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In India most of the patients of gastric cancer report to the surgeon at a relatively advanced stage. Very few patients present in early stage ( stage I & IIa) who can be treated and cured by radical surgical procedures. But a very large number of patients ( nearly 80%) present in either locally advanced ( stage IIb to IIIb ) or with metastasis ( stage IV ). . Many of them have vomiting, electrolyte imbalance, anaemia and low general condition to tolerate chemotherapy. As a result curative surgery is not possible in these cases and hardly 50% of these advanced gastric cancer patients can be subjected to chemotherapy as neoadjuvant. Often these patients are subjected to safe and shorter surgical procedures like Anterior gastro-jejunostomy or a feeding jejunostomy for nutritional purpose leaving behind the main disease. As the growth is not excised bleeding from it persists and anaemia is not corrected in spite of repeated blood transfusions, thereby hampering proper chemotherapy in proper dose, drug and at regular intervals. Many of these cases become refractory to chemotherapy and gradually turn to stage IV . Some of these lead to penetration into pancreas and celiac nerves and even perforations at the growth site. The overall survival of these patients are approx. 6-8 months . This is a ongoing study to see the effectiveness of palliative gastrectomy ( partial, subtotal or total) in locally advanced conditions. Here most of the time the fixed nodes of D2 /D3 regions are left behind and the adhesions from the pancreas and adjacent structures are released by R1 resection. All these patients are subjected to palliative chemotherapy after surgery, which are tolerated well without much side effects and the overall survivals are found be extended to 15-18 months . Moreover the chances of penetration and perforation are avoided. The most important contraindications to gastrectomy in this group are ascites and widespread peritoneal dissemination. This paper presentation is intended to share the experience of palliative gastrectomies in more than 300 cases performed in last 25 yrs. in locally advanced gastric cancers and highlight the effectiveness of such ventures, which involves lot of surgical skill and risk as well . Hence all patients of gastric cancers on whom a radical surgery is not possible, every attempt should be made for at least a palliative gastrectomy with or without nodal clearance. The usual practice of anterior gastrojejunostomy or a feeding enterostomy are often not helpful and therefore should be discouraged. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… I declare that there is no conflict of interest involved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction The incidence of ovarian tumours is increasing in developing countries1.Ovarian tumours account for 30% of all cancers of female genital tract2. Ovarian malignancy ranks fifth in cancer death worldwide and in India it ranks third among the female genital tract malignancies1. This study has been done to analyse the age distribution, presenting symptoms and the various histopathological types of ovarian tumours in patients who underwent surgical management. Objective of the study To study the incidence, clinical presentation and histopathological pattern of ovarian masses. Materials and methods It is a prospective study conducted in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Department at VIMS, Bellary during two year period. All patients who are surgically managed are included in this study. Those patients who are conservatively managed and those with non-ovarian masses were excluded from this study. The details such as age, presenting symptoms, surgical details and histopathological reports were noted. Based on the HPE reports ovarian malignancies were analysed. Study design This is a prospective study. Inclusion Criteria All patients who are surgically managed. Exclusion Criteria 1.Patients who are conservatively managed 2.Non-ovarian masses . [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Matrix metalloproteinase 7 (MMP7) has largely been studied in pancreatic cancer which is the most common component of periampullary cancer in the western population. In India, the ampullary carcinoma is seen as the most common periampullary cancer in resected pancreaticoduodenectomies. We aimed to study the expression of MMP7 and its correlation with clinicopathological features in ampullary cancer., Materials and Methods: Consecutive cases of all ampullary cancer in a 3-year period were reviewed for histological differentiation (intestinal and pancreatobiliary) by morphology and immunohistochemistry (CDX2, MUC2, cytokeratin 20 [CK20], MUC1, cytokeratin 7 [CK7], and cytokeratin 17 [CK17]). All cases were stained for MMP7 and expression was correlated with histological variables, differentiation, and overall survival., Results: There were a total of 91 ampullary carcinomas (36 intestinal, 44 pancreatobiliary and 6 other types). Ampullary carcinoma showed MMP7 expression in 63.7% cases. Two-third of intestinal type and half of the pancreatobiliary type cancers showed MMP7 expression. MMP7 expression was significantly higher in low pathological T-stage of total ampullary carcinomas; however, it was seen more commonly in higher overall stage of the pancreatobiliary type compared to intestinal type of ampullary carcinoma. Overall survival in patients with MMP7 expression was lower compared to MMP7 negative patients., Conclusions: This is the first study on MMP7 expression in ampullary cancer. MMP7 expression was seen in nearly 64 % of ampullary cancer and showed a significant correlation with low pathological (T-) stage and high overall stage with a shorter survival. MMP7 can be explored as a target for MMP inhibitor therapy in the future.