
Early Detection of Lung Cancer and Mesothelioma in Workers Exposed to Asbestos
MesotheliomaLung CancerThis is a pilot study that aims to develop a lung cancer screening program for workers in British Columbia, Canada exposed to asbestos who are at risk of developing lung cancer/pleural mesothelioma. This is high risk population is at of respiratory system diseases as a result of their occupational exposures. Additionally, knowledge garnered from this study will allow us to develop other studies that will further our understanding of asbestos related lung cancer and mesothelioma.

Circumferential Section Pane Less Than 1 mm in Esophagectomy for Esophageal Cancer.
Esophageal CancerA suspicious circumferential resection margin (CRM), defined as tumor cells within 1 mm of the CRM, is still controversial. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical significance of a suspicious CRM to histologically positive (R1) and negative margin (R0) resections in patients with pT3 esophageal and GE-Junction tumors.

Predictive Biomarkers in Stage II/III Gastric Cancer for Adjuvant Chemotherapy
Gastric CancerAdjuvant chemotherapy followed by curative gastrectomy for Stage II/III gastric cancer has improved disease free time and survival. However, there are still considerable number of patients experience relapse even after adjuvant chemotherapy. In an attempt to select patients who really benefit the postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy, we have identified potential biomarkers (NF-kappaB/JNK) from cell line panel screening followed by immunohistochemical validation. In the present study, we further validate the significance of the biomarkers in a larger set of clinical samples to see if chemotherapeutic response can be determined immediately after surgery.

Testing Spectrosense EVA System for Detection of Pancreatic Cancer by Analyzing Volatile Organic...
Pancreatic CancerVolatile Organic Compounds (VOC) in human breath are captured and analyzed by the Spectrosense EVA system, which is combination of a gas chromatography (GC) and software algorithm. The objective is to obtain a set or sets of VOC bio-markers that will provide the best discrimination between Pancreatic Cancer sick population and healthy population. The gold standard for identifying sick/healthy population is biopsy proven Pancreatic cancer.

Pretreatment MRI Predicting Outcome After Radio-frequency Ablation of HCC
Hepatocellular CarcinomaHCC is classified as keratin (K) 19 positive or K19 negative. K19 is a biliary/hepatic progenitor cell (HPC) marker only expressed in a subset of HCC with poor prognosis and high risk of early recurrence after treatment; particularly in radio-frequency ablation (RFA). These patients consequently show worse survival compared to patients with K19 negative HCC. A recent publication has shown the value of pretreatment biopsy with K19 staining and suggests that the role of routine biopsies in potentially curable HCC should be reconsidered. However, currently, pretreatment biopsies are rarely performed in the diagnosis of HCC due to the excellent performance of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in detection, diagnosis and staging of cirrhotic livers. Previous publications have indicated imaging patterns that may be associated with worse prognostic tumoral parameters. If MRI determined imaging parameters could indeed provide a surrogate marker for presence of K19 and/or microvascular invasion as potential important prognostic factors in RFA of HCC, these imaging parameters may thus hold prognostic information towards RFA treatment and possibly predict treatment outcome. . The purpose of the retrospective study is thus to evaluate MRI determined imaging parameters at pretreatment MRI for their predictive value towards outcome (disease free survival) of radio-frequency ablation for hepatocellular carcinoma. If successful, pretreatment MRI parameters may be used for selecting patient with high risk of unfavorable outcome after RFA and select the patients for more aggressive treatment such as surgical resection or upfront transplantation.

Evaluating In Vivo OCT Imaging for Periocular Basal Cell Carcinoma
Basal Cell CarcinomaOptical coherence tomography (OCT) is an imaging technique which shows the internal structure of living tissue (in vivo). It is safe, quick and painless to perform, and does not damage the tissue in any way. Recent advances in the technology mean that it can now be used to take images of the internal structure of the skin. This is useful because certain conditions, such as skin cancers, alter this structure. At present a suspected skin cancer is identified by taking a sample (a biopsy) which is analysed under the microscope to confirm the diagnosis. The cancer is then excised including a margin of apparently healthy-looking skin around it to ensure that the entirety of the tumour is removed. The excised tumour is then analysed again under a microscope to confirm that it was indeed completely removed (histology), after which a further operation is required to repair the defect. The purpose of this study is to evaluate OCT imaging of a particular type of skin cancer called a basal cell carcinoma (BCC), and in particular BCCs affecting the skin around the eyes (periocular). The study will compare the ability of OCT to define the margin of the BCC with the current 'gold standard' of histology. OCT could potentially improve the investigators ability to define the margins of the tumour before surgery and become a guide for minimally invasive surgery. The preservation of healthy tissue represents a priority, particularly in the area of the skin surrounding the eye.

Endoscopic Ultrasound Predict the Sensitivity of Stage II / III Rectal Cancer Preoperative Concurrent...
Rectal CancerThe purpose of this study is to determine the role of endoscopic ultrasound measurement of the primary tumor maximum diameter changes in absolute / relative values in predicting the tumor regression after concurrent chemoradiotherapy for rectal cancer.

Whole Body MRI Imaging in Multiple Myeloma at 3 Tesla MRI : Added Value of Diffusion Weighted Imaging...
Multiple MyelomaWhole body MRI with diffusion weighted imaging is a useful imaging tool staging and diagnosis therapy monitoring All patients will be scanned before and during treatment. The findings on diffusion weighted imaging will be correlated to the golden standard (computer tomography and MRI (T1 and STIR)).

Nationwide Treatment Survey of Intracranial Arteriovenous Malformation in China
Intracranial Arteriovenous MalformationsThis register study will collect the treatment information of the intracranial arteriovenous malformation patients in China. We aim to understand the current treatment situation of the disease in China.

Evaluation of Immunological Reconstitution After Haploidentical Bone Marrow Transplantation
LymphomaEvaluation of immunological reconstitution after haploidentical BMT using a nonmyeloablative preparative regimen and post-transplant cyclophosphamide in patients with poor prognosis lymphoma