Comparison of deep learning-based recurrence-free survival with random survival forest and Cox proportional hazard models in Stage-I NSCLC patients.

BACKGROUND: The curative treatment for Stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is surgical resection. Even for Stage I patients, the probability of recurrence after curative treatment is around 20%. METHODS: In this retrospective study, we included 268 operated Stage I NSCLC patients between January 2008 and June 2018 to analyze the prognostic factors (pathological stage, histological type, number of sampled mediastinal lymph node stations, type of resection, SUVmax of the lesion) that may affect relapse with three different methods, Cox proportional hazard (CoxPH), random survival forest (RSF), DeepSurv, and to compare the performance of these methods with Harrell's C-index. The dataset was randomly split into two sets, training and test sets. RESULTS: In the training set, DeepSurv showed the best performance among the three models, the C-index of the training set was 0.832, followed by RSF (0.675) and CoxPH (0.672). In the test set, RSF showed the best performance among the three models, followed by DeepSurv with 0.677 and CoxPH methods with 0.625. CONCLUSION: In conclusion, machine-learning techniques can be useful in predicting recurrence for lung cancer and guide clinicians both in choosing the adjuvant treatment options and best follow-up programs.

Prognostic value of systemic inflammatory response markers in cervical cancer.

We investigated the association between preoperative ratios of inflammatory markers and the prognosis in patients with invasive cervical cancer (CC). In this single-centre study, we retrospectively enrolled 163 CC patients who underwent radical hysterectomy between February 2008 and October 2018. Among the evaluated ratios, a high neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (N/L) was significantly associated with deep stromal invasion and tumour size larger than 2 cm, whereas a high M/L was significantly related to advanced-stage CC (IB3-IIIC2), lymphatic metastasis (total) and pelvic lymph node metastasis (p= .002, p= .046 and p= .046, respectively). The neutrophil count plus monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio (NM/L) and platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (P/L) were significantly higher in patients with deep stromal invasion, advanced stage and tumour size larger than 2 cm (p=.01, p=.044 and p=.007; p=.004, p=.005 and p=.003, respectively). In the multivariate analysis, high NM/L (>168) was associated with a statistically significant hazard ratio of 3.04 (95% CI: (1.38-6.72); p=.006) for recurrence and 9.05 (95% CI: (2.10-38.99); p=.003) for death. Both stage and NM/L are independent prognostic factors that are significantly associated with recurrence and overall survival in CC.Impact StatementWhat is already known on this subject? Previous studies suggested that there is a relationship between inflammation and the formation, development and progression of cancer. However, the relationship between cervical cancer (CC) and inflammatory blood parameters is incompletely understood.What do the results of this study add? This study investigated the relationship between systemic blood inflammatory ratios and clinicopathological patient characteristics and disease outcomes in CC.What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? According to this study, systemic blood inflammatory ratios may help predict the prognosis and survival of patients with CC.

Risk Factors for Development of Biliary Stricture After Liver Transplant in Adult Patients: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

Identification of risk factors for biliary stricture after liver transplant and its potential prevention is crucial to improve the outcomes and reduce the complications. We retrospectively analyzed donor and recipient characteristics with intraoperative and postoperative parameters to identify the risk factors for development of post-transplant anastomotic and nonanastomotic biliary strictures with additional analysis of the time onset of those strictures. A total of 412 patients were included in this study. Mean (SD) follow-up time was 79 (35) months (range, 1-152 months). Biliary stricture was diagnosed in 84 patients (20.4%). Multivariate analysis indicated that postoperative biliary leakage (odd ratio [OR], 3.94; P = .001), acute cellular rejection (OR, 3.05; P < .001), donor age older than 47.5 years (OR, 2.05; P = .032), preoperative recipient platelet value < 77.5 × 103/mL (OR, 1.91; P = .023), University of Wisconsin solution (OR, 1.73; P = .041)), recipient male sex (OR, 1.78; P = .072), portal/arterial flow ratio > 4 (OR, 1.76; P = .083), and intraoperative bleeding > 2850 mL (OR, 1.70; P = .053) were independent risk factors for biliary stricture regardless of the time of their appearance. Multiple risk factors for biliary stricture were determined in this study. Some of these risk factors are preventable, and implementation of strategies to eliminate some of those factors should reduce the development of post-transplant biliary stricture.

Macular structural changes and factors affecting final visual acuity in patients with Behçet uveitis.

PURPOSE: To evaluate macular structural changes during the active and remission periods in patients with Behçet uveitis and to further assess the factors affecting final visual acuity. METHODS: Clinical records and spectral domain-optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) findings of patients with Behçet uveitis were retrospectively reviewed. RESULTS: Sixty-nine eyes of 35 patients were included in the study. SD-OCT findings in the active uveitis period included epiretinal membrane (ERM) in 26 (37.1%) eyes, ellipsoid zone (EZ) damage in 11 (15.7%), external limiting membrane (ELM) damage in 10 (14.3%), macular atrophy in 6 (8.6%), disruption of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) in 11 (15.7%), a macular scar in 1 (1.4%), and loss of normal foveal contour appearance in 15 (21.4%). There was macular edema in 23 eyes (32.9%) in the active uveitis period (11 (15.7%) cystoid macular edema, 10 (14.3%) diffuse macular edema, and 7 (10.0%) serous retinal detachment). In the remission period, SD-OCT findings included ERM in 37 (52.9%) eyes, EZ damage in 14 (20%), ELM damage in 14 (20%), macular atrophy in 7 (10%), disruption of RPE in 14 (20.0%), macular scar in 1 (1.4%), and loss of normal foveal contour appearance in 17 (24.3%). The mean central macular thickness in the remission period was significantly lower than in the active uveitis period (p < 0.001). The presence of EZ damage and loss of normal foveal contour appearance in active uveitis period were the independent factors associated with final visual acuity (logMAR) (ß = 0.736, p = 0.003; ß = 0.682, p = 0.002, respectively). CONCLUSION: Ellipsoid zone damage and loss of normal foveal contour appearance are important factors affecting visual acuity in Behçet uveitis.

The Effect of Phenyramidol on Neural Development in Early Chicken Embryo Model.

AIM: To investigate the effects of Phenyramidol (Phe) on neural development in an early chicken embryo model. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Sixty fertile non-pathogenic Super Nick eggs were incubated for 24 hours (h) and divided into four groups of 15 eggs each. Phe was administrated through the sub-blastoderm, and the eggs were incubated for another 24 h. All eggs were opened after 48 h of incubation, and the embryos were evaluated morphologically and histopathologically. RESULTS: In Group 1 (control group), none exhibited neural tube defects (NTDs) (0%), 1 (6.6%) was undeveloped; in Group 2 (low dosages), 1 did not develop (6.6%); in Group 3 (normal dosages), 2 (13.4%) had NTDs, 1 (6.6%) was undeveloped; in Group 4 (high dosages), 5 (33.3%) had NTDs, 2 (13.3%) were undeveloped. CONCLUSION: In light of the results, it was determined that the use of increasing doses of Phe led to defects in midline closure in early chicken embryos. This is the first report in the literature on Phe used in an early chicken embryo model.

Hormone therapy following surgery in low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma: Is it related to a decrease in recurrence rate?

BACKGROUND: Low-grade endometrial stromal sarcoma (LGESS) is, in most cases, a slow-growing malignancy; however, it is related with high recurrence rates. The aim of this study is to determine which factors may be associated with the recurrence rate of LGESS. METHODS: The clinicopathological features and treatment options in 37 patients with LGESS were evaluated. RESULTS: All patients underwent the hysterectomy and bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy. Additionally, lymphadenectomy was performed in 56.8% (n = 21) of the patients. Among the patients who underwent lymphadenectomy, 14.3% (n = 3) had lymph node metastasis. The disease was limited to the uterus in 75.7% of patients. Treatment following surgery was radiotherapy in three patients, chemotherapy in seven patients, hormone therapy in 12 patients, and chemotherapy plus hormone therapy in one patient. Megestrol acetate was used in all patients who received hormone therapy. Median follow-up time was 96 months. The 5-year disease-free survival and disease-specific survival were 72% and 97%, respectively. The recurrence rate was 27%. Only hormone therapy following surgery was significantly associated with a lower recurrence rate, even in patients with stage 1 disease. None of the patients treated with hormone therapy following surgery had recurrence, whereas recurrence occurred in 38.5% of the patients who underwent surgery only (p = 0.039). CONCLUSION: Hormone therapy after surgery should be considered a viable option for decreasing the LGESS recurrence rate, regardless of the disease stage.

Independent predictors of survival in endometrium cancer: platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio and platelet/neutrophil/monocyte-to-lymphocyte ratio

Objective: To evaluate the association between ratios of inflammatory markers and survival in endometrium cancer (EC). Material and Methods: Four hundred ninety-seven patients with epithelial EC were included. The evaluated ratios were neutrophil (N)/lymphocyte (L), neutrophil count divided by the lymphocyte count; platelet (P)/lymphocyte, platelets divided by the lymphocyte count; lymphocyte/monocyte (M), lymphocytes divided by the monocyte count; NM/L, neutrophil plus monocyte divided by the lymphocyte count; PNM/L, the sum total counts of platelets, neutrophils and monocytes divided by the lymphocyte count. Results: The median follow-up time was 24 months (1-129). Recurrence and exitus occurred in 34 (7%) and 18 (3.7%) patients, respectively. Metastasis in pelvic or para-aortic lymph nodes were significantly related only with low L/M. None of the inflammatory ratios were associated with disease-free survival. In multi-variant analysis, only high P/L (>168) and high PNM/L (>171) were related with a statistically significant hazard ratio for death of 2.91 (p=0.024) and 2.93 (p=0.023), respectively. Conclusion: The P/L and PNM/L were in relation with worse overall survival and also independent prognostic factors for OS.