Rethinking of neoadjuvant therapy for patients with initially resectable colorectal cancer liver metastases / 中华肝胆外科杂志

Surgical resection is the best method for patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases. However, tumor recurrence rate is still high after surgery. Preoperative chemotherapy can help shrink the tumor, test biological behavior, and reduce recurrence rate; but it may also cause liver injury and delay surgery. There is still controversy whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy should be performed and how to select patients from chemotherapy before surgery. Thus, in this article, combined the research progress and the clinical experience of author's center, we discuss this issue in 4 aspects: the development of neoadjuvant chemotherapy; the indications and guideline recommendation for neoadjuvant chemotherapy; the selection of neoadjuvant chemotherapy regimens; common problems in neoadjuvant chemotherapy.

Evaluation value of preoperative peripheral blood lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio on the prognosis of patients with stage III colon cancer / 中华胃肠外科杂志

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate the evaluation value of preoperative peripheral blood lymphocyte-to-monocyte ratio (LMR) on the prognosis of patients with stage III colon cancer undergoing radical resection and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy.@*METHODS@#Electronic medical record were retrospectively retrived for stage III colon cancer patients who underwent radical surgery at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center from December 2007 to December 2013. Inclusion criteria were pathologically comfirmed colon adenocarcinoma, complete clinicopathological data, and postoperative XELOX (oxaliplatin + capecitabine) chemotherapy with follow-up of at least 3 months. Patients with neoadjuvant anti-tumor therapy, infectious disease, other malignant tumors and death of non-tumor causes within 3 months after operation were excluded. A total of 258 patients were included in this retrospective cohort study, including 146 males and 112 females with median age of 55 (22 to 85) years. Tumors of 100(38.8%) patients were located in the right hemicolon, and of 158 (61.2%) in the left hemicolon. Tumors of 194(75.2%) patients were highly and moderately differentiated, and of 64 (24.8%) were poorly differentiated. According to the TNM tumor pathological stage of AJCC 7th edition, 196 (76.0%) patients were stage IIIA to IIIB, and 62(24.0%) patients were stage IIIC. The median preoperative CEA was 3.8 (0.3 to 287.5) μg /L and the median cycle of the adjuvant chemotherapy was 6 (1 to 8). The cut-off value of preoperative LMR in prediction of 3-year overall survival (OS) outcome was determined by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis. All patients were divided into low LMR group and high LMR group according to the critical value. Clinicopathological characteristics between the two groups were compared by using chi-square test or Fisher's exact test as appropriate. The 3-year disease-free survival and overall survival rate were estimated with the Kaplan-Meier method, and differences between two groups were assessed with the log-rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed through Cox regression model.@*RESULTS@#ROC curve showed that the cut-off value of preoperative LMR in predicting 3-year overall survival was 4.29. Then 143 patients were divided into low LMR group (LMR4 cm [60.1% (86/143) vs. 33.0% (38/115), χ²=18.748, P<0.001]. During a median follow-up of 46.0 (range, 3.0 to 74.0) months, 3-year disease-free survival rate was 83.8% in high LMR group and 78.9% in low LMR group, which was not significantly different (P=0.210). While 3-year overall survival rate in low LMR group was significant lower than that in high LMR group (86.6% vs. 97.2%, P=0.018). Univariate analysis revealed that preoperative low LMR (HR=2.841, 95%CI: 1.146 to 7.043, P=0.024), right hemicolon cancer (HR=2.865, 95%CI: 1.312 to 6.258, P=0.008) and postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy≥6 cycles (HR=0.420, 95%CI: 0.188 to 0.935, P=0.034) were the risk factors for poor overall survival. Multivariate analysis identified that preoperative low LMR (HR=2.550, 95%CI: 1.024 to 6.347, P=0.004) and right hemicolon cancer (HR=2.611, 95%CI: 1.191 to 5.723, P=0.017) were the independent risk factors for overall survival.@*CONCLUSIONS@#Preoperative peripheral blood LMR level represents an effective prognostic predictor for patients with stage III colon cancer receiving radical therapy. Low LMR indicates the poor prognosis and such patients require aggressive postoperative treatment strategy.

Clinicopathological analysis of 61 patients with rectal gastrointestinal stromal tumors / 中华胃肠外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To explore the clinicopathological characteristics, efficacy, and prognostic factors for patients with rectal gastrointestinal stromal tumor(GIST).</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Clinicopathological and follow-up data of 61 patients with rectal GIST in our department from January 1990 to October 2012 were analyzed retrospectively and pathology specimens were reviewed. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the survival. Univariate analysis and multivariate analysis were performed to investigate the influencing factors of prognosis with Log-rank test and Cox regression model.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>There were 42 male and 19 female patients with a median age of 59 years old. Eighteen cases(29.5%) were confirmed preoperatively as GIST by biopsy and 46 cases were diagnosed as GIST by first pathological examination. Fifteen cases(24.6%) were revised as GIST after re-examination of specimes among whom 14 cases had been diagnosed as leiomyoma or sarcoma, and 1 as neurolemmoma. Tumor location was above peritoneal reflection in 12 cases(19.7%) and below peritoneal reflection in 49(80.3%). Fifty-two patients underwent surgery, including 21 extended resections(lymph nodes clearance and combined organs resection simultaneously) and 31 local resections(tumor rejection or partial resection of rectal wall). Eleven patients received preoperative imatinib(400 mg/d). Forty-one cases received imatinib therapy after operation or biopsy diagnosis, including 25 cases who received palliative treatment for postoperative recurrence. Median follow-up time was 55(6 to 391) months and follow-up longer than 2 years was carried out in 46 patients. Overall survival rates of 1-, 2-, 3- , 5-year were 98%, 95.6%, 86.0% and 73.7% respectively. There were no significant differences between local resection group(96.4%, 92%, 83.3% and 77.3%) and extended resection group (100%, 94.7%, 89.50% and 82.6%)(χ(2)=0.004, P=0.947). Univariate analysis showed that survival was only associated with recurrence and metastasis (χ(2)=4.292, P=0.038). Multivariate Cox analysis showed postoperative survival was not associated with any factors(all P>0.05). The 3-year survival rate of patients with postoperative recurrence or metastasis receiving imatinib therapy was better as compared to those who did not received imatinib(82.7% vs. 71.4%).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>Rectal GIST are more common in the lower rectum. Surgery is the main treatment for rectal GIST. Local complete resection is the mainstay treatment. Extensive resection and lymph node clearance may not improve survival. Imatinib can improve the prognosis of patients with recurrence or metastasis.</p>

The study of differential diagnosis value of the axis of "no man's land" in wide QRS complex tachycardia / 中国实用内科杂志

Objective Study the differential diagnosis value of the axis of "no man's land" in wide QRS complex tachycardia.Methods Retrospectively analyse the axis of "no man's land" in 137 patients with wide complex tachycardia who had undergone intracardiac electrophysiologic studies,use the algebraic sum of the deflections in leads I and III to plot the QRS axis,to observe the rule of arrhythmia of "no man's land" appearance.Results Eighteen of 137 patients who had wide complex tachycardia had the axis of "no man's land",among which 16 patients had left idiopathic ventricular tachycardia,and 2 patients had wide complex supraventricular tachycardia they had accessory pathway conduct anterogradely.Conclusion The axis of "no man's land" is helpful in differential diagnosis of ventricular and supraventricular tachycardias with abberency or bundle branch block.