Complete remission of primary retroperitoneal transitional cell carcinoma after radiotherapy and oral chemotherapy: a case report.

Primary retroperitoneal transitional cell carcinomas (TCCs) are extremely rare neoplasms for which prognosis is very poor. We present a case that underwent complete remission after radiotherapy and concurrent oral chemotherapy. A 68-year-old woman presented with acute onset of bloody stool. Urgent colonoscopy only detected haemorrhoids. Subsequent abdominal ultrasonography revealed a mass of 7 cm in maximal diameter in the left iliac fossa. Laparotomy disclosed a retroperitoneal mass that could not be dissected and therefore only incision biopsy was performed. After a final diagnosis of primary retroperitoneal TCC, chemotherapy with tegafur-uracil (UFT) was initiated but was not effective. Subsequently, radiotherapy was initiated concurrently with UFT at a total dose of 50 Gy in 25 fractions. At 20 months after radiotherapy, the tumour seemed to have completely remitted. At the last follow-up, ten years from radiotherapy, computed tomography revealed no recurrence. We identified only three single case reports regarding primary retroperitoneal TCC over the last five decades. All patients died from the tumour 8-24 months after diagnosis or treatment. Based on the success of our case, radiotherapy with concurrent oral chemotherapy should be considered as an option for unresected cases.

[CRF-like immunoreactivities in mammalian brains examined with a radioimmunoassay for CRF].

A sensitive and useful radioimmunoassay for CRF was established using synthetic ovine CRF. CRF-like immunoreactivities of hypothalami in the bovine, human, rat, guinea pig, and mouse could be detected with this radioimmunoassay. A variety of CRF-like immunoreactivities of hypothalami in the mammalian brains led us to discuss a putative species difference of amino-acid structure in CRF. In the bovine, CRF-like immunoreactivities of the frontal cortex, caudate nucleus, putamen, and hippocampus could be detected in addition to CRF-like immunoreactivity of hypothalamus. These observations suggested a wide distribution of CRF in the central nervous system, and gave room for discussion about a physiological role of extrahypothalamic CRF. Gel chromatographic studies revealed a high-molecular-weight form of CRF-like immunoreactivity in the bovine frontal cortical profile that was not found in the hypothalamic profile. The results show a multiplicity of CRF-like immunoreactivity in the bovine brain.