Correlation between serum prealbumin and prognosis of patients with hepatocellular carcinoma after hepatectomy.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether serum prealbumin levels are associated with long-term survival after hepatectomy in patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC). METHODS: A consecutive sample of 526 patients with HCC who underwent potentially curative hepatectomy from August 2007 to August 2010 was retrospectively analyzed. Patients were classified as having normal or reduced serum prealbumin based on cut-off values of 200 or 182 mg/L. RESULTS: Multivariate analysis identified the preoperative level of serum prealbumin as an independent prognostic factor of long-term survival (P < 0.05): Survival was significantly better for those with normal levels than for those with reduced levels, based on either cut-off value. Similar results were observed in subgroup analyses based on the degree of cirrhosis, level of ɑ-fetoprotein and Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer stage. CONCLUSIONS: Preoperative level of serum prealbumin may be useful for predicting long-term survival in patients with HCC after hepatectomy.

Intra-Articular Viscosupplementation for Patients with Hip Osteoarthritis: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to review the efficacy and safety of intra-articular (IA) viscosupplementation (VS) for hip osteoarthritis (OA). MATERIAL AND METHODS We searched Medline, Clinical Trial Register Center, EMBASE, and Cochrane databases for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing VS with placebo injection for hip OA. We included suitable studies, assessed the quality of studies, and extracted data on pain reduction, function improvement at different time points, and safety profiles. The comparisons of pain and function outcome were performed by meta-analysis. RESULTS Five high-quality randomized controlled studies trials (RCTs) with 591 patients with hip OA were identified. Although several trials demonstrated a significant decline in pain in VS groups during follow-up compared to baseline, without severe adverse events, the pooled analysis did not show VS was superior to placebo at any time windows [7-14 days: standardized mean difference (SMD): -0.18; 95% CI, -0.47 to 0.10, p=0.21; 28-30 days: 0.02 (-0.15, 0.19), p=0.82; or at final visit: -0.14 (-0.46, 0.18), p=0.38]. Similar results were also observed in the combined data of functional results. CONCLUSIONS IA VS does not reduce pain or improve function significantly better than placebo in a short-term follow-up. The benefits and safety of VS should be further assessed by sufficiently-sized, methodologically sound studies with validated assessment of more clinically relevant end-points.

Hepatectomy for liver metastases from gastric cancer: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Official guidelines recommend palliative treatments for patients with liver metastases from gastric cancer. However, many case series reported that hepatectomy for such cases is safe and effective. This systematic review compares the overall survival between hepatectomy and palliative therapy in patients with liver metastases from gastric cancer. METHODS: Two independent reviewers performed a systematic search of literature in EMBASE and PubMed, updated until 26 October 2016. The Newcastle-Ottawa score for cohort studies was used for quality assessment of included studies. RESULTS: A total of eight cohort studies involving 196 patients in the hepatectomy arm and 481 in the palliative arm were included. Median overall survival of patients in the two arms was 23.7 (range, 13.0 to 48.0) and 7.6 (range, 5.5 to 15.2), respectively. Median rates of overall survival of the two arms were 69, 40, 33 and 27, 8, 4% at 1, 2, and 3 years, respectively. Comparing with palliative therapy, hepatectomy was associated with significantly lower mortality at 1 year (odds ratio 0.17, P < 0.001) and 2 years (odds ratio 0.15, P < 0.001). Among the patients who underwent hepatectomy, Asian cohorts showed higher median rates of overall survival than Western cohorts at 1 year (76 vs. 60%), 2 years (47 vs. 30%) and 3 years (39 vs. 23%). CONCLUSIONS: Hepatectomy in the management of liver metastases from gastric cancer can be considered effective. In the elective setting, hepatectomy provides a potential alternative to palliative therapy.

Prognostic factors of regression and relapse of complex atypical hyperplasia and well-differentiated endometrioid carcinoma with conservative treatment.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate possible prognostic factors regarding regression and relapse of complex atypical hyperplasia (CAH) and well-differentiated endometrioid adenocarcinoma (WDC) treated with conservative treatment. METHODS: The retrospective study reviewed clinicopathologic, treatment, regression and relapse data from patients diagnosed with CAH or WDC who were treated with conservative treatment at 4 institutions. Potential factor evaluation was performed. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analyses. RESULTS: Eighty-eight patients were included (51 had WDC, and 37 had CAH). Regression was evaluated in 88 patients, with a median follow-up of 61 (range 15-95) months. Seventy-seven (87.5%) patients regressed, and 11 (12.5%) had persistent or progressive disease. Univariate and multivariate analyses showed no factors associated with regression. Relapse was evaluated in 71 patients, with median follow-up of 54 (range 8-86) months. Twenty-five/71 (35.2%) patients experienced relapse. On univariate analysis, body mass index (BMI) 30 or higher (p=0.001), WCD at initial biopsy (p=0.017) and positive expression of post-treatment ki67 (p=0.033) were associated to a higher relapse probability. However, only BMI 30 or higher was significant on multivariate analysis (p=0.012). The Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed a higher relapse probability in the patients with BMI 30 or higher (p=0.001). CONCLUSION: Obesity seems to be a risk factor for relapse of CAH or WDC with conservative treatment.

Serum Prealbumin is Negatively Associated with Survival in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Patients after Hepatic Resection.

Objective: Low serum prealbumin levels are associated with poor prognoses in some type of cancers. However, the role of prealbumin in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the role of serum prealbumin levels in long-term survival for HCC patients after hepatic resection. Methods: HCC patients who underwent hepatic resection from June 2007 to December 2015 were retrospectively analyzed in a tertiary liver center. Patients were classified as having normal or reduced serum prealbumin based on a cut-off value of 200 mg/L. Overall survival and recurrence rate were analyzed between groups. Propensity score analysis was used to reduce bias due to other patient differences at baseline. Results: A total of 1349 HCC patients who underwent hepatic resection were enrolled on this study, including 1168 (86.6%) male and 181 (13.4%) female. Patients with normal serum prealbumin had significantly higher overall survival than those with reduced serum prealbumin (P < 0.001). Similar findings were observed after propensity analysis and subgroup analysis based on liver cirrhosis. Moreover, patients with normal serum prealbumin had a significantly lower recurrence rate than those with reduced serum prealbumin (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Low preoperative level of serum prealbumin is associated with poor long-term survival in patients with HCC after hepatic resection. Low serum prealbumin may be a marker to identify patients at high risk of poor prognosis after hepatic resection.

Timely meta-analysis on the efficacy of adoptive immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma patients after curative therapy.

AIMS: The role of adoptive immunotherapy (AIT) for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) who have received curative therapy is still not well illustrated. This timely meta-analysis aims to update the current evidence on efficacy and safety of AIT for patients with HCC who have received curative therapy. METHODS: We searched PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus and the Cochrane Library Through January 2017 for relevant studies. Mortality and tumor recurrence were compared between patients with or without adjuvant AIT. The meta-analysis was performed using Review Manager 5.3. RESULTS: Eight studies involving 1861 patients met the eligibility criteria and were meta-analyzed. Adjuvant AIT was associated with significantly lower mortality at 1 year (RR 0.64, 95%CI 0.52-0.79), 3 years (RR 0.73, 95%CI 0.65-0.81) and 5 years (RR 0.86, 95%CI 0.79-0.94). Similarly, adjuvant AIT was associated with significantly lower recurrence rate than curative therapies alone at 1 year (RR 0.64, 95%CI 0.49-0.82), 3 years (RR 0.85, 95%CI 0.79-0.91) and 5 years (RR 0.90, 95%CI 0.85-0.95). Short-term outcomes were confirmed in sensitivity analyses based on randomized trials or choice of random- or fixed-effect meta-analysis model. None of the included patients experienced grade 4 adverse events. CONCLUSIONS: This timely meta-analysis confirms the evidence that adjuvant AIT for patients with HCC after curative treatment lowers risk of mortality and tumor recurrence.

Discordances in ER, PR and HER2 receptors between primary and recurrent/metastatic lesions and their impact on survival in breast cancer patients.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the frequency and prognostic impact of changes in the estrogen (ER), progesterone (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status between primary and recurrent/metastatic lesions (RML). We investigated 133 breast cancer patients for ER, PR and HER2 status of primary and RML and their follow-up records. Among 133 patients with RML, discordance rate for ER, PR, and HER2 was 18.8, 33.8, and 6.8%, respectively. ER, PR and HER2 discordance were observed in 20.0, 38.1 and 6.7% of the patients with distant metastasis, and in 14.3, 17.9 and 7.1% of the patients with locoregional recurrence. The mean time between the primary diagnosis and last contact or death was 57 (range 22-78) months and between the recurrence biopsy and last contact or death was 17 (range 1-33) months. Among 133 patients with RML, the ER-discordant cases and ER-loss cases experienced a worse overall survival (OS) (p=0.001 and p=0.016, respectively) and post-recurrence survival (PRS) (p=0.001 and p=0.018, respectively), compared with the respective concordant cases. The HER2-discordant patients and HER2-loss patients had a poorer OS (p=0.008 and p=0.001, respectively) and PRS (p=0.004 and p=0.000, respectively) than the respective concordant cases. Among 105 patients with distant metastasis, ER discordance, ER loss, HER2 discordance and HER2 loss, compared with the respective concordant cases, resulted in a worse OS and PRS (p<0.05 for all). Our findings show an evident change in ER, PR and HER2 between breast primary tumors and relapsing tumors. The unstable status for ER or HER2 in breast cancer seems to be clinically significant and to correlate with a worse prognosis.

Changes in ER, PR and HER2 receptors status after neoadjuvant chemotherapy in breast cancer.

Previous studies have reported conflicting results regarding the impact of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) on estrogen receptor (ER), progesterone receptor (PR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) status in breast cancer. Our aim was to investigate whether NAC induces some selective change in the breast biomarkers. We retrospectively detected the immunohistochemical results of ER, PR and HER2 between the core biopsy and surgical excision specimens in 113 patients with NAC. As a control group, we analyzed sample pairs from 102 patients without NAC. Fourteen (12.4%) of 113 patients undergoing NAC showed the ER status modulation in the surgically removed specimen as compared with only 4 (3.9%) of 102 women without NAC (p=0.025). Eighteen (15.9%) of 113 patients given NAC appeared in the PR status alteration in the final surgical specimen, whereas only 7 (6.9%) of 102 patients without NAC did (p=0.038). The HER2 status shift was found in 17 (15.0%) of 113 patients with NAC and in 6 (5.9%) of 102 patients without NAC, respectively (p=0.030). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy does change ER, PR and HER2 status in a statistically significant manner. Retesting these biomarkers of the residual tumor should be considered to improve future tailored adjuvant therapies.

Prediction of coexistent carcinomas risks by subjective EIN diagnosis and comparison with WHO classification in endometrial hyperplasias.

Endometrial intraepithelial neoplasia (EIN) classification is proposed as a new diagnostic system to resolve the limitations of the World Health Organization (WHO) classification in routine practice. Our aim was to find out whether EIN classification excels the WHO classification regarding the accurate prediction of coexisting endometrial carcinomas (EC) in biopsy specimens. We retrospectively re-classified 139 WHO-classified endometrial hyperplasia (EH) cases by subjective EIN diagnosis and compared the incidence of coexisting carcinomas using two classification systems by re-evaluating biopsy and corresponding hysterectomy specimens. Of 139 WHO-classified hyperplasia cases, 36 and 103 were classified as benign and EIN cases, respectively. Forty of 93 cases with atypical EH had EC at hysterectomy as compared with 2/46 cases without atypical EH, while EC was detected in 42/103 cases with EIN, and in 0 of 36 cases without EIN. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV) and negative predictive value (NPV) for atypical EH vs. non-atypical EH in biopsy specimen was 95.2%, 45.4%, 43.0% and 95.7%, respectively. For EIN vs. benign, the sensitivity was 100% and the specificity was 37.1%. The incidence of coexisting carcinomas in EIN cases was similar to that in atypical EH cases. However, regarding the exclusion of coexisting carcinomas, EIN criteria of benign lesions excelled the WHO criteria of non-atypical EH/CH.