Comparative Effectiveness of Various Eradication Regimens for Helicobacter Pylori Infection in the Northeastern Region of Poland.

PURPOSE: Due to the lack of systematic data on antibiotic sensitivity, the treatment of the highly prevalent and pathogenic Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection still poses a significant problem. Therefore, the aim of our study was to compare the efficacy of the three most commonly used anti-H. pylori therapies in northeastern Poland. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective, single-center study performed on 289 outpatients with an H. pylori infection. Patients received one of the following three treatment regimens: (1) bismuth quadruple therapy (BQT) for 10 days, (2) metronidazole-based triple therapy (M-TT) for 10 or 14 days, and (3) levofloxacin-based triple therapy (L-TT) for 10 or 14 days. RESULTS: BQT, M-TT, and L-TT accounted for 93.2% of prescribed anti-H. pylori therapies. The overall success rate for all treatment regimens was 84.1% (243/289). The effectiveness of first- and second-line therapy was similar and reached 83.8% and 86.2%, respectively. The efficacy of the individual treatment regimens was as follows: (1) BQT-89.4% (84/94), (2) M-TT-80.6% (112/139) and 78.8% (26/33) for 10 and 14 days, respectively, and (3) L-TT-84.6% (11/13) and 100% (10/10) for 10 and 14 days, respectively. The overall duration of treatment and type and dose of proton pump inhibitor (PPI) had no effect on the treatment efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: In the northeastern part of Poland, 10-day BQT and 10- or 14-day L-TT are effective treatment regimens for H. pylori eradication and have appear to be superior to M-TT. Practitioners in our clinic followed mostly local anti-H. pylori therapy guidelines.

Is There an Interplay between Oral Microbiome, Head and Neck Carcinoma and Radiation-Induced Oral Mucositis?

Head and neck carcinoma is one of the most common human malignancy types and it ranks as the sixth most common cancer worldwide. Nowadays, a great potential of microbiome research is observed in oncology-investigating the effect of oral microbiome in oncogenesis, occurrence of treatment side effects and response to anticancer therapies. The microbiome is a unique collection of microorganisms and their genetic material, interactions and products residing within the mucous membranes. The aim of this paper is to summarize current research on the oral microbiome and its impact on the development of head and neck cancer and radiation-induced oral mucositis. Human microbiome might determine an oncogenic effect by, among other things, inducing chronic inflammatory response, instigating cellular antiapoptotic signals, modulation of anticancer immunity or influencing xenobiotic metabolism. Influence of oral microbiome on radiation-induced oral mucositis is expressed by the production of additional inflammatory cytokines and facilitates progression and aggravation of mucositis. Exacerbated acute radiation reaction and bacterial superinfections lead to the deterioration of the patient's condition and worsening of the quality of life. Simultaneously, positive effects of probiotics on the course of radiation-induced oral mucositis have been observed. Understanding the impact on the emerging acute radiation reaction on the composition of the microflora can be helpful in developing a multifactorial model to forecast the course of radiation-induced oral mucositis. Investigating these processes will allow us to create optimized and personalized preventive measures and treatment aimed at their formation mechanism. Further studies are needed to better establish the structure of the oral microbiome as well as the dynamics of its changes before and after therapy. It will help to expand the understanding of the biological function of commensal and pathogenic oral microbiota in HNC carcinogenesis and the development of radiation-induced oral mucositis.

PET/MRI-guided GTV delineation during radiotherapy planning in patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the usefulness and accuracy of 18-fluorine-labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) hybrid in gross tumor volume (GTV) delineation during radiotherapy planning in patients with carcinoma of the tongue. METHODS: Ten patients with squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) of the tongue underwent computed tomography (CT) and PET/MRI examination. The GTV for primary tumor and lymph nodes (nGTV) were defined on CT (GTV-CT) and compared to GTVs obtained from PET (GTV-PET) and MRI (GTV-MRI) images. Two methods of GTV determination were used: visual interpretation of CT, PET (GTV-PETvis) and MRI images and quantitative automatic method (Syngovia, Siemens) based on a chosen threshold value (20%, 30%, 40%, 50%) of standardized uptake values (SUVmax) from PET examination (GTV-PET20%, GTV-PET30%, etc.). Statistical analysis of differences in GTV values obtained from CT, PET and MRI studies was performed. GTV-CT was used as a reference. RESULTS: In all, 80% of GTV-MRI and 40% of GTV-PETvis were larger than GTV-CT. Respectively, 20% of GTV-MRI and 60% of GTV-PETvis were smaller than GTV-CT. Taking into account all threshold measurements, 70% of volumes were smaller than GTV-CT. GTV-PET30% were the most closely related volumes to GTV-CT from all threshold methods in 50% of patients. GTV-PETvis generated the most similar volumes in relation to GTV-CT from all PET measurements. Statistical analysis confirmed those results. Compared to nGTV-CT, 70% of nGTV-MRI and 20% of nGTV-PETvis were larger. The remaining nGTV-MRI and nGTV-PETvis measurements were smaller than nGTV-CT. Measurements of all thresholds nGTVs were smaller than nGTV-CTV in 52.5% of cases. nGTV-PET20% were the most closely related volumes to nGTV-CT in 40% of the cases. Statistical analysis showed that nGTV-PET20% (p = 0.0468), nGTV-PETvis (p = 0.0166), and nGTV-PET50% (p = 0.0166) diverge significantly from nGTV-CT results. nGTV-MRI (p = 0.1141), nGTV-PET30% (p = 0.2845), and nGTV-PET40% (p = 0.5076) were significantly related with nGTV-CT. CONCLUSION: Combination of PET/MRI provides more information during target tumor mass delineation in radiotherapy planning of patients with SCC of the tongue than other standard imaging methods. The most frequently matching threshold value was 30% of SUVmax for primary tumor delineation and 30-40% of SUVmax for nGTV determination.