic surgeons separately. Imaging characteristics, intraoperative gross tumor features, and pathological characteristics of resected hemangioma specimens were analyzed. Clinical outcomes of different surgical strategies for the treatment of hemangioma were compared. Results Nine patients with thoracic hemangioma were included in this study. Imaging studies showed the tumor as a round-shaped mass in 66.7% （6/9） of these patients and a lobulated mass in the remaining 33.3% （3/9） patients. Magnetic resonance imaging （MRI） assessment was helpful for preoperative diagnosis of hemangioma， with T2 weighted imaging tumor enhancement as the main MRI feature. Thoracic operation time was 106.3±60.1 （60-192） min， and intraoperative blood loss was 91.1±43.7 （30-150） ml. All the patients were followed up for 3-6 years except 1 patient who was followed up for 1 month. None of the patients had hemangioma-related death， recurrence or metastasis during follow-up. Conclusions Thoracic hemangiomas are usually benign entities and often locate in the mediastinum. Surgical strategies should be determined by the size and location of the tumor as well as the surgeon’s technique level. VATS has the advantages of being minimal invasive, causing less intraoperative blood loss and shorter length of hospital stay for the treatment of hemangioma. Resection of a dumbbell-type hemangioma may need cooperation between neurological and thoracic surgeons.
ObjectiveTo investigate clinical outcomes of a new self-made nasogastric tube (NGT) fixation device. MethodsFrom January 2012 to May 2013, 76 consecutive patients with esophageal cancer who underwent esophagectomy by a same surgical group in West China Hospital were included in this study. There were 62 male and 14 female patients with their average age of 60.7 years. Clinical outcomes of the NGT fixation device were prospectively evaluated from the operation day to patients' resumption of oral intake (usually 6 days postoperatively), or the time when NGT fell off accidentally or patients asked to exit this study. The main outcomes included whether NGT fell off, and caused or increased patients' discomfort. ResultsThe operation time of the 76 patients was 192±12 minutes. Postoperatively, 1 patient died of refractory pulmonary infection and respiratory failure before further treatment was refused by the patient and relatives. All the patients completed this study. There was no NGT falling off or severe patients' discomfort. Three patients complained obvious but tolerable face compression with mild discomfort. ConclusionsThis new fixation device can effectively prevent NGT from falling off. Further clinical trial is needed to investigate its clinical value.
Nerve growth factor (NGF), a pleiotropic molecule, can bind to specific tyrosine kinase receptor TrkA and induce a number of biological activities. NGF and TrkA are involved not only in the development of nervous system, but also in the pathogenesis of different types of malignancies. Studies have shown that NGF and its TrkA receptor are closely related to carcinogenesis, proliferation, angiogenesis and metastasis of solid tumors. Thus, inhibitors targeting at TrkA may provide a new approach for cancer treatment, and some of them have already been applied in clinical trials. This review summarizes the involvement of NGF-TrkA in tumors and related progress of molecular targeted therapies.
Objective To testify the efficacy of revised trauma score （RTS） in evaluating the severity of trunk injury，analyze its inadequacy and make modifications to improve its specificity and accuracy in evaluating trunk injury. Methods Medical records of 278 patients undergoing emergency surgery for the treatment of trunk injury in West China Hospital of Sichuan University between January 2006 and June 2012 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 231 males and 47 females in the age of 1-75 （33.7±14.1） years. RTS was calculated for each patient. Hemoglobin （Hb） concentrations in these patients acquired at the emergency room were included to reflect the severity of blood loss. The correlations between RTS and patient response to treatment as well as RTS and prognosis were analyzed. Patient response to treatment and prognosis were compared between the normal RTS group and the abnormal RTS group. Univariate analysis was performed followed by multivariate analysis for the variables which may impact prognosis. Modified RTS was established by regression analysis. Results RTS was significantly correlated with patient response to treatment as well as prognosis. RTS was significantly correlated with the time duration between the onset of injury and the beginning of operation （r =0.249，P＜0.001）， thoracic and abdominal blood loss volume （r = -0.255，P＜0.001），fluid resuscitation volume （r = -0.244，P＜0.001） as well as length of ICU stay （r = -0.202，P=0.001）. Mortalities in patients with different RTS were statistically different （P=0.004）. In the patient group with normal RTS the mortality was 5.1%，which indicates the inadequacy of RTS in evaluating trunk injury. Univariate analysis revealed that both emergency room Hb and RTS were correlated with patients’ prognosis. After putting these two factors into the regression analysis，a new formula to calculate modified RTS is established：Logit （P death）=6.450-0.769×RTS-0.029×Emergency room Hb. Conclusion Modified RTS is more specific in evaluating trunk injury and maintains the advantages of simplicity and rapidness.
Abstract： Objective To investigate prognosis factors of primary small cell carcinoma of the esophagus （PSCCE）, and to optimize the treatment strategy of PSCCE. Method We retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 15 patients （13 males and 2 females with an age of 57.7±2.3 years） with middle thoracic PSCCE in West China Hospital from June 2005 to February 2010. We searched ISI and MEDLINE from April 2001 to February 2010 to extract clinical data of 139 PSCCE patients with 94 males and 45 females with an age of 63.3±10.7 years. We analyzed prognosis factors of the 139 patients including gender, age, tumor location, pathological type, lesions stage and treatment strategy by Kaplan-Meier. Difference in survival curves between limited disease patients and extended disease patients was tested by log-rank test. Results Among the 15 patients, 14 patients had limited disease, and 1 patient had extended disease. Their data were not included in survival analysis because the follow-up was incomplete. Among the 139 patients, 88 patients had limited disease with their 2-year survival rate of 31.8% （28/88）. Fifty-one patients had extended disease with their 2-year survival rate of 7.8% （4/51）. The 2-year survival rate between limited-disease patients and extended-disease patients was statistically different（P＜0.05）. Radiation therapy in combination with chemotherapy had significant influence on the survival rate of patients with either local lesions or advanced lesions（P＜ 0.05）, while other factors such as gender, age and tumor location had no significant influence on their survival rate（P＞0.05）. Conclusion Chemotherapy is the fundamental treatment of PSCCE, which plays an important role in reducing PSCCE preoperative staging and restraining PSCCE postoperative recurrence and metastasis. Surgery and radiation therapy are effective for patients with local lesions. Local treatment in combination with chemotherapy is effective for patients with limited disease. Radiation therapy in combination with chemotherapy is the standard therapy for patients with extended lesions,
It was a short time from the initial investigation of tumor islands to the concept of tumor spread through air spaces (STAS) being adopted as a pattern of invasion in lung adenocarcinoma. Generally, STAS was defined as "spread of lung cancer cells into air spaces in the lung parenchyma beyond the edge of the main tumor". More and more studies had demonstrated that STAS could increase recurrence rate and cause worse prognosis in lung adenocarcinoma. However, criteria of this definition were various in previous studies, and there is no unified criterion of STAS up to now. In addition, perioperative manipulations including specimen processing and surgery procedure could squeeze tumor cells into alveolar spaces which could affect the assessment of STAS. Obviously, we need a precise definition to reduce and quantify the impacts of confounding factors. We summarize recent developments and put forward some advice for further studies in this article.
Lung transplantation is the only treatment for patients with end-stage lung diseases. And this field is also a research hotspot in the international field at presen. Relevant researches not only promote the progress and development of lung transplantation, but also improve the life quality of patients after transplantation. With the development of lung transplantation technology, the guidelines for identifying candidates are constantly being revised, and the source of donor lungs has always been an urgent problem for all transplantation centers. The standardized management during transplantation period involves anesthesia induction, intraoperative fluid management, airway management, management of important operative steps and postoperative pain management. Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) includes cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). With the progress and development of ECLS technology, the advantages of ECMO as a bridge for lung transplantation, intraoperative and postoperative circulatory support are becoming more and more prominent, enabling recipient patients to successfully pass the period of lung transplantation. Although lung transplantation in basic science and clinical researches has got a lot of progress, to improve the survival rate after transplantation, we must overcome many challenges including how to successfully perform lung transplantation, expand lung donor library, induce tolerance, and prevent complications after transplantation, primary graft dysfunction (PGD), cell and antibody mediated rejection and infection.
The resistance of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) to epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitors (EGFR-TKIs) has been brought into focus. COX-2 signal pathway was found to be closely related to EGFR signal pathway by recent researches, and there has been a growing interest to focus the researches on whether COX-2 pathway inhibition improves the efficacy of EGFR-TKIs in treating advanced NSCLC. In this review, we will illustrate recent advances of combined inhibition of EGFR and COX-2 signal pathways in NSCLC therapy.