(Press-News.org) Endoscopic biopsy of lymph nodes between the two lungs (mediastinum) is a sensitive and accurate technique that can replace mediastinal surgery for staging lung cancer in patients with potentially resectable tumours. Such were the conclusions of a prospective controlled trial conducted under Dr. Moishe Liberman, a researcher at the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) and an Associate Professor at the Université de Montréal. Moreover, the study showed that it is not necessary to perform surgery to confirm negative results obtained through the endoscopic approach during the pre-operative evaluation of patients with this type of cancer. This discovery has many advantages for both the patients and the health-care system.
Endoscopic biopsy of the lymph nodes is a minimally invasive, non-surgical intervention that has recently begun to be used to stage lung cancer. The study conducted by Dr. Liberman's team involved 166 patients with confirmed or suspected non small cell lung cancer, and was designed to compare the new approach to surgical staging under general anesthesia, as prescribed in current guidelines for this type of cancer. The findings, which were recently published in CHEST Journal, the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians, show that the endoscopy approach is not only sensitive and accurate, but also leads to improved staging compared to surgical staging due to its ability to biopsy lymph nodes and metastases not attainable with surgical techniques.
Research protocol
All patients underwent endobronchial ultrasound (EBUS), endoscopic ultrasound (EUS) and surgical mediastinal staging (SMS) during a single procedure. Each subject served as his or her own control. The results of the EBUS, EUS and combined EBUS/EUS were compared to SMS (gold standard) results and, in patients with negative lymph node staging, to lymph node sampling at pulmonary resection.
INFORMATION:
About the study :
"Endosonographic Mediastinal Lymph Node Staging of Lung Cancer" was presented at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on May 20, 2013, and appeared in CHEST Journal, the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians. http://journal.publications.chestnet.org/article.aspx?articleid=1840302
About Moishe Liberman, MD, PhD :
Dr. Liberman is the Director of the Endoscopic Tracheobronchial and Oesophageal Center (CETOC), Division of Thoracic Surgery, at the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM). A researcher at the CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM), he is also an Associate Professor in the Department of Surgery at the Université de Montréal and holds the Marcel and Rolande Gosselin Chair in Thoracic Surgical Oncology. His research is funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Society of University Surgeons, the Fonds de recherche en santé du Québec and the Thoracic Surgery Research Foundation of Montreal.
About the CRCHUM :
The CHUM Research Centre (CRCHUM) improves the health of adults through a high-quality academic research continuum which, by improving our understanding of etiological and pathogenic mechanisms, fosters the development, implementation and assessment of new preventive, diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. The CRCHUM provides a training environment to ensure the development of new generations of researchers committed to research excellence.
About the Université de Montréal :
Deeply rooted in Montreal and dedicated to its international mission, the Université de Montréal is one of the top universities in the French-speaking world. Founded in 1878, the Université de Montréal today has 16 faculties and together with its two affiliated schools, HEC Montréal and Polytechnique Montréal, constitutes the largest centre of higher education and research in Québec, the second largest in Canada, and one of the major centres in North America. It brings together 2,500 professors and researchers, accommodates more than 60,000 students, offers some 650 programs at all academic levels, and awards about 3,000 masters and doctorate diplomas each year.
Sources :
Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
Université de Montréal
Information :
Lucie Dufresne
Communication Advisor
Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM)
Phone: +1 514 890-8000, extension 15380
Pager: +1 514 860-7110
lucie.dufresne.chum@ssss.gouv.qc.ca
Benjamin Augereau
Press Attaché
Université de Montréal
Téléphone : +1 514 343-6796
benjamin.augereau@umontreal.ca
A minimally invasive, high-performance intervention for staging lung cancer
2014-09-04
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Breakthrough study identifies genetic link between the circadian clock and seasonal timing
2014-09-04
Researchers from the University of Leicester have for the first time provided experimental evidence for a genetic link between two major timing mechanisms, the circadian clock and the seasonal timer.
New research from the Tauber laboratory at the University of Leicester, which will be published in the academic journal PLOS Genetics on 4 September, has corroborated previous observations that flies developed under short days become significantly more cold-resistant compared with flies raised in long-days, suggesting that this response can be used to study seasonal photoperiodic ...
The yin and yang of overcoming cocaine addiction
2014-09-04
PITTSBURGH—Yaoying Ma says that biology, by nature, has a yin and a yang—a push and a pull.
Addiction, particularly relapse, she finds, is no exception.
Ma is a research associate in the lab of Yan Dong, assistant professor of neuroscience in the University of Pittsburgh's Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences. She is the lead author of a paper published online today in the journal Neuron that posits that it may be possible to ramp up an intrinsic anti-addiction response as a means to fight cocaine relapse and keep the wolves of relapse at bay.
This paper ...
A metallic alloy that is tough and ductile at cryogenic temperatures
2014-09-04
A new concept in metallic alloy design – called "high-entropy alloys" - has yielded a multiple-element material that not only tests out as one of the toughest on record, but, unlike most materials, the toughness as well as the strength and ductility of this alloy actually improves at cryogenic temperatures. This multi-element alloy was synthesized and tested through a collaboration of researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Lawrence Berkeley and Oak Ridge National Laboratories (Berkeley Lab and ORNL).
"We examined CrMnFeCoNi, a high-entropy alloy that contains ...
Rosetta-Alice spectrograph obtains first far ultraviolet spectra of a cometary surface
2014-09-04
Boulder, Colo. — Sept. 4, 2014 — NASA's Alice ultraviolet (UV) spectrograph aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet orbiter has delivered its first scientific discoveries. Rosetta, in orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, is the first spacecraft to study a comet up close.
As Alice began mapping the comet's surface last month, it made the first far ultraviolet spectra of a cometary surface. From these data, the Alice team discovered that the comet is unusually dark at ultraviolet wavelengths and that the comet's surface — so far — shows no large water-ice ...
Avian influenza virus isolated in harbor seals poses a threat to humans
2014-09-04
(MEMPHIS, Tenn. – September 4, 2014) A study led by St. Jude Children's Research Hospital scientists found the avian influenza A H3N8 virus that killed harbor seals along the New England coast can spread through respiratory droplets and poses a threat to humans. The research appears in the current issue of the scientific journal Nature Communications.
The avian H3N8 virus was isolated by scientists investigating the 2011 deaths of more than 160 harbor seals. Researchers discovered the virus had naturally acquired mutations in a key protein that previous laboratory research ...
2-D or 3-D? That is the question
2014-09-04
The increased visual realism of 3-D films is believed to offer viewers a more vivid and lifelike experience—more thrilling and intense than 2-D because it more closely approximates real life. However, psychology researchers at the University of Utah, among those who use film clips routinely in the lab to study patients' emotional conditions, have found that there is no significant difference between the two formats. The results were published recently in PLOS ONE.
The study aimed to validate the effectiveness of 3-D film, a newer technology, as compared to 2-D film that ...
Team identifies important regulators of immune cell response
2014-09-04
JUPITER, FL, September 4, 2014 - In a collaborative study, scientists from the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) and the La Jolla Institute for Allergy and Immunology have developed a more effective method to determine how immune cells called T cells differentiate into specialized types of cells that help eradicate infected cells and assist other immune cells during infection.
The new approach, published recently by the journal Immunity, could help accelerate laboratory research and the development of potential therapeutics, including vaccines. The ...
Knowing how bacteria take out trash could lead to new antibiotics
2014-09-04
AMHERST, Mass. – A collaborative team of scientists including biochemist Peter Chien at the University of Massachusetts Amherst has reconstructed how bacteria tightly control their growth and division, a process known as the cell cycle, by specifically destroying key proteins through regulated protein degradation.
Regulated protein degradation uses specific enzymes called energy dependent proteases to selective destroy certain targets. Because regulated protein degradation is critical for bacterial virulence and invasion, understanding how these proteases function should ...
Reacting to personal setbacks: Do you bounce back or give up?
2014-09-04
Sometimes when people get upsetting news – such as a failing exam grade or a negative job review – they decide instantly to do better the next time. In other situations that are equally disappointing, the same people may feel inclined to just give up.
How can similar setbacks produce such different reactions? It may come down to how much control we feel we have over what happened, according to new research from Rutgers University-Newark.
The study, published in the journal Neuron, also finds that when these setbacks occur, the level of control we perceive may even determine ...
Plant-based research at Penn prevents complication of hemophilia treatment in mice
2014-09-04
While healthy people have proteins in their blood called clotting factors that act quickly to plug wounds, hemophiliacs lack these proteins, making even minor bleeds difficult to stop.
The main treatment option for people with severe hemophilia is to receive regular infusions of clotting factor. But 20 to 30 percent of people who get these infusions develop antibodies, called inhibitors, against the clotting factor. Once these inhibitors develop, it can be very difficult to treat or prevent future bleeding episodes.
In a new study, researchers from the University of ...