Isr Med Assoc J
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Review
Obstructive Esophageal Cancers at Endoscopy Are Associated with Reduced Survival and Poor Outcome.
Esophageal cancer is comprised of adenocarcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma and is the sixth leading cause of cancer-related mortality worldwide. Upper endoscopy may reveal a partially or completely lumen-occluding mass at diagnosis, yet the prognostic significance of such a presentation is not clear. ⋯ Obstructive esophageal cancers predict shorter median overall survival compared with non-obstructive cancers, without any correlation between obstruction of the lesion and tumor metastatic stage.
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Among chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, baseline neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) may reflect the severity of renal impairment. No data exists on serial changes in serum NGAL levels in CKD patients before and after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). ⋯ In high-risk patients, pre-NGAL levels may predict CI-AKI. Further studies on larger populations are needed to validate the use of NGAL measurements in CKD patients.