title: Cytological evaluation of the effects of chemotherapy on metastatic liver cancer.
abstract: We present a method for the cytological evaluation of the therapeutic effects of various treatments on unresectable metastasis in the liver from colorectal cancer. A degeneration index (DI) for cancer cells obtained by aspiration was determined in 17 patients before and after treatment. The relationships of the rate of tumor reduction and of the post-treatment survival period to the treatment-induced changes in DI were studied. The treatment-induced change in DI was represented by the difference between the pretreatment DI and the posttreatment DI. The treatment-induced change in DI was significantly correlated with the rate of tumor reduction (r = 0.794, P < 0.001). The survival rate was significantly higher in patients with higher changes in DI than in patients with lower changes (P < 0.05). The change in the DI of cancer cells seems to be a useful parameter for evaluating the effects of chemotherapy on unresectable liver metastases from colorectal cancer.
authors.affiliation: First Department of Surgery, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hirooka
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hamazoe
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Shiota
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nishie
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamaguchi
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kaibara
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000473:pathology; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000556:secondary; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009336:Necrosis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed