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Purpose: Colorectal cancer and gastric cancer are the two most commonly associated malignancies in Japan. We examined mismatch repair deficiency in the tumors of patients with primary colorectal and gastric cancers retrospectively., Methods: In 103 cases and 102 healthy control subjects, surgical specimens of colorectal and gastric cancer underwent immunohistochemical analysis of mismatch repair proteins (hMLH1 and hMSH2) and microsatellite instability testing., Results: Immunohistochemical and microsatellite instability testing produced similar results. High microsatellite instability in colorectal cancer was found in 23 of 103 cases (23 percent) with colorectal and gastric cancers, and in 8 of 102 healthy control subjects (8 percent). Twelve (12 percent) had mismatch repair deficiency in both colorectal and gastric cancers, and both tumors had loss of the same mismatch repair protein (hMLH1, n = 5; hMSH2, n = 7). They had the first cancer at a younger age, with a higher frequency of familial colorectal cancer than the others. Seventeen had mismatch repair deficiency in either tumor, which showed loss of expression of hMLH1. Multiple cancers and right-sided colon cancers developed more frequently in patients with mismatch repair deficiency., Conclusions: Patients with both colorectal and gastric cancers are more likely to have phenotypic evidence of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer than patients with colorectal cancer only. Among patients with double tumors, 12 percent showed a common deficiency in the same mismatch repair protein in both tumors by immunohistochemistry, and they should undergo genetic counseling for germline mutational analysis. Immunohistochemistry was effective in detecting mismatch repair deficiency of colorectal and gastric cancer as well as microsatellite instability testing, and may be more practical to perform phenotypic analysis of tumors because of its cost-effectiveness.

A 14-year-old female with Turner syndrome (karyotype 45,X) had a history of abdominal pain with distention, constipation, and fever. She was first operated on for the suspicion of appendicitis, failed to improve, and was later hospitalized for further investigation and treatment. Studies demonstrated an obstructing tumor of the transverse colon, and an emergency laparotomy was performed. The final diagnosis was a signet-ring cell carcinoma of the colon with diffuse peritoneal dissemination and metastasis to paracolic lymph nodes. On the basis of this case, we report the association of Turner syndrome with malignancies and also some aspects of colon cancer in childhood.

Purpose: Usefulness of transrectal ultrasonography (TRUS) for detecting distal intramural spread of rectal carcinoma was investigated., Methods: Thirty-seven patients with advanced rectal carcinoma, who had not received preoperative adjuvant therapy, underwent TRUS before surgery. Distal intramural spread was evaluated by TRUS and by pathologic examination of resected specimens., Results: Distal intramural spread was found in 7 of 37 patients (19 percent) by pathologic examination. Presence or absence of distal intramural spread was correctly diagnosed by TRUS in 86 percent of the 37 patients. Misdiagnosis by TRUS mainly occurred when distal intramural spread was 5 mm. Tumor penetration of muscularis propria, lymph node involvement, and a higher histologic grade of malignancy showed a significant relationship with the presence of distal intramural spread., Conclusion: TRUS was useful for detecting distal intramural spread > 5 mm in patients with lower rectal carcinoma and may be helpful for selecting appropriate surgery.

During its second meeting at Amsterdam in 1990, the International Collaborative Group on Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer (ICG-HNPCC) decided to carry out a pilot study on colorectal cancer surveillance in HNPCC. The objectives of the study were to ascertain in each of the participating centers the number of HNPCC families, the recommended screening procedures, the age at diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC), and the occurrence of interval cancers. Nine centers in seven countries including Denmark, Finland, Italy, Japan, The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United States participated. Data were derived from a total of 165 families. With respect to screening, half of the centers advise colonoscopy as the only procedure. The interval between the consecutive examinations varies from one to three years. In the majority of the centers, screening begins at 20 to 25 years. Lifelong screening is recommended by three centers, while the rest advise discontinuation at age 60 to 75 years. The family material included 840 patients with colorectal cancer. The mean age at diagnosis was 45 years, and about 15 percent were diagnosed at age 60 or later. A total of 682 high-risk relatives are being followed. After the follow-up of 1 to 10 years in these families, only six cases of interval cancers were encountered.

We investigated the daily life and opinions of patients after total proctocolectomy and ileal J-pouch-anal anastomosis. Eighty patients answered a questionnaire, completed Cattell's anxiety scale, and recorded bowel function for one month. Both colitis and polyposis patients defecated five times daily, had 1.6 episodes of nocturnal motions weekly, and soiled twice weekly. However, colitis patients were more satisfied with their bowel function and surgical outcome than were polyposis patients. This difference had a close relationship to the personality factors of ego strength and frustration. All patients with either disease who defecated less than three times daily, had no nocturnal motions, and had no soiling showed normal ego strength and frustration and were completely satisfied with their bowel status and operation. In contrast, patients defecating more than seven times daily or more than once per week nocturnally and soiling more than four times weekly had high frustration and were dissatisfied. Thus, satisfaction with surgery correlated not only with the objective outcome but also with personality and lifestyle.

Physicians treating patients with ulcerative colitis are confronted with the difficult task of deciding whether medical or surgical treatment is best for their patients. There are no definitive criteria to indicate when medical therapy should be exchanged for definitive surgery. Even in patients who respond well to glucocorticoid treatment, the side effects of these drugs may necessitate surgery. We reviewed the steroid complications of our operative cases retrospectively. Although ulcerative colitis was usually in remission, severe steroid complications were no longer tolerable and definitive surgery was required. We also reviewed the literature regarding the adverse effects of steroid. Because of advances in sphincter-preserving surgery, re-evaluation of the treatment of ulcerative colitis is necessary. Although conservative treatment remains the first choice, tolerance of irreversible side effects (especially in children) no longer seems to be justified. In such patients, early definitive surgery may offer more than it appears to sacrifice.

We report a case of malignant histiocytosis of the intestine (MHI) in which clinical and small bowel barium examination led to an initial diagnosis of Crohn's disease. The patient's symptoms and radiologic features improved dramatically with steroid therapy, and the patient remained free of severe symptoms for five years; at this stage, massive rectal bleeding occurred and segmental ileal resection was performed. Pathology findings of the resected specimen revealed nonspecific ulceration of the ileum. The correct diagnosis, MHI, became apparent six months after surgical intervention, on the appearance of multiple lymphadenopathy.

Since 1980, when the first description of hyperplastic polyposis of the colon appeared, 18 cases of hyperplastic polyposis have been reported in the literature. Only two of them bore colonic cancer. Here we add two cases of hyperplastic polyposis accompanying rectal carcinoma following cancer resection, in which residual hyperplastic polyps disappeared after resection.

A lectin histochemistry approach was adopted for comparative assessment of a colon cancer risk. Binding of Ulex europaeus agglutinin-I (UEA-I), peanut agglutinin (PNA), Griffonia simplicifolia agglutinin-II (GSA-II), and Dolichos biflorus agglutinin (DBA) was investigated in tumor and background tissue from a total of 34 adenoma and 44 cancer patients and compared with reaction patterns in control and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) patients. Adenoma patients with UEA-I positive rectal mucosa were found to have a 33.3 percent familial history of large bowel cancer, which was significantly higher (P less than 0.05) than the respective 4.0 percent figure for patients with negative rectal mucosa. In the cancer patients, an even stronger correlation was noted, with a 63.2 percent UEA-I positive family history association being recorded, as opposed to 4.0 percent in the negative rectal mucosa patients (P less than 0.01). Thus, the results suggest that, apparently, normal rectal background mucosa of individuals genetically at high risk for colon and rectal cancer demonstrates a specific lectin binding ability similar to that of FAP patients and that the simple method using UEA-I staining of rectal biopsy specimens can be of practical use in identification of high-risk colorectal cancer.

The authors report a case of the passage of a total colonic J-pouch "cast" per anus after anoabdominal rectal resection and colonic J-pouch-anal anastomosis. This occurred without development of cuff abscess and was not due to occlusion of the inferior mesenteric artery. This was successfully treated, with preservation of anal function, with resection of the colonic J-pouch by transanal approach.

A safe and practical procedure for total colectomy and mucosal proctectomy with ileoanal anastomosis has been developed and performed by us on 11 patients with adenomatosis coli and two patients with ulcerative colitis. The major features of the operative procedure are 1) total removal of the rectal mucosa to just above the dentate line; 2) preservation of anorectal function by a long rectal cuff procedure achieved by rectal mucosal excision from a level just below the sacral promontory, using a rectal internal stent and gauze packing techniques for rectal mucosal stripping, with, in some patients, an ileal reservoir added; and 3) prevention of pelvic sepsis by intraoperative rectal irrigation, rectal cuff drainage, and a temporary defunctioning loop ileostomy. Of six patients with at least three months of follow-up after reconstruction, each has returned to normal life, averaging two to seven semiformed stools each day. A side-to-end ileoanal anastomosis with a low-lying, loop-type ileal reservoir provided the best functional results.

Colonic mucosa in 62 patients with familial polyposis coli (FPC) was stained by a Periodic Acid-Thionin Schiff/Potassium Hydroxide/Periodic Acid-Schiff method in which the normal colonic mucosa usually stained red and carcinoma stained blue or purple. In FPC, 82.2 percent stained blue or purple, whereas 38.8 percent stained blue or purple in normal controls. The data suggest that sialomucin properties of the normal-appearing flat mucosa in FPC are different from those of the normal colon, and that this simple technique may be useful for the early detection of high-risk individuals in the FPC family.