Introduction: With the advent of multidisciplinary and multimodality approaches to the management of colorectal cancer patients, there is an increasing need to define how we monitor response to novel therapies in these patients. Several factors ranging from the type of therapy used to the intrinsic biology of the tumor play a role in tumor response. All of these can aid in determining the ideal course of treatment, and may fluctuate over time, pending down-staging or progression of disease. Therefore, monitoring how disease responds to therapy requires standardization in order to ultimately optimize patient outcomes. Unfortunately, how best to do this remains a topic of debate among oncologists, pathologists, and colorectal surgeons. There may not be one single best approach. The goal of the present article is to shed some light on current approaches and challenges to monitoring treatment response for colorectal cancer.Methods: A literature search was conducted utilizing PubMed and the OVID library. Key-word combinations included colorectal cancer metastases, neoadjuvant therapy, rectal cancer, imaging modalities, CEA, down-staging, tumor response, and biomarkers. Directed searches of the embedded references from the primary articles were also performed in selected circumstances.Results: Pathologic examination of the post-treatment surgical specimen is the gold standard for monitoring response to therapy. Endoscopy is useful for evaluating local recurrence, but not in assessing tumor response outside of the limited information gained by direct examination of intra-lumenal lesions. Imaging is used to monitor tumors throughout the body for response, with CT, PET, and MRI employed in different circumstances. Overall, each has been validated in the monitoring of patients with colorectal cancer and residual tumors.Conclusion: Although there is no imaging or serum test to precisely correlate with a tumor's response to chemo- or radiation therapy, these modalities, when used in combination, can aid in allowing clinicians to adjust medical therapy, pursue operative intervention, or (in select cases) identify complete responders. Improvements are needed, however, as advances across multiple modalities could allow appropriate selection of patients for a close surveillance regimen in the absence of operative intervention.

Postinfectious functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGIDs) may not be specific to gastroenteritis. This pilot study aimed to ascertain the 3- and 6-month incidence of functional gut disorders in people with non-gastrointestinal (GI) infection, gastroenteritis and healthy controls. This was a prospective study of three cohorts recruited from hospital (non-GI infections) and the community (others). FGIDs were diagnosed using self-completed Rome II modular questionnaires administered at baseline, 3 and 6 months. Thirty-six subjects with non-GI infection, 219 healthy subjects and 108 with bacterial gastroenteritis participated. No difference in incidence of FGID was detected between the GI and non-GI infection cohorts. Any FGID was more frequent in people who had a non-GI infection than in controls at both 3 [odds ratio: 4.34 (95% CI: 3.60-16.45)] and 6 months [4.76 (4.42-27.92)]. Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) alone was more frequent in people with non-GI infections than in controls at 3 months (6.12 [1.30-29.12]) but did not quite reach statistical significance at 6 months (4.58 [0.79-26.46]). Our findings were unexpected. Postinfectious FGIDs may be related to non-GI and GI infection, although not all potential biases were controlled in study design. Further studies need to explore these preliminary findings and, if confirmed, the underlying mechanisms.

Introduction. Octogenarians are at increased risk for complications after lung resection. With alternatives such as radiation, understanding the risks of surgery and associated survival are valuable. Data grading the severity of complications and long-term survival in this population is lacking. We reviewed our experience with lobectomy in octogenarians, grading complications using a validated thoracic morbidity and mortality schema. Methods. We retrospectively reviewed consecutive patients aged ≥80 undergoing lobectomy between 2004 and 2012. Demographics, clinical/pathologic stage, complications, recurrence, and mortality were collected. Complications were graded by the Seely thoracic morbidity and mortality model. Results. 45 patients (mean age 82.2 years) were analyzed. The majority of patients (28/45, 62%) were clinical stage IA/IB. 62% (28/45) of patients experienced a complication. Only 15.6% (7/45) were considered significantly morbid (≥ grade IIIB) per the Seely model. Perioperative mortality was 2% and half of patients were living at a follow-up of 53 months. Overall five-year survival was 52%. Conclusions. In carefully selected octogenarians, lobectomy carries a 15.6% rate of significantly morbid complications with encouraging overall survival. These data provide the basis for a more complete discussion with patients regarding lobectomy for lung cancer.

We present a rare case of small bowel intussusception that occurred in a young adult with unsuspected metastatic melanoma, diagnosed by imaging, laparotomy and histological examination. We further discuss the clinical presentation, imaging and surgical findings, and provide a brief discussion of adult intussusception.