The Japanese general rules specifying the distal resection margin are appropriate for most patients who undergo surgery for rectosigmoid and rectal cancer without preoperative chemotherapy or radiotherapy. A further increase of 1 to 2 cm beyond the recommended distal resection margin may contribute to improved local control for patients with distant metastasis.

The purpose of this study was to establish a standard histological classification for intra-operative histological examination of ductal resection margins in cholangiocarcinoma to distinguish between epithelial and intramural lesions and to clarify correlations between the new classification and clinical outcomes. Intra-operative diagnosis of ductal margins was performed for 357 stumps from 216 patients undergoing surgical resection of cholangiocarcinoma at the National Cancer Center, Japan. Three expert pathologists reviewed the materials and established a histological classification defined by grade of atypia. The new classification comprised four categories: 'insufficient', insufficient for diagnosis due to distortion of specimen; 'negative for malignancy', no atypia suggestive of neoplasia; 'undetermined lesion', specimen showing either cellular or structural atypia; and 'positive for malignancy', specimen showing both cellular and structural atypia. Each category was defined to distinguish between epithelial and intramural lesions. Validity and reproducibility of the proposed classification were found to be moderate to substantial. Multivariate analyses using the clinicopathological factors identified to be associated with overall survival by univariate analyses indicated that patients diagnosed with 'positive for malignancy' in intramural lesions of the proximal margin displayed significant poor prognosis. Meanwhile, in patients diagnosed with 'positive for malignancy' or 'undetermined lesion' in epithelial lesions of the proximal margin, no difference in overall survival was apparent compared to patients diagnosed with 'negative for malignancy'. We propose new histological classification for intra-operative histological examination of ductal resection margins in cholangiocarcinoma that shows a correlation with patients' prognosis and should facilitate the determination of ductal resection margin status for cholangiocarcinoma. (Cancer Sci 2009; 100: 255-260) S urgical resection with negative surgical margins offers patients with resectable cholangiocarcinoma the only chance for cure and long-term survival. Surgical resection margin status is a critical prognostic factor, and the prognosis for patients with positive ductal margins has generally been considered as poor.(1-6) More extensive surgery to obtain negative ductal margins increases the risk of postoperative morbidity-mortality, whereas less extensive surgery increases the risk of positive ductal margins. Balancing these conflicting considerations is thus difficult. Although preoperative diagnosis for extension of cholangiocarcinoma has improved in recent years, intra-operative frozen section remains the only method for confirming microscopic involvement of the ductal margins. However, determination of positive or negative status is sometimes difficult. (7,8) (9) demonstrated that residual carcinoma in situ differs prognostically from residual invasive ductal disease in patients with extrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma, as the progression from carcinoma ...

Low BMI deteriorates the QOL of RA patients. Muscle protein loss apparently leads to a reduction in BMI and QOL.

We evaluated neurotization after transplantation with lyophilized nerves, muscles, and arteries, and examined the possibility of practical application of long bridging grafts. Grafts of 10 mm and 25 mm of lyophilized nerves, muscles, and arteries harvested from Fisher rats were transplanted to the sciatic nerves of recipient Lewis rats. The histological changes undergone by short grafts were observed at weekly intervals. The sham-operated and isograft groups were used to compare the results of long grafts. In both the nerve and muscle-graft group, regenerated axons grew out through the residual basement membrane tube. But in the muscle graft group, phagocytosis of myofibril debris took longer than that of degenerated axons. No statistical differences were found between results of TSI, induced EMG, and quantitative analysis of myelinated axons in the nerve and muscle graft groups. No neurotization was noted in the long artery graft. In long grafts, laminin found on the basement membrane may not be sufficient to accelerate neurotization, and arteries should not be used for tubulization.

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