Predictive value of arterial enhancement fraction of multi-slice spiral CT for risk degree of gastrointestinal stromal tumors / 肿瘤研究与临床

Objective:To explore the predictive value of multi-slice spiral CT (MSCT) arterial enhancement fraction (AEF) in the risk degree of gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GIST).Methods:The clinical data of 178 patients with GIST in Shanxi Province Cancer Hospital from January 2013 to May 2021 were retrospectively analyzed. According to tumor size, primary site, mitotic figure and whether the tumor was ruptured or not, the patients were divided into extremely low risk group (24 cases), low risk group (44 cases), medium risk group (48 cases), and high risk group (62 cases). One-way ANOVA was used to compare MSCT AEF value and conventional plain and enhanced scan values among the 4 groups. The receiver operating characteristics (ROC) curve was drawn to assess the predictive efficacy of AEF value, conventional plain value, enhanced scan value, Ki-67 and AEF value combined with Ki-67 for high-risk GIST.Results:Except for CT value in the venous phase and CT value in added arterial phase, the comparison of AEF value, plain scan CT value, arterial phase CT value, and added venous phase CT value of GIST patients in the 4 groups showed statistically significant differences (all P < 0.05). In the predictive efficacy evaluation of high-risk GIST, the area under the curve (AUC) of the ROC curve for AEF value was 0.753, which was higher than that for plain scan CT value (0.593), arterial phase CT value (0.592) and added venous phase CT value (0.631), lower than AEF combined with Ki-67 (0.799). Kappa consistency test showed that the AEF value, plain scan CT value and arterial phase CT value were consistent with the pathological examination results (Kappa values were 0.375, 0.168 and 0.168, respectively), however, the added venous phase CT value was inconsistent with the pathological examination results (Kappa = -0.224). The AUC of AEF value combined with Ki-67 for predicting high-risk GIST was 0.799, and the Kappar value was 0.528. Conclusions:MSCT AEF value varies in GIST with different risk degree, and its preoperative efficacy in predicting high-risk GIST is superior to that of conventional plain scan and enhanced scan; especially the combination of AEF value with Ki-67 shows a higher predictive efficacy.

PM2.5 promotes abdominal aortic aneurysm formation in angiotensin â ¡-infused apoe-/- mice.

BACKGROUND: Particulate matter 2.5 (PM2.5) has proven to be associated with morbidity and mortality from cardiovascular diseases. However, whether PM2.5 could promote the formation of abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is unclear. Present study aimed to explore the relationship between PM2.5 exposure and AAA development. METHODS: Ang Ⅱ-infused apoe-/- mice were treated with PM2.5 or saline by intranasal instillation. Four weeks later, histological and immunohistological analyses were used to evaluate the effect of PM2.5 on AAA formation. Human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) were also employed to further analyze the adverse effect of PM2.5 in vitro. RESULTS: We found that PM2.5 could significantly increase the AAA incidence, the maximal abdominal aortic diameter and could promote the degradation of elastin. Additionally, the expression of senescence markers, P21 and P16 were also enhanced after PM2.5 exposure. We also found that PM2.5 significantly increased the AAA related pathological changes, MMP2 and MCP-1 expression in HASMCs. Meanwhile, PM2.5 could increase the expression of senescence markers P21, P16 and SA-ß-gal activity, also the reactive oxygen species levels in vitro. CONCLUSIONS: PM2.5 promoted the formation of AAA in an Ang Ⅱ-induced AAA model. The underlying mechanism might be cellular senescence after PM2.5 exposure.

Long-term outcome and prognostic factors of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy / 中华放射肿瘤学杂志

Objective To investigate the long-term outcome and prognostic factors of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma treated with intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IMRT). Methods From February 2001 to December 2006, 419 patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma in Cancer Center of Sun yatsen University received IMRT. The number of patients with stage Ⅰ,Ⅱ,Ⅲ and Ⅳ disease was 28, 113, 202 and 76, respectively. In all, 182 and 237 patients received radiotherapy alone and chemoradiotherapy. The prescription doses were as follows:66-70 Gy/25 -30 f to GTV_(nx), 60 -64 Gy/25 -30 f to GTV_(nd), 55 -62 Gy/25 -30 f to CTV_1, and 42 -54 Gy/25 -30 f to CTV_2. Results The median follow-up time was 49 months (6 -94 months). The number of patients with follow-up of 1-, 3-, and 5-year were 419,360 and 166, respectively. Twenty-one, 13 and 57 patients had local recurrence, regional recurrence and distant metastasis, respectively. The 5-year local control (LC) rate, regional control (RC) rate and free from distant metastasis survival rate was 92.7%, 95.8% and 85.5%, respectively. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and disease-specific survival (DSS) was 76. 3% and 84.4%, respectively. In univariate analysis, T stage, primary tumor volume, N stage and volume of cervical nodes before treatment were significant predictors of DFS and DSS, favoring the patients with early T stage (84. 1% vs. 67.6% ,Χ~2 = 12. 16, P = 0. 000 : 92. 1% vs. 75. 1% ,Χ~2 = 14. 86 . P = 0. 000) , primary tumor volume less than 20 cm~3 (89. 1% vs. 62. 9% ,Χ~2 =14. 13,P=0.000;96.2% vs. 72. 1% ,Χ~2 =38. 76,P=0.000), early N stage (81.1% vs. 64. 5%, Χ~2 = 15.49, P = 0. 000; 87. 8% vs. 76. 1%, Χ~2 = 10. 89, P = 0. 001) and volume of cervical nodes less than 5 cm~3 (83. 3% vs. 68. 8%, Χ~2 = 14. 13, P = 0. 000 ; 90. 0% vs. 78. 1%, Χ~2 = 10. 71 ,P =0. 001). Multivariate analysis showed that primary tumor volume (Χ~2 = 26. 81, P = 0. 000 and Χ~2 = 28. 47, P = 0. 000) and N stage (Χ~2 = 4. 92, P = 0. 026 and Χ~2 = 9.50, P = 0. 002) were independent predictive factors for both DFS and DSS. No grade 4 acute and late toxicities were observed. In 243 patients with follow-up time more than 3 years, only 2. 8% suffered from grade 3 late toxicifies. Conclusions IMRT with or without chemotherapy can improve the long-term survival of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma, especially in LC and RC. Distant metastasis becomes the main treatment failure. Primary tumor volume and N stage are significant prognostic factors. Acute and late toxicities are acceptable.