Abnormal body mass index at diagnosis in patients with Ewing sarcoma is associated with inferior tumor necrosis.

BACKGROUND: Abnormal body mass index (BMI) in cancer patients at diagnosis has been associated with lower survival rates. The degree of tumor necrosis after induction chemotherapy in Ewing sarcoma (EWS) is highly associated with treatment failure. We analyzed the effect of BMI on tumor necrosis in children and young adults undergoing induction treatment for EWS. PROCEDURE: Retrospective review of BMI and tumor necrosis in children and young adults with EWS. Patients were grouped into normal and abnormal BMI groups. Multivariate logistic regression and multivariate Cox regression were used to evaluate the impact of BMI on tumor necrosis, recurrence of disease, and survival. RESULTS: Fifty patients who underwent resection of the tumor were eligible. Of them, 32 (64%) and 18 (36%) had normal and abnormal BMI, respectively. Poor histologic response (PR), defined as tumor necrosis of less than 90%, was achieved in 35 (70%) patients. When comparing abnormal to normal BMI, there were more cases of PR [9 (50%) vs. 6 (19%) (P = 0.025)], more relapses [8 (44%) vs. 8 (25%) (P = 0.164)], and more deaths [10 (57%) vs. 7 (22%) (P = 0.040)], respectively. Abnormal BMI was independently associated with PR (OR 4.33, 95% CI 1.12-19.14 P = 0.034) and worse overall survival (HR 2.76, 95% CI 1.19-9.99 P = 0.022), while it had no impact on event free survival. CONCLUSIONS: The association between abnormal BMI and lower survival in EWS is presumed to be due to PR to chemotherapy. These findings stress the significance of BMI on treatment response in malignant diseases.

Comparison of retinal detachment surgery outcome among patients undergoing pars plana vitrectomy with and without relaxing retinotomy.

The purpose of this four year retrospective study was to compare the anatomical and functional outcomes of complicated retinal detachment (RD) surgery by pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) with and without retinotomy. The main outcome measures were primary anatomical success (defined as retinal re-attachment at the final follow-up after a single operation, with or without silicone in situ), final anatomical success, final best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and postoperative complications. Baseline characteristics did not differ between the groups, although there was a borderline significant trend for the retinotomy group to be associated with worse pre-surgical ocular pathology. With a mean follow-up of 18 (± 7.8) months, primary anatomical success was achieved in 76.7% (33 of 43) of the retinotomy group eyes vs. 67.8% (40 of 59) of the eyes in the group without retinotomy. Final anatomical success rates for the retinotomy group and no retinotomy group were 100 and 93.2% respectively. The final BCVA was 1.57 LogMAR with retinotomy and 1.38 without retinotomy, an improvement in both groups. The incidence of postoperative complications was similar in the two groups, while the frequency of macular holes was higher in the retinotomy group. A similar degree of improvement in BCVA following both surgeries indicates their similar efficacy and justifies their performance even in complicated eyes in order to improve the patients' quality of life. With neither approach superior to the other, the choice of method should be left to the surgeon.