desmoplastic, brachytherapy

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) can lead to the development of cholangiocarcinoma (CCA). The tumor may present as an intrahepatic focal cholangiocellular carcinoma but more often as a ductal infiltrating desmoplastic lesion. CCA is found synchronously with the diagnosis of PSC in 20-30% and within 1 year in 50%. During later follow-up, the yearly developmental rate of CCA is 0.5-1.5%. Most patients with PSC and CCA do not yet have cirrhosis but present with a severe stenosis at the hilum of the liver. This type of tumor is difficult to diagnose by imaging techniques...

Patients with a cholangiocarcinoma usually develop symptoms of biliary obstruction which dominate the course of their illness. At presentation, the diagnosis may be difficult to establish due to the desmoplastic nature of this tumor. Location and extent of the tumor, however, are more effectively evaluated by current radiologic techniques. Following these staging procedures, most patients are found to be unsuitable for curative resection. Therefore, establishing effective biliary drainage to relieve symptoms of obstruction becomes the most critical therapeutic goal in these patients...

BACKGROUND: Infiltrating lobular carcinomas (ILC) represent approximately 10% of all breast cancers. The literature is mixed regarding their prognosis when compared with infiltrating duct carcinomas (IDC). There are few data regarding the treatment of ILC with radiation therapy. METHODS: The clinical, pathologic, laboratory, and survival data of 161 patients with ILC were compared with the data of 1138 patients with IDC. RESULTS: ILCs were larger, more difficult to excise completely, and more difficult to diagnose clinically...

Pretreatment biopsies in 54 patients with Stage II and 37 patients with Stage III squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix were reviewed. The patients were all diagnosed, staged, and treated in a uniform manner in a single radiation therapy unit. The biopsies were scored for degree of keratinization, nuclear pleomorphism, frequency of mitoses, cell size, inflammation, desmoplastic pattern of invasion, and presence or absence of vascular infiltration by tumor. Regression analysis and comparative survivals were analyzed to identify histologic parameters of prognostic value...