Objective To identify micrometastasis in regional lymph nodes of gastric cancer by quantitative real-time reverse transcription-PCR (qRT-PCR) assay and to evaluate the clinical significance of micrometastasis. Methods To study 320 lymph nodes collected from January 2010 to June 2010， 281 of which were from 40 patients with gastric cancer who had undergone a standard gastrectomy with lymphadenectomy， and other 39 of which were from 10 patients with gastroduodenal ulcer. Made CEA， CK-19， and CK-20 as primers， and used qRT-PCR assay in addition to hematoxylin and eosin staining to detect the micrometastasis， and to analyze the clinicopathologic characteristics.Results Totally， micrometastasis were detected by qRT-PCR assay in 31 (15.34%，31/202) lymph nodes of 28 (70.00%， 28/40) patients. Thirty-nine lymph nodes from 10 patients with gastroduodenal ulcer were negative by qRT-PCR and HE staining. The degree of differentiation， depth of gastric mural invasion， and clinical stage had statistically significant correlation with the incidence of lymph node micrometastasis (P＜0.05). Conclusions qRT-PCR assay is a sensitive and specific method to detect lymph node micrometastasis in gastric cancer patients，and it has importantly clinical significance in evaluating clinical staging，prognosis and treatment prescription.
Objective To further comprehend the definition， molecular mechanism， and clinical significance of perineural invasion （PNI） so as to explore new therapy for the tumors. Methods The literatures about the definition， molecular mechanism， and clinical study of PNI were reviewed and analyzed. Results At present， widely accepted definition of PNI was that at least 33% of the circumference of the nerve should be surrounded by tumor cells or tumor cells within any of three layers of the nerve sheath. The newest theory on molecular mechanism of PNI was that PNI was more like infiltration， invasion， not just diffusion. “Path of low-resistance” and “Reciprocal signaling interactions” were the main theories. More recently， the studies had demonstrated that “Reciprocal signaling interactions” could more clearly explain the mechanism of PNI. Stromal elements， including fibroblasts， seemed to play a key role in the complex signaling interactions driving PNI. Neurotrophins and axonal guidance molecules had been implicated in promoting the progress of PNI. PNI was a prognosis index in the cancers of the head and neck， stomach， pancreas， colon and rectum， and prostate， which was positive indicated that the patients would have a poor prognosis and a low 5-year survival rate. Conclusions The mechanism of PNI is very complex， and its clear mechanism is still undefined. Keeping on researching the mechanism of PNI could provide theoretical foundation to disclose the mechanism and the therapy of PNI.
Objective To explore the risk factors of recurrence and metastasis in patients with Siewert Ⅱ and Ⅲ adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction (AEG) after radical gastrectomy. Methods A retrospective study was conducted to collect the clinical data of 146 patients with type Ⅱ and Ⅲ AEG who underwent radical gastrectomy from January 2010 to January 2013 in the Nanjing First Hospital of Nanjing Medical University. The factors affected the recurrence and metastasis of the patients after the radical gastrectomy were analyzed by the unconditional logistic regression analysis. Results The 146 AEG patients were followed up for 3–84 months, with the median follow-up time of 48 months. During the follow-up period, there were 59 cases suffered from recurrence and metastasis. The recurrence and metastasis time was 1–50 months after radical gastrectomy, with the median time of 17 months after radical gastrectomy. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that, the histological grade (OR=4.478, P=0.015), the number of positive lymph nodes (OR=2.886, P<0.001), and vascular invasion (OR=5.334, P=0.003) were independent risk factors for the recurrence and metastasis of AEG patients after radical gastrectomy. Patients with low tumor histological grade (G3+G4), a large number of positive lymph nodes, and vascular invasion were more likely to have recurrence and metastasis after radical gastrectomy. Conclusions The histological grade of tissue, number of positive lymph nodes, and vascular invasion are important factors in predicting the recurrence and metastasis of Siewert Ⅱ/Ⅲ AEG patients after radical gastrectomy.
ObjectiveTo study the influence of infection in incision of abdominal wall on peritoneal adhesion. MethodsOne hundred and twenty white rats were divided into low, medium, high concentration (LC, MC, HC) groups and control group, 30 rats each, and were made animal models of abdominal incision infection, then were respectively given hypodermic injections in incisional wound of 0.2 ml quantitative mixture of Escherichia coli, staphylococcus aureus and pseudomonas aeruginosa in the concentration of 1×102, 1×105 and 1×108 cfu/ml. While the control group,normal saline was given. All the subjects were killed 8 days after operation and compared the peritoneal adhesion among the four groups.ResultsInfection rate of the incisional wounds was 81.48%, 86.67%, 90.00% and 50.00% respectively in LC, MC, HC and the control, peritoneal adhesion rate was 53.33%, 60.00%, 70.00% and 26.67% respectively. There was significant difference between LC and the control (P＜0.05), between MC or HC and the control (P＜0.01). While no difference was among LC, MC and HC (P＞0.05).Conclusion Infection of incision may increase peritoneal adhesion which might not be closely related to the number of the bacteria. This suggests that the prevention of infection plays an important role in preventing peritoneal adhesion.