Abdominal wound dehiscence in patients receiving long-term steroid treatment.

Steroids inhibit primary wound healing and delay the formation of granulation tissue, but it has been controversial whether long-term steroid treatment by itself increases the risk of abdominal wound dehiscence. The aim of this study was to determine whether the pre-operative dose and post-operative total dose of steroids influence abdominal wound dehiscence. Of 28 patients who had surgery while receiving long-term steroid treatment, seven had abdominal wound dehiscence and 21 did not have dehiscence. The two groups differed significantly in the post-operative dose of steroids (404.3 +/- 147.1 and 135.6 +/- 118.7 mg, respectively) and the duration of wound healing (57.3 +/- 18.0 and 12.4 +/- 3.8 days), but no other differences were found. Abdominal wound dehiscence may be influenced by the post-operative rather than the pre-operative steroid dose.

Reduced low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol causing low serum cholesterol levels in gastrointestinal cancer: a case control study.

Several epidemiological studies suggested an inverse relation between serum cholesterol level and cancer mortality. We analyzed the relation between gastrointestinal cancers and serum cholesterol levels. A total of 631 patients were recruited as cancer-bearing cases, comprising 181 esophageal cancers, 251 gastric cancers and 199 colorectal cancers. A case-control analysis was conducted on the serum TC, HDL-C, LDL-C and TG levels. TC and LDL-C were significantly lower in cancer-bearers by approximately 15 mg/dl. Furthermore, analyses by cancer site also showed significantly lower TC and LDL-C levels in cancer-bearers than in controls for all three sites. In this analysis, early stage cancer-bearers showed a significant decrease in TC levels by approximately 11 mg/dl compared with controls, and also a similar decrease in LDL-C levels. These results suggest that low TC levels are not related to cancer stage. Furthermore, findings of no significant differences in HDL-C and TG between cancer-bearing cases and controls in addition to a specific decrease in LDL-C in cancer-bearers suggest that hypocholesterolemia observed in these cases stems from low LDL-C. However, cancer-bearers and controls showed a similar distribution of TC and LDL-C levels. We should be aware that latent cancer bearers may be present among subjects with hypocholesterolemia.

Comparison of stent placement and colostomy as palliative treatment for inoperable malignant colorectal obstruction.

BACKGROUND: Stent placement is a useful palliative treatment for inoperable acute malignant colorectal obstruction. However, data comparing stent placement with colostomy are scarce. METHODS: We compared the clinical outcome of 18 patients who had stent placement and 17 patients who underwent only colostomy. RESULTS: The postoperative hospital stay was 22.3 days for stent placement compared with 47.4 days for colostomy (p = 0.016). The duration to readmission was 129.2 days for stent placement and 188.4 days for colostomy. The estimated duration of primary stent patency was 106 days. Mean survival period was 134 days in patients with stent placement and 191 days in patients with colostomy. CONCLUSION: Postoperative hospital stay was shorter in patients with stent placement but duration to readmission and survival were longer in patients with colostomy. However, stent placement increases the option of palliative treatment and is an effective treatment contributing to improving quality of life.

Intratumoural thymidylate synthase and dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase activities are good predictors of 5-fluorouracil sensitivity in colorectal cancer.

To identify factors that influence the clinical response to 5-fluorouracil (5-FU), we studied the correlation between in vitro sensitivity to 5-FU and the expression of seven biological markers. The markers, thymidylate synthase (TS), dihydropyrimidine dehydrogenase (DPD), pyrimidine nucleoside phosphorylase, p53 (wild/mutant), p21, cyclo-oxygenase-2, and inducible nitric oxide synthase were measured in tumour tissues from 32 colorectal cancer patients. The activities of TS and DPD were significantly lower in the tumours sensitive to 5-FU compared with those that were not sensitive to 5-FU. In tumours with TS < 3.7 pmol/min per mg protein and DPD < 98 pmol/min per mg protein, the percentage of cases sensitive to 5-FU (67%) and the mean percentage inhibition of tumour cells by 5-FU (42.8%) were significantly higher than in the other tumours (0% and 13.1%, respectively). The other biological markers did not correlate with in vitro sensitivity to 5-FU. Tumour sensitivity to 5-FU can be more precisely predicted by taking the activities of both TS and DPD into consideration than by using either alone.

[Percutaneous renal cyst puncture and ethanol instillation].

Under ultrasound guidance 79 simple renal cysts in 65 patients were punctured and aspirated with our contrivance, a 5 Fr single J catheter on a 19 gauge needle. Forty-eight renal cysts were successfully punctured, that is, they had no bloody fluid and did not have any leakage of contrast medium. These cysts were instilled with absolute ethanol for 5 minutes. To follow up the patients, consecutive observation was done by sonography or CT every three months. Ethanol-instilled renal cysts were more markedly reduced (reduction rate: 93 +/- 17%) than not-instilled cysts (reduction rate: 32 +/- 28%). Thus, ethanol-instillation was useful in the reduction of renal cysts. After the puncture of cysts, hematuria disappeared in most patients.