Gastroesophageal cancers (such as esophageal, gastric and gastroesophageal-junction -GEJ- lesions) are worldwide a leading cause of death being relatively rare but highly aggressive. In the past years, a clear shift in the location of upper gastrointestinal tract tumors has been recorded, both affecting the scientific research and the modern clinical practice. The integration of pre- or peri-op...

OBJECTIVE To study the relationship between TLR4 and NF-κB p65 protein expressions in tumor tissues after radiotherapy and clinical radiosensitivity of patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. METHODS A total of 93 patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma first treated in our hospital by radiotherapy and surgeries from November 2010 to December 2013 were selected. They were t...

BACKGROUND Esophageal squamous cell carcinomas (ESCC) have poor prognosis. While combined modality of chemotherapy and radiotherapy increases survival, most patients die within five years. Development of agents that confer cancer cell-specific chemo- and radiosensitivity may improve the therapy of ESCC. We here reported the discovery of berberine as a potent radiosensitizing agent on ESCC cells...

OBJECTIVE In order to avoid the misdiagnosis of thyroid diseases, we need to discuss the clinical features and diagnostic methods of cervical esophageal cancer and Zenker's diverticulum. METHODS The clinical and laboratory data of seven cases were reviewed retrospectively, and in all cases, esophageal-related diseases were misdiagnosed as thyroid diseases preoperatively. Among them, two cases...

We report the case of a woman with intracranial metastasis from an esophageal gastrointestinal stromal tumor (GIST) with the mutation site in the 3' end of exon 11. Frontal craniotomy was performed with complete resection of the mass, followed by postoperative stereotaxic radiotherapy (SRT). Intracranial metastasis from GISTs is extremely rare; we found only seven case reports in the literature.

We describe the case of a 54-year-old female with severe aortic stenosis and a background of severe comorbidities including prior radiotherapy for Hodgkin’s lymphoma, splenectomy, severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, scleroderma with laryngeal and esophageal involvement, and systemic and pulmonary hypertension. The patient underwent totally video-guided aortic valve replacement through...

OBJECTIVE To investigate short- and long-term treatment effects and side reactions of lobaplatin plus 5-Fu combined and concurrent radiotherapy in treating patients with inoperable middle-advanced stage esophageal cancer. METHODS Sixty patients with middle-advanced stage esophageal squamous cell cancer were retrospectively analyzed. All patients were administered lobaplatin (50 mg intravenous...

Radiotherapy is widely used for treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). This study aimed to explore the role of Derlin-1 on the sensitivity of ESCC to radiotherapy and its underlying mechanism. We examined the clinical significance of Derlin-1 in 125 ESCC tissues. We found that Derlin-1 protein was higher in ESCC tissues than that in normal esophageal epithelial tissues. Derlin-...

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS Biodegradable (BD) esophageal stents were recently developed mainly for refractory benign strictures, but experience and available literature are limited. PATIENTS AND METHODS This was a retrospective observational study. All patients who had BD stents inserted due to refractory benign esophageal strictures or malignant strictures, or were awaiting radical radiothera...