Biomedical subjects

T C Wei

Publications and source records attributed to T C Wei.

76 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMedDate not supplied

Survival after resection of gastric cancer and prognostic relevance of systematic lymph node dissection: twenty years experience in Taiwan.

A retrospective study of 954 resectable gastric cancers in a single institute of Taiwan from 1971 to 1990 was performed to evaluate improvements in gastric cancer surgery. The patients were divided into four time periods representing an overall experience of progressive implementation of aggressive resection and increased extent of systematic lymph node dissection. The clinicopathologic data and survival rates were statistically compared and the significance of the extent of resection on survival analyzed. A significant increase in the proportion of upper one-third tumors (from 14.8% to 20.4%) and a decrease in the incidence of intestinal type (73.6% to 41.5%) was found within the overall period. The proportion of patients with early gastric cancer increased from 11.5% to 19.4%. Patients who underwent total gastrectomy and combined visceral resection increased from 13.7% to 27.4% and 19.8% to 41.1%, respectively. An increase of both total dissected lymph node number and the incidence of detected lymph node metastases in early gastric cancer were associated with more extensive lymphadenectomy. An improved 5-year survival rate following aggressive resection was found for all stages except stage IV and T4 lesions, and the surgical mortality decreased from 5.5% to 2.0%. Patients with earlier stage lesions benefited more from radical resection, especially those with stage II and T2 lesions. Systematic lymph node dissection increased the 5-year survival of patients by about 10% for stage III or T3 lesions but not for patients with stage IV or T4 lesions. Multivariate analysis confirmed the significance of the improved technique of lymphadenectomy on the prognosis of gastric cancer following resection in Taiwan.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Age-related shift in brain region activity during successful memory performance.

Coregistered positron emission tomography (PET)/magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to characterize brain function in 70 volunteers, aged 20-87 years, during a verbal memory task. Frontal activity showed an age-related decline that remained significant after statistical control for sulcal atrophy. Analyses of young and old subgroups matched for memory scores revealed that young good performers activated frontal regions, whereas old good performers relied on occipital regions. Although activating different cortical regions, good performers of all ages used the same cognitive strategy semantic clustering. Age-related functional change may reflect dynamic re-allocation in a network of brain areas, not merely anatomically fixed neuronal loss or diminished capacity to perform.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Lymph node metastases in gastric cancer: significance of positive number.

To investigate the significance of the number of node metastases in gastric cancer and its relationship to traditional anatomical classification, 305 patients who underwent a radical gastrectomy and extended lymphadenectomy (R3/4) with curative intent were reviewed. Lymph node metastases was found in 191 (62.6%) patients. The incidence of lymph node metastases was closely related to the depth of cancer invasion as well as the extent of lymph node group involvement. The frequency of metastases in different lymph node locations was related to the location of the primary tumor. The 3-year survival rates for patients with node involvement and without were 42.1 and 92.3%, respectively. In node number analysis, the distribution of the N1 group and the N4 group involvement was rather characteristic and could be predicted from a node number < 4 or > 12. The predictability of N2 and N3 involvement from node numbers 4-8 and 9-12 was less satisfactory. On the whole, patients with a metastatic node number < 4 could be considered to be N1 and had a relative good prognosis. Patients with node number 4-10 could be considered as N2 and > 10 as an incurable disease with distant metastases. Both had a poor prognosis. The data suggest that lymph node number represents the biologic behavior of cancer instead of the anatomic consideration of conventional N stage. The number of metastatic lymph node number is a good prognostic indicator with similar predicting power as the conventional node stage.

Adult↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Experiences in surgical management of cavernous hemangioma of the liver.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: Observation is usually recommended for managing patients with cavernous hemangioma of the liver. To assess the indications for surgical management, we make a retrospective analysis. PATIENTS AND METHODS: There were 14 patients with cavernous hemangioma of the liver who were surgically treated in National Taiwan University Hospital from 1984 to 1993. RESULTS: The surgical indications included uncertain diagnosis in 10 patients, progressive tumor enlargement in two, symptomatic tumor in one and subcapsular bleeding in one. The tumors were 2-15 cm in diameter and the median was 6 cm. The operation procedures included atypical hepatectomy in 6 patients, lateral segmentectomy in 4, right lobectomy in one, extended right lobectomy in one and open biopsy in two. There was no mortality. Wound infection occurred in one patient. The average blood transfusion was 0.79 unit (range: 0-3 units)(1 unit=500 ml). The postoperative hospital stay was 13.2 days (range: 10-18 days). CONCLUSION: Surgical management of cavernous hemangioma of the liver is safe.

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