Epidemiology of the sarcomas of the jaws in a Peruvian population.

OBJECTIVE: Analysis of the clinical characteristics of patients with Sarcomas of the Jaws treated in the "Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas. Dr. Eduardo Caceres Graziani" from 1952-2007. STUDY DESIGN: Review of 155 clinical records of patients with Sarcomas of the Jaws and record of age, gender, size, location, clinical symptoms and signs, histopathological diagnoses and type of treatment. The data obtained were analyzed by means of Student's statistical t-test, Fisher and Friedman's test. RESULTS: Analysis of 155 Sarcomas of the Jaws. The average age of patients was 36.8 years old (range: 1-80 years); the female gender was the most frequent (52.9%); the average tumor size was 5.5 cm; in upper jaw 54.84% occurred and 45.16% in the lower jaw; the predominant sign was facial asymmetry (87.74%) and the predominant symptom: pain (63.23%). The most frequent diagnosis was Osteosarcoma 50.3% followed by Chondrosarcoma 18%. Surgery plus radiation therapy was the treatment type of choice with 21.94% of cases. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrate the delayed diagnosis and facial asymmetry and pain appear as the most important events for the diagnosis of Sarcomas of the Jaws.

Malignant melanoma of the oral cavity. Review of the literature and experience in a Peruvian Population.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the epidemiological profile of malignant melanoma cases treated at the National Institute for Neoplastic Diseases "Dr. Eduardo Caceres Graziani" (INEN) over the period 1952 to 2008. STUDY DESIGN: All clinical records with complete data of patients presenting a histopathological diagnosis of malignant melanoma of the oral cavity were reviewed. Data such as age, gender, location, tumor size, disease length, presence of metastasis, treatment received and year of admission were recorded. RESULTS: During the study period 97 cases were found. The average age of patients was 52.85±1.6 years old mostly between 50 and 59 years old; the predominant gender was the female. The most common location was the palate and there was 58.8% of cases with a tumor size bigger than or equal to 4 cm. The length of the disease in 38.1% of the cases was longer than a year and in great part of the cases (69.1%) there was no metastasis. The treatment of choice was the surgery plus radiotherapy in 38.1% of the cases. According to the admission date it was also noted that the number of cases is increasing. CONCLUSION: The results of this study demonstrate a late diagnosis and an increasing frequency of this neoplasia in the oral cavity.

Clinically important molecular features of Peruvian colorectal tumours: high prevalence of DNA mismatch repair deficiency and low incidence of KRAS mutations.

BACKGROUND: The incidence of colorectal cancer (CRC) in Peru has been increasing, and no data have been published on the molecular features. We explored the most relevant genetic events involved in colorectal carcinogenesis, with clinical implications. METHODS: Using immunohistochemistry for mismatch-repair (MMR) proteins (MLH1, MSH2, MSH6, and PMS2) and microsatellite instability analysis, we evaluated the status of 90 non-selected CRC Peruvian patients followed in a nationwide reference hospital for cancer (INEN, Lima). Tumours with loss of hMLH1 were evaluated further for hMLH1 promoter hypermethylation and all cases were evaluated for the presence of KRAS and BRAF-V600E mutations. RESULTS: MMR deficiency was found in 35 (38.8%) patients. We identified an unexpected association between MMR deficiency and older age. Among the 14 cases with loss of MLH1, 10 samples exhibited hypermethylation. Of the 90 cases evaluated, 15 (16.7%) carried KRAS mutations; we found one previously unreported mutation (G13R). CONCLUSIONS: Peruvian CRC tumours exhibited the highest prevalence of MMR deficiency reported to date. The expected hereditary component was also high. The age of onset of these MMR deficient tumours was greater than that observed for non-MMR deficient cases, suggesting the ineffectiveness of the Bethesda criteria for Lynch syndrome screening in Peru. Prospective studies are warranted to define the molecular characteristics of CRC in this population.

Autofluorescent chalcedony in human brains from elderly patients.

Chalcedony, a microcrystalline form of silica (SiO(2)), has been found in the human brains of elderly patients by using a standard optical petrographic microscope. We document here our visualization of chalcedony using a Leica TCS - SP2 confocal laser scanning microscope. Sections of human brain were collected after autopsy from elderly patients. The autofluorescent character of chalcedony allowed us to obtain three-dimensional images of the crystals and mature prismatic quartz (chalcedony) was observed. Chalcedony occurred as rhombohedral (trigonal) crystals approximately 30 microm in size distributed in patches or aggregates. A less mature silica polymorph of about 1- 2 microm in size was detected near the crystals. This is the first time that biogenically-produced crystalline mineral as autofluorescent crystal aggregates has been observed in the human central nervous system of elderly patients using confocal laser scanning microscopy.

[Intestinal metaplasia in the esophageal-gastric junction, frequency and correlations]. / Metaplasia intestinal en la unión esófago-gástrica, frecuencia y correlaciones.

UNLABELLED: The incidence of adenocarcinoma around the esophagogastric junction is increasing. The significance of intestinal metaplasia found in biopsy taken from normal appearing squamocolumnar junction is not clear. The aim of this study was to define the frequency of intestinal metaplasia at normal-appearing esophagogastric junction and clinical, endoscopic and histological associations. METHODS: 239 patients referred for gastroscopy participated in the study. Of 192 patients, two groups were compared. Group I included 40 patients with metaplasia intestinal at the esophagogastric junction and group II included 152 patients with no metaplasia intestinal at the same location. Biopsy specimens were taken from above and below the squamocolumnar junction, and gastric antrum The biopsy specimens were stained with haematoxylin-eosin. RESULTS: Intestinal metaplasia at the squamocolumnar junction was found in 40 patients (21%). Metaplasia was associated with increasing age (p=0.002) and antral intestinal metaplasia (p<0.001)(OR 14.6). There was no association with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. CONCLUSION: Intestinal metaplasia at the esophagogastric junction occurs frequently in Peruvian patients. It is associated with increasing age and antral intestinal metaplasia but not gastro-esophageal reflux disease.

Gastric lymphomas: chemotherapy as a primary treatment.

Twenty-one of 65 patients with gastric lymphoma have been treated with combination chemotherapy; 17 patients had chemotherapy as primary treatment, and 4 had it for residual disease after incomplete surgical resection. Three of these patients were in stage III and 18 were in stage IV of the disease, according to the TNM Staging Classification. CHOP-Bleo or CHOP combination was given to 17 patients, and the COPP-Bleo regimen to three; the last one was treated with COP. Sixteen of the 18 stage IV patients entered into complete remission after 6 to 10 courses of CHOP or COPP-Bleo; there was one partial response and one failure. Six complete responders had a surgical restaging performed and none of them had gross evidence of residual disease; all of them had partial gastrectomy and in five cases there was no microscopical evidence of disease; in one of the resected stomachs, a focus of residual disease was discovered involving the submucosa but without compromise of the serosa. Fourteen (77.7%) of these patients are alive with no evidence of disease 1-10 (X = 3.8 years); one patient died with recurrent disease at 30 months; another patient died of other causes after 3 years; one patient is alive with disease at 18+ months. All the remaining 16 stage IV patients who were not given chemotherapy have died, median survival time being 5 months.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)