Rectal cancer is one of the common cancers which poses a threat to the health of mankind. In recent years. Multi-modality treatment strategies for locally advanced rectal cancer improve the treatment efficiency. Accurate prediction of the treatment response after the neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (CRT) can guide more suitable treatment strategy. MERCURY study proved the prognostic value of post-CRT standard morphologic MRI(T2-weighted) assessment of tumor regression grade(TRG), and MRI assessment of circumferential resection margin can guide the definitive surgery. Compared with standard morphologic MRI (T2-weighted), functional MRI, including diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) and dynamic contrast enhanced (DCE) MRI, has shown more promising results for the prediction of therapeutic response in rectal cancer. The addition of diffusion-weighted images to T2-weighted images improves the accuracy of restaging examinations for determination of complete pathologic responders. DCE can reflect the tumor micro-vascular environment, and the change of perfusion in response to treatment. These images have the potential to improve the accuracy of therapeutic response in rectal cancer.
Chemoradiotherapy ; statistics & numerical data ; Contrast Media ; Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; statistics & numerical data ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Margins of Excision ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; statistics & numerical data ; Neoplasm Staging ; instrumentation ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Prognosis ; Rectal Neoplasms ; blood supply ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology

OBJECTIVE: To compare the diagnostic performance in evaluating the response of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC), between the response evaluation criteria in solid tumor (RECIST) 1.0 and RECIST 1.1, on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for advance breast cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Breast cancer patients, who underwent NAC between 2005 and 2010, were included. Both prechemotherapy and post-chemotherapy MRIs were performed within 1-4 weeks before and after NAC. Only the patients with subsequent surgery were included. The response to NAC was assessed by using RECIST 1.0 and RECIST 1.1. Patients with a complete or partial response on MRI were considered as responders, and those with stable or progressive disease were considered as non-responders. Tumor necrosis > 50% on pathology was defined as responders and necrosis < 50% was defined as non-responders. The diagnostic accuracy of both RECIST 1.0 and RECIST 1.1 was analyzed and compared by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis. RESULTS: Seventy-nine females (mean age 51.0 +/- 9.3 years) were included. Pathology showed 45 responders and 34 non-responders. There were 49 responders and 30 non-responders on RECIST 1.0, and in 55 patients, RECIST 1.0 results agreed with pathologic results (69.6%). RECIST 1.1 showed 52 responders and 27 non-responders. In 60 patients, RECIST 1.1 results were in accordance with pathology results (75.9%). The area under the ROC curve was 0.809 for RECIST 1.0 and 0.853 for RECIST 1.1. CONCLUSION: RECIST 1.1 showed better diagnostic performance than RECIST 1.0, although there was no statistically significant difference between the two.
Breast Neoplasms/*drug therapy/*pathology/surgery ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; Contrast Media/diagnostic use ; Female ; Gadolinium DTPA/diagnostic use ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/*methods ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Predictive Value of Tests ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Statistics, Nonparametric ; Survival Analysis ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo examine the association of preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level with the efficacy of neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy and postoperative metastasis and relapse in patients with rectal cancer.

METHODSBetween January 2011 and January 2014, 325 patients with local advanced rectal cancer underwent preoperative radiochemotherapy and radical operation in Department of Colorectal Cancer Surgery, Beijing University Cancer Hospital, including 194 males and 131 females. According to preoperative MRI, all the patients suffered from clinical T3-4 tumors or positive lymph nodes. Their Zubrod-ECOG-WHO score was 0-1. These patients received preoperative intensity modulated radiotherapy which consisted of 50.6 Gy in 22 fractions (IMRT GTV 50.6 Gy/CTV 41.8 Gy/22 f) with capecitabine(825 mg/m, twice per day) as radiosensitizer. According to the preoperative serum CEA level, patients were divided into high group (125 cases) and normal group (200 cases). In high group, serum CEA level decreased into normal range in 60 patients (high-normal group) after radiochemotherapy, while it was still in high level in other 65 patients (high-high group). The differences in sensitivity to radiochemotherapy and 3-year disease free survival (DFS) of these patients were both evaluated.

RESULTSIn high group and normal group, the complete response rates were 18.4% (23/125) and 17.5% (35/200) (χ=0.319, P=0.660); the percentages of tumor regression grade(TRG) 0-1 patients were 68.0%(85/125) and 67.5%(135/200)(χ=0.009, P=0.925); the T downstage rates were 63.2%(79/125) and 70.0%(140/200)(χ=1.266, P=0.274), respectively, whose differences were all not significant. The 3-year DFS rate in high group was 62.4%, which was significantly lower than 93.5% in normal group (χ=53.147, P=0.000). There were 65 patients in high-high group, accounting for 52% (65/125) of high group. Among these 65 patients, 44(67.7%) presented recurrence and metastasis within 3 years and the 3-year DFS was 32.3%, which was much lower than 95.0% of 60 patients in high-normal group(χ=182.085, P=0.000).

CONCLUSIONSPreoperative serum CEA level may not be used to predict tumor response of rectal cancer patients who receive preoperative radiochemotherapy. However, the prognosis of patients with high CEA level is worse. Recurrence and metastasis are more likely to occur in patients with high CEA level after radiochemotherapy.

Adult ; Aged ; Biomarkers, Tumor ; blood ; Carcinoembryonic Antigen ; blood ; Chemoradiotherapy ; statistics & numerical data ; Digestive System Surgical Procedures ; statistics & numerical data ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; statistics & numerical data ; Neoplasm Metastasis ; prevention & control ; Neoplasm Recurrence, Local ; prevention & control ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prognosis ; Rectal Neoplasms ; drug therapy ; mortality ; surgery ; Survival Rate

We investigated trends in perioperative chemotherapy use, and determined factors associated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) and adjuvant chemotherapy (AC) use in Korean patients with muscle-invasive bladder cancer (MIBC). We recruited 1,324 patients who had MIBC without nodal invasion or metastases and had undergone radical cystectomies (RC) between 2003 and 2013. The study's cut-off time for AC was three months after surgery, and the study's timespan was divided into three periods based on NAC use, namely, 2003-2005, 2006-2009, and 2010-2013. Complete remission was defined as histologically confirmed T0N0M0 after RC. NAC and AC were administered to 7.3% and 18.1% of the patients, respectively. The median time interval between completing NAC and undergoing RC was 32 days and the mean number of cycles was 3.2. The median time interval between RC and AC was 43 days and the mean number of cycles was 4.1. Gemcitabine and cisplatin were most frequently used in combination for NAC (49.0%) and AC (74.9%). NAC use increased significantly from 4.6% between 2003 and 2005 to 8.4% between 2010 and 2013 (P < 0.05), but AC use did not increase. Only 1.9% of patients received NAC and AC. Complete remission after NAC was achieved in 12 patients (12.5%). Multivariable modeling revealed that an advanced age, the earliest time period analyzed, and clinical tumor stage < or = cT2 bladder cancer were negatively associated with NAC use (P < 0.05). While NAC use has slowly increased over time, it remains an underutilized therapeutic approach in Korean clinical practice.
Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Antineoplastic Agents/*therapeutic use ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant/trends/utilization ; Cystectomy/trends/*utilization ; Drug Administration Routes ; Drug Administration Schedule ; Female ; Health Services Misuse/statistics & numerical data/trends ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Muscle, Smooth/*pathology ; Neoadjuvant Therapy/statistics & numerical data/trends ; Neoplasm Invasiveness ; Practice Patterns, Physicians'/statistics & numerical data/trends ; Prevalence ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Risk Factors ; Treatment Outcome ; Urinary Bladder Neoplasms/epidemiology/*pathology/*therapy

To evaluate the efficacy of adjuvant endocrine therapy (AET) in breast cancer patients with a positive-to-negative switch of hormone receptor status after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC).One hundred and six patients who presented with hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer at diagnosis and turned to HR-negative after NAC during December 2000 and December 2013 in Jiaxing Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital were retrospectively identified. Kaplan-Meier analysis and log-rank test were used for univariate analyses of factors related to disease free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS). Multivariate analysis was carried out using the Cox proportional hazards model in patients with DFS and OS.All the patients were categorized into two groups on the basis of the administration of AET:61 AET-administered patients (57.5%) and 45 AET-naïve patients (42.5%). After a median follow-up of 68 months (range 14-103 months), human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER-2) status, initial clinical stage, pathological axillary lymph node status and the use of AET were identified as the variables affecting DFS and OS (all<0.05). Patients treated with AET had a significantly improved 5-year DFS rate when compared with that without AET (77.1%53.5%,<0.05). The 5-year OS of AET-administered patients was also better than that of AET-naïve patients (80.9%71.0%,<0.05). Cox regression analysis showed that AET-administered or not was the independent predictor for 5-year DFS (=2.096, 95%:1.081-4.065,<0.05).Patients with HR altered from positive to negative after NAC may still gain benefit from AET.
Antineoplastic Agents, Hormonal ; therapeutic use ; Axilla ; Breast Neoplasms ; chemistry ; classification ; drug therapy ; mortality ; Chemotherapy, Adjuvant ; methods ; statistics & numerical data ; Disease-Free Survival ; Female ; Humans ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Lymph Nodes ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Neoplasm Staging ; Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent ; drug therapy ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Receptor, ErbB-2 ; Retrospective Studies ; Survival Rate ; Treatment Outcome ; Triple Negative Breast Neoplasms ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the feasibility, safety and short-term clinical outcomes of robot-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE).

METHODSClinical data of 17 patients with esophageal cancer who received RAMIE between April 2016 and July 2016 were analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTSThe age of the patients ranged from 44 to 83. Six patients received neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy while 11 patients underwent surgery alone. All patients were performed by the robot-assisted thoraco-laparoscopic minimally invasive esophagectomy. In-hospital mortality was 0%. None was converted to open transthoracic or laparotomy approach. In the neoadjuvant radiochemotherapy group, 3 patients received pathological complete response while 2 patients were stage II(A and 1 patient was stage II(B. In the surgery alone group, 1 patient was stage I(A, 3 patients were stage II(A, 5 patients were stage II(B, 1 patient was stage III(A and 1 patient was stage III(B. The mean operation time was 195 minutes (range 145 to 305 minutes). The mean blood loss was 60 ml (range 30 to 200 ml). Mean lymph node harvest was 28 nodes. The rate of radical resection was 100%. Median ICU stay was 4.5 days (range 1 to 36 days), and median overall postoperative hospital stay was 15.2 days(range 9 to 45 days). Postoperative complication occurred in 4 (23.5%) patients, including 3 (17.6%) of lung lesion, 2 (11.8%) of hoarseness, 1 (5.9%) of chylothorax, while no anastomotic leakage and arrhythmia was observed.

CONCLUSIONRAMIE for esophageal cancer is feasible and safe with favorable early outcomes.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Blood Loss, Surgical ; statistics & numerical data ; Chemoradiotherapy, Adjuvant ; Esophageal Neoplasms ; surgery ; therapy ; Esophagectomy ; adverse effects ; methods ; Humans ; Laparoscopy ; Length of Stay ; Lymph Node Excision ; Lymph Nodes ; surgery ; Middle Aged ; Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures ; adverse effects ; methods ; Neoadjuvant Therapy ; Operative Time ; Postoperative Complications ; etiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Robotic Surgical Procedures ; adverse effects ; methods ; Thoracic Surgery, Video-Assisted ; adverse effects ; methods ; Treatment Outcome