Interfering Effect of Black Tea Consumption on Diagnosis of Pancreatic Cancer by CA 19-9.

PURPOSE: The study aims to determine the possible effects of black tea consumption on the level of CA 19-9 antigen in the human body. METHODS: The level of CA 19-9 was measured in 270 healthy individuals who consumed heavy amounts of black tea. RESULTS: About 43.3 % of involved individuals were revealed to have elevated levels of CA 19-9. Males with high values of CA 19-9 represented the greatest number of involved individuals. The cutoff value of high levels of CA 19-9 in all individuals was ranged 69-105 U/ml. CONCLUSIONS: Consuming heavy amounts of black tea could be considered an important interfering factor that affects the levels of CA 19-9. The cutoff or predictive value of CA 19-9 in heavy-consuming people of black tea was determined.

Pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic cancer is a highly lethal disease, for which mortality closely parallels incidence. Most patients with pancreatic cancer remain asymptomatic until the disease reaches an advanced stage. There is no standard programme for screening patients at high risk of pancreatic cancer (eg, those with a family history of pancreatic cancer and chronic pancreatitis). Most pancreatic cancers arise from microscopic non-invasive epithelial proliferations within the pancreatic ducts, referred to as pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasias. There are four major driver genes for pancreatic cancer: KRAS, CDKN2A, TP53, and SMAD4. KRAS mutation and alterations in CDKN2A are early events in pancreatic tumorigenesis. Endoscopic ultrasonography and endoscopic ultrasonography-guided fine-needle aspiration offer high diagnostic ability for pancreatic cancer. Surgical resection is regarded as the only potentially curative treatment, and adjuvant chemotherapy with gemcitabine or S-1, an oral fluoropyrimidine derivative, is given after surgery. FOLFIRINOX (fluorouracil, folinic acid [leucovorin], irinotecan, and oxaliplatin) and gemcitabine plus nanoparticle albumin-bound paclitaxel (nab-paclitaxel) are the treatments of choice for patients who are not surgical candidates but have good performance status.

Prognostic impact of CA 19-9 on outcome after neoadjuvant chemoradiation in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer.

BACKGROUND: To asses the impact of CA 19-9 and weight loss/gain on outcome after neoadjuvant chemoradiation (CRT) in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC). METHODS: We analyzed 289 patients with LAPC treated with CRT for LAPC. All patients received concomitant chemotherapy parallel to radiotherapy and adjuvant treatments. CA 19-9 and body weight were collected as prognostic and predictive markers. All patients were included into a regular follow-up with reassessment of resectability. RESULTS: Median overall survival in all patients was 14 months. Actuarial overall survival was 37 % at 12 months, 12 % at 24 months, and 4 % at 36 months. Secondary resectability was achieved in 35 % of the patients. R0/R1 resection was significantly associated with increase in overall survival (p = 0.04). Intraoperative radiotherapy was applied in 50 patients, but it did not influence overall survival (p = 0.05). Pretreatment CA 19-9 significantly influenced overall survival using different cutoff values. With increase in CA 19-9 levels, the possibility of secondary surgical resection decreased from 46 % in patients with CA 19-9 levels below 90 U/ml to 31 % in the group with CA 19-9 levels higher than 269 U/ml. DISCUSSION: This large group of patients with LAPC treated with neoadjuvant CRT confirms that CA 19-9 and body weight are strong predictive and prognostic factors of outcome. In the future, individual patient factors should be taken into account to tailor treatment.

Retrospective analysis of 119 small bowel adenocarcinoma in Chinese patients.

BACKGROUND: Small bowel adenocarcinoma (SBA) is a rare occurrence and few studies have addressed it adequately, especially in China. METHODS: Clinicopathological features, survival and prognostic analysis were retrospectively done in SBA patients admitted between 2001 and 2011 in the People's Liberation Army General Hospital. RESULTS: The study included 68 men and 51 women with a median age of 56.5 year. Tumors mainly occurred in duodenum (93.3%). Abdominal pain was the most frequent symptom (36.8%). Patients (30.3%) who received postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy had an increased, but not significant, median overall survival (MOS) rate compared to those who did not receive chemotherapy (37 vs 35 months, p = .324). One year disease free survival rate was higher in patients receiving postoperative chemotherapy (83.3% vs 71.1%). Patients survived longer in the curative surgery group (median survival time of 49.0 months) than those in the palliative group (7.0 months) (p < .001). Node-negative patients survived longer than node-positive patients (median OS: 49.0 vs 21.0 months, p = .004). Depth (95% CI: 1.013-1.517, p = .037), node involvement (95% CI: 1.234-3.890, p = .007), palliative surgery (95% CI, 2.998-10.555, p = .0005), and the site of tumor (95% CI: 0.052-0.970, p = .045) were independent predictors of OS in a multivariate analysis. CONCLUSIONS: SBA is rare and there is lack of obvious clinical manifestations. Depth, node involvement, palliative surgery, and the site of tumor are associated with a poor prognosis. Our analysis highlights the need for further studies to find out the exact role of postoperative adjuvant chemotherapy in these patients.

Pre-operative tumour marker status predicts recurrence and survival after complete cytoreduction and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy for appendiceal Pseudomyxoma Peritonei: Analysis of 519 patients.

BACKGROUND: Cytoreductive surgery (CRS) combined with Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy (HIPEC) is the optimal treatment for Pseudomyxoma Peritonei (PMP). Despite treatment, disease often recurs and may not be amenable to further CRS. Clinical experience suggests a spectrum of disease which may correlate with tumour marker levels. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of markers on recurrence and survival. METHODS: The details of all patients undergoing surgery for PMP of appendiceal origin at a national centre for peritoneal malignancy were recorded in a dedicated prospective database. The data on all patients who had CRS and HIPEC between March 1994 and January 2012 was analysed and recurrence and survival correlated with pre-operative levels of CEA, CA-125 and CA19-9. RESULTS: Overall, 519 (69%) of 752 consecutive patients, underwent complete CRS and HIPEC. The median (range) age was 56 (20-82) years with 342/519 (66%) females. The mean overall (OS) and disease free survival (DFS) in the 131/519 patients who had normal preoperative tumour markers was 168 (128-207) and 125 (114-136) months respectively, significantly higher when compared with the 109/519 (21%) who had all three tumour markers elevated (OS of 65 (42-88) and DFS of 55 (41-70) months respectively) (P = 0.002). CONCLUSIONS: Elevated tumour markers predict an increased risk of recurrence and reduced survival after complete CRS. This may reflect cell biology in low grade tumours and is an independent prognostic feature. Further analysis may help to select patients for post-operative chemotherapy, second look procedures or stratification of follow up.

A phase II study of irinotecan alternated with a weekly schedule of high-dose leucovorin and 48-hour 5-fluorouracil infusion in patients with metastatic colorectal cancer.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the activity and safety of an alternating schedule of irinotecan (CPT-11) with high-dose 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) given as a weekly 48-hour infusion in combination with leucovorin (LV) in the first-line treatment of metastatic colorectal cancer (MCRC) patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We tested the activity of a regimen consisting of a four times per week schedule of high-dose LV (150 mg/m2) followed by a 48-hour 5-FU infusion (2,600 mg/m2) alternated with CPT-11 (350 mg/m2). An alternating cycle was to be performed every 8 weeks. Treatment was administered until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity or patient refusal occurred. Thirty-five consecutive patients with measurable MCRC, aged 18-80, with a performance status < or =2, were entered into our study from May 1998 to January 2000. RESULTS: Four complete and 9 partial responses were observed (objective response rate was 37%; 95% confidence interval, CI: 21.5-55.1%); an additional 46% of the patients had stable disease. The median duration of response was 6.2 months, median time to progression 8 months (95% CI: 5.9-10.1%), and overall survival was 18.5 months (95% CI: 15.1-21.9%). The 1-year survival was 68%. No toxic deaths occurred. The incidence of grade 3-4 toxicity per patient in any cycle was: mucositis 9% and diarrhea 11% for the infusional 5-FU part, nausea/vomiting 3%, diarrhea 14%, and neutropenia 43% for the CPT-11 part of regimen. CONCLUSIONS: Our alternating schedule of 5-FU/LV and CPT-11 is a well-tolerated outpatient treatment as front-line therapy for MCRC with comparable efficacy to regimens with both drugs given together.