0000000000053253

AUTHOR

Wolf Malkusch

Correlation of endoanal sonography with cross-sectional anatomy of the anal sphincter

Abstract Background: Anal endosonography has become an important imaging method in the diagnosis of anorectal disorders. However, little information exists as to whether anal endosonography reliably defines pelvic floor structures. The aim of this study was to correlate endoanal sonography with cross-sectional anatomy and histology. Methods: Endosonographic tomograms were obtained from 9 human cadavers before fixation and cross-sectioning at identical levels. Muscular layers were defined by visual inspection, histology, immunohistology, and morphometry using three-dimensional sphincter reconstructions. Results: Endosonography visualized only two muscular layers, whereas anatomic sections al…

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Evidence for characteristic vascular patterns in solid tumours: quantitative studies using corrosion casts

The vascular architecture of four different tumour cell lines (CaX, CaNT, SaS, HEC-1B) transplanted subcutaneously in mice was examined by means of microvascular corrosion casting in order to determine whether there is a characteristic vascular pattern for different tumour types and whether it differs significantly from two normal tissues, muscle and gut. Three-dimensional reconstructed scanning electron microscope images were used for quantitative measurements. Vessel diameters, intervessel and interbranch distances showed large differences between tumour types, whereas the branching angles were similar. In all tumours, the variability of the vessel diameters was significantly higher than …

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The Vascularization of Experimental and Human Primary Tumors: Comparative Morphometric and Morphologic Studies

The importance of the blood vessel system in solid tumors has given rise to an increasing interest in this system as a direct target for tumor therapy, i.e. vascular targeting (Denekamp, 1984). Furthermore, its importance as a route for delivery of anticancer drugs (chemo- and immunotherapies) or photosensitizers (photodynamic laser therapy), as well as its modulatory influences on radiotherapy and hyperthermia — the former greatly depending on the amount of oxygen available, the latter on heat transfer — are evident. Numerous studies on the energy metabolism of solid tumors (Vaupel et al., 1987, 1989) have pointed out the functional importance of the blood vessel system and stress the need…

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