Prognostic validity of the American joint committee on cancer eighth edition staging system for well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors

BackgroundThe American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) made improvements for staging pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (pNETs) in its 8th Edition; however, multicenter studies were not included.MethodsWe collected multicenter datasets (n = 1,086, between 2004 and 2018) to validate the value of AJCC 8 and other coexisting staging systems through univariate and multivariate analysis for well-differentiated (G1/G2) pNETs.ResultsCompared to other coexisting staging systems, AJCC 7 only included 12 (1.1%) patients with stage III tumors. Patients with European Neuroendocrine Tumor Society (ENETS) stage IIB disease had a higher risk of death than patients with stage IIIA (hazard ratio [HR]: 4.376 vs. 4.322). For the modified ENETS staging system, patients with stage IIB disease had a higher risk of death than patients with stage III (HR: 6.078 vs. 5.341). According to AJCC 8, the proportions of patients with stage I, II, III, and IV were 25.7%, 40.3%, 23.6%, and 10.4%, respectively. As the stage advanced, the median survival time decreased (NA, 144.7, 100.8, 72.0 months, respectively), and the risk of death increased (HR: II = 3.145, III = 5.925, and IV = 8.762).ConclusionThese findings suggest that AJCC 8 had a more reasonable proportional distribution and the risk of death was better correlated with disease stage.     

Peritoneal MRI in patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery and HIPEC: History,clinical applications,and implementation

MR imaging provides considerable advantages in the evaluation of patients with peritoneal metastases. A standardized peritoneal MRI protocol, including diffusion-weighted and gadolinium-enhanced sequences, allows an efficient exploration of small peritoneal tumors that are often missed on other imaging tests. In experienced hands, a dedicated reading allows producing a quantitative and qualitative evaluation of lesional localization to better assist surgeons in the selection of candidates for curative surgery by evaluating the possibility of complete resection, and to plan the surgical procedure. Based on a close collaboration between oncologic surgeon and radiologist, MRI provides a powerful tool for accurate preoperative imaging in patients being considered for curative surgery but also in their surveillance to detect an early recurrence.