Gamma-Glutamyl Transpeptidase to Platelet Ratio Is a Novel and Independent Prognostic Marker for Resectable Lung Cancer: A Propensity Score Matching Study

Background: We report this propensity score matching (PSM) analysis to assess prognostic roles of preoperative gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase to platelet ratio (GPR) in video-assisted thoracoscopic (VATS) lobectomy for stage I-II non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Methods: The PSM-based study conducted on our single-center prospectively collected database from January 2014 to August 2015 provided Kaplan–Meier survival analyses using the log-rank test to discriminate differences in overall survival (OS) and disease-free survival (DFS) between patients stratified by preoperative GPR.Results: Our study includes 379 patients diagnosed with operable primary stage I-II NSCLC. A GPR value at 0.16 was recognized as the optimal cutoff point for prognostic prediction. Both OS and DFS of patients with GPR ≥0.16 were significantly shortened when compared to those of patients with GPR <0.16. Patients with GPR ≥0.16 had significantly lower 5-year rates of OS and DFS than those of patients with GPR <0.16 (P <0.001). Significant associations between GPR and unfavorable survival still are validated in the PSM analysis. Multivariable Cox regression models on both the entire cohort and the PSM cohort consistently demonstrated that an elevated preoperative GPR could be an independent prognostic marker for both OS and DFS of resectable NSCLC.Conclusions: GPR may be an effective and noninvasive prognostic biomarker in VATS lobectomy for surgically resectable NSCLC.     

Lobe-Specific Node Dissection Can Be a Suitable Alternative to Systematic Lymph Node Dissection in Highly Selective Early-Stage Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer Patients: A Meta-Analysis

Purpose: Whether the lobe-specific lymph node dissection is an alternative to systematic lymph node dissection for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer remains controversial. An elaborate meta-analysis was conducted to evaluate the effects of lobe-specific lymph node dissection in early-stage patients.Methods: A systematic literature search was conducted up to February 19, 2020 in PubMed, Ovid, Web of Science, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases. The outcomes including overall survival (OS), complications, and recurrence rate were extracted and analyzed.Results: Nine studies including one randomized controlled trial (RCT) and eight retrospective cohort studies with 8499 non-small-cell lung cancer patients were included. The results indicated that lobe-specific lymph node had a lower rate of postoperative complication (relative risk [RR]: 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.72–0.95, P = 0.006). No significant difference was observed between lobe-specific lymph node and systematic lymph node dissection in OS (hazard rate = 1.12, 95% CI: 0.81–1.54, P = 0.501) with high heterogeneity (I² = 71.9%).Conclusion: Lobe-specific lymph node can reach a comparable long-term prognosis in some highly selected patients. However, these results should be viewed cautiously with the existence of high heterogeneity. Due to the high heterogeneity, a strict patient selection process by experienced thoracic surgeons was recommended before validating lobe-specific lymph node.     

中晚期原发性支气管肺癌患者与正常人血小板表面粘附蛋白的表达比较

目的：观察正常健康志愿者及中晚期原发性支气管肺癌患者Ⅲ、Ⅳ期肺癌患者血小板的激活的不同状态。方法：采用流式细胞术检测正常健康志愿者及中晚期原发性支气管肺癌患者Ⅲ、Ⅳ期肺癌患者之间血小板表面粘附蛋白CD36、TSP、CD63、CD62的表达状况的不同，以观察其血小板的激活的不同状态。结果：肺癌患者CD36^＋TSP^＋、CD36^＋TSP^-、CD63^＋CD62^＋、CD63^-CD62^＋、CD63^＋CD62-血小板的数目高于正常人的表达。同时肺癌患者CD36^＋TSP^＋血小板CD36表达的平均荧光道数及CD62^＋CD63^＋血小板CD63表达的平均荧光道数也高于正常人的表达。Ⅳ期肺癌患者CD36^＋TSP^-、CD63^-CD62^＋、CD63^＋CD62^＋血小板的数目高于Ⅲ期患者。CD62^＋CD63^＋血小板CD62及CD63表达的平均荧光道数Ⅳ期肺癌患者高于Ⅲ期患者。结论：中晚期肺癌患者血小板呈广泛激活状态，与正常人比较有极显著的差异，且中晚期原发性支气管肺癌血小板激活状态和肿瘤的分期有关。     

Long‐Term Outcome of Breast Cancer Patients with One to Two Nodes Involved – Application of Nodal Ratio

Abstract: Nodal ratio (NR) is defined as the number of involved nodes to the number of nodes examined. There is limited information on the application of NR on population data. Previous reports in breast cancer generally analyzed one to three positive axillary nodes as a single group. This study investigates whether one to three positive axillary nodes is a homogeneous group in prognosis by comparing one to two positive nodes to three positive nodes. The population‐based registry of a Canadian province from 1981 through 1995 was searched. As the reliability of nodal assessment depends on the number of nodes sampled, we also studied the subgroup of patients with greater than or equal to eight nodes dissected. Of a total of 5,996 breast cancer patients, 1187 had one to three positive axillary nodes. The 263 patients with three positive nodes compared to the 924 patients with one to two nodes fared worse with a significantly reduced cause‐specific survival (CSS) and overall survival (OS). Patients with one to two positive nodes had similar CSS (p = 0.31) and OS (p = 0.63). Among those with greater than or equal to eight nodes dissected, there were 677 patients with one to two positive nodes. CSS and OS were not significantly different between one versus two positive nodes (p = 0.16 and 0.34, respectively), but with NR, the corresponding p values were 0.0068 and 0.08, respectively. The cutoff value of NR 0.15 was found to be most useful and confirmed by the validation dataset. NR is able to segregate patients better than the absolute number of positive nodes used in the current staging system. NR should be incorporated into the staging system.     

Completion Pneumonectomy for Patients with Recurrent Lung Cancer: The Impact of Microvessel Density on Outcome

P < 0.0001). The vessel densities in the primary and recurrent tumors of 2 of 3 long-term survivors were found to be relatively low. These results indicate the high-grade malignant potential of recurrent tumors, which led us to conclude that the use of CP should be carefully evaluated in patients with recurrence. Assessing the vasculature in primary tumors may be a useful indicator for determining which patients could benefit from CP. (Received for publication on Jan. 21, 1999; accepted on July 13, 1999)     

全胸腔镜肺叶切除术治疗临床早期非小细胞肺癌的疗效评价

目的探讨全胸腔镜肺叶切除术治疗临床早期肺癌的安全性和可行性,评价其手术疗效。方法回顾性分析2005年1月至2008年12月复旦大学附属中山医院160例(全胸腔镜手术组,其中男83例,女77例;平均年龄60.8岁)接受全胸腔镜肺叶切除术治疗的临床早期非小细胞肺癌患者的围手术期资料及生存数据,并与同期357例(开放手术组,其中男222例,女135例;平均年龄59.5岁)接受常规开放手术的早期非小细胞肺癌患者数据进行比较。结果全胸腔镜手术组患者中转开胸率为5.0%(8/160)。全胸腔镜组手术时间明显短于开放手术组(113.0 min vs.125.0 min,P=0.039);两组患者术后住院时间差异无统计学意义[(10.3±4.3)d vs.(9.1±4.6)d,P=0.425]。全胸腔镜手术组和开放手术组患者并发症发生率分别为9.4%(15/160)和10.1%(36/357),围术期死亡率为0.6%(1/160)和2.0%(7/357)。两组患者平均淋巴结清扫组数[(2.4±1.5)组vs.(2.4±1.7)组,P=0.743]和平均淋巴结清扫数[(9.8±6.3)枚vs.(10.1±6.4)枚,P=0.626]差异无统计学意义。全胸腔镜手术组总体5年生存率高于开放手术组(81.5%vs.67.8%,P=0.001)。进一步按不同病理分期进行亚组分析显示全胸腔镜手术组5年生存率为pⅠa期86.0%,pⅠb期84.5%,pⅢa期58.8%;开放手术组5年生存率为pⅠa期92.9%,pⅠb期76.4%,pⅢa期25.3%。结论全胸腔镜肺叶切除术治疗临床早期肺癌在技术上安全可行,其淋巴结清扫可达到开放手术的范围,远期疗效优于开放手术,但亟待大样本量的随机对照研究进一步证实。     

肺功能不全患者肺癌切除术的术前评估

肺癌切除术给早期肺癌患者提供了最佳的治愈机会,但是对于肺功能不全的肺癌患者行手术切除,可能会出现严重的术后并发症,甚至死亡,所以术前的评估很重要。应从年龄,一般情况,肺功能和运动能力这4个方面进行评估,以决定肺癌患者是否能耐受肺癌切除术。     

The N Ratio Predicts Recurrence and Poor Prognosis in Patients With Node-Positive Early Gastric Cancer

Background The metastatic status of the regional node is the most significant prognostic factor for early gastric cancer (EGC). However, diverse prognoses are evident even among the same N classifications of the current tumor-node-metastasis system. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic significance of the ratio of metastatic to retrieved lymph nodes (N ratio) in identifying a high-risk subgroup with node-positive EGC. Methods From a prospective database of 1264 EGC patients between 1987 and 1997, 156 (12.4%) were found to have histologically confirmed node metastasis. A number of prognostic factors, including the N ratio, were evaluated by univariate and multivariate analysis. Results The recurrence rate of node-positive EGC was 16.7% (n = 26). The overall 5-year survival rate of all patients was 84.0%. It was 26.9% and 95.4% in patients with and without recurrence, respectively (P < .0001; log-rank test). The cutoff value of the N ratio was set at .07. The 5-year survival rate of patients with an N ratio <.07 was 94.0%; this was significantly higher than the rate (72.6%) for those with a ratio >.07 (P < .0001; log-rank test). Both univariate and multivariate analysis identified the N ratio as the most significant predictive factor for recurrence and overall survival. Regarding stage migration, it shows superiority in comparison to the number-based N classification. Conclusions The N ratio is a more effective and rational indicator for prognostic stratification of patients with lymph node–positive EGC than the current N classification of the tumor-node-metastasis system.     

Chest Wall Invasion In Lung Cancer Patients

This study was performed to assess the prognosis in patients with non-small cell lung cancer invading the chest wall.

In this study, the data from 43 patients who were operated on between January 1990-January 1998, for non-small cell lung cancer with pathologically verified parietal pleural and chest wall invasion were retrospectively reviewed. The median and 3-year survival of the population was calculated to be 16.8 months and 34%. The pathologic stages were T3N0 in 31 (72.09%) patients, T3N1 in 5 (11.62%) and T3N2 in 7 (16.27%). The median survival of the T3N0M0 patients was 24 months but in the same T3 population with pathologically verified N1 and N2, the median survival was 7.4 months (p < 0.01). A complete resection was achieved in 37 (86.84%) patients. The median and 3-year survival of the patients with complete resection were 20.60 months and 41% respectively. In six patients, who had incomplete resection, median survival was noted to be 7.4 months. Patients who received adjuvant radiotherapy in the N2 positive group and the incomplete resection group, did not benefit (p > 0.05).

The results of this study confirmed that the lung cancer patients with chest wall invasion had different survival curves. The survival of patients changed according to the completeness of the resection and lymphatic metastases of either N1 or N2.     

Preoperative Low Serum Calcium Levels Predict Poor Prognosis for Patients with Esophageal Cancer

Purpose: Hypercalcemia has been reported as a poor prognostic factor in malignant tumors. However, no report has shown the clinical impact of serum calcium levels on patients with esophageal cancer. We evaluated the prognostic impact of preoperative serum calcium levels on patients with esophageal cancer.Methods: We evaluated 240 patients (197 men, 43 women; mean age, 66 years; age range, 34–85 years) with esophageal cancer who underwent radical surgery between September 2008 and December 2017. After assigning the patients to two groups (high calcium group, 8.8 mg/dL or more and low calcium group, 8.7 mg/dL or less), we compared the groups’ overall survival and the clinicopathological features. The clinicopathological and prognostic significance of preoperative serum calcium levels were evaluated in a univariate and multivariate analysis.Results: The patients with deep tumors showed low serum calcium levels significantly more frequently (P <0.05). The low calcium group showed a significantly worse prognosis than the high calcium group (P <0.05). However, low serum calcium level was not an independent poor prognostic factor.Conclusions: Preoperative low serum calcium levels were associated with advanced tumors. Low serum calcium might be associated with esophageal cancer progression.     

Outcome Following Surgery for Primary Lung Cancer with Interlobar Pleural Invasion

Purpose To determine whether interlobar pleural invasion into the adjacent lobe (interlobar P3) should be assessed as T3 according to the tumor-node metastasis classification.Methods Surgically treated patients with primary lung cancer (n = 322) were analyzed.Results Tumors with interlobar P3 had a significantly lower incidence of mass screening detection, a higher occurrence rate of squamous cell carcinoma, and a larger tumor diameter than tumors without interlobar P3. The lymph node metastatic rate did not differ between the patients with and without interlobar P3. The 5-year survival rate of patients with interlobar P3 was 63% and the rates of other patients were 56% with T1 disease, 57% with T2, 31% with T3, and 19% with T4. The survival rate for patients with interlobar P3 was higher than for those with T3 without interlobar P3 (P < 0.05). The 5-year survival rate of the patients with interlobar P3 was lower in adenocarcinoma (39%) than in squamous cell carcinoma (69%, P < 0.01). The results were similar when the analysis was restricted to patients without lymph node metastasis. In adenocarcinoma, the survival rate for interlobar P3 was between the rates for T2 (53%) and T3 (13%) without interlobar P3, whereas in squamous cell carcinoma, the survival rate for interlobar P3 was between the rates for T1 (88%) and T2 (54%) without interlobar P3.Conclusion Tumors with interlobar P3 should be classified as T2 only in squamous cell carcinoma.This study was presented at the 10th World Conference of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer, held in Vancouver, Canada, August 10–14, 2003     

Serum Albumin Level in the Management of Postoperative Enteric Fistula for Gastrointestinal Cancer Patients

Postoperative enteric fistula is a serious complication and cause of death following gastrointestinal (GI)-tract surgery. Many reports have demonstrated the effectiveness of parenteral nutrition in the spontaneous closure of enteric fistula. Our study was aimed at analyzing the prognostic factors of parenteral nutritional support in the treatment of enteric fistula for patients with GI-tract cancer following surgery. GI-tract cancer patients receiving surgical interventions, which then unfortunately developed enteric fistula, were included in our study. All of them had to have received parenteral nutrition soon after leakages were recognized, and they were subsequently divided into successful and unsuccessful (classified as “failure”) groups according to spontaneous closure of fistula or not, respectively. The studied patients' laboratory data were collected to identify the clinically relevant prognostic factors. Fifty-three primary GI-tract cancer patients with postoperative enteric fistulas were enrolled into our study. Of these, 33 patients were considered as successful parenteral nutritional therapy (successful group) and the other 20 patients (failure group) were not. After a period of parenteral nutritional therapy, serum total bilirubin, creatinine, C-reactive protein (CRP), hemoglobin, and albumin were significantly different between these two groups (all p <. 05). Using a multivariate logistic regression analysis, it was determined that increased serum albumin level was an independent predictive factor of successful management for enteric fistula (p =. 029), in addition to the well-known lower drainage amount (< 500 mL/day) from the enteric fistula (p =. 013). Our observations show that both serum albumin levels and drainage amounts from the enteric fistula can be potentially used as important prognostic predictors of healing enteric fistula under total parenteral nutrition in patients following surgery for GI-tract malignancies.     

Diagnostic Utility of Platelet Count/Lymphocyte Count Ratio and Platelet Count/Mean Platelet Volume Ratio in Periprosthetic Joint Infection Following Total Knee Arthroplasty

BackgroundDiagnosing a periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) can be challenging and often requires a combination of clinical and laboratory findings. Monocyte/lymphocyte ratio, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR), and platelet/mean platelet volume ratio (PVR) are simple predictors for inflammation that can be readily obtained from complete blood count. The aim of this study is to evaluate the diagnostic utility of these markers in predicting PJI in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) patients.MethodsA total of 538 patients who underwent revision TKA with calculable marker ratios prerevision in 2 groups were evaluated: (1) 206 patients with a preoperative diagnosis of PJI (group I) and (2) 332 patients treated for revision TKA for aseptic failures (group II). The diagnostic abilities of the markers were assessed via receiver operator characteristic curve analysis.ResultsThe optimal threshold of PVR at 30.82 had the highest sensitivity of 87.7%, while the optimal threshold of PLR at 234.13 had the highest specificity of 82.5%. Both PLR and PVR, when combined with Musculoskeletal Infection Society thresholds for erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, synovial WBC, and PMN%, achieve significantly higher sensitivity and specificity rates for PJI at or above 97% (PLR: 99.03%; 98.80%; PVR: 98.54%;97.89%).ConclusionOur study demonstrates that PVR and PLR, which are readily available and inexpensive to obtain from complete blood counts, when combined with serum and synovial fluid markers have increased sensitivity and specificity comparable to that of alpha defensin. This suggests that PVR and PLR can be used together with other hematologic and aspirate markers to increase the accuracy of PJI diagnosis in TKA patients.     

Ⅲ期非小细胞肺癌的综合治疗

４１０例Ⅲ期非小细胞肺癌，３００例综合治疗，其中手术前后结合化疗或放疗５７例，术后化疗２０２例、术后放疗１９例，术后放疗及化疗２２例；与单纯手术组１１０例比较。术后１、３、５年生存率分别为６３．００％、２２．８２％、２１．５２％和４０．００％、８．２５％、８．６２％，前者明显高于后者，其中以术后结合化疗、放疗组最佳，５年生存率分别为２２．７２％和３０．００％。Ｎ０组最优，Ｎ２、３组最差。术中主动清除肺门及纵隔淋巴结者明显优于未清除者。作者指出对Ⅲ期非小细胞肺癌病人不应失掉综合治疗机会，强调术中应主动清扫肺门及纵隔淋巴结。     

The Prognosis of Patients with Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Found to Have Carcinomatous Pleuritis at Thoracotomy

Non-small cell lung cancer with carcinoma-tous pleuritis is considered to be a contraindication of surgical resection. The objective of this study was to clarify the prognosis of patients with non-small cell lung cancer in whom carcinomatous pleuritis was found at thoracotomy. A questionnaire survey on the survival of patients with carcinomatous pleuritis found at thoracotomy between January 1985 and December 1994 was conducted by the Japan Clinical Oncology Group. According to the data collected from 21 hospitals, 8 813 patients with non-small cell lung cancer underwent thoracotomy, 284 (3.2%) of whom were found to have carcinomatous pleuritis. Information on survival was available for 227 of these patients, 34 (15%) of whom underwent thoracotomy alone without resection, whereas 193 (85%) underwent surgical resection. Of the 193 resected patients, 155 had no macroscopical residual tumor apart from the carcinomatous pleuritis. The 5-year survival rate was 14%. According to a univariate analysis, female sex, the presence of adenocarcinoma, a tumor size of less than 3.0 cm, no clinical lymph node metastasis, and no macroscopical residual tumor had a significantly favorable impact on survival. A multivariate analysis revealed that the extent of clinical lymph node metastasis (P = 0.006), histology (P = 0.028), and the absence or presence of a macroscopic residual tumor after the operation (P = 0.045) were predominant prognostic factors. The 5-year survival rate of 83 patients with three positive variables was 24%. The prognosis of patients with adenocarcinoma found to have carcinomatous pleuritis at thoracotomy was not necessarily unfavorable if there was no clinically detected lymph node metastasis and no residual tumor apart from the carcinomatous pleuritis. Received: December 17, 1999 / Accepted: July 25, 2000     

Outcome of Surgery for Lung Cancer in Young and Elderly Patients

Purpose It has been suggested that lung cancer follows a more aggressive course and has a poorer prognosis in young patients than in elderly patients. We conducted this study to determine whether the basal characteristics and survival of young patients undergoing surgical resection of lung cancer differ from those of elderly patients.Methods Eighty patients who underwent surgery for lung cancer at our hospital between 1989 and 2004 were divided into two groups according to age. Group 1 comprised 50 patients aged 45 years or younger and group 2 comprised 30 patients aged 70 years or older. The patients’ medical records were reviewed with respect to age, gender, histological diagnosis, coexisting diseases, smoking history, postoperative staging, type of operation, and postoperative morbidity, mortality, and survival results.Results The average ages were 40.2 ± 3.77 years (range, 29–45 years) in group 1 and 72.2 ± 2.53 years (range, 70–80 years) in group 2. The incidence of postoperative complications was significantly higher in group 2 (P = 0.02). However, the 5-year survival rates for patients who underwent surgery for non-small cell lung cancer did not differ between groups 1 and 2, at 33.3% versus 21.3%, respectively (P = 0.09).Conclusions The incidence of adenocarcinoma was higher in the young patients, whose prognosis was slightly better than that of the elderly patients. Coexisting diseases and postoperative complications were the major factors that adversely affected the prognosis of the elderly patients.