New Perspectives in Molecular and Clinical Management of Gastrointestinal Tumors

This volume focuses on new and exciting approaches in the molecular and clinical management of gastrointestinal tumors. The first part presents recent insights into carcinogenesis, including alterations in cyclins and adhesion receptors, molecular structures which might be new targets of gene therapy. The second part of the volume offers new diagnostic tools, such as receptors for gastrointestinal hormones, proliferation markers, tumor suppressor proteins, and the multiple drug resistance gene, predicting response to therapy and prognosis in gastrointestinal tumors. The third part gives an update of successful approaches in primary and secondary prevention of colorectal carcinoma. Nutritional factors and pharmacologic agents can clearly decrease the risk, and fecal occult blood tests and endoscopy can reduce the mortality in colorectal carcinoma. Laparoscopic staging with subsequent biopsy of suspicious lymph nodes provides essential information in esophageal and gastric cancer. In locally advanced gastric cancer, preoperative chemotherapy provides sufficient evidence to investigate this approach as compared to primary surgery. Standards have recently been established in the adjuvant treatment of patients with gastrointestinal carcinoma, and promising new drugs, including monoclonal antibodies, thymidylate synthase, and topoisomerase inhibitors, as well as taxoids, are currently being tested in phase I, II, and III trials of gastrointestinal tumors.

Inhalt

I. Basic Research.- The Molecular Biology of Esophageal Carcinoma.- Preventing Colorectal Cancer.- Adhesion Receptors in Malignant Transformation and Dissemination of Gastrointestinal Tumors.- Human Gene Therapy in Gastrointestinal Diseases: In Vivo and In Vitro Approaches.- Signal Transduction as Target of Gene Therapy.- II. Diagnostic Tools.- Prognostic Significance of Molecular Biological and Immunohistological Parameters in Gastrointestinal Carcinomas.- Molecular Mechanisms and Possibilities of Overcoming Drug Resistance in Gastrointestinal Tumors.- Radiological Modalities in the Staging of Colorectal Tumors: New Perspectives for Increasing Accuracy.- Immunological and Molecular Classification of Mucosa-Associated Lymphoid Tissue Lymphoma.- Somatostatin Receptor Scintigraphy in the Diagnosis of Neuroendocrine Gastroenteropancreatic Tumors.- III. Therapeutic Approaches.- Basis and Consequences of Primary and Secondary Prevention of Gastrointestinal Tumors.- Drug Therapy in Metastatic Neuroendocrine Tumors of the Gastroenteropancreatic System.- Laparoscopic Lymph Node Assessment in Pretherapeutic Staging of Gastric and Esophageal Cancer.- Radiation Therapy Alone or Combined with Chemotherapy in the Treatment of Esophageal Cancer.- Preoperative Chemotherapy in Gastric Cancer.- Current Aspects of Sphincter Preservation in the Surgical Therapy of Rectal Cancer.- Preoperative and Postoperative Radiotherapy in Rectal Carcinoma.- Hyperthermia in the Multimodal Therapy of Advanced Rectal Carcinomas.- Adjuvant Treatment of Colon and Rectal Cancer: Impact of Chemotherapy, Radiotherapy, and Immunotherapy on Routine Postsurgical Patient Management.- Current Treatment Modalities in Advanced Colorectal Carcinoma.- Antibody-Based Immunotherapeutic Strategies in Colorectal Cancer.- Surgical Concepts for Therapy of Pancreatic Neoplasms.- Chemotherapy for Patients with Adenocarcinoma of the Pancreas.- Phase II Data on Paclitaxel and Docetaxel in Gastrointestinal Malignancies.