[A Case of Intractable Pyogenic Spondylitis Due to Suture Failure and MRSA Infection Secondary to Surgery for Ascending Colon Cancer].

A 79-year-old man diagnosed with ascending colon cancer underwent laparoscopic right hemicolectomy(Stage Ⅱ). Postoperatively, suture failure occurred on Day 5 and was alleviated with conservative therapy. However, on Day 23, he was diagnosed with MRSA-induced sepsis with a body temperature of 39 °C. After administration of vancomycin, his general conditions stabilized, although intermittent low-grade fever and a high C-reactive protein(CRP)level persisted. Although the source of the infection could not be easily identified, he was diagnosed with suppurative spondylitis after lumbar MRI examination on Day 43. The CRP level was normalized with long-term administration of antibiotics and the symptoms were gradually improved with rehabilitation. The patient was discharged after approximately 4 months and could walk without assistance 8 months postoperatively. In this case, purulent spondylitis may have occurred via hematogenous infection due to the suture failure after surgery for ascending colon cancer. Purulent spondylitis is a relatively rare disease. However, it may lead to the patient requiring long-term treatment and cause serious sequelae. Therefore, it is important to keep this disease in mind when treating patients with postoperative fever of unknown origin or aggravating lower back pain.

[A Fatal Case of Meningeal Carcinomatosis in a Rectal Cancer Patient Diagnosed with Pathologic Complete Response after Neoadjuvant Chemoradiotherapy].

A 48-year-old man visited our hospital complaining of abdominal pain constipation and mucous bloody stool. He was diagnosed rectal cancer with remarkable local infiltration in the pelvic organs and no distant metastasis. The pathological diagnosis was poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma and signet ring cell carcinoma. He was administered neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy(45 Gy/30 Fr, S-1 100 mg/day 2-weeks administration, 1-week withdrawal)and underwent abdominal perineal rectal amputation. No cancer cells remained in the excised organs, so he was diagnosed with pathologic complete response(pCR). The serum CEA level decreased from 35.1 to 5.9 ng/mL at this point. Due to recurrence of peritoneal dissemination during postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy(CapeOX), the regimen was changed to FOLFIRI plus Pmab. After 4 courses of FOLFIRI plus Pmab, he complained dizziness and headache. Therefore, head computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging were performed. However, there were no abnormal findings. An evaluation of his cerebrospinal fluid resulted in a diagnosis of meningeal carcinomatosis by fluid cytology(adenocarcinoma/class Ⅴ). His medical condition worsened rapidly and he ultimately died 2.5 months after the onset of his headache. The serum CEA level ultimately reached 2,992.6 ng/mL. The patient had been deemed to have pCR following the administration of neoadjuvant chemoradiation and surgery. His serum CEA level had increased continuously during the early period of postoperative chemotherapy without any abdominal imaging or neurological findings. After the onset of the primary symptoms of meningeal carcinomatosis, his condition deteriorated rapidly. When we encounter patients with colorectal cancer, especially those with poorly differentiated adenocarcinoma, and a continuously increasing CEA level despite no remarkable findings, we should suspect meningeal carcinomatosis and perform further examinations, including sampling the cerebrospinal fluid.

Helicobacter pylori infection, but not mucosal atrophy, significantly affects serum pepsinogen level after gastric cancer surgery.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Helicobacter pylori (Hp) infection is frequently observed in the remnant stomach after gastric cancer surgery, and is considered to play one of the important roles in chronic mucosal inflammation and cancer development. METHODOLOGY: Serum pepsinogen (PG) levels were measured in one hundred and eight patients after gastrectomy performed because of gastric cancer. The correlation between PG levels and the grade of mucosal inflammation in the remnant stomach was investigated together with the status of Hp infection. RESULTS: No statistical difference in serum PG level was found according to the severity of reflux gastritis, or grade of mucosal atrophy. Significantly higher serum PG II level and lower PG I/II ratio were found in cases with histologically severe mucosal inflammation than in those without inflammation. In Hp positive cases, PG I level stayed constant while PG II level scored a significantly higher value than those of negative cases. As a result, PG I/II ratio became significantly lower in cases with Hp infection than in those without infection. CONCLUSIONS: Hp infection and active mucosal inflammation, but not bile reflux or mucosal atrophy, significantly affect on the serum PG level in patients with remnant stomach after gastric cancer surgery. Serum PG level was suggested to indicate the grade of acute and chronic Hp-related inflammation in those patients.

Is a lymph node detected by the dye-guided method a true sentinel node in gastric cancer?

PURPOSE: A sentinel node is defined as the initial lymph node, to which cancer cells metastasize from a primary tumor. Recently, sentinel node navigation surgery has been done using the dye-guided method. However, no study has shown that a lymph node detected by the dye-guided method is the true sentinel node from the viewpoint of micrometastasis. Micrometastases of lymph nodes, in which no metastasis was found by H&E staining, were examined to establish whether a lymph node detected by the dye-guided method is the true sentinel node. EXPERIMENTAL DESIGN: Isosulfan blue was injected endoscopically as the dye-guided method at a submucosal lesion of early gastric cancer. Total 345 lymph nodes, including 150 blue-dyed lymph nodes and 195 nondyed lymph nodes were collected from 57 patients and each was quartered. Two quarters were examined histologically by H&E staining and cytokeratin staining. The other specimens were used for quantitative reverse transcription-PCR of CEA and CK20 mRNAs. RESULTS: Lymph node disease was not found in any of 345 lymph nodes from the 57 patients by routine H&E staining. By contrast, either CEA or CK20 mRNA expression was detected in 21 of 345 lymph nodes obtained from the 10 (18%) of 57 patients by quantitative reverse transcription-PCR. Eight of the 21 micrometastasis-positive lymph nodes were confirmed to be positive for cytokeratin staining. Although micrometastasis of nondyed lymph nodes was found in three cases, these were included in the 10 cases with micrometastasis of blue-dyed nodes, such that there was no patient who only had micrometastasis in nondyed nodes. Six of 10 cases were micrometastasis-positive in a single node; all six were blue-dyed nodes. CONCLUSION: A lymph node detected by the dye-guided method should be a true sentinel node to which cancer cells metastasize initially.