Primary angiosarcoma of the colon.

Angiosarcoma of gastrointestinal tract is extremely rare. Since 1948, we can find only six reported cases of primary colonic angiosarcoma. The review of the six reported cases and a report on the first colonic angiosarcoma to be seen in an adolescent male are presented. The treatment of the colon angiosarcoma is wide surgical excision. The prognosis is poor. Our case is the second one to be alive, more than 18 months after surgery, with no evidence of recurrent disease.

[Surgical management of retrorectal tumors]. / Prise en charge chirurgicale des tumeurs rétrorectales.

Retrorectal tumors (RRT) constitute an anatomical grouping of various tumors of different nature, both benign and malignant. The diversity of their presentation, surgical management, and prognosis are illustrated by five clinical cases. A simple categorization would distinguish vestigial tumors (whether cystic or solid), congenital nonvestigial tumors such as chordoma, and tumors of neural or bony origin. Imaging by CT scan and by MRI will usually determine the nature of the tumor and its relationship to the surrounding anatomical structures. The principle of treatment is complete removal with free margins. The surgical approach may be posterior, anterior or combined depending on the nature and the size of the lesion and on how high it is situated relative to the second sacral vertebra. Complete resection may be both difficult and bloody. Sacral segments may need to be resected either for reasons of surgical approach or to obtain clear margins. Rectal resection is rarely necessary. The prognosis of these lesions depends on the nature of the tumor and particularly on the quality and completeness of the resection.

Cavitated tumor as a clinical subentity in squamous cell lung cancer patients.

Cavity in lung cancer patients is usually attributed to worse prognosis, which could be caused by diagnostic difficulties and late surgery. The aim of this study is to identify cavity as clinical subentity in squamous cell lung cancer (SqCLC) patients. 1094 patients with I0 - III0 of SqCLC underwent surgery with the purpose of radical lobectomy or pneumonectomy. The patients were divided into two groups: 100 patients with cavity (cSqCLC) and 994 with solid tumor (sSqCLC). The clinical, histological and prognostic features were compared for the both groups. The Cox multivariate analysis of the prognostic factors was performed. The survival curves for both groups were compared. cSqCLC patients showed lower body mass and more frequent hemoptoe. They had larger tumors, located peripherically, rarer nodal involvement and atelectasis. Despite the similar cancer stage and the exploratory thoracotomies ratio, cSqCLC patients lived shorter. The survival curves for both groups were different: in all population, for patients after radical surgery and even after exploratory thoracotomy. We conclude that the cavitation in SqCLC patients can be regarded as a separate subentity related to worse prognosis.