Application of ultrasonography for blunt laryngo-cervical-tracheal injury.

BACKGROUND: Bronchoscopy has been the gold standard for diagnosing blunt laryngo-cervical-tracheal injury (BLCTI); however, BLCTI is often undetected. Ultrasonography (US) is an indispensable tool in the field of critical care and traumatology, but has not been considered useful for evaluation of the airway. The aim of this study was to determine the usefulness of US in the diagnosis of BLCTI. METHODS: To determine the detectability of BLCTI by US, we use a model of cylindrical plastic with a protruding mass made of paste. The model was placed in a water bath and US (3.5-MHz probe) was used to try to detect the mass. RESULTS: We could detect the existence of the mass as a high echoic mass with strongly high echoic tail. We used four patients with BLCTIs whose sites of injury were confirmed by computed tomography (CT) and bronchoscopy. We evaluated the larynx and the cervical trachea as their outline of air in the cranial section near the sternal notch using a 3.5-MHz convex probe. The following US findings were compared with CT and bronchoscopic images as specific findings of BLCTI: discontinuity of the laryngo-cervical-tracheal wall and an abnormal mass protruding into the laryngo-cervical-tracheal lumen. Specific findings of BLCTI were detected in three of the four patients, whose sites of injury were the anterior or lateral side of the larynx or the cervical trachea. The site of injury of the remaining patient, where we detected no specific BLCTI findings, was the posterior wall of the larynx. CONCLUSIONS: US is useful for the diagnosis of BLCTI because it is capable of presenting specific images showing BLCTI features such as discontinuity of the laryngo-cervical-tracheal wall and abnormal masses protruding into the lumen; not only as a single diagnostic tool but one tool with many uses.

Overexpression of the Wilms' tumor gene WT1 in esophageal cancer.

BACKGROUND: The Wilms' tumor gene WT1 is overexpressed in various kinds of solid cancers. However, it remains unclear whether WT1 is expressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Expression of the WT1 gene was examined by real-time RT-PCR in 12 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) and by immunohistochemistry in 9 of these 12 and another 29. RESULTS: Real-time RT-PCR showed that the WT1 mRNA was overexpressed in all of the 12 ESCC examined Immunohistochemical analysis showed that the WT1 protein was overexpressed in ESCC cells in 36 (95%) of the 38 examined Furthermore, expression of the WT1 protein was examined in 20 esophageal squamous dysplasia. The WT1 protein was overexpressed in 5 (45%) out of 11 mild dysplasia and in 8 (89%) out of 9 moderate to severe dysplasia. CONCLUSION: These results may indicate an important role of the WT1 gene in the tumorigenesis of ESCC.