Preoperative risk stratification of lymph node metastasis for non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm: An international dual-institutional study

Background/Objectives: Although the presence of lymph node metastasis (LNM) defines malignant potential, preoperative prediction of LNM has not been established for non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasm (NF-PNEN). We sought to develop a prediction system using only preoperatively available factors that would stratify the risk of LNM for NF-PNEN.MethodsWe retrospectively reviewed patients who underwent R0/1 resection of NF-PNEN at Kyoto University (2007–2019) and the University of California, San Francisco (2010–2019). Risk stratification of LNM was developed using preoperative factors by the logistic regression analysis. Long-term outcomes were compared across the risk groups.ResultsA total of 131 patients were included in this study. Lymph nodes were pathologically examined in 116 patients, 23 (20%) of whom had LNM. Radiological tumor size [1.5–3.5 cm (odds ratio: 13.5, 95% confidence interval: 1.77–398) and >3.5 cm (72.4, 9.06–2257) against ≤1.5 cm], <50% cystic component (8.46 × 10^6, 1.68 × 10^106-), and dilatation of main pancreatic duct ≥5 mm (31.2, 3.94–702) were independently associated with LNM. When patients were classified as the low-risk (43 patients), intermediate-risk (44 patients), and high-risk groups (29 patients), proportions of LNM differed significantly across the groups (0%, 14%, and 59%, respectively). Recurrence-free survival (RFS) of the low- and intermediate-risk groups were significantly better than that of the high-risk group (5-year RFS rates of 92.2%, 85.4%, and 47.1%, respectively).ConclusionsThe prediction system using preoperative radiological factors stratifies the risk of LNM for NF-PNEN. This stratification helps to predict malignant potential and determine the surgical procedure and necessity of regional lymphadenectomy.     

Preoperative comprehensive malignancy risk estimation for thyroid nodules: Development and verification of a network-based prediction model

BackgroundIn order to avoid excessive treatment of thyroid nodules in the clinic, it is necessary to find a simple and practical analysis method to comprehensively and accurately reflect benign or malignant thyroid nodules. This study aimed to construct and validate a comprehensive and reliable network-based predictive model using a variety of imaging and laboratory criteria for thyroid nodules to stratify the risk of malignancy prior to surgery.MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed data from patients who underwent surgical treatment for thyroid nodules at the Thyroid and Breast Diagnosis and Treatment Center of Weifang Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine between January 2018 and December 2020. Binary logical regression analysis was performed to predict whether nodules were malignant or benign. The developmental dataset included 457 patients (January 2018–December 2020). The validation set included separate data points (n = 225, January 2018–December 2020).ResultsIn this study, criteria that showed significant predictive value for malignant nodules included TI-RADS: 4b (p = 0.065); Bethesda IV, Bethesda V, Bethesda VI (P < 0.0001); BRAF^V600E mutation (P < 0.0001); Calcitonin>5 pg/ml (p = 0.0037); and FNA-Tg>30 ng/ml (p = 0.0003). A 10-grade risk scoring system was developed. The risk of malignancy risk ranged from 2.06% to 100% and was positively associated with increasing risk grade. The areas under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of the development and validation sets were 0.972 and 0.946, respectively.ConclusionA simple, comprehensive and reliable web-based predictive model was designed using a variety of imaging and laboratory criteria to stratify thyroid nodules by probability of malignancy.     

多模态超声对侵袭性前列腺癌的诊断价值及ROC曲线分析研究

目的：探讨多模态超声(MUS)对侵袭性前列腺癌(PCa)的诊断价值及受试者工作特征(ROC)曲线分析。方法：选择2018年01月至2021年02月于本院行手术切除并经病理证实的86例PCa患者作为研究对象,根据病理Gleason评分可分为两组,高侵袭组(Gleason＞4+3,共46例),低-中侵袭组(Gleason≤4+3,共40例)。所有患者术前均行MUS检查,包括经直肠常规超声(TRUS)、剪切波弹性成像(SWE)、超声造影(CEUS)。比较两组之间各参数的差异,采用ROC曲线分析其对高侵袭组PCa的诊断效能。结果：高侵袭组与低-中侵袭组的TRUS表现显著不同(P<0.05),其中高侵袭组中TRUS主要表现为弥漫性。高侵袭组SWE中SR比值(23.86±13.67)显著高于低-中侵袭组(12.82±11.95),差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。高侵袭组的CEUS参数中初始强度、峰值强度显著高于低-中侵袭组(P<0.05),而两组达峰时间、峰值减半时间无显著差异(P>0.05)。MUS对高侵袭组PCa诊断的ROC曲线下面积最大,敏感度、特异度也最高(P<0.05)。结论：MUS对高侵袭性PCa具有更高的诊断价值,有助于指导临床对治疗方案的选择。     

尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1评估非浸润性膀胱癌患者复发的价值

目的探究尿液外泌体长链非编码RNA前列腺癌相关转录本1（lncRNA PCAT-1）评估非浸润性膀胱癌患者复发的价值。方法随机选取2015年1月—2016年3月进行治疗的非浸润性膀胱癌患者50例作为非浸润性膀胱癌组，选取同期在进行健康体检的健康受检者50例作为对照组。测定两组尿液外泌体中lncRNA PCAT-1表达情况。分析尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1表达与临床病理参数的相关性、尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1与尿液脱落细胞学对非浸润性膀胱癌的诊断价值、影响非浸润性膀胱癌患者复发的相关因素，评估非浸润性膀胱癌复发的价值及尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1表达与非浸润性膀胱癌患者预后的关系。结果与对照组比较，非浸润性膀胱癌组患者尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1表达水平明显升高（P<0.01）。尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1表达与病理分期具有明显相关性（P<0.01）。尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1诊断非浸润性膀胱癌的曲线下面积明显高于尿液脱落细胞学。采用Cox比例风险因素回归模型分析，病理分期及lncRNA PCAT-1均为影响非浸润性膀胱癌患者复发的独立危险因素。以尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1相对表达量5.14±1.04分为高表达组（23例）与低表达组（27例），Kaplan-Meier生存曲线分析结果显示，lncRNA PCAT-1低表达量组生存期明显高于lncRNA PCAT-1高表达组。结论外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1在非浸润性膀胱癌患者尿液中的表达水平较健康受检者明显升高，且其表达水平与患者病理分期明显相关。尿液外泌体lncRNA PCAT-1对评估非浸润性膀胱癌患者的复发具有重要作用。     

Validation of donor fraction cell-free DNA with biopsy-proven cardiac allograft rejection in children and adults

ObjectivesDonor-specific cell-free DNA shows promise as a noninvasive marker for allograft rejection, but as yet has not been validated in both adult and pediatric recipients. The study objective was to validate donor fraction cell-free DNA as a noninvasive test to assess for risk of acute cellular rejection and antibody-mediated rejection after heart transplantation in pediatric and adult recipients.MethodsPediatric and adult heart transplant recipients were enrolled from 7 participating sites and followed for 12 months or more with plasma samples collected immediately before all endomyocardial biopsies. Donor fraction cell-free DNA was extracted, and quantitative genotyping was performed. Blinded donor fraction cell-free DNA and clinical data were analyzed and compared with a previously determined threshold of 0.14%. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value, positive predictive value, and receiver operating characteristic curves were calculated.ResultsA total of 987 samples from 144 subjects were collected. After applying predefined clinical and technical exclusions, 745 samples from 130 subjects produced 54 rejection samples associated with the composite outcome of acute cellular rejection grade 2R or greater and pathologic antibody-mediated rejection 2 or greater and 323 healthy samples. For all participants, donor fraction cell-free DNA at a threshold of 0.14% had a sensitivity of 67%, a specificity of 79%, a positive predictive value of 34%, and a negative predictive value of 94% with an area under the curve of 0.78 for detecting rejection. When analyzed independently, these results held true for both pediatric and adult cohorts at the same threshold of 0.14% (negative predictive value 92% and 95%, respectively).ConclusionsDonor fraction cell-free DNA at a threshold of 0.14% can be used to assess for risk of rejection after heart transplantation in both pediatric and adult patients with excellent negative predictive value.     

SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6联合检测在儿童感染性疾病中的诊断价值

目的:分析SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6联合检测在儿童感染性疾病中的诊断价值。方法:选择2019年1月~2020年10月某院收治的72例感染性疾病患儿开展研究,根据患儿的病原体检测结果划分为病毒感染组和细菌感染组各36例,另选择同期体检的36名健康儿童作为研究的参照组,分别比较3组的SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6等指标水平的差异。结果:细菌感染组的SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6等指标水平及阳性率均高于病毒感染组、参照组,同时病毒感染组的SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6等指标水平及阳性率高于参照组(P<0.05);SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6联合诊断的敏感度、准确度、阳性预测值、阴性预测值均高于SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6三个指标单独检测的敏感度、准确度、阳性预测值、阴性预测值,差异有统计学意义(P<0.05);联合检测的特异度与单独检测特异度对比无统计学意义(P>0.05)。结论:SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6联合诊断在儿童感染性疾病中具备较高的诊断价值,临床可将SAA、hs-CRP、IL-6作为该病的诊断辅助指标,有效提高疾病的诊断准确性。     

Accounting for Unobservable Preference Heterogeneity and Evaluating Alternative Anchoring Approaches to Estimate Country-Specific EQ-5D-Y Value Sets: A Case Study Using Spanish Preference Data

ObjectivesThe EuroQol Group published the EQ-5D-Y valuation protocol that recommends 2 valuation techniques to elicit preferences: composite time trade-off (C-TTO) and discrete choice experiments (DCEs). The protocol left the decision of what modeling approach to use open for researchers. Our aims were to explore modeling strategies allowing generation of EQ-5D-Y value sets and to produce an EQ-5D-Y Spanish value set.MethodsWe used EQ-5D-Y DCE and C-TTO data collected in Spain following the protocol and adopted a staged approach for our modeling exercise. First, we selected the best performing DCE latent class model and evaluated models from 2 to 10 classes. We selected the preferred model based on best goodness of fit in terms of the Bayesian information criterion. We considered 2 anchoring approaches to estimate utility values: (1) pits state anchoring and (2) hybrid models (using all available C-TTO responses). All analysis were weighted to be representative of the Spanish population.ResultsWe collected 1005 DCE and 200 C-TTO interviews. We selected a DCE model including 4 classes. Hybrid models using all available C-TTO observations produced a narrower range of values than the pits state anchoring approach.ConclusionsIn this article, we have presented an EQ-5D-Y value set that can be used for cost-utility analysis in Spain. The international EQ-5D-Y valuation protocol should be updated to include a different set of health states for the C-TTO experiment if researchers wish to use alternative anchoring approaches to the “pits state.”     

肿瘤标志物检验在胃癌诊断中的临床价值分析

目的分析探讨肿瘤标志物检验在胃癌诊断中的临床价值。方法选择在本院进行治疗的胃癌患者40例,将其列为观察组,选取体检健康者40例,将其列为普通组,具体的选择时间为2018年2月-2019年2月,对两组患者的CEA、CA72-4、CA19-9水平及阳性表达率进行比较分析。结果观察组患者CEA、CA72-4、CA19-9明显高于普通组,差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。观察组患者的肿瘤标志物阳性表达率明显高于普通组,差异具有统计学意义(P<0.05)。结论肿瘤标志物在胃癌的诊断中具有非常重要的意义,肿瘤标志物对胃癌患者的诊断较为确切,利于患者的确诊及后期治疗,从而提高患者的生命及生活质量。