World J Surg Oncol
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Hamartomas are extremely rare splenic benign tumours in children. We present two cases, both in boys (6 and 8 years old), with left upper quadrant abdominal pain that were otherwise asymptomatic. Both patients showed a splenic mass on preoperative ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). ⋯ Both patients underwent a total splenectomy. Although multi-modality imaging findings were described preoperatively, the final diagnosis in each case was splenic hamartoma based on histology and immunohistochemistry. The postoperative courses were uneventful.
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Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is one of the most aggressive human cancers. Several studies have reported that the carbohydrate antigen 19-9 (CA19-9) level is a useful marker for predicting the prognosis for PDAC after resection. However, the cutoff value of CA19-9 used to predict prognosis varied among these reports. The aims of this study were to evaluate whether the serum CA19-9 level is a significant predictor for survival and to determine the optimal cutoff value of CA19-9 for predicting prognosis. ⋯ The preoperative elevated CA19-9 level is a promising independent factor for predicting a poor prognosis in PDAC, and the optimal cutoff value is 338.45 U/mL.