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Objective: To investigate the clinical significance of the serum inflammatory cytokines and the blood granulocytes/lymphocytes (G/L) ratio in patients with colorectal cancer. Methods: Forty-six patients underwent surgery for colorectal cancer. The G/L ratio and serum inflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, tumour necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) were measured before surgery and correlated with the Tumour Node Metastasis classification and overall survival. Results: Serum IL-6 in T3-4, N1-2, M1 cases and cancer stages III-IV sub-groups was significantly higher than in Tis-2, N0, M0 and cancer stages 0-II sub-groups. The G/L ratio, serum M-CSF and TNF-α in T3-4 cases were significantly higher than in Tis-2 cases. Furthermore, the G/L ratio and serum IL-6 showed a significant inverse correlation with the overall survival, while the G/L ratio showed a significant positive correlation with serum IL-6, TNF-α and M-CSF. Multivariate analysis showed that the serum IL-6 level and G/L ratio were independent risk factors for poor prognosis. Conclusions: In this investigation, a pre-operative high level of serum IL-6 and the G/L ratio appeared to be significant predictive factors for cancer progression and poor prognosis. Accordingly, these variables might be clinically relevant biomarkers in patients with colorectal cancer.

These results suggest that if histopathologic findings of biopsy specimens taken from them before treatment demonstrated adenocarcinoma associated with a desmoplastic response, the lesions had at least deep invasion carcinomas. These lesions should be resected surgically. Submucosal carcinomas with minimum invasion, which have no desmoplastic response, could be treated endoscopically.

We report a rare case of an intra-abdominal bronchogenic cyst. An abnormal lesion was detected on an ultrasonogram, done as part of a physical checkup, in an 81-year-old woman. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging showed a cystic mass attached to the lesser curvature of the stomach. Initially, we suspected a congenital cyst without malignant components; however, as the patient wished to have the lesion removed, we performed a minilaparotomy. The cystic lesion was firmly attached to the lesser curvature by fibrous tissue. Microscopic examination subsequently revealed the 26-mm mass to be a benign bronchogenic cyst with a bronchial element. We compared our findings with those of 50 previously reported cases of intraabdominal bronchogenic cysts. None of these patients was older than ours, and lesions attached to the esophagus or stomach were extremely unusual. Bronchogenic cysts are difficult to diagnose preoperatively based on imaging findings, but surgery may be indicated if malignant components are suspected, or if the lesion is enlarging or causing symptoms.

Guest Editor's Introduction: The granulocyte removal column was developed by Japan Immunoresearch Laboratories Co. based upon the hypothesis that the normalization of granulocyte‐to‐lymphocyte ratio would be beneficial for the treatment of cancer since the ratio is increased due to the cancer leukocytosis. The column consists of cellulose acetate beads with a diameter of 2 mm, which removes granulocytes and monocytes from blood with no significant changes in the number of lymphocytes or platelets. The clinical results for cancer treatment was less impressive than the animal experiments. Subsequently, however, the G‐1 Column was found very useful for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease and rhumatoid arthritis. This paper describes the clinical application for cancer treatment, and was printed in Anticancer Research, vol. 15, page 985–990 (1995). This paper was reprinted here with permission. We assessed the effect of granulocyte apheresis in patients exhibiting increased granulocyte‐to‐lymphocyte ratio in order to overcome granulocytosis occurring in the terminal stages of malignancies. 17 patients with post‐operative recurrent metastatic tumors including 6 gastric, 3 colonic, 2 rectal, 1 esophageal and 5 breast cancers were selected. The granulocytapheresis was performed by extracorporeal vein‐to‐vein circulation equipped with an apheresis column filled with cellulose acetate beads. Each week the patients underwent one or two sessions of treatment that lasted 30 to 50 minutes per session at a flow rate of 30 to 50 ml/min. 15 sessions formed 1 therapeutic cycle. The effect of granulocytapheresis resulted in partial response (PR) in 4 cases, no change (NC) in 7 cases and partial disease (PD) in 6 cases. The performance status showed 30% remission. None of the patients exhibited significant side effects. Since the treatment demonstrated anti‐tumor effects, granulocytapheresis may be applied during combined cancer treatments.