Hepatic encephalopathy due to intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt successfully treated by balloon occluded retrograde transvenous embolization with GDCs.

We report a 65-year-old man with hepatic encephalopathy due to an intrahepatic portosystemic venous shunt that was successfully occluded by balloon occluded retrograde transvenous embolization with Guglielmi and interlocking detachable coils as performed percutaneously.

[Long-term survival of patient with gastric cancer treated by S-1 + paclitaxel combination chemotherapy against multiple liver metastases after gastrectomy and adrenalectomy].

The patient was a 74-year-old man whose chief complaint was epigastralgia. A detailed examination revealed a gastric cancer located from antrum to duodenal bulb with multiple liver metastases. Because of a difficulty with oral intake, we performed a distal gastrectomy at first. After the operation, a combination chemotherapy with S-1 and weekly paclitaxel was performed, and liver metastases were successfully disappeared after 4 courses of the regimen. A subsequent CT evaluation after 6 courses of the regimen revealed that liver metastases maintained the clinical complete response (cCR), but a right adrenal tumor was detected. We performed a right adrenalectomy after 13 months from gastrectomy, and a histopathological examination revealed that the adrenal tumor was a recurrent gastric cancer. After the second operation, only one course treatment of S-1 alone was performed because the patient rejected the chemotherapy. The patient is alive without a chemotherapy and maintained cCR for 75 months after the second operation.

[Two cases of advanced rectal cancer resected successfully after neoadjuvant chemotherapy with FOLFOX regimen].

We describe here two cases of locally advanced rectal cancer treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy prior to surgery. The first patient was a 54-year-old man whose chief complaint was bloody stool. A detailed examination revealed a rectal cancer with direct invasion of the primary rectal carcinoma into the prostate. Four courses of FOLFOX4 were administered as neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Because the invasion to the prostate was difficult to determine by subsequent CT evaluation, we performed a radical resection. The pathological examination revealed that all surgical margins were negative for malignancy and no metastasis to lymph nodes was found, therefore a surgical evaluation of curability was classified as A. The second patient was a 49-year-old woman whose chief complaint was irregular menstruation. A detailed examination revealed a rectal cancer with metastasis to an ovary and paraaortic lymph node. One course of FOLFOX4 and six courses of mFOLFOX6 (combined with bevacizumab in the first five courses) were administered as neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Subsequent examinations revealed significantly reduced primary tumor and the size of metastatic lesion. Given that metastasis to the paraaortic lymph node was difficult to determine, we performed a radical resection. The pathological examination revealed that all surgical margins were negative for malignancy, and the postoperative FDG-PET evaluation did not find FDG accumulation to paraaortic lymph node. We determined that there was no residual cancer and evaluated the surgery as curability B. We conclude that neoadjuvant chemotherapy against locally advanced rectal cancer may improve the curability of the surgery and save the surrounding organs.

Survival and clinical evaluation of salvage operation for cervical lymph node recurrence in esophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Although extended lymphadenectomy for thoracic esophageal cancer is widely practiced in Japan, solitary supraclavicular lymph node recurrence (SCLR) has often become a problem. This study was designed to evaluate the survival and clinical benefit of salvage cervical lymphadenectomy. METHODOLOGY: Between 1989 and 2001, 153 patients underwent esophagectomy for esophageal cancers. SCLR was identified in 5 (3.7%) patients and these five patients were examined retrospectively. RESULTS: Surgical treatment was performed intensively for all patients. Two patients showed longterm survival for 7 years 3 months and 4 years, respectively. Four patients belonged to the good prognostic group but the other patient had poor prognosis from the viewpoint of both the pathological metastatic lymph node number and disease-free interval (DFI). There were no local recurrences but were a recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy in three patients associated with treatment. CONCLUSIONS: Salvage cervical lymphadenectomy for SCLR should be performed positively by selecting each case carefully. Indication must be weighed against increased morbidity considering such indicators as the extent of metastatic lymph node numbers and DFI.