A meta-analysis on salvage surgery as a potentially curative procedure in patients with isolated local recurrent or persistent esophageal cancer after chemoradiotherapy

BackgroundIsolated local recurrent or persistent esophageal cancer (EC) after curative intended definitive (dCRT) or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) with initially omitted surgery, is a potential indication for salvage surgery. We aimed to evaluate safety and efficacy of salvage surgery in these patients.Material and methodsA systematic literature search following PRISMA guidelines was performed using databases of PubMed/Medline. All included studies were performed in patients with persistent or recurrent EC after initial treatment with dCRT or nCRT, between 2007 and 2017. Survival analysis was performed with an inverse-variance weighting method.ResultsOf the 278 identified studies, 28 were eligible, including a total of 1076 patients. Postoperative complications after salvage esophagectomy were significantly more common among patients with isolated persistent than in those with locoregional recurrent EC, including respiratory (36.6% versus 22.7%; difference in proportion 10.9 with 95% confidence interval (CI) [3.1; 18.7]) and cardiovascular complications (10.4% versus 4.5%; difference in proportion 5.9 with 95% CI [1.5; 10.2]). The pooled estimated 30- and 90-day mortality was 2.6% [1.6; 3.6] and 8.0% [6.3; 9.8], respectively. The pooled estimated 3-year and 5-year overall survival (OS) were 39.0% (95% CI: [35.8; 42.2]) and 19.4% [95% CI:16.5; 22.4], respectively. Patients with isolated persistent or recurrent EC after initial CRT had similar 5-year OS (14.0% versus 19.7%, difference in proportion −5.7, 95% CI [-13.7; 2.3]).ConclusionsSalvage surgery is a potentially curative procedure in patients with locally recurrent or persistent esophageal cancer and can be performed safely after definitive or neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy when surgery was initially omitted.     

生物信息学在肝细胞癌风险预测中的应用

生物信息学是一门交叉科学,通过综合运用数学、计算机科学和生物学的各种工具,来阐明和理解大量生物数据所包含的生物学意义。随着基因组学测序技术的不断发展,产生大量的生物学数据资源,从大数据中挖掘所蕴藏的生物学意义,已成为了当前亟待解决的主要任务之一。本文主要归纳总结基于特征基因的肝癌风险预测模型,为肝癌的早期检测、预后和治疗方案的优化提供新观点。     

沙鼠肝泡球蚴组织中微血管密度、血管内皮生长因子的表达及意义

目的研究沙鼠肝泡球蚴组织中微血管密度(MVD)-CD34及血管内皮生长因子(VEGF)的表达及意义。方法将60只健康的长爪沙鼠随机平均分为2组,即实验组和对照组。实验组沙鼠采用开腹肝穿刺法,每只鼠接种原头节悬混液0.1 m L,对照组以相同的方法接种等量的PBS。分别于接种后第20、40、60、80、100 d时每组各处死6只沙鼠,实验组分别取泡球蚴组织和泡球蚴周围肝组织,对照组取正常肝组织。免疫组织化学法观察各时间点沙鼠肝泡球蚴组织中MVD-CD34及VEGF的表达情况。结果感染泡球蚴沙鼠肝脏中均见大小不等的团块状囊泡组织,部分播散至腹腔。在感染的各时间点,泡球蚴组织中均可见到MVD-CD34和VEGF的表达,定位于肝泡球蚴组织"外囊"囊壁内皮细胞的细胞浆。在感染后第20 d、40 d、60 d、80 d和100 d时,泡球蚴组织中MVD分别为(9.83±3.87)/HP、(25.33±6.71)/HP、(34.50±5.50)/HP、(37.67±5.71)/HP和(44.67±4.93)/HP,与泡球蚴周围肝组织〔0/HP、(1.17±0.98)/HP、(3.50±1.38)/HP、(5.83±2.71)/HP、(8.83±2.48)/HP〕和正常肝组织(均为0)相比,差异均有统计学意义(P0.05)。各时间点泡球蚴组织中VEGF免疫组织化学评分分别为(2.95±0.46)分、(3.90±0.68)分、(4.27±1.05)分、(5.33±0.95)分和(4.50±0.81)分,与泡球蚴周围肝组织〔(1.07±0.63)分、(1.38±0.75)分、(1.55±0.83)分、(1.67±0.47)分、(2.10±0.55)分〕和正常肝组织〔(1.02±0.83)分、(1.12±0.63)分、(1.26±0.26)分、(1.20±0.74)分、(1.21±0.28)分〕相比,差异均有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论血管生成可能是泡球蚴浸润性生长的机制之一,VEGF可能促进沙鼠肝泡球蚴组织血管新生。     

Magnesium intake and primary liver cancer incidence and mortality in the Prostate,Lung, Colorectal and Ovarian Cancer Screening Trial

Epidemiological studies on magnesium intake and primary liver cancer (PLC) are scarce, and no prospective studies have examined the associations of magnesium intake with PLC incidence and mortality. We sought to clarify whether higher magnesium intake from diet and supplements was associated with lower risks of PLC incidence and mortality in the US population. Magnesium intake from diet and supplements was evaluated through a food frequency questionnaire in a cohort of 104,025 participants. Cox regression was employed to calculate hazard ratios for PLC incidence and competing risk regression was employed to calculate subdistribution hazard ratios for PLC mortality. Restricted cubic spline regression was employed to test nonlinearity. We documented 116 PLC cases during 1,193,513.5 person-years of follow-up and 100 PLC deaths during 1,198,021.3 person-years of follow-up. Total (diet + supplements) magnesium intake was found to be inversely associated with risks of PLC incidence (hazard ratio_{tertile 3 vs. 1}: 0.44; 95% confidence interval: 0.24, 0.80; p_trend = 0.0065) and mortality (subdistribution hazard ratio_{tertile 3 vs. 1}: 0.37; 95% confidence interval: 0.19, 0.71; p_trend = 0.0008). Similar results were obtained for dietary magnesium intake. Nonlinear inverse dose–response associations with PLC incidence and mortality were observed for both total and dietary magnesium intakes (all p_nonlinearity < 0.05). In summary, in the US population, a high magnesium intake is associated with decreased risks of PLC incidence and mortality in a nonlinear dose–response manner. These findings support that increasing the consumption of foods rich in magnesium may be beneficial in reducing PLC incidence and mortality.     

Italian Clinical Practice Guidelines on Cholangiocarcinoma – Part II: Treatment

Currently, the only curative treatment for cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is surgical resection, though this treatment is possible in less than 40% of patients. However, recent improvements in preoperative management have led to a higher number of patients who are candidates for this procedure. For unresectable patients, progress is ongoing in terms of locoregional and chemoradiation treatments and target therapies, especially in the definition of patient selection criteria. This is the second part of the Italian CCA guidelines, dealing with CCA treatment, that have been formulated in accordance with Italian National Institute of Health indications and developed according to the GRADE method and related advancements.