Immunohistochemistry analysis of micrometastasis in pretreatment lymph nodes from patients with esophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND: With recent advances in neoadjuvant therapy in esophageal cancer, pretreatment lymph node staging has become increasingly important in stratifying patients to appropriate treatment regimens and for prognostication. Immunohistochemical analysis (IHC) using epithelial markers has been shown to identify micrometastases in histologically negative lymph nodes. We performed this study to evaluate if IHC analysis in thoracoscopic/laparoscopic (Ts/Ls) pretreatment staging lymph nodes can reveal additional diagnostic information to routine histopathology. METHODS: Specimens of 106 patients with esophageal cancer who had pretreatment Ts/Ls staging were retrospectively studied. Lymph node biopsies were obtained for IHC staining using cytokeratin (CK) of AE1/AE3. IHC staining for p53, an apoptosis protein associated with poor prognosis in esophageal cancer, was also performed. RESULTS: 331 Ts/Ls staging lymph node biopsies were collected from 106 patients. A total of 15.4% (51/331) of the lymph nodes or 34.9% (37/106) of patients were found to have metastatic deposits by routine histology. All the histologically positive lymph nodes were CK positive. Among the remaining 280 histologically negative lymph nodes, 11(3.9%) were found to have micrometastasis by CK staining. Three patients (4.3%, 3/69) were upstaged from N0 to N1. They died of early recurrences after treatment. A total of 67.6% (25/37) of the patients with histologically positive lymph node were p53 positive. No histologically negative lymph node was found to be p53 positive in this series. CONCLUSIONS: Immunohistochemical analysis for CK can detect micrometastatic involvement of lymph nodes that are missed on routine pathologic examination, and, therefore, can improve lymph node staging. Its clinical significance in esophageal cancer warrants further study.

Thoracoscopic approach for spine deformities.

BACKGROUND: We reviewed our experience using anterior thoracoscopic procedures in the correction of severe idiopathic scoliosis and kyphotic deformities to evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of such procedures. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty-four patients who underwent thoracoscopic surgical correction of the spine between March 1995 and December 2001 were retrospectively reviewed. A team consisting of one orthopaedic surgeon and one thoracic surgeon performed anterior thoracoscopic soft tissue release, disc excision, and bone grafting followed on the same day with posterior instrumentation and correction of deformity. RESULTS: There were 16 female and 8 male patients, with a median age of 16 years (range 11 to 47 years) with idiopathic scoliosis (20 patients) or kyphotic deformity (4 patients). The average time for the thoracoscopy was 125 minutes (range 60 to 175 minutes). Blood loss averaged 135 mL (range 20 to 350 mL), and a median number of five discs (range two to eight) were excised. The median ICU time was 2 days (range 1 to 8 days), and the median length of hospital stay was 6 days (range 4 to 11 days). One patient required conversion to an open procedure because of arterial bleeding from the cancellous bone (T5). Postoperative complications occurred in four patients (atelectasis, pneumothorax, pneumonia, and wound infection in one patient each). All patients had an uneventful hospital course after treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Thoracoscopic anterior procedures can be used safely and effectively in the treatment of idiopathic scoliosis and kyphotic deformity. This minimally invasive approach might decrease procedure-related trauma, operative time, blood loss, and length of hospitalization and may also alleviate postthoracotomy pain.

Thoracoscopic and laparoscopic lymph node staging in esophageal cancer: do clinicopathological factors affect the outcome?

BACKGROUND: This study was performed to evaluate the pattern of lymphatic metastases found by combined thoracoscopic (TS) and laparoscopic (LS) lymph node staging in esophageal cancer, and ascertain whether clinicopathologic factors may be used to guide the clinical practice of combined TS and LS staging. METHODS: A retrospective study was performed in a series of 76 esophageal cancer patients who had undergone both TS and LS staging before treatment. The correlation of TS and LS lymph node metastases with clinicopathologic factors was analyzed, including the clinical T stage, clinical N stage, tumor location, and histology. RESULTS: Thirty-one patients (40.8%) were found to have lymphatic metastasis by TS and LS staging. Among them, 22 patients had abdominal lymph node metastases, 7 patients had mediastinal lymph node metastases, and 2 patients had both. Patients with advanced T stage (T3 to T4) or adenocarcinoma had a higher frequency of abdominal lymphatic metastases than patients with early T stage (T1 to T2) (39% vs 16%; p = 0.04) or squamous cell carcinoma (39% vs 20%; p = 0.079), respectively. Patients with clinical abdominal N1 stage had a higher incidence of positive laparoscopic finding than patients with clinical abdominal N0 stage (67% vs 23%; p = 0.001). There was no significant correlation between lymphatic metastases and the location of the primary tumor. CONCLUSIONS: Clinicopathologic factors, including the histologic type, the clinical T stage, and abdominal N stage, may affect the outcome of TS and LS lymph node staging in esophageal cancer patients. This clinicopathologic impact may play a role for the selection of candidates for TS and LS staging, and also allows surgeons to focus their attention on the most likely high-yield biopsy targets.