Neiguan (PC6) acupoint stimulation for preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting: a cost-effective supplement in guideline-inconsistent chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting prophylaxis subgroup.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy and safety of Neiguan (PC6) acupoint acustimulation in preventing chemotherapy-induced nausea and vomiting (CINV), especially for patients with guideline-inconsistent CINV prophylaxis (GICP) due to personal reasons METHODS: From January 2021 to December 2021, 373 patients suffered from solid malignancy were recruited according to the inclusion criteria. Complete response (no emesis and no rescue medication use) rate during the overall phase (0-120 h of each chemo-cycle) was the primary assessment of CINV control. The Functional Living Index-Emesis (FLIE) questionnaire was investigated among these patients as a secondary 'quality of life' objective to assess the impact of CINV on patients' daily life by recording score of nausea and vomiting. RESULTS: With acustimulation of Neiguan (PC6) acupuncture point through a portable, noninvasive and user-friendly device, in terms of complete response rate and scores in nausea/vomiting by FLIE questionnaire, patients achieve a better outcome in highly emetogenic chemotherapy (HEC) induced CINV, especially GICP subgroup. Meanwhile, analysis also demonstrated this tendency existed in other patients with HEC/GCCP (guideline consistent CINV prophylaxis) and moderate emetogenic chemotherapy, although the difference was not significant. CONCLUSION: Considering advantages of Neiguan (PC6) acustimulation such as noninvasive, covered by medical insurance and few side effects, we believe it would be an ideal auxiliary tool in CINV control, especially in patients who receive highly emetogenic chemo-protocol and are reluctant to GCCP for economic reasons.

18F-FDG positron emission tomography for the assessment of histological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in osteosarcomas: a meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this meta-analysis was to evaluate the predicting value of fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography with computed tomography (18F-FDG PET-CT) in the assessment of histological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in patients with osteosarcomas. METHODS: A detailed search was made in MEDLINE, EMBASE and the Web of Knowledge for relevant original articles published in English; methodological quality of the included studies were also assessed. Two reviewers extracted data independently. Sufficient data was presented to construct a 2 × 2 contingency table. Pooled sensitivity and specificity, positive and negative likelihood ratios were estimated. A summary receiver operating characteristic curve (SROC) was constructed with the Moses' constant of linear model. A χ(2) test was performed to test for heterogeneity. RESULTS: Eight studies comprising 178 patients met the inclusion criteria. The pooled sensitivity and specificity for standardized uptake values (SUV) after chemotherapy (SUV2) ≤ 2.5 were 0.734 (95% CI, 0.537-0.867) and 0.864 (95% CI, 0.510-0.975), for the ratio of standardized uptake values after (SUV2) to before (SUV1) chemotherapy SUV 2:1 ≤ 0.5 were 0.690 (95% CI, 0.497-0.833) and 0.653 (95% CI, 0.492-0.786), the positive and negative likelihood ratio (LR+/LR-) for SUV2 ≤ 2.5 were 5.397 (95% CI, 1.169-24.920) and 0.308 (95% CI, 0.165-0.577), for SUV 2:1 ≤ 0.5 were 1.989 (95% CI, 1.145-3.457) and 0.475 (95% CI, 0.247-0.915). There was no significant difference between-study heterogeneity for either LR + or LR- in any of these analyses. The area under the SROC curve for SUV2 ≤ 2.5 and SUV 2:1 ≤ 0.5 were 0.81 and 0.72, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The present meta-analysis showed that 18F-FDG PET-CT scan, as measured by the SUV before and after treatment, SUV2 ≤ 2.5 and SUV 2:1 ≤ 0.5 are valuable for predicting the histological response to chemotherapy. SUV2 ≤ 2.5 have better predicting performance than SUV 2:1 ≤ 0.5.

Expression of Ezrin correlates with lung metastasis in Chinese patients with osteosarcoma.

PURPOSE: To determine the prognostic value of the expression of Ezrin, CD44 and Six1 genes in osteosarcoma tissues of Chinese patients. METHODS: Fluorescent quantitative real-time PCR was applied to study the mRNA levels of Ezrin, CD44 and Six1 genes in 32 osteosarcoma patient samples and 10 adjacent normal tissues and MG63 osteosarcoma cell lines. The analysis of relationships between pulmonary metastasis and overall survival time were carried out based on the clinical data. RESULTS: mRNA levels of Ezrin and Six1 genes in osteosarcoma tissues were higher than those in adjacent normal tissues (P=0.015, 0.025). The mRNA levels of Ezrin, CD44 and Six1 genes were closely correlated with Enneking GTM clinical staging, while no correlations were demonstrated between the mRNA level of these genes with sex, age, location or pathological types. In addition, we demonstrated that the high mRNA level of Ezrin gene was related to shorter lung metastasis-free and overall survival time of the Chinese patients with osteosarcoma (P < 0.001). CONCLUSION: Our data suggest that Ezrin, but not CD44 and Six1, could be a prognostic factor and a predictor of potential lung metastasis in osteosarcoma. Further large sample studies need to be done to confirm the potential value of Ezrin as a new therapeutic target.