In addition to the initial recurrence date, confirmatory dates for all positive diagnostic measures within a predetermined 60 days clinical time frame were documented for the purpose of comparative evaluation.
If the patient had negative imaging, physical and vaginal cytology findings, but the CA-125 was indicative of disease progression, the initial recurrence was classified in accordance with the CA-125.
If a patient's symptoms were noted during physical exam or history, but the CA-125, vaginal cytology and imaging results were negative, the initial recurrence was classified in accordance with the physical exam.
The initial recurrence pattern is summarized in Table 2.
We showed the initial recurrence patterns (including overlap cases) of the HER3 expression in the 53 patients in Table 3.
21 Catheter tract recurrences have been reported in a range of 2 to 5 % after preoperative PTBD, but our study found no catheter tract recurrence developing as the initial recurrence after resection.
In the initial analysis recurrence was defined by biopsy verified tumor.
Although the details vary with the different patients, in principle the data illustrate that the imatinib-resistant mutant clone that predominates in initial recurrence of disease declines to undetectable levels when de-selected but can reappear when the therapy, for one reason or another, is changed again.
Seeding metastases in the laparotomy scar occurred as initial recurrence in 7 patients, including 3 patients (3.4 %) in the PTBD group and 4 patients (2.7 %) in the EBD-only group (P = 0.71).
The overall recurrence ratio of 13.8% observed in the current study after an initial recurrence time that occurred with a median of 22 months is consistent with many other studies on stage I III EC (recurrence ratio: 20 25%) (Mariani et al, 2002).
