Thoracoscopic resection of a huge esophageal dedifferentiated liposarcoma: A case report.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal liposarcoma is a rare malignant tumor and an esophageal dedifferentiated liposarcoma (DDL) is extremely rare. There are no reports on the treatment of DDL by thoracoscopic surgery. CASE SUMMARY: A 38-year-old woman presented with dysphagia and dyspnea. Imaging examination showed a large mass in the posterior mediastinum. The patient also developed respiratory failure and it was unclear whether this was caused by a mass from inside or outside the esophagus. We decided to perform thoracoscopic exploration to relieve the obstruction caused by tracheal compression. The upper segment of the esophagus was split longitudinally, and most of the mass could be removed from the esophageal lumen to the thoracic cavity. The pedicle was excised by linear cutting closers under mirrors. Little residual mass was visualized by gastroscopy. The mucous and muscular layers were closed by interrupted sutures. Pathological examination showed that the mass was a DDL. The patient did not have any dysphagia or dyspnea 2 wk postoperatively and refused any further treatment. Computed tomography and esophagoscopy did not find any recurrence at up to 20 mo postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Thoracoscopy can be used to treat large esophageal masses.

Long-term survival after enucleation of a giant esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumor.

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) are rare mesenchymal neoplasms of the gastrointestinal tract. Less than 1% occurs in the esophagus. Surgery is the primary treatment for patients with GISTs. We report a 29-year-old male was admitted after the detection of a posterior mediastinal mass during work-up with routine examination. He did not have any disease-related symptoms. The physical examination was unremarkable. Chest computed tomographic scan, the barium esophagogram and endoscopic esophageal ultrasound showed benign neoplasm. The patient was performed an enucleation surgery through the right posterolateral thoracotomy. The pathology revealed a 13.0 cm × 12.0 cm × 5.0 cm mass. The tumor was CD117 (C-kit), PDGFRA and DOG1 positive. These findings were consistent with a GIST of the esophagus. So the diagnosis of GIST of esophagus was confirmed. The pathological diagnosis of low grade of GIST of esophagus was confirmed. The patient has no evidence of recurrence and is in good clinical conditions up-to date, five years after surgery.

RALY RNA binding protein-like reduced expression is associated with poor prognosis in clear cell renal cell carcinoma.

The molecular mechanisms involved in the progression of clear cell renal cell carcinomas (ccRCCs) are still unclear. The aim of this study was to analyse the relationships between expression of RALYL and clinical characteristics. In 41 paired samples of ccRCCs and adjacent normal tissues, we used real-time qPCR to evaluate the expression of RALYL mRNA. RALYL protein levels were determined in 146 samples of ccRCC and 37 adjacent normal tissues by immunohistochemistry. Statistical analysis was used to explore the relationships between expression of RALYL and the clinical characteristics (gender, age, tumor size, T stage, N stage, M stage, survival times and survival outcome) in ccRCC. In addition, these patients were follow-up period 64 months (range: 4~116 months) to investigate the influence on prognosis. We found significantly differences between ccRCC tissues and normal tissues (p<0.001, paired-sample t test) in mRNA levels of RALYL. Immunohistochemistry analyses in 146 ccRCC samples and 37 adjacent normal tissues showed significantly lower RALYL protein levels in ccRCC samples (χ2-test, p<0.001), inversely correlating with tumour size (p=0.024), T stage (0.005), N stage (p<0.001) as well as M stage (p=0.019), but not age (p=0.357) and gender (p=0.348). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis demonstrated that people with lower level of RALYL expression had a poorer survival rate than those with a higher level of RALYL expression, significantly different by the log-rank test (p=0.011). Cox regression analysis indicated that RALYL expression (p=0.039), N stage (p=0.008) and distant metastasis (p<0.001) were independent prognosis factors for the overall survival of ccRCC patients. We demonstrated that the expression of RALYL was significantly low in ccRCC and correlated with a poor prognosis in a large number of clinical samples. Our findings showed that RALYL may be a potential therapeutic target as well as a poor prognostic factor.