Indeterminate pulmonary nodules are not associated with worse overall survival in Ewing Sarcoma

AimLung metastases are a negative prognostic factor in Ewing sarcoma, however, the incidence and significance of sub-centimetre pulmonary nodules at diagnosis is unclear. The aims of this study were to (1): determine the incidence of indeterminate pulmonary nodules (IPNs) in patients diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma (2); establish the impact of IPNs on overall and metastasis-free survival and (3) identify patient, oncological and radiological factors that correlate with poorer prognosis in patients that present with IPNs on their staging chest CT.Materials & methodsBetween 2008 and 2016, 173 patients with a first presentation of Ewing sarcoma of bone were retrospectively identified from an institutional database. Staging and follow-up chest CTs for all patients with IPN were reviewed by a senior radiologist. Clinical and radiologic course were examined to determine overall- and metastasis-free survival for IPN patients and to identify demographic, oncological or nodule-specific features that predict which IPN represent true lung metastases.ResultsFollowing radiologic re-review, IPN were found in 8.7% of patients. Overall survival for IPN patients was comparable to those with a normal staging chest CT (2-year overall survival of 73.3% [95% CI 43.6–89] and 89.4% [95% CI 81.6–94], respectively; p = 0.34) and was significantly better than for patients with clear metastases (46.0% [95% CI 31.9–59]; p < 0.0001). Similarly, there was no difference in metastasis-free survival between ‘No Metastases’ and ‘IPN’ patients (p = 0.16). Lung metastases developed in 40% of IPN patients at a median 9.6 months. Reduction of nodule size on neoadjuvant chemotherapy was associated with worse overall survival in IPN patients (p = 0.0084).ConclusionIPN are not uncommon in patients diagnosed with Ewing sarcoma. In this study, we were unable to detect a difference in overall- or metastasis-free survival between patients with IPN at diagnosis and patients with normal staging chest CTs.     

Enlarged high frequency oscillations of the median nerve somatosensory evoked potential and survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

ObjectiveA large N20 and P25 of the median nerve somatosensory evoked potential (SEP) predicts short survival in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We investigated whether high frequency oscillations (HFOs) over N20 are enlarged and associated with survival in ALS.MethodsA total of 145 patients with ALS and 57 healthy subjects were studied. We recorded the median nerve SEP and measured the onset-to-peak amplitude of N20 (N20o-p), and peak-to-peak amplitude between N20 and P25 (N20p-P25p). We obtained early and late HFO potentials by filtering SEP between 500 and 1 kHz, and measured the peak-to-peak amplitude. We followed up patients until endpoints (death or tracheostomy) and analyzed the relationship between SEP or HFO amplitudes and survival using a Cox analysis.ResultsPatients showed larger N20o-p, N20p-P25p, and early and late HFO amplitudes than the control values. N20p-P25p was associated with survival periods (p = 0.0004), while early and late HFO amplitudes showed no significant association with survival (p = 0.4307, and p = 0.6858, respectively).ConclusionsThe HFO amplitude in ALS is increased, but does not predict survival.SignificanceThe enlarged HFOs in ALS might be a compensatory phenomenon to the hyperexcitability of the sensory cortex pyramidal neurons.     

Outcomes of Prostatectomy versus Radiation Therapy in the Management of Clinically Localized Prostate Cancer Patients Within the PLCO Trial

Background

The objective of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of clinically localized prostate cancer treated with prostatectomy versus radiation therapy within the context of a prospective prostate cancer screening study.

食管癌高、低发区食管鳞癌患者生存及其影响因素分析

目的 探讨食管癌高、低发区食管鳞癌患者的生存状况及其影响因素。方法 收集38 741例经病理学证实为食管鳞癌患者的资料，其中，高发区患者23 273例（60.1%），低发区15 468例（39.9%）。所有患者均行食管癌根治术。运用卡方检验分析不同临床病理特征患者的组间差异，Kaplan-Meier法绘制不同临床病理特征患者的生存曲线并用Log rank进行检验。多因素Cox比例风险回归模型法分析影响生存的主要因素。结果 低发区男性患者所占比例高于高发区（P<0.001），低发区诊断年龄≥50岁食管癌患者所占比例高于高发区（P<0.001）。高发区食管鳞癌患者的整体生存优于低发区患者（P<0.001）。Cox比例风险回归模型综合分析结果表明：高低发区、性别、确诊年龄、肿瘤部位、分化程度、TNM分期和肿瘤家族史均是影响食管鳞癌患者生存的独立因素。结论 高发区食管鳞癌患者整体生存优于低发区；低发区是食管鳞癌患者预后差的独立危险因素。     

The Effect of Helicobacter pylori on Gastric Cancer Treated with Adjuvant Chemotherapy After Curative Resection

Helicobacter pylori has been associated with diverse pathologies of varying severity. We investigated the H. pylori infection status and its association with the pathologic features and clinical outcomes in stage III gastric cancer patients treated with adjuvant therapy after curative resection. Between 2004 and 2009, the records of 76 consecutive patients were retrospectively reviewed. H. pylori infection was confirmed by examination of pathological specimen. The relationship between H. pylori and the clinicopathological features was analyzed by Fisher exact test, Student’s t test, and Kaplan-Meier method. Of the 76 patients, 16 patients (21.1 %) were confirmed for H. pylori infection. The median age was 59 years. Twenty-three patients received chemotherapy and remainder received chemoradiotherapy. H. pylori status did not correlate with the clinicopathologic features. It was greater in non-neoplastic tissue than the tumor tissue (21.1 vs 7.9 %). Median follow-up was 21 months. During this period, 88.2 % patients had experienced tumor recurrence, and 85.5 % patients had died. Recurrence was observed in 87.5 % patients and in 88.3 % patients in H. pylori-positive and H. pylori-negative patients, respectively (P = 0.92). Disease-free survival was 28.4 ± 7.9 months and overall survival was 31.5 ± 7.4 months in H. pylori-positive patients compared with 28.3 ± 3.7 and 33.2 ± 3.4 months, respectively, in H. pylori-negative patients. H. pylori infection status did not have effect on the overall or disease-free survival (p = 0.85 and P = 0.86), respectively. H. pylori status might not be useful as a prognostic and predictive factor for clinical outcomes.     

Outcomes After Aortic Valve Replacement for Asymptomatic Severe Aortic Regurgitation and Normal Ejection Fraction

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Adjuvant chemotherapy could improve the survival of pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundComplete surgical removal is currently considered to be the best treatment option for pulmonary sarcomatoid carcinoma (PSC) especially in early stage operable disease; however, the reported recurrence-free survival is low. Benefits of adjuvant chemotherapy in PSC patients are still controversial, and there is no obvious agreement on the optimal treatment modalities of this disease. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the prognosis in terms of overall survival (OS) in patients with PSC who received adjuvant chemotherapy.MethodsThe review protocol was registered in PROSPERO (CRD42022306084). Patients with PSC who underwent surgical therapy with or without adjuvant chemotherapy were included into the meta-analysis. Hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for OS were pooled and ROBINS-I tool was used to assess risk of bias of the included studies.ResultsWe identified four retrospective cohort studies with 6768 records from MEDLINE, Embase, and CENTRAL databases up to 9th September 2021, and altogether 1835 patients were included to the analysis. The present meta-analysis shows that patients receiving adjuvant chemotherapy had a significantly longer OS than patients who underwent surgical treatment alone (HR = 0.5657, 95%CI: 0.4391–0.7290, p < 0.0001).ConclusionsDespite the limited information on the chemotherapy regimens in the included studies, patients with PSC may benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy. More publications are required to evaluate and compare efficient adjuvant chemotherapy protocols in PSC cases.     

Tongue cancer treatment and oncological outcomes: The role of glossectomy classification

BackgroundNowadays surgery remains the gold standard of treatment for tongue cancer. Via a more clear and precise terminology, the glossectomy classification by Ansarin et al. facilitates shared communication between surgeons, allowing comparison between published research and improving surgical practice and patient care. To establish the association of glossectomies, according to their classification by Ansarin et al. with overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DSF), and cause-specific survival (CSS) in tongue cancer, we conducted a systemic retrospective study on 300 consecutive patients affected by primary oral tongue cancer and treated with surgery at the European Institute of Oncology, IRCCS (IEO).MethodsThree hundred patients with tongue squamous cell carcinoma and treated at the Division of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery of the European Institute of Oncology, IRCCS were cataloged according to the glossectomy classification. OS, DFS, and CSS were compared by surgical treatments.ResultsOS-5yrs was 80% for the type I glossectomy group, 75% for type II, 65% for type III, and 35% for type IV-V. DFS-5yrs was 74%, 60%, 55%, and 27%, respectively for I, II, III, and IV-V glossectomy group; CSS-5yrs was 82%, 80%, 72%, and 48%, respectively for I, II, III, and IV-V glossectomy group (p < 0.01).ConclusionsThis study confirmed that the application of the glossectomy classification was statistically correlated with patients' oncological outcomes.     

Clinicopathologic significance of LAIR-1 expression in hepatocellular carcinoma

Aim

Leukocyte-associated immunoglobulin-like receptor-1 (LAIR-1) is an immune inhibitory receptor which is expressed within most types of hematopoietic cells and negatively regulates immune responses. Recently, we found LAIR-1 expression to be present within tumors of nonhematopoietic lineages. However, the roles of LAIR-1 in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) have yet to be examined. The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of LAIR-1 in HCC tissue and assess its clinical significance at this site.

Locally advanced cervical carcinoma patients treated with chemoradiation followed by radical surgery: clinical response and oncological outcomes according to histotype after propensity score analysis

IntroductionThe aims of this study were to analyze the pathological response, and survival outcomes of adenocarcinoma/adenosquamous (AC/ASC) versus squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in patients with locally advanced cervical cancer (LACC) managed by chemoradiotherapy followed by radical surgery.MethodsRetrospective, multicenter, observational study, including patients with SCC and AC/ACS LACC patients treated with preoperative CT/RT followed by tailored radical surgery (RS) between 06/2002 and 05/2017. Clinical-pathological characteristics were compared between patients with SCC versus AC/ASC. A 1:3 ratio propensity score (PS) matching was applied to remove the variables imbalance between the two groups.ResultsAfter PS, 320 patients were included, of which 240 (75.0%) in the SCC group, and 80 (25.0%) in the AC/ASC group. Clinico-pathological and surgical baseline characteristics were balanced between the two study groups. Percentage of pathologic complete response was 47.5% in SCC patients versus 22.4% of AC/ASC ones (p < 0.001). With a median follow-up of 51 months (range:1–199), there were 54/240 (22.5%) recurrences in SCC versus 28/80 (35.0%) in AC/ASC patients (p = 0.027). AC/ASC patients experienced worse disease free (DFS), and overall survival (OS) compared to SCC patients (p = 0.019, and p = 0.048, respectively). In multivariate analysis, AC/ACS histotype, and FIGO stage were associated with worse DFS and OS.ConclusionIn LACC patients treated with CT/RT followed by RS, AC/ASC histology was associated with lower pathological complete response to CT/RT, and higher risk of recurrence and death compared with SCC patients. This highlights the need for specific therapeutic strategies based on molecular characterization to identify targets and develop novel treatments.