Stage IIA and IIB testicular seminoma treated post-orchiectomy with radiation therapy versus other approaches: a population-based analysis of 241 patients

Objectives

To evaluate post-orchiectomy utilization of radiation therapy (RT) versus other management approaches in stage IIA and IIB testicular seminoma patients.

Materials and Methods

Two hundred and forty-one patients with stage IIA and IIB testicular seminoma were identified between 1988 and 2003 using the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database.

Results

Median follow-up was 10 years. Patients with stage IIA disease underwent RT more frequently than those with stage IIB disease (72% vs. 46%, respectively; P<0.001). There was no significant change in RT utilization for stage IIA or IIB disease between 1988 and 2003 (P = 0.89).

Conclusions

Between 1988 and 2003, stage IIA patients underwent RT more often than stage IIB patients in the United States. There was no significant change in RT utilization for stage IIA or IIB disease during this time period. Based on reports describing excellent progression-free survival with cisplatin-based chemotherapy, this approach has increased in popularity since 2003 and may eventually become the most popular treatment approach for both stage IIA and IIB testicular seminoma.     

The Treatment of Cholangiocarcinoma: a Hepatologist’s Perspective

Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) is a rare but lethal adenocarcinoma with cholangiocyte differentiation that arises within the biliary tree at variable locations. Curative options are available in the form of surgical resection and/or liver transplantation (LT) in early stage CCA; however, these are offered to a small fraction of patients as they are usually asymptomatic and remain undiagnosed. Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a well-known risk factor of CCA, and cirrhosis, viral hepatitis, and metabolic syndrome are recently identified as risk factors of CCA. This emerging evidence places hepatologists in a vital position to diagnose, prognosticate, and manage CCA by planning treatment of each individual patient based on the stage and extent of malignancy. With appropriate selection of patients and the involvement of a multidisciplinary team, surgical resection of localized CCA, LT coupled with neoadjuvant chemoradiation for perihilar CCA, or locoregional or systemic chemotherapy and/or endoscopic interventions for advanced CCA can be offered.     

Association between preeclampsia and prostasin polymorphism in Pakistani females

Objectives:To investigate the relationship between a prostasin gene variations and the development of preeclampsia in a Pakistani female population.Methods:This was a case-control study carried out at University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan between May 2018 and 2019. A single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) at rs12597511 locus was examined with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analyses in 76 preeclamptic and 74 normotensive expecting mothers.Results:We observed significantly increased risk of preeclampsia associated with the CC genotype of rs12597511 polymorphism as compared to TT (p<0.001, OR=8.08, 95% CI:1.28-31.19) and TT/TC (p<0.001, OR=14.66 and 95% CI: 3.31-65.07) genotypes carriers. Calculation of the allelic distribution revealed a higher frequency of the T allele (82%) among controls; however, the C allele was more prevalent in the preeclamptic group (36%) significantly.Conclusion:The significantly higher C allele frequency in the prostasin gene at the rs12597511 locus in the preeclamptic group indicates that the distribution of the C allele of the prostasin gene is a potential risk factor contributing to the development of preeclampsia.