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This review focuses on selected aspects of the relation between alcohol consumption and cancer risk. Heavy alcohol consumption (i.e., ≥4 drinks/day) is significantly associated with an increased risk of about 5-fold for oral and pharyngeal cancer and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, 2.5-fold for laryngeal cancer, 50% for colorectal and breast cancers, and 30% for pancreatic cancer. These estimates are based on a large number of epidemiological studies and are generally consistent across strata of several covariates. The evidence suggests that at low doses of alcohol consumption (i.e., ≤1 drink/day) the risk is also increased by about 20% for oral and pharyngeal cancer and 30% for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma. Thus, for these sites there is little evidence of a threshold effect. While consumption of fewer than 3 alcoholic drinks/wk is not associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, an intake of 3 to 6 drinks/wk might already yield a (small) increase in risk. On the other hand, intakes up to 1 drink/day are not associated to the risk of laryngeal, colorectal, and pancreatic cancer. The positive association between alcohol consumption and the risk of head and neck cancers is independent from tobacco exposure. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the radiologic findings with histological results of anatomically matched whole organ sections and to analyze the accuracy of pretherapeutic radiologic staging of glottic cancers. Methods: The histologic findings of surgical specimens of 30 patients who had undergone total or conservative partial laryngectomy for glottic cancers were matched and compared with the pretherapeutic radiologic findings using CT and MR imaging. The accuracy of pretherapeutic radiologic staging was assessed for specific subsites for staging of glottic cancers. Results: The overall accuracy of pretherapeutic staging with CT and MR imaging was 84.9%; 12.1% associated with false positive and 3% associated with false-negative assessments. For all subsites, the overall sensitivity was 88%, specificity 84%, positive predictive value 65%, and negative predictive value 95%. Subsites such as the anterior commissure, paraglottic space, and preepiglottic space showed lower specificity (42%, 65%, and 79% respectively) than the overall specificity. The radiologic evaluation for cartilage invasion showed the accuracy of 84.8% and yielded acceptable specificity (89%) and high negative predictive value (98%). Conclusion: Although pretherapeutic radiological examination is a very useful technique for the evaluation of tumor invasion into specific laryngeal subsites, the pretherapeutic radiologic staging can be challenging when distinguishing tumor from peritumoral inflammation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusion: Duffy antigen receptor for chemokines (DARC), as a negative regulator, could attenuate the potential growth and metastasis of laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LSCC); hence it could be considered as a basis for a new prognostic aid and molecular therapeutic target in treating LSCC. Objectives: To analyze the role of DARC in LSCC progression using LSCC clinical samples. Methods: A total of 65 LSCC tissues were examined immunohistochemically for DARC protein expression. The microvessel density (MVD) was determined by the endothelial cells immunostained using anti-CD34 antibody. Results: It was found that DARC was expressed in the LSCC samples, with a high expression in 32 of our cases (49.2%), and in lymph node-negative and -positive groups of 24 (72.7%) and 8 cases (25%), respectively ( p < 0.01). MVD was (24.75 ± 5.45)/High power field (HP) and (32.58 ± 5.23)/HP in the cases with high and low expression of DARC, respectively ( p < 0.01). More importantly, the DARC expression presented a strong negative correlation with nodal metastasis, with pTNM stage, and with recurrence, and the cases with a high DARC expression indicated a higher survival rate. In addition, the multivariate analysis showed that the DARC expression was an independent prognostic factor ( p = 0.032; hazard ratio, 21.476; 95% confidence interval, 1.297-355.68). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Conclusions: Laryngeal moderately differentiated neuroendocrine carcinoma (LMDNEC) is an aggressive and uncommon malignancy. Thorough histological evaluation is the key to correct diagnosis and differentiation. Complete surgical resection of laryngeal primary lesions and suitable neck dissection of cervical nodes provide reasonable therapy, and postoperative radiotherapy should also be considered. Objective: To explore the diagnosis and treatment of LMDNEC. Methods: Clinical information regarding patient, presentation, immunohistochemical results, treatment, and outcome was obtained through review of patients' charts. Follow-up until the time of death or last contact with us was obtained for all patients. Results: Eight patients (six males, two females) were pathologically confirmed to have LMDNEC between 2000 and 2008 in our hospital. Patients presented with throat pain, hoarseness, dysphagia, and neck mass, and all tumors originated in the supraglottis. Six of the eight patients (all males) had a history of cigarette smoking. Pathologically, the tumors frequently had positive immunoreactivity for Chg A (6/8), Syn (7/8), NSE (7/8), and CK (8/8). Two patients died of distant metastasis and tumor recurrence in the neck, respectively, the other six cases were still in follow-up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]