Nomograms to Predict Overall and Cancer-Specific Survival in Gastric Signet-Ring Cell Carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: The objective of our study was to develop and validate nomograms to predict the overall survival (OS) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) of patients with signet-ring cell carcinoma (SRCC) of the stomach. METHODS: Data were collected from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. A total of 1781 patients were randomly allocated to a training set (n = 1335) and a validation set (n = 446). Univariate and multivariate analyses were used to determine the prognostic effect of variables. Nomograms were developed to estimate OS and CSS and assessed using the concordance index (C-index), calibration curves, receiver operating characteristic (ROC), and decision curve analyses (DCA). DCA was utilized to compare the nomograms and the Tumor-Node-Metastasis (TNM) staging system. RESULTS: Age, race, tumor size, T, N, M stage, and use of surgery and/or radiotherapy were included in the nomograms. C-indexes for OS and CSS were 0.74 and 0.75 in the training set, respectively. C-indexes for OS and CSS were 0.76 and 0.76 in the validation set. Calibration plots and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves showed good predictive accuracy. According to the decision curve analyses (DCA), the new model was more useful than the TNM staging system. CONCLUSIONS: We developed nomograms to predict OS and CSS in patients with SRCC of the stomach. Nomograms may be a valuable clinical supplement of the conventional TNM staging system.

Medium-term follow-up of laparoscopic surgery on radical gastrectomy with D2 dissection for gastric cancer / 中国内镜杂志

Objective To explore the feasibility and clinical outcome of laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy with D2 dissection by comparing the efficacy of open surgery on radical gastrectomy with D2 dissection for gastric cancer patients. Methods The patients with gastric cancer from October 2008 to August 2013 were divided into two groups according to the different surgical methods. Among them, 175 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery (laparoscopy-assisted surgery group, Group L), and 163 patients underwent laparotomy surgery (open surgery group, Group O). The number of lymph nodes dissected, postoperative recovery, complications, mortality and survival rate of the two groups were compared and analyzed. Results There was no significant difference in the number of lymph nodes resect between the two groups [Group L and Group O: (26.3 ± 13.9) vs (26.8 ± 10.2), t = -0.40, P = 0.684]. Compared with open surgery, the laparoscopy-assisted surgery showed significantly less intraoperative blood loss and quicker recovery of gastrointestinal function. The postoperative hospitalization time of laparoscopic group was less than that of laparotomy group, the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). No significant difference was found in 3-year survival rate between the two groups (Group L vs Group O: 92.00％ vs 92.63％, P = 0.262). Conclusions Compared to open surgery, laparoscopic gastrectomy is safer and has quicker postoperative recovery. There is no statistical difference in the number of resect lymph nodes between lapamscopic and open gastrectomy.