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Primary appendiceal cancer is rare, and difficult to diagnose pre-operatively because lack of specific symptoms. This report presents a rare case of synchronous colon and appendiceal cancer. A 50-year-old man was referred to our hospital due to endoscopic submucosal resection (ESD) for early cecal cancer. ESD was performed, and the pathological examination revealed tubular adenocarcinoma with deep submucosal invasion. Laparoscopic ileocecal resection was performed as additional resection after ESD of cecal cancer. There were no obvious abnormalities around the ileocecal region in the preoperative examination. Postoperative pathological examination incidentally revealed a mucosal papillary adenocarcinoma of the appendix, with no residual lesion in the ESD scar. The patient was discharged on the seventh postoperative day. Synchronous appendiceal and colon cancer is extremely rare in past reports. Here, we report the case details and review previous case reports.

In radical surgery for upper cervical esophageal carcinoma, questions such as whether the larynx should be preserved depending on the distance from the esophageal orifice to the tumor margin and risk of aspiration during swallowing arise. We report the clinical outcomes of our strategy for upper cervical esophageal carcinoma based on the goals of curability and larynx preservation. Methods At our institution, resectable upper cervical esophageal carcinoma in which the tumor margin on the oral side is within 3 cm of the esophageal orifice is treated with chemoradiotherapy followed by larynx-preserving esophagectomy. The reason for initially using chemoradiotherapy is to make the surgical margin on the oral side completely negative and as distal as possible for definitive treatment and to improve quality of life (QOL). From 2016 to 2019, there were 24 patients who were diagnosed with upper cervical esophageal carcinoma within 3 cm of the esophageal orifice and received chemoradiotherapy and larynx-preserving esophagectomy. Results All patients were eligible for chemoradiotherapy and larynx-preserving esophagectomy. Pathologically, all surgical margins on the oral side were negative and all operations were curative. In particular, 6 patients with a tumor margin within 1 cm of the esophageal orifice underwent successful curative, larynx-preserving esophagectomy with the following additional techniques: incision of the cricopharyngeus muscle, lifting of the trachea and larynx, and rotation of the larynx to the left. Regarding surgical complications, 4 patients had temporary recurrent nerve paralysis with aspiration pneumonia and 1 patient had minor anastomotic leakage. Conclusion The combination of chemoradiotherapy and esophagectomy with a larynx-preserving technique is a useful treatment strategy for upper cervical esophageal carcinoma in terms of both definitive treatment and QOL.

Solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) of the pancreas has generally been regarded as a low-grade malignant tumour that preferentially develops in young women and can have a good prognosis with surgery. Among the few patients who have died from metastatic SPN are mostly those whose tumours harbour an undifferentiated component characterized by diffuse sheets of cells with increased nuclear atypia and proliferative index. We herein report a case of an aggressive, fatal, solid pseudopapillary neoplasm (SPN) of the pancreas in a 63-year-old woman complaining of epigastric pain. Despite having undergone surgical resection for a 10 cm pancreatic mass and multiple liver metastases, the patient later died due to uncontrollable metastases 36 months after the initial surgery. Histological examination showed that the tumour displayed unusual high-grade malignant features, showing diffuse sheets of cells with increased nuclear atypia and proliferative activity, along with conventional low-grade malignant features. The tumour was subsequently recognized as an SPN with foci of high-grade malignant transformation according to the 2010 World Health Organization classification. Immunohistochemical studies revealed that p16-RB pathway alterations contributed to the high-grade malignant transformation. The present case report suggests the necessity for developing diagnostic and treatment methods targeting p16 and RB for high-grade variants of SPN.

Aim This study investigated the immunohistochemical expression of retinoblastoma (RB) protein and p16 protein in 10 neuroendocrine carcinomas (NECs), in comparison to two mixed-type NECs; 28 squamous cell carcinomas (SCCs), and 12 carcinosarcomas (CSs) from patients with esophageal cancer. Materials and methods Immunohistochemical staining was performed using the avidin-biotin complex detection method. The staining was evaluated as diffusely positive, heterogeneous (in 5-95% of tumor cells), or diffusely negative. Results The combination of a diffuse loss of RB and the diffuse overexpression of p16, which is found in highly aggressive malignant tumors and is considered to convincingly suggest changes in the p16-RB pathway, was found in all NECs (10/10). In contrast no mixed-type NECs, one SCC and one CS showed this finding. Coexisting intraepithelial carcinoma was detected in seven NECs and only one lesion showed the combination of diffuse RB loss and p16 overexpression. Conclusion These data suggest that changes in the p16-RB pathway were universally and specifically involved in the development and invasion of esophageal NECs and that it may be a useful diagnostic marker and a potential therapeutic target.

The WHO 2010 classification divides gastrointestinal neuroendocrine neoplasms (GI-NENs) into neuroendocrine tumor (NET) G1, NET G2, neuroendocrine carcinoma (NEC) and mixed adenoendocrine carcinoma (MANEC) groups. A total of 136 cases of GI-NENs diagnosed at our hospitals as gastrointestinal carcinoids, endocrine cell carcinomas and NENs over the last 11 years, using the WHO 2010 classification were assessed. Among the 136 cases, 88.2% (120/136) were classified into the NET group (NET G1/G2) and 11.8% (16/136) were classified into the NEC group (NEC/MANEC). The incidences of lymphatic and venous invasions were higher in the NEC group compared with in the NET group (P