Articles by Stephen Yang, MD, FACS
Based on positive results from the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) 85-01 trial, the conventional nonsurgical treatment of esophageal carcinoma is combined-modality therapy. Dose intensification of the RTOG 85-01 regimen, examined in the Intergroup (INT)-0123/RTOG 94-05 trial, did not improve local control or survival. Areas of clinical investigation include the development of combined-modality therapy regimens with newer systemic agents, the use of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron-emission tomography to assist in the development of innovative radiation treatment planning techniques, and the identification of prognostic molecular markers. The addition of surgery following primary combined-modality therapy apparently does not improve survival, but this finding is controversial.
Evaluating the Role of Serine Protease Inhibition in the Management of Tumor Micrometastases
ByJoe B. Putnam, Jr, MD, FACS,David Royston, MD,Ann F. Chambers, PhD,Scott Dunbar, MD,John H. Lemmer, Jr, MD,Peter Norman, MD,Elizabeth Travis, PhD,Ara A. Vaporciyan, MD,Stephen Yang, MD, FACS,Leo R. Zacharski, MD Conservation of blood is apriority during surgery, owingto shortages of donor bloodand risks associated with transfusionof blood products.[9,10] However,blood transfusions have been linkedto a number of negative postoperativesequelae, including poorer prognosisafter cardiac and cancer surgery.[11-21] In this context, recognition thatallogeneic transfusion-associatedimmunomodulation can increasemorbidity in allogeneically transfusedpatients has become a major concernin transfusion medicine.[9,22,23]
