Objective:To evaluate the diagnostic values of serum fibrinogen and D-dimer for periprosthetic joint infection (PJI).Methods:The medical records were retrospectively analyzed of the 175 patients who had undergone hip or knee revisions at Department of Joint Surgery, Affiliated Hospital to Qingdao University from August 2013 to June 2019. Of them, 59 were diagnosed as PJI (31 knees and 28 hips), including 33 males and 26 females with an age of (67.4±11.7) years and a body mass index (BMI) of (26.1±3.6) kg/m 2 while 116 as aseptic loosening (AL) (19 knees and 97 hips), including 67 males and 49 females with an age of (70.3±8.9) years and a BMI of (25.0±3.6) kg/m 2. The plasma levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), fibrinogen and D-dimer in the 2 groups were recorded and analyzed. The receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) was used to calculate the sensitivity and specificity of each indicator; the diagnostic value for each indicator was calculated according to the area under the curve (AUC). Results:There was no significant difference between the PJI and AL groups in gender, age or BMI ( P>0.05), but there was a significant difference in the joint type ( P<0.05). Compared with the AL group, the PJI group had significantly higher levels of CRP, ESR, fibrinogen and D-dimer ( P<0.05). The AUCs for CRP, ESR, fibrinogen and D-dimer were 0.830, 0.850, 0.848 and 0.664, respectively. By the Youden index, the optimal predictive cutoffs for CRP, ESR, fibrinogen and D-dimer were 8.06 mg/L, 17.60 mm/h, 3.73 g/L and 685.00 ng/mL, giving sensitivities of 79.2%, 85.4%, 81.3% and 64.6% and specificities of 85.7%, 76.2%, 79.8% and 61.9%. Conclusions:The diagnostic value of serum fibrinogen may be high for PJI, similar to that of CRP or ESR. However, D-dimer may be of limited value for diagnosis of PJI.

Objective:To evaluate the value of chemoradiotherapy and surgery in cervical esophageal cancer (CEC).Methods:Data of 459 patients with CEC from 2004 to 2017 were collected and retrospectively analyzed from the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results (SEER) database of National Cancer Institute (US). All patients were divided into the chemoradiotherapy group ( n=379) and surgery group ( n=80) according to the treatment methods. Survival analysis was performed by Kaplan-Meier method and survival curve was drawn. Multivariate survival analysis was conducted by Cox proportional hazards regression model. The death rate of different causes between two groups was calculated by cumulative incidence function (CIF). The differences of death rate between two groups were evaluated by Fine-Gray competing risk model. By analyzing the clinical characteristics and survival of CEC patients, the overall survival (OS) was compared between the surgery and chemoradiotherapy groups. Results:The 2- and 5-year survival rates in the chemoradiotherapy group were 43.1% and 22.4%, while those of the surgical group were 46.8% and 26.0%, respectively. No significant difference was observed in the OS between the chemoradiotherapy and surgery groups ( P=0.750). Cox multivariate analysis showed that treatment (surgery group vs. chemoradiotherapy group) was not an independent prognostic factor for OS. Based on the results of competing risk analysis, the risk of esophageal cancer-specific death in the chemoradiotherapy group was higher than that in the surgery group, and the difference was statistically significant between two groups ( P<0.001). The risk of other cause-specific death in the chemoradiotherapy group was lower than that in the surgery group ( P<0.001). The proportion of patients who died of oral, oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal and laryngeal diseases in the surgery group was significantly higher than that in the chemoradiotherapy group(all P<0.001). Conclusions:No significant difference is observed in the OS of CEC patients treated with chemoradiotherapy or surgery. In the surgery group, the risk of esophageal cancer-specific death is lower, whereas the risk of other cause-specific death is higher compared with those in the chemoradiotherapy group.