Role of surgical treatments in high-grade or advanced gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms

Over the last 40 years, the incidence and prevalence of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) have continued to increase. Compared to other epithelial neoplasms in the same organ, GEP-NENs exhibit indolent biological behavior, resulting in more chances to undergo surgery. However, the role of surgery in high-grade or advanced GEP-NENs is still controversial. Surgery is associated with survival improvement of well-differentiated high-grade GEP-NENs, whereas poorly differentiated GEP-NENs that may benefit from resection require careful selection based on Ki67 and other tissue biomarkers. Additionally, surgery also plays an important role in locally advanced and metastatic disease. For locally advanced GEP-NENs, isolated major vascular involvement is no longer an absolute contraindication. In the setting of metastatic GEP-NENs, radical intended surgery is recommended for patients with low-grade and resectable metastases. For unresectable metastatic disease, a variety of surgical approaches, including cytoreduction of liver metastasis, liver transplantation, and surgery after neoadjuvant treatment, show survival benefits. Primary tumor resection in GEP-NENs with unresectable metastatic disease is associated with symptom control, prolonged survival, and improved sensitivity toward systemic therapies. Although there is no established neoadjuvant or adjuvant strategy, increasing attention has been given to this emerging research area. Some studies have reported that neoadjuvant therapy effectively reduces tumor burden, improves the effectiveness of subsequent surgery, and decreases surgical complications.     

Midterm Outcomes of Angioplasty for Pediatric Renovascular Hypertension

PurposeTo evaluate the midterm outcomes of percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) for pediatric renovascular hypertension (RVH).Materials and MethodsThe clinical data of patients who underwent PTRA for RVH in the authors’ hospital from 2012 to 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Postprocedural blood pressure, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of the affected kidney, restenosis, and complications were closely monitored.ResultsPTRA was performed in a total of 30 children (20 boys and 10 girls), with a mean age of 7.3 years ± 0.7 (range, 40 days to 13.9 years) and a mean weight of 25.0 kg ± 2.3 (range, 3.4–53 kg). The median follow-up period was 26.5 months (range, 1 month to 7.5 years). Technical success was achieved in 26 (86.7%) of the 30 patients. Restenosis developed in 3 patients (10.0%). Only 1 patient underwent stent implantation, and the stent fractured 8 months later, requiring further intervention. There were no other complications. In terms of clinical benefit of blood pressure control after the initial PTRA procedure, 15 patients (50%) were cured and 7 patients (23.3%) showed improvement. There was no significant difference in the etiology, lesion location, and lesion length between patients with clinical benefit and failure (P = .06, P = .202, and P = .06, respectively). GFR of the affected kidney was significantly improved from 19.9 mL/min ± 11.2 to 38.1 mL/min ± 11.9 at the 6-month follow-up after PTRA (P < .001).ConclusionsThe overall results of PTRA for pediatric RVH caused by different etiologies are promising. PTRA not only provided a clinical benefit of blood pressure control in 73.3% of the patients but also significantly improved the function of the affected kidney.     

Percutaneous renal mass biopsy: historical perspective,current status,and future considerations

Introduction: Percutaneous renal mass biopsy has evolved over the last decade with improvements on previous pitfalls including low tissue yield, high non-diagnostic rates, and complications. As understanding of tumor biology and natural history of renal cortical neoplasms has improved, percutaneous renal mass biopsy is poised to have an expanding role in an area characterized by individualized management and refined risk stratification.

Areas covered: This review summarizes the evolution of renal mass biopsy to its current state with respect to outcomes, indications, and clinical guidelines.

Expert opinion: With improved understanding of differential biological potential of renal cortical neoplasms combined with technical improvements in diagnostic yield and accuracy, utilization of renal mass biopsy is becoming an important adjunct to patient care in a broad range of clinical scenarios, including active surveillance, thermal ablation, and use of primary systemic therapy in localized and advanced settings.     

Non-robotic minimally invasive gastrectomy as an independent risk factor for postoperative intra-abdominal infectious complications: A single-center,retrospective and propensity score-matched analysis

BACKGROUND Minimally invasive surgery for gastric cancer(GC) has gained widespread use as a safe curative procedure especially for early GC.AIM To determine risk factors for postoperative complications after minimally invasive gastrectomy for GC.METHODS Between January 2009 and June 2019, 1716 consecutive patients were referred to our division for primary GC. Among them, 1401 patients who were diagnosed with both clinical and pathological Stage Ⅲ or lower GC and underwent robotic gastrectomy(RG) or laparoscopic gastrectomy(LG) were enrolled. Retrospective chart review and multivariate analysis were performed for identifying risk factors for postoperative morbidity.RESULTS Morbidity following minimally invasive gastrectomy was observed in 7.5% of the patients. Multivariate analyses demonstrated that non-robotic minimally invasive surgery, male gender, and an operative time of ≥ 360 min were significant independent risk factors for morbidity. Therefore, morbidity was compared between RG and LG. Accordingly, propensity-matched cohort analysis revealed that the RG group had significantly fewer intra-abdominal infectious complications than the LG group(2.5% vs 5.9%, respectively; P = 0.038), while no significant differences were noted for other local or systemic complications.Multivariate analyses of the propensity-matched cohort revealed that non-robotic minimally invasive surgery [odds ratio = 2.463(1.070–5.682); P = 0.034] was a significant independent risk factor for intra-abdominal infectious complications.CONCLUSION The findings showed that robotic surgery might improve short-term outcomes following minimally invasive radical gastrectomy by reducing intra-abdominal infectious complications.     

miR-149与肿瘤关系的研究进展

miRNAs是一类长度约为20~25个核苷酸，参与基因调控表达的内源性非编码RNA。miR-149作为miRNAs的重要成员，在多种肿瘤中表达异常，其表达水平与肿瘤细胞增殖、转移、凋亡、耐药、患者的早期诊断及预后密切相关。因此，miR-149有望成为新一类抗肿瘤治疗的靶点。     

接受选择性淋巴结照射的食管鳞癌患者预后和失败模式的分析

目的探讨接受选择性淋巴结照射(ENI)的食管鳞癌患者预后和失败模式。方法回顾性分析2005年1月至2012年12月河北医科大学第四医院收治的179例符合入组条件的食管鳞癌患者,分析肿瘤局部相关因素预测患者预后的价值,分析影响患者近期疗效、预后的影响因素,并对影响患者总生存率(OS)、无进展生存率(PFS)和复发的指标分别进行单因素和多因素分析。结果全组患者1、3、5年OS和PFS分别为77.1%、40.1%、26.0%和62.6%、30.6%、20.3%。多因素分析结果显示声音嘶哑、cN分期、cTNM分期、GTV-横径(GTV-D)和GTV-体积/长度(GTV-V/L)为影响患者OS的独立性影响因素(P<0.05);声音嘶哑、cTNM分期和近期疗效为影响患者PFS的独立性影响因素(P<0.05)。全组有75例(41.9%)患者出现复发,61例(34.1%)远处转移,其中19例(10.6%)为合并复发和远处转移。75例复发患者中64例(85.3%)患者为单纯食管复发,4例(5.3%)为单纯淋巴结复发,另7例(9.3%)患者为食管合并淋巴结复发。治疗后达完全缓解(CR)的63例患者中有18例患者出现复发,其中仅有2例患者出现淋巴结复发;logistic多因素分析结果显示患者周边组织/器官受侵、GTV-D和近期疗效为影响患者复发的独立性影响因素(P<0.05)。结论食管鳞癌患者接受ENI确实可行,其失败主要模式仍为食管复发;治疗前声音嘶哑、GTV-D和GTV-V/L较大、临床分期较晚和近期疗效不佳为患者预后较差的指标;肿瘤周边组织受侵、GTV-D和近期疗效是影响患者失败的独立性因素。     

神经内镜辅助下经鼻蝶入路治疗鞍区肿瘤

目的探讨神经内镜辅助下经鼻蝶入路切除鞍区肿瘤的方法和优势。方法回顾性分析30例鞍区肿瘤病人的临床资料,垂体腺瘤26例(其中无功能垂体腺瘤6例、泌乳素瘤16例、垂体生长激素腺瘤4例),拉克囊肿1例,胆脂瘤1例,脑膜瘤1例,颅咽管瘤1例。采用神经内镜辅助下经鼻蝶入路手术切除肿瘤。结果肿瘤全切27例,部分切除3例。术后3例发生脑脊液鼻漏,经腰大池持续引流后痊愈。无死亡病例。随访3~6个月,病人恢复良好。结论在神经内镜辅助下经鼻蝶入路治疗鞍区肿瘤,较单纯的显微镜手术治疗创伤更小,肿瘤全切率更高。