Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0027627 (metastases)
 103,950 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

HCC occurs infrequently in Western countries, with recent increases being reported in California and parts of Europe. Southeast Asia, Japan, and South Africa continue to have a high incidence of this tumor with HBV, cirrhosis, and the ingestion of aflatoxins being identified as probable risk factors. Although the majority of patients present with abdominal pain or mass indicative of extensive tumor, asymptomatic, small HCCs are being detected with increasing frequency. Early detection in high-risk individuals is best accomplished by screening with serum AFP determinations and liver ultrasonography. CT and arteriography are valuable preoperatively in defining anatomy and determining resectability. Five-year survival following resection for cure of HCC ranges from 20 to 40 per cent, with improved survival reported for small asymptomatic tumors. Resection of metastatic liver tumors from colorectal primaries results in 48 per cent 2-year and 24 per cent 5-year survivals, with an additional 5 per cent dying of recurrent cancer after 5 years. Although patients with simultaneous and metachronous metastases do equally well after resection, the presence of four or more individual deposits adversely affects survival. Hepatic artery ligation or embolization can produce a significant palliative reduction in total tumor mass in patients with unresectable liver metastases. Regional chemotherapy using implantable hepatic artery drug infusion pumps is promising, with reports of prolonged survival compared with historical controls. Regional hyperthermia, laser vaporization of tumor, and cryosurgical techniques may prove to have useful roles in the selective treatment of liver cancer in the future. Orthotopic liver transplantation has been successful primarily in those in whom the malignancy is found incidentally in the chronically diseased liver.
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PMID:Malignant tumors of the liver. 242 9

The 20-year period since the discovery of AFP by Abelev has seen the introduction of a wide range of new tumour markers and it is now clear that PLC is biologically heterogeneous. Hepatoblastomas, fibrolamellar carcinomas, hepatocellular carcinomas and cholangiocarcinomas may secrete a variety of distinctive markers which are predominantly glycoproteins, and may resemble those found in placenta or fetal liver. Diagnostically, AFP remains the best marker for HCC, both in sensitivity and specificity; it is known to consist of isoforms. In patients with elevated serum AFP and filling defects on liver scan, Con A reactive AFP may differentiate PLC from hepatic metastases, whilst fucosylated AFP may distinguish PLC from benign disorders when AFP is non-diagnostically elevated. With this recognition of tumour heterogeneity the value of a multiple-marker approach has become apparent. The measurement of vitamin B12 binding protein and neurotensin should lead to the detection of most patients with the fibrolamellar variant of HCC and many of these should be resectable. In patients with normal serum AFP levels, HCC-associated GGTP is of major value whilst in low-incidence areas for HCC, patients should also be screened for H-ALP; using a multiple marker approach in high-risk groups, 90% of clinically diagnosed hepatocellular carcinomas are serologically positive. The Chinese and Alaskan studies, in which small, potentially resectable tumours were detected, suggest that it is now possible to achieve 5-year survival figures of up to 60% in HCC patients detected by screening. The value of such a strategy in low-incidence countries is currently under study. In patient monitoring, as in diagnosis, AFP remains the outstanding marker. In AFP-negative patients, other markers including vitamin B12-binding protein, neurotensin, HCC-specific isoenzymes, des-gamma-carboxy-prothrombin and alpha-fucosidase, are of undoubted diagnostic value, but their value as indicants of disease progression remains to be established. In monitoring the response of hepatic metastases, CEA remains the least unsatisfactory marker but should always be used in conjunction with serial ultrasound scans. Tumour markers now play an important role in the diagnosis and monitoring of PLC but a role is also emerging in tumour imaging and drug targeting. The next 20 years should see the introduction of tumour markers of high sensitivity and specificity which make a fundamental contribution not only to detection and monitoring, but also to the effective treatment of liver cancer.
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PMID:Tumour markers in diagnosis and management. 243 83

Distant metastases occur in 50% of cases of HCC. Bones are involved in 11% with the spine as the most important localization. In the reported case a tumorous mass in the liver, suspicious for HCC according to clinical and cytological criteria, was proved to be malignant by the cytologic examination of a metastasis to the sacrum.
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PMID:[Fine needle puncture cytology in metastatic hepatocellular carcinoma]. 254 52

Serum thyroxine was significantly higher in 59 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma than in normal subjects, patients with uncomplicated cirrhosis (48), or other primary tumours with or without hepatic metastases (50). Elevated thyroxine levels appeared attributable to high levels of thyroxine binding globulin which showed a positive linear correlation with serum thyroxine in all groups studied. Despite this hyperthyroxinaemia all patients appeared clinically euthyroid and, consistent with this, T3 was elevated in only one patient and the free thyroxine index was normal in all. Amongst a group of 25 cirrhotic patients who were followed-up for between 12 and 72 months, there was a striking dissociation between the TBG values of those destined to develop HCC and those who did not. In the former group TBG rose steadily with time whereas in the latter group levels remained stable, or, more often, fell. The rises in TBG occurred prior to any clinical signs of tumour development and may be one of the earliest serological changes to occur during carcinogenesis in the cirrhotic liver.
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PMID:Hyperthyroxinaemia in hepatocellular carcinoma: relation to thyroid binding globulin in the clinical and preclinical stages of the disease. 283 1

Seven cases of hepatocellular carcinoma (hepatoma) (HCC) presenting as primary extrahepatic masses on CT are reported. All cases were diagnosed at the time of percutaneous biopsy, surgical resection, or autopsy. In none of the cases was the final diagnosis of HCC prospectively suspected on the basis of clinical and radiologic findings. Although three of the patients were at higher risk for development of HCC because of their medical histories, the absence of an elevated serum alpha-fetoprotein level and the extrahepatic location of the masses by CT suggested other disease. This variable pattern of radiologic presentation of HCC should be kept in mind during the evaluation of patients with suspected HCC, or when the findings on abdominal/pelvic CT of mass and presumed hepatic metastases are at variance with the clinical presentation.
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PMID:Hepatocellular carcinoma presenting as primary extrahepatic mass on CT. 300 40

Cure of primary liver tumours remains possible only by surgery and early diagnosis will therefore continue to be important; the value of regular screening of cirrhotic patients for development of HCC by ultrasound scanning and estimation of AFP is now established. Prognosis of irresectable HCC depends largely on the general condition of the patient at the time of diagnosis and is better in the absence of cirrhosis. Radiotherapy has little role in the management of patients with HCC, but benefit with acceptable morbidity may be obtained from parenteral chemotherapy, with doxorubicin or its derivatives used as single agents, or with a combination of 5-FU and methyl-CCNU. There may be advantage from regional therapy given via the hepatic artery and early results from the combination of embolization with arterial doxorubicin are encouraging. The use of radiolabelled antibodies to tumour-related determinants of hormonal manipulation show promise. Worthwhile results from the non-surgical management of peripheral (intrahepatic) cholangiocarcinoma and primary hepatic sarcoma remain scarce. Isolated hepatic metastases from colorectal primaries may be resectable; for those that are not, results from regional chemotherapy with 5-FU or FUDR are encouraging, but cost and high morbidity currently limit more general application.
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PMID:Chemotherapy and radiotherapy of malignant hepatic tumours. 303 57

This study was aimed at assessing the accuracy of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) in the characterization of focal liver masses. We prospectively examined 51 patients with focal liver masses: the morphological features were investigated with different pulse sequences and the functional characteristics were studied after the i.v. administration of Gd-DTPA (2 mmol/kg). MR findings were compared with those of gold standard methods, i.e., percutaneous biopsy, surgery or, for hemangiomas, 99mTc-labelled blood cell liver scintigraphy. All hemangiomas presented with typical features: signal intensity was very high on long TE images (> 140 msec) and a globular enhancement pattern, with centripetal progression, was observed after dynamic studies. This signal pattern on T2-weighted images is highly indicative of hemangioma. Five of 7 focal nodular hyperplasias (71%) were isointense with hepatic parenchyma on all pulse sequences; the central scar was observed in 5/7 cases on short TR/TE images and in all cases on long TR/TE images in 16/17 cases (94%). High signal intensity on T1-weighted images was statistically significant for HCC. A pseudocapsule was observed in 12 cases (70%). A mosaic pattern on T2-weighted images was observed in 3 cases. Seventy-four per cent of HCCs exhibited signal enhancement during the arterial phase of the dynamic study. Metastases presented a uniform pattern, i.e., they were hypointense on T1-weighted and hyperintense on T2-weighted images in 12/13 cases (92%). A central hypointense area on T2-weighted images is indicative of coagulative necrosis. A lesion with these morphological features and hypovascular signal is suggestive of metastasis.
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PMID:[The tissue characterization of focal liver lesions with magnetic resonance imaging]. 750 30

The clinical tolerability and diagnostic value of Resovist as a new superparamagnetic iron oxide contrast medium was studied in 30 patients with malignant focal liver lesions (28 metastases, 2 HCC) within a phase II multicenter study. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed at 1.0 Tesla with T1-weighted FLASH- and T2-weighted spin echo sequences before and following intravenous injection of Resovist at three different dose groups (4, 8 and 16 mumol Fe/kg). Liver signal intensity was significantly reduced on post-contrast images, while malignant focal liver lesions showed no signal changes. Resovist improved tumor liver contrast and lesion-conspicuity, especially for lesions smaller than 1 cm. The dose of 8 mumol Fe/kg was sufficient to achieve diagnostic tumor-liver contrast. Compared to images directly after injection, the number of detected lesions did not improve until 70 min later. There were no significant changes in vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure) or laboratory values until 72 h post-injection.
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PMID:[New super-paramagnetic iron particles for MRI. Phase II study of malignant liver tumors]. 756 92

In the present study, repeated hepatic dearterialization combined with intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy was performed in patients with unresectable tumors of the liver. Of 36 patients, 16 had primary liver tumors (13 hepatocellular carcinomas and 3 cholangiocellular carcinomas), while 20 had metastatic tumors (7 gastric carcinomas, 10 colon carcinomas, 2 pancreatic carcinomas, and 1 gastric carcinoid). A significantly better survival outcome was found in those with intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy and those without cirrhosis. In the HCC cases, those with the therapy tended to show a better survival as compared with the natural history. Remarkable tumor regression was found in four (67%) of six patients with metastases of gastric cancer.
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PMID:[Efficacy of repeated hepatic dearterialization combined with intra-arterial infusion chemotherapy for unresectable tumors of the liver]. 757 66

We present two cases of patients experiencing needle track seeding after undergoing percutaneous ethanol injection therapy (PEIT) for small hepatocellular carcinoma, who were treated by surgical resection of the metastases. One patient demonstrated metastatic tumors due to needle track seeding 6 months after the beginning of PEIT (a total of 7 injection sessions for 2 tumors measuring < 20 mm in diameters), whereas the other developed a metastatic tumor 20 months after beginning PEIT (a total of 30 injection sessions for 3 tumors measuring < 20 mm in diameter). In the two cases, both the primary and metastatic tumors histologically revealed moderately differentiated hepatocellular carcinoma. Moreover, the histological findings of the metastatic foci did not always appear to be more aggressive than those of the primary tumors. Therefore, in order to detect such metastasis as early as possible, more careful attention should be paid to the appearance of needle track seeding after performing PEIT for hepatocellular carcinoma, even if the target of such PEIT is small HCC.
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PMID:Needle track seeding after percutaneous ethanol injection therapy for small hepatocellular carcinoma. 772 74


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