Background A regimen of epirubicin, cisplatin, and infused fluorouracil (ECF) improves survival among patients with incurable locally advanced or metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma. We assessed whether the addition of a perioperative regimen of ECF to surgery improves outcomes among patients with potentially curable gastric cancer. Methods We randomly assigned patients with resectable adenocarcinoma of the stomach, esophagogastric junction, or lower esophagus to either perioperative chemotherapy and surgery (250 patients) or surgery alone (253 patients). Chemotherapy consisted of three preoperative and three postoperative cycles of intravenous epirubicin (50 mg per square meter of body-surface area) and cisplatin (60 mg per square meter) on day 1, and a continuous intravenous infusion of fluorouracil (200 mg per square meter per day) for 21 days. The primary end point was overall survival. Results ECF-related adverse effects were similar to those previously reported among patients with advanced gastric cancer. Rates of postoperative complications were similar in the perioperative-chemotherapy group and the surgery group (46 percent and 45 percent, respectively), as were the numbers of deaths within 30 days after surgery. The resected tumors were significantly smaller and less advanced in the perioperative-chemotherapy group. With a median follow-up of four years, 149 patients in the perioperative-chemotherapy group and 170 in the surgery group had died. As compared with the surgery group, the perioperative-chemotherapy group had a higher likelihood of overall survival (hazard ratio for death, 0.75; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.60 to 0.93; P = 0.009; five-year survival rate, 36 percent vs. 23 percent) and of progression-free survival (hazard ratio for progression, 0.66; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.53 to 0.81; P<0.001). Conclusions In patients with operable gastric or lower esophageal adenocarcinomas, a perioperative regimen of ECF decreased tumor size and stage and significantly improved progression-free and overall survival. (Current Controlled Trials number, ISRCTN93793971.)

/pdf/perioperative-chemotherapy-versus-surgery-alone-for-5bm4upx1bz.pdf

Perioperative Chemotherapy versus Surgery Alone for Resectable Gastroesophageal Cancer

https://www.chpso.org/sites/main/files/file-attachments/chest-2008-geerts-381s-453s.pdf

Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism* American College of Chest Physicians Evidence- Based Clinical Practice Guidelines (8th Edition)

Sepsis is the leading cause of death in critically ill patients in the United States. Yet the individual host response to septicemia is variable, depending on the patient's immune response, age, nutritional status, and coexisting conditions, as well as on the virulence of the organism and the size of the inoculum. This review examines evolving concepts of sepsis and discusses new and potential therapies. Recent clinical advances include therapy with activated protein C, stringent control of blood glucose, and early goal-directed therapy to treat cellular oxygen deficit. Future therapies may be focused on modulating the immune response in the light of the characteristics of the specific pathogen, the genetic profile of the patient, and the duration of the disease.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMra021333

The pathophysiology and treatment of sepsis.

The purpose of this article is to review the status and limitations of anatomic tumor response metrics including the World Health Organization (WHO) criteria, the Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST), and RECIST 1.1. This article also reviews qualitative and quantitative approaches to metabolic tumor response assessment with 18 F-FDG PET and proposes a draft framework for PET Response Criteria in Solid Tumors (PERCIST), version 1.0. Methods: PubMed searches, including searches for the terms RECIST, positron, WHO, FDG, cancer (including specific types), treatment response, region of interest, and derivative references, were performed. Abstracts and articles judged most relevant to the goals of this report were reviewed with emphasis on limitations and strengths of the anatomic and PET approaches to treatment response assessment. On the basis of these data and the authors’ experience, draft criteria were formulated for PET tumor response to treatment. Results: Approximately 3,000 potentially relevant references were screened. Anatomic imaging alone using standard WHO, RECIST, and RECIST 1.1 criteria is widely applied but still has

https://jnm.snmjournals.org/content/jnumed/50/Suppl_1/122S.full.pdf

From RECIST to PERCIST: Evolving Considerations for PET Response Criteria in Solid Tumors

Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism : The Seventh ACCP Conference on Antithrombotic and Thrombolytic Therapy

INTRODUCTION The organisation of an interdisciplinary cancer center, especially the establishment of a daily tumorboard requires adequate hardware and intelligent software, which is not available in most hospitals and described here with concepts, realisation and first clinical results. MATERIALS AND METHODS Based on a TCP/IP network and several inhomogeneous department subsystems we developed an intranet-based oncological documentation- and conference software (oncofile), which can be easily operated and administered in a web browser. Common digital media can be imported and the concept allows for paperless organisation of the daily tumor board. The expert decisions are documented online during tumor board runtime together with selected clinical images and the consensus of the decisionmakers. Local therapeutic guidelines as well as trial information can be accessed over the intranet, and interfaces for internet- and telecommunication are used for second opinion and integration of external expertise. RESULTS Between 10/99 and 2/2002 3298 presentations of 2438 cases were made in the daily tumor board. 74% of the patients had a curative oncological treatment concept, and 24% of the patients received neoadjuvant treatment. 49% of the patients were scheduled for primary resection. Six patients can be effectively handled in a 30 minute tumorboard. CONCLUSION The establishment of a daily tumorboard is possible by help of intranet-technology, a central database with web clients and moderate hardware investments. The composition of the patient cohort as well as all decisions ever made to a particular patient are transparent at all times. Prospective quality control studies are under way.

[Necessary prerequisites for the function of an oncological competence center. Information technology, documentation of findings and telecommunication].

The increasing spectrum of therapeutic options for tumors of the gastrointestinal tract has resulted in a refinement of the pretherapeutic diagnostic strategies. The diagnostic approach in surgical institutions that are focused on primary surgical resection will therefore be much less sophisticated than in institutions who propose a selective therapeutic approach based on the pretherapeutic tumor stage and prognostic parameters. Pretherapeutic assessment of the depth of tumor infiltration, i. e. the T-category, is essential because most further diagnostic and therapeutic decisions are based on this information. This can today be achieved with a high degree of accuracy by endoscopy and endoscopic ultrasonography. Early T-stages (T1–2) are usually an indication for primary surgical resection and, after exclusion of distant metastases, no further diagnostic studies are required. In patients with locally advanced esophageal, gastric or rectum tumors (T3–4) multimodal therapeutic concepts should be considered. This usually requires additional diagnostic studies. None of the available diagnostic imaging modalities today allows satisfactory pretherapeutic assessment of lymph node metastases. The assumed nodular status should therefore currently not influence therapeutic decisions. Essential is, however, the assessment of distant metastases, since the documentation of distant tumor spread will change the therapeutic approach to a palliative situation. Detailed histologic and molecular-biologic assessment of tumor characteristics is growing in importance. This not only provides therapeutically relevant information regarding tumor grading, but opens the door towards a modern molecular diagnostic approach. It can be expected that in the near future a vast amount of relevant prognostic information can be obtained from endoscopic tumor biopsies, which may soon alter our therapeutic concepts.

Surgical relevance of diagnostic imaging techniques in pretherapeutic staging of carcinoma of the esophagus, stomach, colon and rectum

Die klassische chirurgische Behandlung des Zenker-Divertikels umfast die Abtragung des Divertikels und die cervicale Myotomie. Bei sehr kleinen Divertikeln ist die alleinige Myotomie ausreichend. Die Komplikationsrate des Eingriffs ist akzeptabel; die langfristigen funktionellen Ergebnisse sind mit einer Erfolgswahrscheinlichkeit von 90 % uber 5 Jahre gut. Trotz der zunehmenden Bedeutung alternativer Verfahren wird die konventionelle extraluminale Operation das Verfahren der Wahl bei Divertikeln der Stadien I–III bleiben.

Traditionelle extraluminale Operation des Zenker-Divertikels

Gastro-oesophageal reflux was examined by taped long-term pH monitoring in 31 healthy subjects (16 men, 15 women; average age 28 years). The following was found: (1) reflux during the day is normal in health subjects, occurring predominantly after meals; (2) healthy persons have practically no reflux at night, after reaching the phase of deep sleep, the decisive difference between the healthy subject and those with reflux concerning the sleep phase, during which the patient with reflux has significantly increased reflux; (3) gastro-oesophageal reflux during the night is dependent upon depth of sleep, while position-dependent reflux was not observed.

J. R. Siewert

Papers

[Necessary prerequisites for the function of an oncological competence center. Information technology, documentation of findings and telecommunication].

Surgical relevance of diagnostic imaging techniques in pretherapeutic staging of carcinoma of the esophagus, stomach, colon and rectum

Traditionelle extraluminale Operation des Zenker-Divertikels

[Gastro-oesophageal reflux--what if physiological? (author's transl)].

Surgical therapy of gastro-esophageal reflux: which patient, which procedure, which approach?