Small cell neuroendocrine carcinoma, also known as oat cell carcinoma is a frequently encountered bronchogenic neoplasm. Neuroendocrine carcinomas of the head and neck are rare aggressive tumors and pose a diagnostic and management challenge. Differentiation from conventional nasopharyngeal carcinoma is difficult due to morphological characteristics and small biopsy specimen. Distinguishing is ...

Some clinical trials demonstrated local resection for clinical T1 rectal cancer was safe and effective. But for clinical T2 rectal cancer, the results were controversial. Neoadjuvant therapy (NT) is proven to reduce the opportunity of advanced rectal cancer recurrence in various researches. The objective of this Meta-Analysis was to evaluate the oncological outcomes of transanal endoscopic micr...

OBJECTIVE There are significant differences in patient outcome after potentially curative surgery for colorectal cancer that relate to the surgeon performing the procedure. The reasons for these differences remain obscure. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of the surgeon's specialty on patient outcome after potentially curative colorectal cancer surgery and to identify factors tha...

BACKGROUND The purpose of this present study was to investigate risk factors for local recurrence and death after total laryngectomy, with particular emphasis on pattern of local recurrence (stomal vs pharyngeal/base of tongue) and impact of preceding tracheostomy. METHODS We conducted a retrospective review of 75 consecutive total laryngectomies for cancer of the larynx. RESULTS Nineteen p...

Quon and Harrison have performed a considerable service to patients with head and neck cancers by reminding the oncology community that a state-of-the-art treatment team must include state-of-the-art brachytherapy. A fundamental adage in radiotherapy is "If you don’t hit it, you can’t cure it." Modern tools of external-beam radiotherapy, such as intensity-modulated radiation therapy, allow us t...

Postoperative radiotherapy (RT) is the standard of care for early stage breast cancer. It reduces the risk for local recurrence and prolongs survival. We assessed whether, the omission of RT because of patient's preference may influence the prognosis and, thus, the quality of cancer care. Detailed information from a prospectively collected database of a breast cancer center was analyzed. Multip...

There is a debate concerning the effects of antioxidant vitamins during radiation therapy: Can they reduce the adverse effects of therapy without reducing treatment efficacy? We examined whether dietary and plasma beta carotene and alpha tocopherol were related to severe acute adverse effects of radiation therapy and to cancer local recurrence. We conducted a prospective study of 540 head and n...

This study was aimed to investigate the roles of serum macrophage inflammatory protein-3α (MIP-3α) and cystatin A in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) prognosis.The serum levels of MIP-3α and cystatin A in 140 primary NPC patients without distant metastasis were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay before and after treatment. The results were compared with those in 100 healthy controls. T...

AIMS We carried out a population-based study of local recurrence rates in curatively resected patients with rectal cancer, diagnosed between 1988 and 1992. The first objective was to make an inventory of the overall local recurrence rate after non-standardized conventional surgery, inter-institutional recurrence rate variability, and correlations between patient- and tumour-related factors and ...

BACKGROUND To investigate patterns of failure and survival rates of elective irradiation of upper neck in N0 nasopharyngeal carcinoma patients. METHODS From February 1996 to November 2002, 97 patients without cervical lymph node involvement were admitted for radiotherapy alone. Before treatment, each patient underwent enhanced CT of nasopharynx and neck. All patients received radiotherapy to ...