A 20-year-old woman presented for a routine eye examination. Her best-corrected visual acuity was 20/20 in the right eye and 20/25 in the left eye. Fundus examination revealed in both eyes the presence of multiple egg-shaped hyperpigmented retinal lesions (at least 4), sur-rounded by a depigmented halo(figure 1, black arrows). The appearance of these lesions was suggestive of congenital hypertr...

Every year more than one million new patients are diagnosed with colon cancer worldwide. Although multiple prospective randomized trials and observational studies have demonstrated that mortality from colon cancer can be reduced with screening and removal of adenomatous polyps, compliance with screening guidelines remains low. Recent CT colonography (CTC) trials have shown that CTC is capable o...

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominant disorder characterized by hundreds of colorectal adenomatous polyps that progress to colorectal cancer. Management of patients with FAP is with a total colectomy. Chemopreventive strategies have been studied in FAP patients in an effort to delay the development of adenomas in the upper and the lower gastrointestinal tract and to prev...

Malignant changes are often accompanied by alterations in activity and composition of the plasminogen activators (PA). To study the relationship between PA expression and the development of colorectal cancer, we determined urokinase-type plasminogen activator (u-PA) and tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) activity in normal mucosa (n = 80), adenomatous polyps (n = 76), and adenocarcinomas ...

A review of the pathophysiology, clinical presentation, and diagnosis of colon cancer and colonic polyps is important and timely. This field is rapidly changing because of breakthroughs in the molecular basis of carcinogenesis and in the technology for colon cancer detection and treatment. This article reviews colon cancer and colonic polyps, with a focus on recent dramatic advances, to help th...

Evidence of a role for steroid hormones and reproduction in colon neoplasia remains tantalizing but unclear. Hormone replacement therapy (HRT) has been reported in a number of recent studies to be associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer. A case-control study was undertaken to establish whether HRT is associated with lower risk of adenomatous polyps. This case-control study was undertaken...