Four-Hour Fasting for Semifluids and 2-Hour Fasting for Water Improves the Patient Experience of Esophagogastroduodenoscopy: A Randomized Controlled Trial

Background/Aims@#We aimed to investigate the comfort, safety, and endoscopic visibility during esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) afforded by a modified 4-hour semifluid and 2-hour water (“4+2”) fasting protocol. @*Methods@#In this parallel group, endoscopist-blinded, randomized controlled trial, outpatients undergoing unsedated diagnostic EGD from 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM were randomly assigned to either a “4+2” protocol group or a conventional fasting group. The participants’ comfort during the fasting period and procedure was measured using the visual analog scale, and mucosal visibility was measured by endoscopists using the total visibility score. Satisfaction was defined as a visual analog scale score of ≤3. The primary outcome was the participants’ comfort during fasting. @*Results@#One hundred and six and 108 participants were randomized to the “4+2” protocol and control groups, respectively. Participants’ comfort before EGD was significantly higher in the “4+2” protocol group measured by both the proportion of satisfaction (86.8% vs 63.9%, p=0.002) and the visual analog scale score (median [interquartile range]: 1.0 [1.0–2.0] vs 3.0 [1.0–4.0], p<0.001). The proportion of satisfaction during EGD also significantly improved (59.4% vs 45.4%, p=0.039) in the “4+2” protocol group. The total visibility score was unaffected by the fasting protocol (5.0 [4.0–5.0] vs 4.0 [4.0–5.0], p=0.266). No adverse events were observed during the study. @*Conclusions@#The “4+2” protocol was more comfortable and provided equal mucosal visibility and safety compared with conventional fasting for unsedated EGD.

Current situation and prospect of early diagnosis and treatment of esophageal carcinoma / 中国实用内科杂志

In view of the high incidence of esophageal cancer in China, early diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer are hot topics. This article reviews the epidemiological characteristics of esophageal cancer, and focuses on the current status and progress of early diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer based on early diagnostic markers, endoscopic diagnosis, endoscopic treatment, and prophylactic treatment. Early diagnosis and treatment can effectively control and prevent esophageal cancer in China, and they are in line with the direction of esophageal cancer diagnosis and treatment and meet the needs of patients.

Prognostic factors of esophageal cancer with multiple organ metastases and a prediction nomogram / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic factors of esophageal cancer with multiple organ metastases and establish a prognostic prediction model. METHODS: Patients data were extracted from the SEER database. The clinical data of 388 patients with esophageal cancer with multiple organ metastases were retrospectively analyzed. Risk factors were analyzed by log-rank method and survival curves were drawn by K-M method. Multivariate analysis was performed by Cox proportional hazard model to obtain independent prognostic factors for multi-organ metastasis of esophageal cancer. A prediction nomogram was further established.RESULTS: The mean survival time of patients in this study was 7.3 months, and the survival rates for 1-, 3-, and 5-year were 15.5%,1.2%, and 0, respectively. Age was an independent prognostic factor. The value of C-index was 0.618. CONCLUSION: The prognosis of esophageal cancer with multiple organ metastases is poor. Age at the diagnosis and patterns of multiple organ metastases are related to the survival time of patients. The prediction nomogram provided a good prognosis prediction.

Nomogram: an effective prognostic model for esophageal cancer with lung metastasis / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To establish a prediction model for the prognosis of patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis.METHODS: Data from 194 patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis from 2010 to 2015 was collected from the National Cancer Institute Surveillance, Epidemiology and End RESULTS:(SEER) database. The best cutoff value for age was determined by X-tile software.Prognostic factors were analyzed by SPSS(v25.0) with the log-rank method and the Cox proportional hazard model. Risk factors from univariate analysis were used to construct prediction nomogram with R studio software(version 3.5.1). RESULTS: The median survival time of 194 patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis was 7.0 months, the 3-month survival rate was 69.9%, and the 1-year survival rate was 27.7%. Age(HR=1.51, 95% CI: 1.066-2.140) and pathological type(HR=0.736, 95% CI: 0.543-0.998) were independent prognostic factors for patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis. The value of C-index was 0.634(95% CI=0.585-0.683). CONCLUSION: For patients with esophageal cancer lung metastasis, being young and adenocarcinoma are associated with a better prognosis. The prediction of the nomogram is good.

Establishment of a prognostic nomogram for esophageal cancer liver metastasis–a population-based analysis / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To analyze the prognostic factors related to liver metastasis of esophageal cancer and establish an effective prediction model. METHODS: The data of 464 cases of esophageal cancer with liver metastasis from 2010 to 2015 was collected from the National Cancer Institute SEER database by SEER stat 8.3.5 software. SPSS(v25.0) was used to analyze the prognostic factors of esophageal cancer liver metastasis and Kaplan-Meier curve was used for survival analysis. We introduced the meaningful variables of single factor analysis in Cox proportional hazard model and multivariate analysis and obtained the independent influencing factors of prognosis.Independent factors were then included in the accelerated failure time model to construct the nomogram. RESULTS: The mean survival time of patients in this study was 11.6 months(95%CI: 10.075-13.209), and their 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 29.4%, 5.5%, and 0,respectively. Age(HR=1.452, 95% CI: 1.175-1.795), marriage(HR=0.753, 95%CI: 0.611-0.927) and surgery(HR=0.428, 95% CI: 0.227-0.807) were independent prognostic factors for patients. We constructed the nomogram with risk factors of prognosis, and the C-index value was 0.614. CONCLUSION: The prognosis of esophageal cancer liver metastasis is poor. being young, Being married, and surgery are associated with better survival, and the nomogram we have constructed is proved to have good predictive ability.

Prognostic factors analysis and establishment of prediction model for 183 cases of esophageal cancer bone metastasis / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To construct a model for predicting the prognosis of esophageal cancer bone metastasis. METHODS: The clinical data of 183 patients with esophageal cancer bone metastasis were analyzed retrospectively, and the prognostic factors of patients were analyzed by log-rank method and Cox proportional hazard model. Nomogram was constructed with the accelerated failure-time model.RESULTS: The average survival time(10.0 months, 95% CI:7.758-12.338) of patients aged 28-70 years was longer than that of patients aged 71-91(6.4 months, 95% CI:4.365-8.428)(χ~2=4.077, P=0.043). The prognosis of unmarried patients(average 7.0 months) was worse than that of the married(10.5 months on average)(χ~2=12.841, P<0.001). As for prognoses of different pathological types, the differences between adenocarcinoma(average 10.2 months, 95% CI:7.797-12.548), squamous cell carcinoma(average 6.4 months,95%CI:3.895-8.899) and other types(average 4.0 months, 95% CI:4.000-4.000) were statistically significant(χ~2=7.171, P=0.028).There were also significant differences between the prognoses of patients with different T stage(χ~2=8.833, P=0.032). Nomogram was constructed with the risk factors above and the C-index reached 0.675(95%CI: 0.626-0.725). CONCLUSION: The prognosis of esophageal cancer bone metastasis was poor. Marriage, T stage, histological grade and pathological types were risk factors affecting prognosis, while N stage didn't appear to show obvious effect on prognosis. The nomogram was tested to have a good predictive capacity.

Prognosis analysis of brain metastasis from esophageal cancer / 中国实用内科杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the prognostic factors of esophageal cancer with brain metastasis. METHODS: SEER Stat 8.3.5 was used to collect 39 cases of esophageal cancer with brain metastasis from 2010 to 2015 in the Surveillance, Epidemiology and End RESULTS:(SEER) database. X-tile software was used to determine the best cut-off value of the age. Prognostic factors were analyzed with log-rank and Cox proportional hazard model by SPSS(v25.0). RESULTS: The median survival time of patients with esophageal cancer with brain metastasis was 7.0 months, the 6-month survival rate was 53.3%, and the 1-year survival rate was 16.3%. Only age(χ~2=4.045, P=0.044)was the prognostic factor, while there was insufficient evidence to show whether gender, marriage, race, primary site, histological grade,surgery, pathological type, T stage or N stage was associated with the prognosis of the patients. CONCLUSION: Brain metastasis is a rare metastatic type of esophageal cancer. Age is associated with worse prognosis, while the influences of other risk factors are not clear.Active treatment can lead to better prognosis.

Advances in research and clinical application of tumor markers in esophageal cancer / 中国实用内科杂志

Esophageal cancer is a common malignant tumor of the upper gastrointestinal tract. Early symptoms of the disease are inconspicuous and the disease is often diagnosed at a later stage, leading to higher morbidity and mortality. Esophageal cancer morbidity and mortality in both genders ranks among the top 10 most common cancers. Early detection and early treatment are effective means to reduce the incidence and mortality of esophageal cancer. Tumor markers play an important role in early diagnosis, treatment monitoring and prognosis evaluation of esophageal cancer. This paper reviews the clinical application of tumor markers related to esophageal cancer and the exploration and application progress of new tumor markers for esophageal cancer.

Analysis on associated factors,diagnosis and treatment of 1700 cases with chronic pancreatitis / 中华消化杂志

Objective To retrospectively analyze diagnosis and treatment of chronic pancreatitis. Methods One thousand and seven hundreds patients with confirmed chronic pancreatitis in 21 hospitals were retrospectively studied,including their associated etiological factors,diagnostic and therapeutic methods.Results Among these patients,601 were alcoholic,576 were biliary diseases origin,which ac- counted for 35.4% and 33.9%,respectively.The most common symptom of chronic pancreatitis was abdominal pain.Some of patients accompanied by steatorrhoea and decreased body weight.Part of pa tients(239 cases)were diagnosed by histopathologic examination.Others were diagnosed by imaging techniques.Alleviation of symptoms was achieved with conservative management.Conclusions Alcohol consumption was the most common predisposing factor for chronic pancreatitis.Imaging techniques play the most important role in diagnosis of the disease,and non-operation managements were the main meth- ods for treatment of chronic pancreatitis.