A systematic review of the predictive value of radiomics for nasopharyngeal carcinoma prognosis.

BACKGROUND: Radiomics has been widely used in the study of tumours, which has predictive and prognostic value in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). Therefore, we collected relevant literature to explore the role of current radiomics in predicting the prognosis of NPC. METHODS: We performed a systematic literature review and meta-analysis in accordance with the preferred reporting items in the systematic evaluation and meta-analysis guidelines. We included papers on radiomics published before May 5, 2024, to evaluate the predictive ability of radiomics for the prognosis of NPC. The methodological quality of the included articles was evaluated using the radiomics quality score. The area under the curve (AUC), combined sensitivity and combined specificity were used to evaluate the ability of radiomics models to predict the prognosis of NPC. RESULTS: A total of 20 studies met the inclusion criteria for the current systematic review, and 13 papers were included in the meta-analysis. The radiomics quality score ranged from 7 to 20 (maximum score: 36). The diagnostic test forest plots showed that the diagnostic OR of radiology was 11.04 (95% CI: 5.11-23.87), while the ORs for sensitivity and 1-specificity were 0.75 (95% CI: 0.73-0.78) and 0.74 (95% CI: 0.72-0.76), respectively. It cannot be determined whether the combined model was superior to the radiomics model for predicting the prognosis of NPC. It is unclear whether the fact that the radiomics model was composed of features extracted from MRI is due to CT. The AUC of PFS was larger than that of disease-free survival (P < .05). The overall AUC value is 0.8265. CONCLUSION: This study summarized all the studies that examined the predictive value of radiomics for NPC prognosis. Based on the summarized AUC values, as well as sensitivity and 1-specificity, it can be concluded that radiomics has good performance in predicting the prognosis of NPC. Radiomics models have certain advantages in predicting the effectiveness of PFS compared to predicting disease-free survival. It cannot be determined whether the combination model is superior to the radiomics model in predicting NPC prognosis, nor can it be determined whether imaging methods have differences in predictive ability. The findings confirmed and provided further evidence supporting the effectiveness of radiomics for the prediction of cancer prognosis.

[Application of acellular dermal matrix in prevention of laryngeal stenosis in glottic carcinoma].

Objective:To investigate the effect of acellular dermal matrix in preventing laryngeal stenosis in glottic carcinoma patients. Methods:Fifty-five patients with glottic carcinoma（T2, T3） from February 2018 to December 2022 were divided into experimental group（28 cases） and control group（27 cases） according to their wishes. Acellular dermal matrix was placed in the operation cavity in the experimental group after laryngofission, while control group 12 cases were sutured by pulling the upper and lower edges, 15 cases were repaired with sternohyoid muscle fascia flap. Results:In the experimental group, 1 case had laryngeal stenosis caused by laryngeal mucosa swelling after operation, and extubated successfully after symptomatic treatment. In the control group, 7 cases had laryngeal stenosis after operation, of which 3 cases were caused by granulation tissue hyperplasia in laryngeal cavity, and extubated after symptomatic treatment. 2 cases extubated after operation suffered from progressive dyspnea during radiotherapy, and underwent tracheotomy again, extubation successful after treatment. 2 cases caused by laryngeal mucosa swelling, after symptomatic treatment, one case was successfully extubated, and one case had long-term intubation. The laryngeal stenosis rate of the experimental group was 3.6%（1/28） , which was lower than control group 25.9%（7/27）, and the therapeutic effect of the experimental group was significantly better than control group （χ²=5.526, P=0.019）. Conclusion:Implanting acellular dermal matrix in the operation cavity of glottic carcinoma can reduce the occurrence of laryngeal stenosis and have satisfactory preventive effect on laryngeal stenosis.

Prognostic value of preoperative peripheral blood mean platelet volume/platelet count ratio (MPV/PC) in patients with resectable cervical cancer.

BACKGROUND: The mean platelet volume/platelet count ratio (MPV/PC) ratio based on the preoperative peripheral MPV and PCcan be used to predict the prognosis of multiple malignant tumors. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the prognostic value of MPV/PC in cervical cancer patients. METHODS: This study enrolled 408 patients who had undergone radical surgery for cervical cancer and evaluated the correlation of MPV/PC with patient prognosis in the primary cohort and validation cohort. Additionally, independent prognostic factors were incorporated to construct the prognostic nomogram, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) value was calculated to analyze the prognostic predictive ability of the nomogram. RESULTS: In the primary cohort, Kaplan-Meier survival analysis indicated that the overall survival (OS) for patients with MPV/PC ≤ 0.41 was significantly lower than that in patients with MPV/PC > 0.41. MPV/PC was an independent prognostic factor for resectable cervical cancer patients. Compared with neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet/lymphocyte ratio (PLR) or monocyte/lymphocyte ratio (MLR), the AUC values of MPV/PC in predicting the 3- and 5-year survival rates for cervical cancer patients were greater. Similar results were verified in the validation cohort. Subsequently, the nomogram constructed based on MPV/PC, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) classification and lymphovascular invasion performed well to accurately predict the prognosis of cervical cancer patients. The 3- and 5-year survival rates predicted by the nomogram were highly consistent with the real observations. Similar results were also displayed in the validation cohort. CONCLUSIONS: MPV/PC may be used as a novel independent prognostic factor for patients with resectable cervical cancer. Compared with the FIGO classification system, the nomogram integrating MPV/PC maybe reliably predict the survival of cervical cancer patients after radical surgery.

Clinical characteristics and pregnancy outcomes of infertile patients with endometriosis and endometrial polyps: A retrospective cohort study.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to discuss the clinical characteristics and the prognosis of surgically diagnosed endometriosis complicated by endometrial polyps and investigate the association between pregnancy outcomes during subsequent pregnancies. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January 2013 to December 2016, 1263 infertile patients were enrolled in the study. We identified 451 patients with endometriosis, and divided them into a polyp group (n = 204) and a non-polyp group (n = 247) based on whether or not they were associated with endometrial polyps. Postoperative clinical pregnant women (n = 82) among the polyp group were then classified into a study group and a control group composed of those undergoing a singleton pregnancy (n = 164) who delivered during the same time period. Clinical statuses and complications during pregnancy and delivery were collected from hospitals and by telephone interviews and surveys through the mail. RESULTS: The prevalence rate of endometriosis infertile group was obviously higher than the non-endometriosis infertile group ([45.23%; 204/451] versus [17.12%; 139/812]). Women suffering from stage 1 to 4 endometriosis had a 42.44% (73/172), 40.69% (59/145), 55.89% (38/68) and 51.52% (34/66) occurrence rate of endometrial polyps, respectively. The frequency of endometrial polyps for stage 3 and 4 patients was obviously higher than that of stage 1 and 2 patients ([53.73%; 72/134] versus [41.64%; 132/317]). Moreover, the occurrence rate of deep infiltrating endometriosis (DIE) was 57.81% (37/64), which was obviously higher than that of ovarian endometriosis (42.42%; 98/231) and peritoneal endometriosis (44.23%; 69/156). Of the 204 women diagnosed with posterior endometrial polyps, 89 became pregnant, 7 pregnancies ended in a spontaneous abortion, and 82 successfully delivered a baby. The clinical pregnancy rate of patients in stages 1 and 2 was wholly higher than that of patients in stages 3 and 4 ([48.70%; 56/115] versus [37.71%; 26/82]). The postsurgical pregnancy status of patients suffering from peritoneal endometriosis was slightly better than those with ovarian or DIE, but differences were not statistically significant (P = 0.626). We also found that the pregnancy rate was statistically elevated in patients whose EFI scores range from 7 to 10. When compared to the control group, women with endometriosis and endometrial polyps had a higher risk of their pregnancy being complicated by placenta previa (13.41%) and cesarean delivery (59.76%). CONCLUSION: Patients with endometriosis have a higher frequency of endometrial polyps. We found that a combined hysteroscopy and laparoscopy surgical procedure is an effective way to increase pregnancy rates. Different endometriosis stages and types in patients were associated with clinical pregnancy and spontaneous abortion rates. Women affected by both endometriosis and endometrial polyps have an independently elevated risk of placenta previa and cesarean delivery during pregnancy.

Application of Differentially Methylated Loci in Clinical Diagnosis of Trisomy 21 Syndrome.

AIMS: To determine the diagnostic precision of using different sets of fetal-specific methylation markers with methylation-sensitive restriction enzyme-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (MSRE-qPCR) for detection of trisomy 21 (T21). MATERIALS AND METHODS: The diagnostic value for trisomy 21 of differential methylation of HLCS, C21orf25, and RASSF1A (a fetal-specific internal control) was examined by MSRE-qPCR. RESULTS: The combined marker set of HLCS and RASSF1A achieved accurate quantification of fetal-specific chromosome 21 and was an excellent marker for detecting the presence of three copies of chromosome 21. MSRE-qPCR correctly identified three cases of fetal T21 from 11 clinical samples, which were 100% consistent with karyotyping results. In addition, this method was able to detect fetal-specific, T21-derived, cell-free fetal DNA at concentrations as low as 0.1%. CONCLUSIONS: Evaluation of the HLCS and RASSF1A fetal-specific methylation marker set by MSRE-qPCR could be a highly sensitive, specific, cost-effective, and noninvasive prenatal screening method for T21. This MSRE-qPCR testable marker should be considered as an alternative to next generation sequencing technology for diagnosing fetal T21.