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Background: A definitive combined modality therapy superior to surgery alone has not yet been found for esophageal cancer. This retrospective study investigated the impact of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in patients who underwent curative (R0) esophagectomy with radical lymphadenectomy. Study Design: Two hundred and eleven patients with a squamous cell carcinoma in the thoracic esophagus who underwent transthoracic curative (R0) esophagectomy with radical lymphadenectomy, such as 3-field lymphadenectomy or total 2-field lymphadenectomy, between 1988 and 2000, were retrospectively reviewed. Ninety-four patients received postoperative chemotherapy - 2 courses of cisplatin (CDDP) plus fluorouracil (5-FU) or vindesine (VDS) - while the other 117 patients received surgery alone. The overall survival rate was compared between the two groups after being stratified by the numbers of the metastasis- positive lymph nodes. Results: Only in the subgroup of patients with 8 or more lymph nodes metastasis- positive, the surgery-with-postoperative-chemotherapy group had a significantly better survival than the surgery-alone group. No significant difference was found in survival between the two groups in any other stratified subgroup. Conclusions: Postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy following curative (R0) esophagectomy with radical lymphadenectomy such as 3-field lymphadenectomy or total 2-field lymphadenectomy provided a benefit only in patients having metastasis in a large number - 8 or more - lymph nodes. Copyright © 2003 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

: BackgroundAlthough several lines of recent studies fail to demonstrate the beneficial action of calcium antagonists, a novel dihydropyridine efonidipine, which possesses dilatory action of both afferent and efferent arterioles and, therefore, shares the renal microvascular action with angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, is reported to exhibit renal protection in experimental animals.: MethodsThe present study evaluated the effect of efonidipine and ACE inhibitors on blood pressure (BP) and proteinuria. Sixty-eight hypertensive patients with renal impairment (serum creatinine, >1.5 mg/dL) or chronic renal parenchymal disease were randomly assigned to efonidipine or ACE inhibitor treatment. Of the 68 patients, 23 were treated with efonidipine and 20 with ACE inhibitors; these patients were analyzed for the 48-week study.: ResultsBoth efonidipine and ACE inhibitors produced a similar degree of reductions in BP (efonidipine, from 161 ± 2/93 ± 2 to 142 ± 5/82 ± 2 mm Hg; ACE inhibitor, from 163 ± 3/95 ± 2 to 141 ± 5/83 ± 2 mm Hg), and maintained creatinine clearance for 48 weeks. Proteinuria tended to decrease in both groups, and a significant reduction was observed in proteinuric patients (>1 g/day) (efonidipine, from 2.7 ± 0.3 to 2.1 ± 0.3 g/day; ACE inhibitor, from 3.0 ± 0.4 to 2.0 ± 0.5 g/day). Of interest, efonidipine decreased proteinuria in proteinuric patients who failed to manifest decreases in systemic BP. Finally, the incidence of adverse effects, including hyperkalemia and cough, was less in the efonidipine-treated group.: ConclusionsBoth efonidipine and ACE inhibitors preserved renal function in hypertensive patients with renal impairment. The antiproteinuric effect was apparent in patients with greater proteinuria. The beneficial action of efonidipine, along with fewer side effects, may favor the use of this agent in the treatment of hypertension with renal impairment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

People who the editors-in-chief would like to thank for acting as manuscript reviewers for previous issues of the journal are presented.

People that the author would like to thank for their assistance in the creation of the book are mentioned.

The article presents an index of manuscript reviewers of the periodical "Psychiatry and Clinical Neurosciences" for 2005.