Surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer: role of peritoneal carcinomatosis: exploratory analysis of the DESKTOP I Trial about risk factors, surgical implications, and prognostic value of peritoneal carcinomatosis.

BACKGROUND: Almost all retrospective trials pointed out that a benefit of surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer may be limited to patients in whom a macroscopic complete resection could be achieved. Peritoneal carcinomatosis has been reported to be either a negative predictor for resectability or a negative prognostic factor, or both. The role of peritoneal carcinomatosis in a multicenter trial was investigated. METHODS: Exploratory analysis of the DESKTOP I trial (multicenter trial of patients undergoing surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer, 2000 to 2003). RESULTS: A total of 125 patients (50%) who underwent surgery for recurrent ovarian cancer had peritoneal carcinomatosis. Univariate analyses showed worse overall survival for patients with peritoneal carcinomatosis compared with patients without carcinomatosis (P < .0001). Patients with and without peritoneal carcinomatosis had a complete resection rate of 26% and 74%, respectively (P < .0001). This corresponded with the observation that patients with complete resection had a better prognosis than those with minimal residual disease of 1 to 5 mm, which commonly reflects peritoneal carcinomatosis (P = .0002). However, patients who underwent complete resection, despite peritoneal carcinomatosis, had a 2-year survival rate of 77%, which was similar to the 2-year survival rate of patients with completely debulked disease who did not have peritoneal carcinomatosis (81%) (P = .96). Analysis of prognostic factors did not show any independent effect of peritoneal carcinomatosis on survival in patients who underwent complete resection. CONCLUSIONS: Peritoneal carcinomatosis was a negative predictor for complete resection but had no effect on prognosis if complete resection could be achieved. Improving surgical skills might be one step to increase the proportion of patients who might benefit from surgery for recurrent disease.

The role of surgery in recurrent ovarian cancer.

The role of cytoreductive surgery (CS) in recurrent ovarian cancer (ROC) has not been clearly defined. We performed a retrospective study evaluating criteria for CS in ROC. Twenty-five institutions documented their patients with CS for invasive epithelial ROC performed 2000-2003. Two hundred sixty-seven patients were included. Complete tumor removal was achieved in 133 patients (50%). Complete resection was associated with prolonged survival compared to surgeries with residual tumor. Median survival of patients without residual tumor was 45.3 months and of patients with residual tumor, irrespective of its size, 19.0 months (HR 4.33; 95% CI 2.53-7.43; P < 0.0001). In a multivariate analysis, the following factors showed a significant influence on the probability to achieve a postoperative residual tumor of 0 mm: absence of ascites (<500 vs > or =500 mL: HR 4.63; 95% CI: 1.81-11.76; P= 0.0001), good performance status Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) 0 vs >0: HR: 2.41; 95% CI: 1.41-4.08; P= 0.001, and low FIGO stage at primary diagnosis (FIGO I/II vs III/IV: HR 1.87; 95% CI: 1.04-3.37; P= 0.036). Significant factors for survival after surgery for recurrence in a multivariate analysis were achievement of complete resection (residual tumor at surgery for recurrence 0 vs >0 mm: HR 2.86; 95% CI: 1.66-4.93; P < 0.001), absence of ascites (<500 vs > or =500 mL: HR 2.09; 95% CI: 1.18-3.71; P= 0.012), and application of a platinum-containing chemotherapy (platinum-containing chemotherapy vs others: HR 1.83; 95% CI: 1.16-2.88; P= 0.009). Only patients with complete resection seem to benefit from CS. This new panel of selection criteria will be evaluated in a prospective study.

[Post-traumatic dissection of the abdominal aorta]. / Die posttraumatische abdominelle Aortendissektion.

Dissections due to deceleration trauma are rarely limited to the infradiaphragmal aorta (only 2-3%) and are usually lethal. Here we report the unusual course of an abdominal aortic dissection with aneurysmatic enlargement of the false lumen. Based on diagnostic imaging, a therapeutic stent application was planned in order to close the entry and to prevent rupture. During the intervention sondation of the false lumen revealed that the left renal artery had a reentry. Due to the complexity of the entry-reentry situation of the left renal artery the intervention was not possible, and the patient had to undergo vascular surgery.

[MRI in chronic inflammatory bowel disease]. / MRT chronisch entzündlicher Darmerkrankungen.

Chronic inflammatory bowel disease is diagnosed and monitored by the combination of colonoscopy and small bowel enteroklysis. Magnetic resonance imaging has become the gold standard for the imaging of perirectal and pelvic fistulas. With the advent of ultrafast MRI small and large bowel imaging has become highly attractive and is being advocated more and more in the diagnostic work up of inflammatory bowel disease. Imaging protocols include fast T1-weighted gradient echo and T2-weighted TSE sequences and oral or rectal bowel distension. Furthermore, dedicated imaging protocols are based on breath-hold imaging under pharmacological bowel paralysis and gastrointestinal MR contrast agents (Hydro-MRI). High diagnostic accuracy can be achieved in Crohn's disease with special reference to the pattern of disease, depth of inflammation, mesenteric reaction, sinus tract depiction and formation of abscess. In ulcerative colitis, the mucosa-related inflammation causes significantly less bowel wall thickening compared to Crohn's disease. Therefore with MRI, the extent of inflammatory changes is always underestimated compared to colonoscopy. According to our experience in more than 200 patients as well as the results in other centers, Hydro-MRI possesses the potential to replace enteroklysis in the diagnosis of chronic inflammatory bowel disease and most of the follow-up colonoscopies in Crohn's disease. Further technical improvements in 3D imaging will allow interactive postprocessing of the MR data.

Structural studies of histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein from Enterococcus faecalis.

Based on the complete sequential assignment of the 1H-NMR spectrum by multidimensional NMR techniques the secondary structure and the local geometry of the active site of histidine-containing phosphocarrier protein (HPr) from Enterococcus faecalis were elucidated. We present a comparative analysis of the active site in the seven known structures of HPr from different organisms determined by NMR or X-ray crystallography. In catalysis, HPr is phosphorylated at the ring N61 of His15. No general agreement exists in literature regarding the structure of the active-centre loop. In the crystal structure of HPr from E. faecalis, a torsion strain of the backbone at position 16 was observed, which was assumed to be important to the catalytic mechanism. Coupling constants were determined in order to calculate phi angles to establish whether there are strained torsion angles in HPr from E. faecalis in the solution state. The evaluation of data obtained indicate a stable and well-defined structure of HPr from E. faecalis, with an overall fold similar to that found in HPr from other bacteria. We find that in the active-site region there are relatively large variations in local geometry between the evaluated structures. In HPr from E. faecalis, a particularly detailed view of the phosphate-binding His15 and residues in close spatial proximity was obtained by determination of coupling constants obtained from the double-quantum-filtered COSY spectrum. Our data indicate that in aqueous solution, in the dominant conformational state there is no torsion strain of the backbone at position 16, as observed in the crystal state. The maximum population of a strained conformation in solution can be estimated to be smaller than 23%. The analysis of the data suggests that the active-centre loop is able to adopt different conformations in solution. A similar observation was made for HPr from E. faecalis phosphorylated at its regulatory site (Ser46). 31P-NMR shows that phosphorylated HPr exists in two conformational substates with nearly equal populations.