Skip lesion

Abstract: We analyzed the cases of twenty-three patients who had Stage-IIB osteosarcoma and skip metastasis to determine the rates of disease-free and long-term survival. The regimens of preoperative and postoperative chemotherapy varied. The patterns of relapse and long-term survival were studied in relation to the skip lesions, and these patterns were compared with those of 224 patients who had Stage-II osteosarcoma but no skip lesion. Of the twenty-three patients who had a skip lesion, twenty-two had either a local recurrence or a distant metastasis; twenty-two patients died, and one remained disease-free at thirty-eight months. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed significant differences in the rates of local recurrence and distant metastasis (Mantel-Cox test statistic, p less than 0.0001) and in the over-all survival (Mantel-Cox test statistic, p less than 0.0001) between the patients who had and those who did not have skip metastasis. The cases of fourteen patients who had skip metastasis from a lesion in the distal end of the femur were compared with those of eighty-seven patients who had a similarly situated primary lesion but no skip metastasis. The difference was significant, although less so than when lesions in all anatomical sites were analyzed. The follow-up data indicated that the use of adjuvant chemotherapy did not improve the poor prognosis of patients who had skip metastasis. Therefore, we regard a skip lesion, along with regional lymphatic metastasis or metastasis to a distant organ, as another criterion for considering an osteosarcoma to be Stage III.

Abstract: Background: Although appendiceal orifice inflammation (AOI) is frequently observed as a skip lesion of ulcerative colitis (UC), its clinical significance is not clearly understood. We aimed to evaluate whether AOI is associated with the clinical course of UC. Methods: Ninety-four patients with newly diagnosed distal UC were prospectively enrolled at the Asan Medical Center between March 1996 and October 2002. Clinical features and colonoscopic findings during the follow-up period were analyzed in relation to initial AOI status. Results: Forty-eight patients were found to be initially AOI-positive and 46 to be initially AOI-negative. We found no difference in the baseline demographics and clinical characteristics between these two groups. The median follow-up periods for AOI-positive and AOI-negative groups were 45 and 41 months, respectively. Clinical remission was achieved in all patients of each group. The cumulative risk of relapse at 1, 3, and 5 years after remission was 31.2%, 59.8%, and 69.2%, respectively, in the AOI-positive group and 17.4%, 46.5%, and 67.2%, respectively, in the AOI-negative group (P = 0.124). The cumulative risk of proximal disease extension at 1, 3, and 5 years after diagnosis was 17.9%, 24.9%, and 44.5%, respectively, in the AOI-positive group and 9.8%, 21.5%, and 43.9%, respectively, in the AOI-negative group (P = 0.522). Proctocolectomy was performed in no patients in the AOI-positive group and in 1 patient in the AOI-negative group. No mortalities were observed in either group. Conclusions: In patients with distal UC, AOI may have no prognostic implications in terms of remission, relapse, or proximal disease extension.