The Amount of Fluid Given During Surgery That Leaks Into the Interstitium Correlates With Infused Fluid Volume and Varies Widely Between Patients.

BACKGROUND: The revised Starling law suggests that intravenously infused fluid may leak into the interstitium and not remain in the intravascular space. This hypothesis is supported by clinical findings that postoperative weight gain is proportional to the amount of infused fluid. The distribution of intravenously administered fluid between the interstitium and intravascular space deserves evaluation, as postoperative weight gain because of intraoperative infusion is an important risk factor for postoperative adverse events. We quantitatively estimated fluid movement in patients undergoing orthognathic surgery by performing a volume kinetic study using hemoglobin concentration as a marker of dilution. METHODS: Forty-one patients scheduled to undergo orthognathic surgery were enrolled in this study. The arterial hemoglobin concentration was measured at each procedural step. Acute normovolemic hemodilution was induced by withdrawing 400 mL of blood followed by the infusion of a known amount of hydroxyethyl starch, enabling the initial blood volume to be estimated. The dilution rate of the arterial hemoglobin concentration enabled the volume of fluid in the intravascular space to be quantified. The fluid volume that leaked into the interstitium was then calculated based on the change in the estimated intravascular plasma volume. RESULTS: The blood volume estimated via this method was close to the value derived from a previously published formula. The mean volume of crystalloid infused as a maintenance fluid was 2062 ± 408 mL, ranging from 1220 to 3050 mL. None of the cases required blood product transfusion. The amount of infused fluid that remained intravascular varied widely from 2.0 to 35.7 mL/kg (mean, 12.0 ± 8.2 mL) after surgery, corresponding to 5.3% to 95.7% of the infused volume. The change in intravascular fluid volume during surgery was not strongly correlated with the infusion amount (Pearson correlation analysis: r = -0.05, P = .75, -0.44 < ρ ≤ 0.35, confidence intervals; Spearman correlation analysis: r = -0.14, P = .38, -0.51 < ρ ≤ 0.27). However, the amount of fluid that leaked into the interstitium during surgery did correlate with the infusion amount (Pearson correlation analysis: r = 0.42, P = .01, 0.03 < ρ ≤ 0.70; Spearman correlation analysis: r =0.45, P = .003, 0.07 < ρ ≤ 0.72). CONCLUSIONS: We found that the increase in intravascular fluid volume caused by intravenous fluid administration was not correlated strongly with the volume of infused fluid. Instead, the amount of fluid leakage into the interstitial space depended on the infused fluid volume. This clinical result supports the revised Starling law, which suggests that intravascular fluid may often leak into the interstitium. More work is needed to better understand the factors governing leakage of infused fluid into the interstitial space.

Resistance to paclitaxel therapy is related with Bcl-2 expression through an estrogen receptor mediated pathway in breast cancer.

Taxanes are approved for the treatment of breast cancer that has spread to the lymph nodes, following surgery and doxorubicin containing chemotherapy. Taxanes have improved the survival of breast cancer patients, especially in estrogen receptor (ER) negative population in clinical settings. This time we examined the relationship between chemosensitivity to Taxanes and expresson of ERalpha in breast cancer cell lines. In vitro effects of paclitaxel in 4 ER-positive and 3 ER-negative breast cancer cell lines were investigated by MTT assay. We also investigated members of Bcl-2 family by Western blotting and RT-PCR to clarify their role in paclitaxel resistance both in ER-positive and in ER-negative cells. ER-negative cell lines were more sensitive to paclitaxel than ER-positive cells. ER-negative KPL-4 and ZR-75-30 cells, which were sensitive to paclitaxel, became resistant when they were treated with demethylation agent, 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine. Analysis of proapoptotic (Bax) and antiapoptotic (Bcl-2) molecules suggested that Bcl-2 is likely to have a role in the resistance of ER-positive cells. Bcl-2 expression was increased in a time-dependent manner after treatment of ER-positive cell lines with estrogen (E2). On the other hand, Bcl-2 was not detected in ER-negative cell lines. However, no significant difference was detected for Bax mRNA levels before and after E2 treatment in ER-positive and negative cell lines. Activation of ER gene expression in ER-negative KPL-4 cells by 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine resulted in up-regulation of Bcl-2 mRNA. To support our data, we examined paclitaxel sensitivity in ER-negative MDA-MB-231 and ER stable transfectant cells S30 and JM6. This experiment also showed ER-negative cells were sensitive to paclitaxel but ER-positive cells were resistant to it. These results suggest that ER influenced chemosensitivity to paclitaxel through regulation of Bcl-2 family and regulation of the pathway may be crucial to increase the efficacy of taxanes in ER-positive breast cancer.

[A case of advanced gastric cancer successfully treated by S-1 based chemotherapy].

A 57-year-old patient presented with a loss of appetite and vomiting. Gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed advanced gastric cancer with pyloric stenosis, and CT scan showed multiple liver metastases and paraaortic lymph node metastases. A gastrojejunostomy was performed because of invasion of the pancreas. After 5 courses of S-1 plus cisplatin, both the primary lesion and the paraaortic lymph nodes were reduced in size, and the liver metastases disappeared. Subsequently, a distal gastrectomy was performed. No recurrence was seen for sixteen months from treatment with the oral anticancer drug S-1. At 16 months after second surgery, progression of paraaortic lymph nodes was recognized again, and S-1 plus paclitaxel was administered. After 7 courses of S-1 plus paclitaxel, paraaortic lymph nodes became undetectable. This report describes a case of unresectable advanced gastric cancer treated by S-1 based chemotherapy and surgical method, which resulted in long survival and improvement in quality of life.

COX-2 induction by heparanase in the progression of breast cancer.

Breast cancer confined within the lactiferous duct or lobule, without invading the stroma, is called ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS), whereas breast cancer that has invaded the stroma through the basal membrane is called invasive cancer. Heparanase, an endo-beta-D-glucuronidase that specifically degrades heparan sulfate proteoglycans (HSPGs) in the extracellular matrix (ECM), plays an important role when breast cancer cells breach the basal membrane. Recently, we have reported that heparanase is involved in angiogenesis through direct induction of cyclo-oxygenase-2 (COX-2). COX-2 induces vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) and is thus involved in neovascularization. The present study was undertaken to analyze surgically resected breast cancer specimens for heparanase and COX-2 expression, using specimens from 59 patients with invasive cancer and 85 patients with DCIS (including 41 cases of DCIS adjacent to invasive cancer). This study yielded the following results: a) the distribution of heparanase within tumor tissue was identical to that of COX-2; b) heparanase expression was more frequent in invasive cancer than in non-invasive cancer; c) a close positive correlation was noted between heparanase and COX-2 expression (this correlation was particularly strong in cases of invasive cancer); and d) COX-2 expression was always seen in cases positive for heparanase expression. Our results indicate that heparanase expression increases during the progression of breast cancer into invasive cancer, and that this change is accompanied by increased COX-2 expression. They also suggest that heparanase may play a novel role for COX-2 mediated tumor angiogenesis in breast-cancer progression.

Emergence of nuclear heparanase induces differentiation of human mammary cancer cells.

The study of epithelial differentiation touches upon many modern aspects of biology. The epithelium is in constant dialogue with the underlying mesenchyme to control stem cell activity, proliferation in transit-amplifying compartments, lineage commitment, terminal differentiation and, ultimately, cell death. There are spatially distinct compartments dedicated to each of these events. Recently we reported that heparanase is expressed in nucleus as well as in the cytoplasm and that nuclear heparanase seems to be related to cell differentiation. In this study, we investigated the role of nuclear heparanase in differentiation by transducing human mammary epithelial cancer cells with heparanase which was delivered specifically into nucleus. We observed that expression of nuclear heparanase allowed the cells to differentiate with the appearance of lipid droplets. This finding supports the idea that heparanase plays a novel role in epithelial cell differentiation apart from its known enzymatic function.

Molecular mechanism of chemoresistance to cisplatin in ovarian cancer cell lines.

It is important to clarify the mechanism of resistance to cisplatin for the treatment of solid tumors. We have examined the expression of apoptosis-related proteins, Bax and Bcl-2, in ovarian cancer cells. We used the cell line 2008 and its cisplatin resistant subclone 2008 C-13. The percentage of 2008 cells showing apoptosis was significantly higher following cisplatin treatment as compared to untreated controls. 2008 C-13 cells showing apoptosis did not differ between the cisplatin-treated group and the untreated group. The expression of mRNA and protein of Bax in the two cell lines were not altered by treatment with cisplatin. Although the expression of mRNA and protein of Bcl-2 decreased in 2008 cells after treatment with cisplatin, the expression of Bcl-2 remained unchanged in 2008 C-13 cells. Our results indicate that the down-regulation of Bcl-2 plays an important role in the mechanisms of tumor resistance to anticancer drugs.

Immature teratoma of the ovary with a minor rhabdomyosarcomatous component and fatal rhabdomyosarcomatous metastases: the first case in a child.

A case of ovarian immature teratoma with rhabdomyosarcomatous recurrence in a 6-year-old girl is described. The primary tumor consisted of a dermoid cyst and a solid nodule composed of mature and immature mesenchymal tissue. The most immature mesenchymal cells showed no distinctive differentiation except for focal rhabdomyoblastic differentiation. The primary tumor was diagnosed as immature teratoma, grade 2, stage IIa. Despite left oophorectomy and excision of uterine serosal implants, chemotherapy, and radiation, four intrapelvic recurrences developed within 3 years. Although the primary tumor contained only a few rhabdomyoblasts, the recurrent tumors became increasingly rhabdomyosarcomatous. The patient died of systemic disease 3 years after presentation. This case and previous reports indicate that the prognosis of patients with ovarian immature teratoma with rhabdomyosarcomatous recurrence is poor and similar to that of primary ovarian rhabdomyosarcoma.