RESUMO
OBJECTIVES: We aimed to examine the mid-term results corresponding to the entry site in patients who underwent pre-emptive thoracic endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (TEVAR) for uncomplicated type B aortic dissection (TBAD). METHODS: We included 27 patients who underwent pre-emptive TEVAR for uncomplicated TBAD between September 2014 and December 2019. We divided the patients into 2 groups depending on the proximal landing zone (zone 2 group, zone ≥3 group) and retrospectively analyzed the risk of all-cause and aorta-related mortality, aortic events (rupture, open conversion, and secondary intervention), and aortic enlargement (≥5 mm). RESULTS: The median age of the patients was 53 (47-65) years. The median duration from the onset of uncomplicated TBAD to TEVAR was 43 (30-99) days, and the median follow-up duration was 48 (36-57) months. The maximum preoperative diameter of the dissected aorta was 40 mm in the zone 2 group and 35 mm in the zone ≥3 group (p=0.134). There was no case of hospital death or spinal cord ischemia; however, there was 1 (3.7%) case of perioperative stroke in the zone 2 group. Multivariate analysis of the risk factors for aortic enlargement following pre-emptive TEVAR for uncomplicated TBAD revealed that only zone 2 landing was an independent risk factor. The estimated Kaplan-Meier curve showed a higher rate of aortic enlargement in the zone 2 group at 4 years after pre-emptive TEVAR (46.4% vs 0%, log-rank test; p=0.011). CONCLUSIONS: In this study on TBAD, we found that zone 2 landing was associated with aortic enlargement after pre-emptive TEVAR. In cases where the distance from the left subclavian artery to a major entry point was short, there were more cases of aortic dilatation. CLINICAL IMPACT: The effectiveness of entry closure for type B aortic dissection was demonstrated in the INSTEAD XL trial. The cause of aortic enlargement after pre-emptive endovascular treatment for type B aortic dissection remains controversial. In the present study, zone 2 landing was a risk factor for aortic enlargement after pre-emptive thoracic endovascular aortic aneurysm repair (TEVAR) for uncomplicated type B dissection. Patients with zone 2 landing should be closely followed up after pre-emptive TEVAR.
RESUMO
AIM: Recent studies have reported that the albumin-to-globulin ratio (AGR) may be a useful inflammatory-nutritional biomarker to predict postoperative complications and poor prognosis in various types of patients with cancer. However, its prognostic value in patients with esophageal cancer is still unclear. We aimed to examine the utility of the AGR for predicting the short- and long-term outcomes in patients with esophageal cancer who underwent curative resection. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort analysis reviewing the medical records of consecutive patients who underwent esophagectomy for clinical stage I to III esophageal cancer at Yokohama City University. A total of 105 patients were identified between 2005 and 2018. The overall survival (OS), recurrence-free survival (RFS), and postoperative complication rates were compared between patients with high AGR (>1.48) and those with low AGR (≤1.48) group. RESULTS: A total of 57 and 48 patients were classified into the high and low AGR groups, respectively. There was no significant difference between the two groups in the rate of overall postoperative complications of more than Clavien-Dindo grade 3 (50.9% vs. 54.2%, p=0.85). The long-term findings showed that 5-year OS and RFS rates were significantly better for the group with a high AGR (67.2% vs. 33.8%, p<0.001 and 51.6% vs. 28.5%, p=0.003, respectively). CONCLUSION: This study suggests that a low preoperative AGR is a risk factor for poor RFS and OS in patients who are planning to undergo curative surgery for esophageal cancer. AGR may be a useful biomarker for establishing treatment strategies to improve patients' survival.