Narrow Results

Emerging treatments for spinal cord damage.

Dementia, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s – Confusions, myths and tips.

An update on Alzheimer’s disease.

Integration of Traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine in cancer treatment.

TCM’s integration into modern health system.

Surgery is the only treatment option that may cure gastric cancer. However, surgical treatment for this disease ranging from early to metastatic cancer has become diverse. The extent of lymph node dissection appropriate for gastric cancer is still under debate. Some patients with nodal metastases definitely benefit from extended lymphadenectomy, but it is impossible to accurately identify this population among all patients who undergo surgery. Due to the associated higher postoperative mortality, it is only in the Far East that the extended lymphadenectomy is currently the standard of care. Adjuvant chemotherapy performed before or after the surgery may improve survival, but the benefit remains to be confirmed among those who underwent extended lymphadenectomy. Since radical gastrectomy is debilitating, various minimally invasive procedures have been proposed for patients with early-stage cancer. Evidence remains lacking in various aspects of gastric cancer treatment, and further clinical trials are warranted.

Due to the aggressive biological behavior, a large number of studies attempt to identify the prognostic indicators for feline mammary carcinoma (FMC). In this study, we retrospectively identified the prognostic indicators and evaluated the effect of surgery with or without adjuvant chemotherapy on 47 cats with FMCs. Over a two-year follow-up period, surgical removal was significantly associated with greater overall survival time (OST). In cats that underwent surgical treatment, median OST was longer in cats that underwent surgery with adjuvant chemotherapy (540 days) than cats that underwent surgery without chemotherapy (398 days). In addition, cats with FMCs in early stage (I or II) had longer OST than cats in advanced stages. Further, through multivariate analyses, the histological grade was found to be significantly associated with a survival of two years. Cats with FMCs at high grade were most likely to have a mean or median OST of less than one year. In summary, stage, grade and the size of tumor were all prognostic factors, in which histological grade was found to be the only significant factor in cats with mammary carcinomas through multivariate analysis.

Background: Primary broad ligament epithelial malignancies are rare occurrence. Hence, the treatment options are uncertain. Therefore, an accurate diagnosis is warranted to manage this condition.

Case report: We present a 61-year-old female with abdominal distension associated with significant weight loss for six months. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the abdomen and pelvis revealed a pelvic mass measuring 10.7 × 14.6 × 13.5 cm with omental caking.

Result: An exploratory laparotomy and tumour debulking was performed. Histological examination revealed moderately differentiated endometrioid carcinoma of the broad ligament stage IC and an endometrioid carcinoma of endometrium, stage 1A. She received external beam radiotherapy; brachytherapy followed by adjuvant chemotherapy with a 6 monthly surveillance. Currently, she is healthy with no recurrence at 24 months postoperatively.

Conclusion: The rarity of primary broad ligament endometrioid carcinoma may incline clinicians to suspect more common malignancies such as ovarian. However, with an accurate diagnosis, the treatment will allow a better prognosis to the patient.