Effects of Different Treatment Strategies and Tumor Stage on Survival of Patients with Advanced Laryngeal Carcinoma: A 15-Year Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: Laryngeal cancer is the second most common cancer in the head and neck. Since laryngeal cancer management is a complex process, there is still no standard strategy to treat this disease in order to increase the survival rate of the patients especially among those with advanced form of the disease. METHODS: A cohort study was undertaken to analyze factors predicting survival of the patients in advanced stage laryngeal cancer in the Southern Iran among all patients newly diagnosed with laryngeal cancer between 2000 and 2015. RESULTS: Data of a total number of 415 patients who have had been diagnosed with advanced laryngeal cancer during this period was used for analysis. The patients' 1-, 3-, 5-, and 10-year survival rates were 81%, 62%, 53%, and 38%, respectively. Multivariable Cox regression analyses indicated a significant relationship between patients' survival and age at diagnosis (P < 0.001), disease stage (P = 0.002), tumor grade (P = 0.008), positive L. node (P = 0.008), and type of treatment (P < 0.001). As expected, treatment strategy was identified as the most effective factor in survival of the patients. According to the results, patients who undergone surgical treatment experienced a longer survival than those who received other treatments. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the survival of patients depends on several factors, among which, treatment strategy is the most important. Combination of total laryngectomy plus chemoradiation provides superior local control and better survival compared to either radiotherapy or chemoradiation in patients with advanced laryngeal cancer.

Socioeconomic Factors, Health Behavior, and Late-Stage Diagnosis of Breast Cancer: Considering the Impact of Delay in Diagnosis.

BACKGROUND: Stage of cancer at diagnosis is one of the most important factors in patient prognosis. By controlling for diagnostic delay, this study aimed to identify factors associated with late-stage breast cancer (BC). PATIENTS AND METHODS: From November 2014 to January 2017, required information on 497 patients who were newly diagnosed with BC was obtained from patients' medical records. Logistic regression was used to measure the association between cancer stage and study variables. RESULTS: Only 18.3% of patients were diagnosed at stage I. The rest were diagnosed at stage II (45.5%) or higher (36.2%). Among those with ≤ 3 months' diagnostic delay, age (odds ratio [OR] = 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.93-0.99), place of residence (OR urban/rural = 1.72; 95% CI, 1.42-1.93), income (OR high/low = 0.27; 95% CI, 0.10-0.72), performing breast self-examination (OR yes/no = 0.51; 95% CI, 0.0.26 -0.98), smoking (OR yes/no = 2.23; 95% CI, 1.37-3.62), history of chest X-ray (OR yes/no = 1.40; 95% CI, 1.16-1.98), presence of chronic diseases (OR yes/no = 1.73; 95% CI, 1.36-5.48), and, for those with a delay of > 3 months, marriage age (OR = 0.83; 95% CI, 0.73-0.94), income (OR high/low = 0.07; 95% CI, 0.008-0.63), family history of BC (OR = 3.82; 95% CI, 1.05-5.05), daily exercise (OR < 10/10-20 = 0.10; 95% CI, 0.01-0.67), and presence of chronic diseases (OR yes/no = 1.77; 95% CI, 1.73-5.07), were associated with late-stage of cancer. CONCLUSION: Shortening the diagnostic delay can help patients receive medical treatment at an earlier disease stage, resulting in better prognosis. Smokers, younger women, and those with chronic conditions or a family history of BC should take extra caution, as they may have worse prognosis if diagnosed with cancer.

Factors predicting survival in patients with early stage laryngeal cancer: A cohort study between 2000 to 2015.

PURPOSE: In recent years, trends of treatment and survival of laryngeal cancer have received heightened attention. Despite the fact that most laryngeal cancers are diagnosed at early stage, a concern of worsening survival in patients with localized cancer has been raised but not consistently observed. This study aimed to determine factors affecting laryngeal cancer survival. METHODS: This was a cohort study from 2000 to 2015 in which clinical and demographic characteristics of patients at early stage of laryngeal cancer were collected. Medical records and telephone interviews were used to define patient's demographic and clinical status during the study period. Multivariate Cox model was used as the main method for analyzing data. RESULTS: Age at diagnosis, type of treatment, stage, and tumor grade were statistically associated with patient survival. Older patients were more prone to worse prognosis (HR=1.69, 95% CI: 1.03-2.75, p=0.03). The results also suggested that people who had surgery compared with those who received only radiation therapy (RT) survived longer (HR=0.44, 95% CI: 0.20-0.94, p=0.03). Furthermore, for those whose tumor was grade 3 at diagnosis, the risk of death was 2.45-fold higher than those with grade 1 (HR =2.45, 95% CI: 1.19-5.40, p=0.01). Stage II patients experienced worse prognosis than stage I patients (HR=1.77, 95% CI: 1.06-2.93, p=0.02). CONCLUSION: This study revealed several factors that can influence patient survival rate, among them different therapeutic approaches.

Risk Factors Predicting Colorectal Cancer Recurrence Following Initial Treatment: A 5-year Cohort Study

Purpose: Recurrence is one of the most important factors influencing survival of colorectal cancer patients. Subjects and Methods: In this cohort study, clinical and demographic characteristics of 561 patients with colorectal cancer were collected from 2010 to 2015. Medical records and telephone interviews were used to define the patient's clinical status including the date of any recurrence during the study period. The multivariate Cox model was used as the main strategy for analyzing data. Results: Some 239 (42.6%) patients experienced cancer recurrence during the 5-year follow-up period. Those with an older age at diagnosis had a higher risk of cancer recurrence than their younger counterparts [Hazard Ratio (HR) >70 y /<50 y= 1.65, P=0.01]. Rectal cancer had a greater risk of disease recurrence compared with other tumor sites [HR colon/ rectum=1.53, P=0.02]. Stage 3 cancer had a higher risk than stage 1 cancer [HR stage 3/ stage 1=4.30, P<0.001], and positive lympho-vascular invasion was also a risk factor [HR yes/ no=2.03, P<0.001]. Finally, tumor size , number of dissected lymph nodes, proportion of positive lymph nodes, perineural invasion and type of treatment did not significantly predict recurrence. Conclusion: Access to enhanced medical services including cancer diagnosis at an early stage and optimal treatment is needed to improve the survival and quality of life of CRC patients.

Prognostic Significance of Mucinous Histologic Subtype on Oncologic Outcomes in Patients With Colorectal Cancer.

PURPOSE: Mucinous adenocarcinomas account for about 10% of all colorectal cancers. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of mucinous histologic subtype on oncologic outcomes in patients with colorectal cancer. METHODS: This retrospective study was performed at two large tertiary university hospitals. We analyzed the characteristics, prognostic factors, and survival of patients with colorectal cancer who were treated and followed up between 2000 and 2013. RESULTS: Totally, 144 of 1,268 patients with a colorectal adenocarcinoma (11.4%) had mucinous histologic subtype. Statistically significant results found in this research are as follows: Mucinous histologic subtype tended to present in younger patients and to have larger tumor size, higher histologic grade, higher node stage, larger number of positive nodes, and higher rate of perineural invasion compared to nonmucinous histologic subtype. On the univariate analysis, mucinous subtype was a prognostic factor for disease-free and overall survival. On the multivariate analysis, primary tumor location, node stage and lymphatic-vascular invasion were independent prognostic factors for the local control rate. Rectal tumor location, higher disease stage, tumor grade II, and presence of lymphatic-vascular invasion had negative influences on disease-free survival, as did rectal tumor location, higher disease stage and presence of lymphatic-vascular invasion on overall survival. CONCLUSION: Mucinous histologic subtype was associated with some adverse pathologic features in patients with colorectal cancer; however, it was not an independent prognostic factor for oncologic outcome.

Applying Additive Hazards Models for Analyzing Survival in Patients with Colorectal Cancer in Fars Province, Southern Iran

Introduction: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a commonly fatal cancer that ranks as third worldwide and third and the fifth in Iranian women and men, respectively. There are several methods for analyzing time to event data. Additive hazards regression models take priority over the popular Cox proportional hazards model if the absolute hazard (risk) change instead of hazard ratio is of primary concern, or a proportionality assumption is not made. Methods: This study used data gathered from medical records of 561 colorectal cancer patients who were admitted to Namazi Hospital, Shiraz, Iran, during 2005 to 2010 and followed until December 2015. The nonparametric Aalen's additive hazards model, semiparametric Lin and Ying's additive hazards model and Cox proportional hazards model were applied for data analysis. The proportionality assumption for the Cox model was evaluated with a test based on the Schoenfeld residuals and for test goodness of fit in additive models, Cox-Snell residual plots were used. Analyses were performed with SAS 9.2 and R3.2 software. Results: The median follow-up time was 49 months. The five-year survival rate and the mean survival time after cancer diagnosis were 59.6% and 68.1±1.4 months, respectively. Multivariate analyses using Lin and Ying's additive model and the Cox proportional model indicated that the age of diagnosis, site of tumor, stage, and proportion of positive lymph nodes, lymphovascular invasion and type of treatment were factors affecting survival of the CRC patients. Conclusion: Additive models are suitable alternatives to the Cox proportionality model if there is interest in evaluation of absolute hazard change, or no proportionality assumption is made.

Hair Coloring, Stress, and Smoking Increase the Risk of Breast Cancer: A Case-Control Study.

PURPOSE: Epidemiologic characteristics of breast cancer in Iran are significantly different from those in the West and even other regional countries, but little is known about the related factors. PATIENTS AND METHODS: A hospital-based case-control study was conducted on 1052 women (526 new cases and 526 controls). Logistic regression was performed to investigate associations of study factors with breast cancer risk. RESULTS: This study introduced occupation (odds ratio [OR]employed/household, 1.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.15-2.69), marital age (OR24-30 y/< 18 y, 2.13; 95% CI, 1.03-4.40), age at first delivery (OR≥ 30 y/< 18 y, 3.53; 95% CI, 1.73-7.18), parity (OR1-2/Nulliparous or never married, 2.61; 95% CI, 1.13-6.02), birth interval (OR30-50 mos/< 18 mos, 2.38; 95% CI, 1.45-3.89), lifetime breastfeeding (OR≥ 42 mos/< 6 mos, 0.37; 95% CI, 0.18-0.77), and menarche age (year) (OR, 0.87; 95% CI, 0.79-0.96) as significant associates of breast cancer. In addition, body mass index (OR, 1.07; 95% CI, 1.02-1.11) and some health-related behaviors including hair coloring on a regular basis (ORyes/no, 1.93; 95% CI, 1.41-2.62), smoking (ORyes/no, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.22-3.34), oral contraceptive usage (ORever/never. 1.46; 95% CI, 1.05-2.04), physical inactivity (ORinactive/regular activity, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.39-1.75), past life stress (ORoften stressful/often calm, 2.40; 95% CI, 1.62-3.56), and regular bedtime (ORoften regular/no, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.19-0.54) were related to a higher risk of breast cancer. CONCLUSION: This study revealed a significant number of factors that seem to contribute to the risk of breast cancer even more than the other previously introduced factors.

Impact of social and clinical factors on diagnostic delay of breast cancer: A Cross-sectional Study.

One of the reasons for high mortality of breast cancer is long delay in seeking medical care. This study was designed to measure the association of a wide range of socio-demographic and clinical factors with the diagnostic delay in breast cancer among Iranian patients.This study was conducted on 505 newly diagnosed patients with breast cancer from southern part of Iran. Medical files of the patients who were admitted to the hospital from November 2013 to May 2015 were examined and clinical and demographic information were extracted.According to the results, illiterate patients were diagnosed on average 87.42 days later compared with those with a college degree (95%CI: 29.68-145.16, P = 0.003) and those from rural area were diagnosed on average 72.48 days later (95%CI: 35.94-109.03, P = 0.001) compared with urban residences. Single women were diagnosed 65.99 days later (95%CI: 7.37-124.61, P = 0.02) compared with those married. Lobular or medullary types of cancer were diagnosed 65.19 days later (95%CI: 2.67-127.70, P = 0.04) compared with ductal type. On the other hand, those who were able to perform breast self-exam were diagnosed 49.07 days earlier compared with others (95%CI: 18.69-79.45, P = 0.002). Those felt lump as the initiating symptom were diagnosed 62.01 days earlier, (95%CI: 8.17-115.85, P = 0.02) compared with those with other initial symptoms. The only factor associated with doctors diagnosis delay was the place of residence as rural residences were diagnosed on average 87.42 days later compared with urban residences, (95%CI: 53.82-121.92, P = 0.001).Higher education, living in cities, ductal type of tumor, and noticing lump in breast were the most important demographic and clinical factors associated with shorter breast cancer diagnosis delay. Informing women and doctors, especially general physicians who are practicing in rural areas, of the common symptoms of breast cancer as well as training women to perform breast self-examination are effective measures in reducing breast cancer diagnosis delay. Providing accessible and effective diagnosis services to rural women reduces diagnosis delay in rural patients.

Factors Affecting Survival in Patients with Colorectal Cancer in Shiraz, Iran.

BACKGROUND: Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world, and the fourth in Iran in both genders. The aim of this study was to find predictive factors for CRC survival. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Medical records of 570 patients referred to the radiotherapy oncology department of Shiraz Namazi hospital from 2005 to 2010 were retrospectively analysed. Data were collected by reviewing medical records, and by telephone interviews with patients. Survival analysis was performed using the Cox's regression model with survival probability estimated with Kaplan-Meier curve. The log-rank test was used to compare survival between strata. Data was analyzed with Stata 12. RESULTS: The five-year survival rate and the mean survival time after cancer diagnosis were 58.5% and 67±1.4 months. On multivariate analysis, age of diagnosis, disease stage and primary tumor site, lymphovascular invasion and type of treatment (in colon cancer) were significant factors for survival. CONCLUSIONS: Age of diagnosis and type of treatment (adjuvant therapy in patients with colon cancer) were two modifiable factors related to survival of CRC patients. Therefore earlier diagnosis might help increase survival.

Efficacy and Safety of Low-Dose-Rate Endorectal Brachytherapy as a Boost to Neoadjuvant Chemoradiation in the Treatment of Locally Advanced Distal Rectal Cancer: A Phase-II Clinical Trial.

PURPOSE: Despite advances in rectal cancer treatment over the last decade, local control and risk of late side effects due to external beam radiation therapy (EBRT) remain as concerns. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy and the safety of low-dose-rate endorectal brachytherapy (LDRBT) as a boost to neoadjuvant chemoradiation for use in treating locally advanced distal rectal adenocarcinomas. METHODS: This phase-II clinical trial included 34 patients (as the study arm) with newly diagnosed, locally advanced (clinical T3-T4 and/or N1/N2, M0) lower rectal cancer. For comparative analysis, 102 matched patients (as the historical control arm) with rectal cancer were also selected. All the patients were treated with LDRBT (15 Gy in 3 fractions) and concurrent chemoradiation (45-50.4 Gy). Concurrent chemotherapy consisted of oxaliplatin 130 mg/m(2) intravenously on day 1 plus oral capecitabine 825 mg/m(2) twice daily during LDRBT and EBRT. RESULTS: The study results revealed a significant differences between the study arm and the control arm in terms in the pathologic tumor size (2.1 cm vs. 3.6 cm, P = 0.001), the pathologic tumor stage (35% T3-4 vs. 65% T3-4, P = 0.003), and the pathologic complete response (29.4% vs. 11.7%, P < 0.028). Moreover, a significantly higher dose of EBRT (P = 0.041) was found in the control arm, and a longer time to surgery was observed in the study arm (P < 0.001). The higher rate of treatment-related toxicities, such as mild proctitis and anemia, in the study arm was tolerable and easily manageable. CONCLUSION: A boost of LDRBT can optimize the pathologic complete response, with acceptable toxicities, in patients with distal rectal cancer.