The aim of this study is to clarify the outcomes of blood culture tests in patients with advanced cancer receiving hospice care. A total of 527 patients who took blood culture tests between April 2021 and March 2024 at our palliative care unit were included in the study. The rate of multiple blood culture set collection, positivity rate and contamination rate were 73.4%, 22.5% and 2.6%, respectively. The most-frequently-isolated pathogen was coagulase-negative staphylococci (28.8%). The rate for antimicrobial-resistant bacteria was 4.5%. Among the positive patients, 79.2% were administered appropriate antimicrobial regimens based on the drug susceptibility tests. The most frequently used antimicrobial as targeted therapy for bacteremia was vancomycin (31.5%). Despite their short lifespans, we conclude that blood culture test can be beneficial for patients receiving palliative care. Further observational studies are required to clarify characteristics of infectious diseases in terminally-ill patients with advanced cancer.

OBJECTIVETo evaluate the value of routine haematoxylin-eosin(HE) stain for submucosal lymphatic vessel infiltration in early gastric cancer.

METHODSFour thousand four hundred and twenty early gastric cancer patients underwent D2 operation. Submucosal lymphatic vessel was detected by routine HE stain. The results were compared with pathological lymph node metastasis.

RESULTSIn early gastric cancer, the sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, positive predicting value (PPV), and negative predicting value (NPV) of routine HE stain for submucosal lymphatic vessel infiltration were 54.5%, 82.0%, 78.9%, 27.4%, and 93.5% respectively. In early gastric cancer limited in mucosa, these indexes were 14.5%, 98.0%, 95.8%, 15.8%, and 97.8% respectively. In early gastric cancer infiltrated to submucosa, they were 60.3%, 57.8%, 58.3%, 28.1%, and 84.2% respectively. There were significant differences of submucosal lymphatic vessel infiltration with lymph node metastasis (P< 0.001), but no significant difference with survival rate. The 5-year survival rates of submucosal lymphatic vessel infiltration positive and negative group were 84.4% and 87.3%, median survival time was 6998 d and 7237 d, and mean survival time was 6163.9 d and 6042.6 d respectively (P=0.2495).

CONCLUSIONThe accuracy of routine HE stain is too low, thus it is not suitable for diagnosing submucosal lymphatic vessel infiltration in early gastric cancer.

Adenocarcinoma ; pathology ; Female ; Gastric Mucosa ; pathology ; Humans ; Lymphatic Metastasis ; pathology ; Lymphatic Vessels ; pathology ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Neoplasm Staging ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Staining and Labeling ; Stomach Neoplasms ; pathology