Cytokeratins 7, 17, and 20 reactivity in pancreatic and ampulla of vater adenocarcinomas. Percentage of positivity and distribution is affected by the cut-point threshold. (25/323)

We studied reactivity of cytokeratins (CK) 7, 17, and 20 in 64 pancreaticobiliary adenocarcinomas to examine the effect of different cut-point thresholds on "positive" results, compare ampulla of Vater and pancreas adenocarcinomas, and provide additional experience with CK17 reactivity. Almost all neoplasms had extensive CK7 reactivity. The number of CK20-positive cases decreased from 29 (45%; any stained cells) to 19 (30%; > 25% staining) to 14 (22%; > 50% staining) with an increasing threshold of reactive cells. Similar shifts in the distribution of CK7 and CK20 reactivity occurred when different thresholds of reactivity were used for a positive result. There were no differences in CK7 or CK20 reactivity in pancreas only, ampulla only, and neoplasms involving both sites. Of 64 adenocarcinomas, 29 (45%) had no or single-cell CK17 reactivity, and 19 (30%) had reactivity in more than 50% of neoplastic cells. Ampulla of Vater and pancreas adenocarcinomas have similar CK immunophenotypes that cannot assist in distinguishing ampullary from pancreatic neoplasms on endoscopically procured tissue. CK17 staining occurs in approximately 50% of pancreaticobiliary adenocarcinomas and is usually patchy. Single antibody staining results, especially CK7 and CK20 coordinate reactivity, are influenced by the reactivity threshold used.  (+info)

Late development of bile duct cancer in patients who had biliary-enteric drainage for benign disease: a follow-up study of more than 1,000 patients. (26/323)

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the correlation between biliary-enteric surgical drainage and the late development of cholangiocarcinoma of the biliary tract. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: In patients with biliary-enteric drainage, reflux of intestinal contents into the bile duct may occur and cause cholangitis, which is regarded as the most serious complication of these procedures. Lithiasis of the biliary tract and a previous biliary-enteric anastomosis have both been suggested to favor the late onset of cholangiocarcinoma. METHODS: Consecutive patients (n = 1,003) undergoing three different procedures of biliary-enteric anastomosis (transduodenal sphincteroplasty, choledochoduodenostomy, and hepaticojejunostomy) between 1967 and 1997 were included in this study. The postoperative clinical course and long-term outcome were evaluated by a retrospective review of the hospital records and follow-up. Mean follow-up was 129.6 months. RESULTS: Fifty-five (5.5%) cases of primary bile duct cancer were found among the 1,003 patients at intervals of 132 to 218 months from biliary-enteric anastomosis. The incidence of cholangiocarcinoma in the three groups was 5.8% in transduodenal sphincteroplasty patients, 7.6% in choledochoduodenostomy patients, and 1.9% in hepaticojejunostomy patients. The incidence of malignancy related to the different underlying diagnosis was 5.9%, 7.2%, and 1.9% in patients with choledocholithiasis, sphincter of Oddi stenosis, and postoperative benign stricture, respectively. Although only one patient who developed cholangiocarcinoma had previous concurrent lithiasis of the biliary tract, 40 patients had experienced mostly severe, recurrent cholangitis. No case of malignancy occurred in patients scored as having no cholangitis in the early and long-term postoperative outcome. Univariate and multivariate analyses have shown the presence of cholangitis as the only factor affecting the incidence of cholangiocarcinoma. CONCLUSIONS: Chronic inflammatory changes consequent to biliary-enteric drainage should be closely monitored for the late development of biliary tract malignancies.  (+info)

Ampullary adenocarcinoma in neurofibromatosis type 1. Case report and literature review. (27/323)

Periampullary tumors in patients affected by Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF-1) are usually carcinoids or stromal tumors and, rarely, adenocarcinomas. We report a case of an adenocarcinoma of the ampulla of Vater in a 54-year-old woman with NF-1 admitted to the hospital with jaundice and undergoing pancreato-duodenectomy. Histologically, the resected specimen showed an adenocarcinoma of the ampulla as being a part of a complex atypical epithelial proliferation extended from the papilla to the mucosa of the duodenum and distal choledochus, islet-cell adenomatosis of the pancreas and multiple gastric, duodenal, jejunal stromal tumors. The ampullary and periampullary adenocarcinomas in NF-1 patients have peculiar features, suggesting a widespread predisposition to cancer development in periampullary tissues and requiring widely demolitive surgery. Moreover, they occur at a younger age than those occurring in non-NF-1 patients, may be associated with additional periampullary epithelial tumors, are often operable and may present long survival.  (+info)

Utility of staging laparoscopy in subsets of peripancreatic and biliary malignancies. (28/323)

OBJECTIVE: To determine the relative benefit of staging laparoscopy in peripancreatic and biliary malignancies. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Staging laparoscopy has been used in a variety of peripancreatic and biliary malignancies. The utility of the technique in subsets of these types of cancer has not been systematically compared. METHODS: One hundred fifty-seven patients underwent laparoscopy after conventional tumor staging; 89 were also staged with laparoscopic ultrasonography. Diagnostic categories were cancer of the pancreatic head and uncinate process, cancer of the body and tail of pancreas, cancer of the extrahepatic bile duct, cancer of the gallbladder, and cancer of the ampulla of Vater/duodenum. RESULTS: In patients with cancer of the head of the pancreas, metastatic disease or vascular invasion was discovered frequently by laparoscopy (31%), whereas in ampullary/duodenal cancer it was never found. The laparoscopic findings in cancer of the head of the pancreas had an important influence on treatment decisions, whereas in cancer of the ampulla/duodenum, laparoscopy had no effect on clinical decisions. Laparoscopy also substantially influenced the treatment of gallbladder cancer; in other tumor types, results were intermediate. Laparoscopic ultrasonography was valuable in cancer of the head of the pancreas. CONCLUSIONS: The utility of staging laparoscopy depends on diagnosis. It is recommended for continued use in pancreatic head and gallbladder cancers but not in ampullary malignancies.  (+info)

Detailed deletion mapping on chromosome region 9p21 in human periampullary neoplasms. (29/323)

OBJECTIVE: To further define the extent of chromosome 9p21 deletion in periampullary neoplasms. METHODS: The loss of heterozygosity at 5 microsatellite polymorphic markers on chromosome 9p21 was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) and silver staining in 35 specimens of periampullary neoplasms and their matching blood samples. RESULTS: Fifty percent (4/8) of pancreatic cancer cases showed the loss of heterozygosity at one or more microsatellite loci, with the more frequent sites of D9S974 (37.5%) and D9S942 (28.6%), and some showing consecutive allelic loss. Sixty-two point five percent (5/8) of ampullary carcinoma cases showed loss of heterozygosity at one or more of the loci, frequent site of loss being D9S942 (42.9%) and the next most frequent being IFNA (37.5%) and D9S171 (37.5%). Loss of one locus was observed in 14.2% (1/7) of insulinoma. CONCLUSION: The minimal common region of chromosome deletion in periampullary neoplasms is defined between the D9S974 and D9S942 loci within a 15 kb interval in 9p21, suggesting the involvement of a novel tumor suppressor gene in their carcinogenesis.  (+info)

Carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater associated with other organ malignancies. (30/323)

Because of its location with respect to the biliary system, carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater is considered to manifest earlier in its course of development than carcinoma of the pancreas. The most common physical finding is jaundice, which occurs in 93-100% of cases [1,2]. This retrospective study describes the results of the treatment and prognosis for double primary cancers in which cancer of the ampulla of Vater was associated with malignancies in other organs in 5 patients who were diagnosed and treated at Kurume University Hospital. The patients included 5 men with an average age of 72.8 years. There were 3 synchronous double and 2 metachronous double cancer patients. Regarding prognoses of these patients, 1 patient with associated lung cancer died because of postoperative complications after pneumonectomy, 1 patient died due to carcinomatosa peritonei developing from the ampulla Vater carcinoma, and 1 patient died because of metastatic liver tumors from the ampullary carcinoma. In multiple cancers including ampulla Vater carcinoma, gastrointestinal cancers such as gastric or colon cancer occur frequently. Therefore, a careful gastrointestinal examination should be done preoperatively. We report our experience with 5 cases of ampullary carcinoma associated with malignancies in other organs and review the literature.  (+info)

Is endosonography an effective method for detection and local staging of the ampullary carcinoma? A prospective study. (31/323)

BACKGROUND: The relatively rare carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater is a neoplasia with a good prognosis compared to pancreatic cancer. Preoperative staging is important in planning the most suitable surgical intervention. AIM: To prospectively evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of Endoscopic Ultrasonography (EUS) in comparison with conventional US and CT scan, in staging of patients with ampullary carcinoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 20 patients (7 women and 13 men) with histologically proven carcinoma of the ampulla of Vater were assessed by EUS, CT scan and US. Results were compared to surgical findings. RESULTS: Endoscopic biopsies were diagnostic in 76% of the patients. Detection of ampullary cancer with US and CT scan was 15% and 20% respectively. Only indirect signs of the disease were identified in the majority of cases using these methods. Overall accuracy of EUS in detection of ampullary tumours was 100%. The EUS was significantly (p < 0.001) superior than US and CT scan in ampullary carcinoma detection. Tumour size, tumour extension and the existence of metastatic lymph nodes were also identified and EUS proved to be very useful for the preoperative classification both for the T and the N components of the TNM staging of this neoplasia. The diagnostic accuracy for tumour extension (T) was 82% and for detection of metastatic lymph nodes (N) was 71%. CONCLUSION: EUS is more accurate in detecting ampullary cancer than US and CT scan. Tumor extension and locally metastatic lymph nodes are more accurately assessed by means of EUS than with other imaging methods.  (+info)

Common occurrence of multiple K-RAS mutations in pancreatic cancers with associated precursor lesions and in biliary cancers. (32/323)

Recent studies on small series of pancreatic cancer (PC) with foci of pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia (PanIN), a putative precursor lesion, have shown that multiple K-RAS mutations may coexist in the same neoplastic pancreas. To see whether mutant-K-RAS polyclonality is a common and specific feature of pancreatic carcinogenesis, we investigated a unselected series of periampullary cancers (41 pancreatic, 13 biliary and two ampullary adenocarcinomas). After hemi-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR), mutations identified with single strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) were confirmed by allele-specific PCR and sequencing. K-RAS codon 12 was mutated in 34 (83%) pancreatic cancers and in 11 (85%) biliary cancers. Multiple distinct K-RAS mutations were found in 16 PC (39% of all cases, 47% of those with mutated K-RAS) and in eight biliary cancers (62 and 72%, respectively). In PC, multiple K-RAS mutations were more frequent (P<0.001) in cancers with (nine of 12, 75%) than in those without detectable PanIN (seven of 29, 24%). Individual precursor lesions of the same neoplastic pancreas were found to harbor distinct mutations. Results show that multiple K-RAS mutations are frequent both in PC with associated PanIN and in biliary cancers, and indicate that clonally distinct precursor lesions of PC might variably contribute to tumor development.  (+info)