Mucosal melanoma of the head and neck (MMHN) is a rare malignancy.The sinonasal cavity and oral cavity are the most common primary sites.MMHN is a very aggressive malignant tumor,with the 5-year overall survival (OS) rate less than 30％.Currently,the optimal treatment modality remains unclear.In the najority of available retrospective studies,postoperative radiotherapy improves the local control of MMHN,but without significant effect on OS.This article aims to improve our understanding of the clinical features,diagnosis,staging,treatment modalities,and outcomes of this malignancy.

Objective To study the feasibility and safety of coronary sinus (CS) ventricular pacing comparing with traditional right ventricular (RV) pacing in ordinary pacing treatment.Methods Sixty-one patients with an indication of pacemaker implantation were randomized into traditional RV pacing group and CS ventricular pacing group.The success rate,complications,preoperative and postoperative QRS wave duration and pacemaker parameters were compared between the two groups.Results (1) The instant success rate in traditional RV pacing and the CS pacing groups were 100％ and 68.97％ (P＜0.01);the surgical success rate was significantly higher by using left ventricular electrode than the ventricle tined electrode in CS pacing group (85.71％ and 25％,P＜0.05).There was no significant difference in the incidence of complications between the two groups (P＞0.05);(2) The increase of QRS complex width at postoperative 1 month in CS pacing group is significantly less than the RV pacing group (P＜0.05);(3) Although the pacing threshold and electrode impedance during operation,postoperative 1 month and 3 months in CS pacing group were higher than RV pacing group (P＜0.05),the CS pacing was effective.Conclusion The CS ventricular pacing is as safe and effective as traditional RV pacing,and is more consistent with physiological ventricular activation sequence.Using left ventricular electrode can significantly improve the success rate of CS ventricular pacing.

Liver transplantation is an effective curative treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma patients. However, most patients lost the change of surgery when diagnosed as hepatocellular carcinoma. Through local or systemic treatment, hepatocellular carcinoma can be treated in a downstaging manner to reduce tumor burden, so that patients who are beyond the transplantation criteria can still be up to the transplantation criteria after treatment, and finally receive liver transplantation. At present, pre-transplant downstaging treatment has been widely accepted. In this review, we summarized the indications, treatment options, treatment endpoints, and treatment outcomes of pre-transplant downstaging treatment.

Portal vein thrombosis is a common complication after esophagogastric devascularization and splenectomy (EDS), with concealment and potential risks, which limited the therapeutic effect. The patients undergoing EDS are often accompanied by severe liver cirrhosis, whose abnormal hemostasis poses a dilemma for antithrombotic therapy. This article reviewed on the research progress of hemostasis of these patients, and risk factors, mechanism, prevention, therapy of post-EDS portal vein thrombosis.

Objective:To investigate the application value of Da Vinci robotic surgical system in radical resection of perihilar cholangiocarcinoma (pCCA).Methods:The retrospective and descrip-tive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 10 patients undergoing Da Vinci robotic radical resetion of pCCA in Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology from September 2018 to March 2021 were collected. There were 6 males and 4 females, aged (58±7)years. Observtaion indicators: (1) surgical situations; (2) postoperative situations; (3) follow-up. The patients were followed up by telephone interview and outpatient service to detect survival of patients and tumor recurrence up to June 2021. Measurement data with normal distribution were expressed as Mean± SD, and measurement data with skewed distribu-tion were represented as M(range). Count data were represented as absolute numbers. Results:(1) Surgical situations: 10 patients underwent Da Vinci robotic radical resection of pCCA succe-ssfully, without conversion to laparotomy or intraoperative blood transfusion. The operation time of 10 patients was (465±87)minutes, and the volume of intraoperative blood loss was (167±81)mL. Of the 10 patients, 1 case of Bismuth type Ⅲb had a positive surgical margin and the remaining 9 cases had R 0 resection. (2) Postoperative situations: the time to gastric tube extraction was (2.3±1.9)days, and the duration of postoperative hospital stay of the 10 patients was (19.9±9.0)days. Among the 10 patients, there was no second operation or perioperative death. Of the 10 patients, 6 cases had perioperative complications, including 5 cases wth pleural effusion, 3 cases with peritoneal effusion, and 1 case with intestinal obstruction, some patients had multiple complications. After symptomatic conservative treatment, pleural effusion and peritoneal effusion disappeared and intestinal obstruction was improved. None of the 10 patients had serious complica-tions such as bleeding, biliary fistula or intestinal fistula. (3) Follow-up: 10 patients were followed up for 3-20 months, with a median follow-up time of 11 months. During the follow-up, 3 of 10 patients had tumor recurrence which occurred in intrahepatic bile duct of residual liver, and no implantation metastasis was found in the rest of abdominal cavity. Of the 7 unrecurrent patients, 1 case died of gastrointestinal bleeding and multiple organ failure. Nine of 10 patients survived well. Conclusion:The Da Vinci robotic surgical system used for radical operation of pCCA is feasible.

Objective To evaluate the clinical efficacy,failure pattern and prognostic factors of the malignant mucosal melanoma of the head and neck ( MMHN) in a single center. Methods The treatment pattern,clinical efficacy, failure pattern and prognostic factors of 194 M0MMHN patients admitted to our institution from 1982 to 2017 were retrospectively analyzed.Results The 5-year overall survival (OS),local recurrence-free survival ( LRFS ), regional recurrence-free survival ( RRFS ) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) were 41. 4%,57. 8%,76. 5% and 46. 5%,respectively. The failure rate was calculated as 74. 6%(141/189).Among them,40% (56/141) had distant metastasis as the first pattern of treatment failure,37%(52/141) had local relapse,15%(21/141) had regional relapse,5%(7/141) had concurrent distant metastasis and local/regional relapse and 3% ( 5/141) had concurrent local and regional relapse. Multivariate analysis demonstrated that surgical margins (P=0. 001) and adjuvant radiotherapy (P=0. 000) were the independent prognostic factors for LRFS. Conclusions Surgery combined with radiotherapy can yield relatively high LRFS in the comprehensive treatment of MMHN.Distant metastasis is the major failure pattern.

Objective:To investigate the patterns of regional lymphatic spread and the value of elective neck treatment (ENT) in oral mucosal melanoma (OMM).Methods:In this retrospective analysis, 61 OMM patients with no distant metastasis treated in Cancer Hospital of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between 1984 and 2016 were recruitred. The regional lymph node distribution of cN+ disease, the value of ENT in cN 0 disease, the failure patterns and prognostic factors were retrospectively analyzed. Results:Overall, 55.7% of the patients were clinical/pathological cN+ . The most frequently involved locations were the level Ⅰ b (76%), followed by level Ⅱ and level Ⅲ. For cN 0 patients, the 5-year regional failure-free survival rate was 91.7% in patients who received at least ipsilateral level Ⅰ b-Ⅲ ENT and 52.4% in patients who did not receive at least ipsilateral level Ⅰ b-Ⅲ ENT ( P=0.036). The regional failure rate was 6% for patients treated with at least ipsilateral leve Ⅰ b-Ⅲ ENT, while in their counterparts who did not receive at least ipsilateral level Ⅰ b-Ⅲ ENT was 46%( P=0.035). For the regional failure pattern, the most frequently failure sites were level Ⅰ b (93%), level Ⅱ(50%) and level Ⅲ(36%). Conclusions:The cervical lymph node metastasis rate is relatively high in OMM patients. The pathway of regional LN spread follows a regular pattern. The most frequently involved regions for clinical/pathological cN+ and regional failure are both level Ⅰ b-Ⅲ. Elective treatment including at least ipsilateral level Ⅰ b-Ⅲ ENT should be recommended for OMM patients with cN 0.

Objective:To evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Methods:We retrospectively collected the data of 839 patients with non-metastatic NPC from National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital and Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between January 2007 and October 2015. All patients received intensity modulated radiation based treatment. Optimal cutoff value of SII and LDH were determined by X-title software. The association between SII, LDH and clinical prognosis of non-metastatic NPC patients were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and Log rank test was used for comparison of survival rates between groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was carried out to minimize the effects of confounding factors. The risk stratification model of prognosis by combining N stage, SII and LDH was constructed to compare the prognosis of patients in high risk group, middle risk group and low risk group, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate its prognostic value.Results:The optimal cutoff value of SII is 447.2×10 9/L for predicting the 5-year overall survival (OS) of NPC patients, and the best cutoff value of LDH is 198.9 U/L. The proportion of patients with stage T3-4 and stage III-IVB in high SII group was higher than that in low SII group ( P<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that N stage, SII and LDH were independent factors of OS, progression-free survival (PFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) of NPC patients (N stage, HR=1.705, 95% CI: 1.247-2.332; HR=1.755, 95% CI: 1.342-2.295; HR=2.161, 95% CI: 1.515-3.082. SII, HR=1.525, 95% CI: 1.097-2.119; HR=1.518, 95% CI: 1.150-2.004; HR=1.837, 95% CI: 1.272-2.653. LDH, HR=2.041, 95% CI: 1.403-2.968; HR=1.725, 95% CI: 1.233-2.414; HR=2.492, 95% CI: 1.690-3.672, respectively). After PSM, SII was still an independent prognostic factor of OS, PFS and DMFS in NPC patients ( HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.09-2.12; HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.15-2.00; HR=1.82, 95% CI: 1.26-2.63, respectively). Combined with N 2-3 stage, SII (>447.2×10 9/L), and LDH (>198.9 U/L), patients were divided into high-(3 risk factors), intermediate- (2 risk factors) and low-risk (0-1 risk factors) groups. The 5-year OS rates of patients in low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups were 86.1%, 79.8% and 41.2% respectively, the 5-year PFS rates were 80.7%, 70.2% and 33.9% respectively, and the 5-year DMFS rates were 88.9%, 79.2% and 47.5% respectively. There were significant differences in OS, PFS and DMFS among these three groups ( P<0.001). Distant metastasis was the main failure pattern in low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups, and the highest rate of distant metastasis was 83.3% (15/31) in high-risk group. ROC curve of the risk stratification model for predicting 5-year OS of NPC patients is 0.610, which is higher than TNM stage (0.609), SII (0.574) and LDH (0.558). Conclusions:Pretreatment SII and LDH are significantly correlated with the prognosis of patients with non-metastatic NPC. The combination of SII, LDH and N stage can stratify the prognostic risk of NPC patients. The risk stratification model can enhance the accuracy of prognosis.

Objective:To evaluate the prognostic value of pretreatment systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) in non-metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC).Methods:We retrospectively collected the data of 839 patients with non-metastatic NPC from National Cancer Center/National Clinical Research Center for Cancer/Cancer Hospital and Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center between January 2007 and October 2015. All patients received intensity modulated radiation based treatment. Optimal cutoff value of SII and LDH were determined by X-title software. The association between SII, LDH and clinical prognosis of non-metastatic NPC patients were analyzed. Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis, and Log rank test was used for comparison of survival rates between groups. Propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was carried out to minimize the effects of confounding factors. The risk stratification model of prognosis by combining N stage, SII and LDH was constructed to compare the prognosis of patients in high risk group, middle risk group and low risk group, and the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate its prognostic value.Results:The optimal cutoff value of SII is 447.2×10 9/L for predicting the 5-year overall survival (OS) of NPC patients, and the best cutoff value of LDH is 198.9 U/L. The proportion of patients with stage T3-4 and stage III-IVB in high SII group was higher than that in low SII group ( P<0.001). Multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that N stage, SII and LDH were independent factors of OS, progression-free survival (PFS) and distant metastasis-free survival (DMFS) of NPC patients (N stage, HR=1.705, 95% CI: 1.247-2.332; HR=1.755, 95% CI: 1.342-2.295; HR=2.161, 95% CI: 1.515-3.082. SII, HR=1.525, 95% CI: 1.097-2.119; HR=1.518, 95% CI: 1.150-2.004; HR=1.837, 95% CI: 1.272-2.653. LDH, HR=2.041, 95% CI: 1.403-2.968; HR=1.725, 95% CI: 1.233-2.414; HR=2.492, 95% CI: 1.690-3.672, respectively). After PSM, SII was still an independent prognostic factor of OS, PFS and DMFS in NPC patients ( HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.09-2.12; HR=1.52, 95% CI: 1.15-2.00; HR=1.82, 95% CI: 1.26-2.63, respectively). Combined with N 2-3 stage, SII (>447.2×10 9/L), and LDH (>198.9 U/L), patients were divided into high-(3 risk factors), intermediate- (2 risk factors) and low-risk (0-1 risk factors) groups. The 5-year OS rates of patients in low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups were 86.1%, 79.8% and 41.2% respectively, the 5-year PFS rates were 80.7%, 70.2% and 33.9% respectively, and the 5-year DMFS rates were 88.9%, 79.2% and 47.5% respectively. There were significant differences in OS, PFS and DMFS among these three groups ( P<0.001). Distant metastasis was the main failure pattern in low-, intermediate- and high-risk groups, and the highest rate of distant metastasis was 83.3% (15/31) in high-risk group. ROC curve of the risk stratification model for predicting 5-year OS of NPC patients is 0.610, which is higher than TNM stage (0.609), SII (0.574) and LDH (0.558). Conclusions:Pretreatment SII and LDH are significantly correlated with the prognosis of patients with non-metastatic NPC. The combination of SII, LDH and N stage can stratify the prognostic risk of NPC patients. The risk stratification model can enhance the accuracy of prognosis.

Objective: To investigate the pattern of lymph node metastasis (LNM) in patients with locally advanced (T₃, T₄) laryngeal squamous cell carcinoma (LALSC) and provide reference for the delineation of clinical target volume. Methods: Clinical data of 272 patients with LALSC treated in our hospital from 2000 to 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients underwent bilateral neck dissection (at least level Ⅱ-Ⅳ). The LNM ratio of each node level was calculated. The risk factors of LNM were identified by univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses. Results: LNM was found in 156 of 272 patients (57.1%). According to the location of primary lesions, all patients were divided into group A (n=72; unilateral without midline involvement), group B (n=86; unilateral with midline involvement) and group C (n=114; giant or central). In group A, the LNM ratio at ipsilateral level Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ was 36.3%, 26.4% and 6.9%, whereas 13.9%, 8.3% and 1.4% at the contralateral level, respectively. In group B, the LNM ratio at ipsilateral level Ⅱ, Ⅲ and IV was 1.9%, 29.1% and 11.6%, whereas 18.6%, 14.0% and 1.2% at the contralateral level, respectively. In group C, the LNM ratio at the left neck level Ⅱ, Ⅲ and Ⅳ was 24.6%, 23.7% and 2.6%, whereas 21.9%, 26.3% and 6.1% at the right neck, respectively. Bilateral LNM ratio did not significantly differ between group A and group B/C (15.3%, 25.0%, P=0.093). Ipsilateral level Ⅲ metastasis (OR=2.929, 95%CI 1.041-8.245, P=0.042) and clinical N stage (OR=0.082, 95%CI 0.018-0.373, P=0.001) were associated with contralateral LNM. Ipsilateral level Ⅱ(P=0.043) or Ⅲ(P=0.009) metastasis were risk factors of the ipsilateral level Ⅳ metastasis. Conclusions Neck levels Ⅱ and Ⅲ are the high-risk LNM regions, whereaslevels Ⅳ and V are the low-risk areas. Ipsilateral level Ⅱ or Ⅲ metastases are the risk factors of ipsilateral level Ⅳ and contralateral cervical LNM. Contralateral neck LNM rarely occurs in cN₀ stage patients.