0000000000383100
AUTHOR
U. Schäffer
Tumor Vascularity, Hypoxia, and Malignant Progression in Solid Neoplasms
Malignant progression designates the biologic process which transforms a phenotypically normal cell fixed and cooperating within a tissue into a disseminated therapy-resistant lethal disease. In clinical terms this process consists of three major steps (Fig. 1): () the transition from regulated to deregulated cell proliferation, () the emerging ability of the neoplastic cell collectives to induce angiogenesis and to invade other tissues, () the development of metastases and of resistance towards anti-tumor therapies.
Gasless laparoscopy with conventional surgical instruments
The main advantages of gasless laparoscopy arise from the use of conventional laparotomy instruments (clamps, scissors and needle pushers). The operative time, for example, for hysterectomy procedures decreases to about 60% of the time taken hysterectomy for using conventional gas techniques. During cauterization, smoke escapes immediately through the open trocars and may even be suctioned using a conventional suction tube. As far as the nursing team is concerned, the equipment is familiar as they use the same instruments and the same sutures as in laparotomy. High respiration pressure, caused by the elevated abdominal pressure, as well as hypercapnia, are avoided. Therefore this procedure …
(A)symptomatic necrotizing arteritis of the female genital tract.
Abstract Aims: The vasculitides represent a heterogenous set of disorders that differ in prognosis and response to therapy. Beside systemic vasculitides, the development of localized forms of arteritis is well known though uncommon and the etiopathogenesis is not yet definitely clear. Methods: Patients with necrotizing arteritis of the female genital tract proven by histology are studied in a retrospective analysis. Results: Three cases of necrotizing arteritis with histological features of panarteritis nodosa apparently confined to the female genital tract are presented. None of these patients had prior history of systemic vasculitis. The acute necrotizing vasculitis was confined only to t…
Human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA in primary cervical cancer and in cancer free pelvic lymph nodes--correlation with clinico-pathological parameters and prognostic significance.
OBJECTIVE To assess whether the presence of human papilloma virus (HPV) DNA and/or several genotypes of HPV DNA in primary cervical cancer and cancer free pelvic lymph nodes are correlated with several clinicopathological parameters of well-defined prognostic significance and whether virological parameters are predictors of long-term survival in cancer patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS 223 cases of cervical cancer patients included in this retrospective study underwent follow-up evaluation. Survival and cause of death were examined for 204 (91.4%) patients, with a mean follow-up time of 4.4 years. HPV DNA was detected using the high sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method followed by …
The presence of HPV DNA in cervical cancer: correlation with clinico-pathologic parameters and prognostic significance: 10 years experience at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the Mainz University.
The objective of this study was to assess whether the presence of human papillomavirus (HPV) DNA and/or several genotypes of HPV DNA in cervical cancer are correlated with several clinicopathologic parameters of well-defined prognostic significance and whether virologic parameters are predictors of long-term survival in cancer patients. Two hundred twenty three cases of cervical cancer patients included in this retrospective study underwent follow-up evaluation. Survival and cause of death were examined for 204 (91.4%) patients, with a mean follow-up time of 4.4 years. HPV DNA was detected using the highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method followed by HPV DNA sequencing for H…
Expression of tenascin in human cervical cancer--association of tenascin expression with clinicopathological parameters.
Tenascin is an extracellular matrix glycoprotein, relevant for embryonal and fetal development, which is reexpressed in the stroma of benign and malignant tumors. Little is known about the molecular interaction of tenascin during neoplastic transformation and tumor progression in cervical cancer.We studied the expression of tenascin in normal tissue of the cervix uteri, cervical carcinoma in situ, and invasive cervical carcinoma in paraffin sections by immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal antibody. Tenascin immunoreactivity was compared with various prognostic parameters.In normal cervical tissue (n = 5) and in cervical carcinoma in situ (n = 10) only vessel walls showed a weak tenascin …
Tumor Vascularity—A Novel Prognostic Factor in Advanced Cervical Carcinoma
Objective: In the search for the optimal treatment of advanced cervical cancer, the identification of valid prognostic factors obtainable without histopathologic investigation of the entire tumor and the locoregional lymph nodes is of paramount interest. Tumor microvessel density has recently been demonstrated to correlate strongly with disease aggressiveness in breast cancer and other malignancies. Methods: We established a computerized image analysis system to quantify tumor microvascularity by using the closest-individual method, which determines the distribution of distances from random points within the tumor to the closest microvessel (DTCMV). Tumor microvascularity was assessed in pa…
Tumor hypoxia in pelvic recurrences of cervical cancer.
We have previously demonstrated in primary cancer of the uterine cervix that tumor hypoxia, as determined polarographically, is strongly associated with clinical malignant progression of the disease. Having applied a similar methodological approach to investigate loco-regional relapses, we found a pronounced shift to more hypoxic oxygenation profiles in the recurrent tumors than in the primary tumors. Median pO2 values in 53 pelvic recurrences were significantly lower than the median pO2 values of 117 primary tumors of comparable sizes (7.1 +/- 1.1 mmHg vs. 12.1 +/- 1.0 mmHg, p = 0.0013). The differences in tumor oxygenation between primary and recurrent tumors mirrored the differences in t…
Hypoxia and radiation response in human tumors
This study demonstrates by an updated analysis of an ongoing prospective study that tumor oxygenation, as measured with a validated standardized polarographic needle electrode method before treatment, powerfully predicts the prognosis of patients receiving radiotherapy for intermediate and advanced stage cancer of the uterine cervix. First evidence for a host component in tumor oxygenation based on a significant correlation between median pO 2 values determined in normal subcutaneous fatty tissue and in cervical cancer is also presented. Further investigations are necessary to clarify whether tumor hypoxia is just a marker of intrinsic tumor aggressiveness or whether the negative impact of …