AIM The lysosomal protease cathepsin D has been reported to be associated with tumour progression in malignant tumours. Expression of the gene encoding cathepsin D is known to be stimulated by oestrogen in mammary cancer cells. Recent experiments revealed that a p53 DNA binding site is located in the promoter region of the cathepsin D gene. This fact indicates that cathepsin D expression may co...

A 53-year-old man underwent neo-adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy and a 2 stage oesophagectomy for a junctional oesophageal tumour in 1996. In March 2012, a metachronous oesophageal tumour was identified, 7cm above the anastomotic margin, on a background of non-inflamed squamous mucosa. He is currently being managed with chemo-radiotherapy. Oesophageal cancer is associated with a historically poor su...

Barrett's oesophagus is the major risk factor for the development of oesophageal adenocarcinoma. The management of Barrett's oesophagus entails treating reflux symptoms with acid-suppressing medication or surgery (fundoplication). However, neither form of anti-reflux therapy produces predictable regression, or prevents cancer development. Patients with Barrett's oesophagus usually undergo endos...

BACKGROUND For oesophageal cancer there is no effective standard therapy. We studied the feasibility and efficacy of the cisplatin-gemcitabine combination chemotherapy in patients with unresectable oesophageal cancer. PATIENTS AND METHODS Thirty-six chemonaïve patients with unresectable or metastatic oesophageal adenocarcinoma (24) or squamous-cell-carcinoma (12) were treated with cisplatin (...

Oesophageal cancer is endemic in some regions of the Islamic Republic of Iran and efforts have made to find factors that play a role in its prognosis. We retrospectively examined the correlation of serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) levels with several clinicopathological characteristics of 207 cases of oesophageal carcinoma. The mean ALP level in patients with lymph node involvement was signific...

Abnormalities of the lower oesophageal sphincter may facilitate excessive reflux of gastric contents including acid and sometimes bile from the stomach into the oesophagus. Bile is particularly caustic and reflux of duodenal contents is more troublesome than reflux of gastric contents alone. There is little correlation between severity of symptoms and findings on endoscopy. Sometimes drugs that...

Oesophageal cancer occurs in older patients and is associated with a prolonged history of smoking and drinking. Classical treatment for early disease is surgery, preceded by preoperative chemoradiation in selected cases. In patients for whom surgery is not possible, e.g. because of tumour location or anaesthetic risk, an alternative treatment for early disease is external beam therapy followed ...

AIM To examine cytokeratin-18 (CK-18) and caspase-cleaved CK-18 expression in tumours and correlate with clinicopathological outcomes including tumour regression grade (TRG) response. METHODS Formalin-fixed human gastro-oesophageal cancers were constructed into tissue microarrays. The first set consisted of 122 gastric/gastro-oesophageal cancer cases not exposed to neoadjuvant chemotherapy an...

BACKGROUND Thyroidectomy is considered a low-risk operation. The authors report a case of tracheal necrosis after total thyroidectomy for multinodular goiter with bilateral adenomas, and a case of oesophageal fistula after total thyroidectomy for papillary cancer. METHODS AND RESULTS The patient with tracheal perforation was treated by a non operative management after clinical stabilization. ...