BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by radical surgery has been a common practice for patients with locally advanced rectal cancer, but the response rate varies among patients. This study aimed to develop a ResNet-Vision Transformer based magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-endoscopy fusion model to precisely predict treatment response and provide personalized treatment. METHODS: In this multicenter study, 366 eligible patients who had undergone neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy followed by radical surgery at eight Chinese tertiary hospitals between January 2017 and June 2024 were recruited, with 2928 pretreatment colonic endoscopic images and 366 pelvic MRI images. An MRI-endoscopy fusion model was constructed based on the ResNet backbone and Transformer network using pretreatment MRI and endoscopic images. Treatment response was defined as good response or non-good response based on the tumor regression grade. The Delong test and the Hanley-McNeil test were utilized to compare prediction performance among different models and different subgroups, respectively. The predictive performance of the MRI-endoscopy fusion model was comprehensively validated in the test sets and was further compared to that of the single-modal MRI model and single-modal endoscopy model. RESULTS: The MRI-endoscopy fusion model demonstrated favorable prediction performance. In the internal validation set, the area under the curve (AUC) and accuracy were 0.852 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.744-0.940) and 0.737 (95% CI: 0.712-0.844), respectively. Moreover, the AUC and accuracy reached 0.769 (95% CI: 0.678-0.861) and 0.729 (95% CI: 0.628-0.821), respectively, in the external test set. In addition, the MRI-endoscopy fusion model outperformed the single-modal MRI model (AUC: 0.692 [95% CI: 0.609-0.783], accuracy: 0.659 [95% CI: 0.565-0.775]) and the single-modal endoscopy model (AUC: 0.720 [95% CI: 0.617-0.823], accuracy: 0.713 [95% CI: 0.612-0.809]) in the external test set. CONCLUSION The MRI-endoscopy fusion model based on ResNet-Vision Transformer achieved favorable performance in predicting treatment response to neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and holds tremendous potential for enabling personalized treatment regimens for locally advanced rectal cancer patients.
Humans ; Rectal Neoplasms/diagnostic imaging* ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods* ; Male ; Female ; Middle Aged ; Neoadjuvant Therapy/methods* ; Aged ; Adult ; Chemoradiotherapy/methods* ; Endoscopy/methods* ; Treatment Outcome

Objective:To explore whether there are gender differences in clinical and pathological characteristics and prognosis of young patients with rectal cancer (under 50 years old), and to analyze the risk factors affecting the prognosis of young patients with rectal cancer.Methods:The medical records of 85 young rectal cancer patients admitted to Beijing Friendship Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University from January 2015 to December 2020 were retrospectively collected. According to gender, they were divided into male group ( n=50) and female group ( n=35). The age was (43.67±5.50) years old, ranging from 26 to 50 years old. Primary outcome measures were sex, disease-free survival, and overall survival. Secondary outcomes were family history, body mass index (BMI), clinical stage, anemia, whether the female patient was menopausal, whether the female patient took oral estrogen, the location of the primary lesion, whether neoadjuvant therapy was performed, pathological stage, whether accompanied with vascular nerve invasion, and whether postoperative adjuvant therapy was performed. R4.0.2 software was used for statistical analysis. The measurement data with normal distribution in the collected data were expressed as mean±standard deviation ( ± s), and the comparison between groups was analyzed by t test. Count data were expressed as constituent ratio, and analyzed using the chi-square test or Fisher′s exact test. The survival curve was drawn by Kaplan-Meier method, and the difference in survival rate was tested by Log-rank test. Factors with statistical significance in univariate analysis were included in COX proportional regression model for multivariate analysis to screen independent risk factors affecting overall survival. Results:Compared with male patients, a higher proportion of young female patients with rectal cancer were diagnosed with anemia before surgery (42.9% vs 22.0%, P=0.040). The 1-year, 3-year and 5-year overall survival rates were 94.3%, 80.0% and 68.6% in young female patients, and 98.0%, 90.0% and 90.0% in young male patients, respectively. The median disease-free surival was 31.6 months for women and 34.4 months for men. Multivariate analysis showed that female( HR=3.799, 95% CI: 1.312-11.002, P=0.014)and BMI( HR=0.846, 95% CI: 0.724-0.989, P=0.036)were independent risk factors affecting the prognosis of young patients with rectal cancer. Conclusions:Young female patients have a worse prognosis than male patients. Female and BMI are independent risk factors for the prognosis of young rectal cancer patients, and gender should be the key research object of observation in young rectal cancer patients.

Objective:To investigate the effect of obstruction on the prognosis and possible mechanisms in colorectal cancer patients.Methods:Among 1574 cases of colorectal cancer who were treated in Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2003 to December. 2014, 194 cases had preoperative intestinal obstruction. Firstly, described the clinical characteristics of 194 patients with obstruction, then COX multivariate regression analysis was performed on the 1574 colorectal cancer cohort to confirm whether the preoperative obstruction was independent predictor for the overall survival. Finally, propensity score matching method was used to match obstruction and non-obstruction cases, then compared overall survival difference.Results:In 194 cases of obstructive colorectal cancer, 60.3% and 37.1% of the tumors were located in the left and right respectively. The 55.7% of the patients had tumors larger than 5 cm in diameter, the median survival time was 39.7 months (95% CI: 28.3-60.4). Multivariate COX analysis, after adjusted for related confounding factors, found that preoperative obstruction is still an independent risk factor for poor prognosis ( HR=1.41, 95% CI: 1.01-1.97). After propensity score matching, 140 and 560 patients were included in the obstructive group and the non-obstructive group. The two groups were more balanced in most baseline characteristics. The median survival time of the two groups was 42.4 and 116.3 months ( P<0.001), the overall survival of obstructive patients was significantly worse than that of non-obstructive patients. Conclusions:Preoperative obstruction is an independent risk factor for poor prognosis of colorectal cancer. This may be due to the difficulty of surgery and low radical cure rate for obstructive colorectal cancer.

Objective:To explore the prognostic value of circulating tumor cell (CTC) for colorectal cancer.Method:We analyze the correlation between CTC and clinicopathological data, survival curve and overall survival.Results:The positive rates of preoperative and postoperative CTC in 181 colorectal cancer patients were 66.3% and 65.7% respectively ( χ2=0.012, P=0.912). The postoperative CTC positive rates for recurrence and non-recurrence of stage Ⅱ colorectal cancer were 29.2% and 8.0%, respectively ( χ2=4.303, P=0.038). The progress free survuval of CTC-positive and CTC-negative in postoperative stage Ⅱ colorectal cancer patients were 28.7 months and 34.0 months, respectively ( χ2=4.096, P=0.043). Conclusion:Postoperative CTC detection has predictive prognostic value for patients with stage Ⅱ colorectal cancer.

Objective:To investigate the predictive value of visceral adipose for early major complications after rectal cancer surgery by CT scan.Methods:A retrospective case-control study method was used to recruit a total of 135 patients with rectal cancer who underwent radical resection at Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2017 to June 2018. There were 89 males and 46 females, aged from 30 to 88 years, with a median age of 63 years. The patients were divided into complication group ( n=16) and control group ( n=119) according to whether serious complications occurred within 30 days after operation. Measurement data with normal distribution were expressed as Mean±SD, and comparison between groups was analyzed by using independent sample t-test. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M ( Q1, Q3) and analyzed by using the Mann-Whitney U test. Count data were expressed as constituent ratio, and analyzed using the chi-square test or Fisher exact test. Logistic regression model was used to analyze the factors affecting the occurrence of early severe complications after radical resection of rectal cancer. The area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC) was used to analyze the predictive ability of the model for early severe complications after radical resection of rectal cancer. Results:Univariate analysis showed that there were significant differences in intraoperative blood loss [100 (62, 187) mL vs 50 (40, 100) mL, Z=-2.038, P=0.042], operation time [(325 (212, 375) min vs 260 (180, 310) min, Z=-2.04, P=0.041)], preoperative blood glucose [4.67 (4.44, 5.09) mmol/L vs 5.20 (4.80, 5.72) mmol/L, Z=-3.33, P=0.001] and visceral fat area/subcutaneous fat area (V/S) (1.23±0.54 vs 0.96±0.40, t=-2.39, P=0.018) between the complication group and the control group. Multivariate Logistic regression model showed that V/S ratio ( OR=3.978, 95% CI: 1.160-13.636, P=0.028) and preoperative blood glucose level ( OR=0.168, 95% CI: 0.055-0.512, P=0.002) were independent risk factors for early major complications after radical resection of rectal cancer. Conclusions:Visceral fat and preoperative blood glucose level are independent risk factors for early major complications after radical resection of rectal cancer, V/S is expected to be a predictor of early major complications after radical resection of rectal cancer.

Objective:To examine the prognosis factors for non-reversal of defunctioning ileostomy in rectal cancer surgery.Methods:The data of 234 patients with rectal cancer undergoing radical resection and defunctioning ileostomy in the Department of General Surgery, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2013 to June 2020 was analyzed retrospectively. There were 166 males and 68 females, aging ( M(IQR)) 62(12) years (range: 33 to 89 years). Telephone following-up was conducted intensively in July 2021 to investigate whether stoma was reversed, causes of reversal failure, and tumor recurrence or metastasis after surgery. The non-reversal stoma was defined as stoma not being reversed during the follow-up period (more than 12 months). The χ 2 test or Fisher′s exact test was used to conduct a univariate analysis of clinical data related to reversal failure, and the factors with P<0.05 were selected into Logistic regression for multivariate analysis. Results:A total of 165 patients received stoma reversal postoperatively with an interval time of (6.5±2.4) months (range: 0.9 to 17.8 months), but 69 patients failed to closure of stoma. Univariate analysis showed that age, concomitant diseases, surgical methods, preoperative hemoglobin, preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen, tumor maximum diameter, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, anastomotic-related complications, postoperative tumor local recurrence or distant metastasis were associated with non-reversal of diverting ileostomy in rectal cancer surgery (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that age ( OR=2.270, 95% CI: 1.150 to 4.479, P=0.018), open surgery ( OR=7.249, 95% CI: 1.977 to 26.587, P=0.003), preoperative hemoglobin<120 g/L ( OR=3.092, 95% CI: 1.566 to 6.105, P<0.01), anastomotic-related complications ( OR=4.375, 95% CI: 1.686 to 11.349, P=0.002), postoperative local recurrence or distant metastasis ( OR=7.065, 95% CI: 2.591 to 19.264, P<0.01) were independent prognosis factors for reversal failure of defunctioning stoma in rectal cancer surgery. Conclusions:There is a high risk of reversal failure of defunctioning ileostomy among rectal cancer patients with age>65 years, open surgery, preoperative hemoglobin<120 g/L, anastomotic-related complications, postoperative local recurrence or distant metastasis. Colorectal surgeons should fully evaluate the outcome and risk of reversal failure before making a decision of diverting ileostomy. Reducing anastomotic complications is helpful to the successful return of preventive ileostomy.

Objective:To examine the prognosis factors for non-reversal of defunctioning ileostomy in rectal cancer surgery.Methods:The data of 234 patients with rectal cancer undergoing radical resection and defunctioning ileostomy in the Department of General Surgery, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University from January 2013 to June 2020 was analyzed retrospectively. There were 166 males and 68 females, aging ( M(IQR)) 62(12) years (range: 33 to 89 years). Telephone following-up was conducted intensively in July 2021 to investigate whether stoma was reversed, causes of reversal failure, and tumor recurrence or metastasis after surgery. The non-reversal stoma was defined as stoma not being reversed during the follow-up period (more than 12 months). The χ 2 test or Fisher′s exact test was used to conduct a univariate analysis of clinical data related to reversal failure, and the factors with P<0.05 were selected into Logistic regression for multivariate analysis. Results:A total of 165 patients received stoma reversal postoperatively with an interval time of (6.5±2.4) months (range: 0.9 to 17.8 months), but 69 patients failed to closure of stoma. Univariate analysis showed that age, concomitant diseases, surgical methods, preoperative hemoglobin, preoperative carcinoembryonic antigen, tumor maximum diameter, depth of invasion, lymph node metastasis, TNM stage, anastomotic-related complications, postoperative tumor local recurrence or distant metastasis were associated with non-reversal of diverting ileostomy in rectal cancer surgery (all P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that age ( OR=2.270, 95% CI: 1.150 to 4.479, P=0.018), open surgery ( OR=7.249, 95% CI: 1.977 to 26.587, P=0.003), preoperative hemoglobin<120 g/L ( OR=3.092, 95% CI: 1.566 to 6.105, P<0.01), anastomotic-related complications ( OR=4.375, 95% CI: 1.686 to 11.349, P=0.002), postoperative local recurrence or distant metastasis ( OR=7.065, 95% CI: 2.591 to 19.264, P<0.01) were independent prognosis factors for reversal failure of defunctioning stoma in rectal cancer surgery. Conclusions:There is a high risk of reversal failure of defunctioning ileostomy among rectal cancer patients with age>65 years, open surgery, preoperative hemoglobin<120 g/L, anastomotic-related complications, postoperative local recurrence or distant metastasis. Colorectal surgeons should fully evaluate the outcome and risk of reversal failure before making a decision of diverting ileostomy. Reducing anastomotic complications is helpful to the successful return of preventive ileostomy.

Objective:To compare the safety and efficacy of continuous transversus abdominis plane (CTAP) block and patient-controlled intravenous analgesia (PCIA) in abdominal surgery postoperatively.Methods:PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI and other English and Chinese databases were searched since their establishment to February 2021 with "continuous/modified, transversus/transverse abdominis plane block, TAP block, patient controlled analgesia, patient-controlled analgesia, patient controlled intravenous analgesia, patient-controlled intravenous analgesia, PCA/PCIA/IV-PCA" as the search keywords. According to the analgesia treatment methods, patients were divided into continuous transversus abdominis plane block group (CTAP group) and patient-controlled intravenous analgesia group (PCIA group). Review Manager 5.4 software was used to conduct a Meta-analysis on outcome indicators such as postoperative nausea and (or) vomiting (PONV), dizziness, pain score and recovery status after abdominal surgery. Risk ratio ( RR) was calculated for counting data, Mean ± SD was calculated for measurement data. Heterogeneity was measured by I2, and related data were analyzed by using either a fixed effects model or a random effects model. Results:(1) The results of literature search: A total of 6 randomized controlled trials, including 2 published in English and 4 published in Chinese were analyzed, involving 479 patients. The results of the Meta-analysis: Compared with PCIA, CTAP block had lower incidence of PONV ( RR=0.22, 95% CI: 0.08-0.62, P<0.01), lower incidence of dizziness ( RR=0.27, 95% CI: 0.09-0.79, P=0.02), lower pain scores on movement at 24 h ( MD=-0.75, 95% CI: -1.42--0.08, P=0.03) and 48 h ( MD=-0.68, 95% CI: -1.05--0.31, P<0.001) postoperatively, and earlier time of first mobilization ( MD=-0.49, 95% CI: -0.69--0.30, P<0.001) and first exhaust ( MD=-10.47, 95% CI: -13.53--7.41, P<0.001), with statistically significant differences. However, there were no statistically significant differences in pain scores at rest at 24 h ( MD=-0.25, 95% CI: -0.57-0.08, P=0.14) and 48 h ( MD=-0.15, 95% CI: -0.39-0.09, P=0.22) postoperatively and postoperative length of hospital stay ( MD=-1.01, 95% CI: -2.28-0.26, P=0.12). Conclusion:CTAP block is a relatively safe and effective analgesic method, and it′s more consistent with the concept of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) and can be recommended as an alternative method of PCIA.

Objective:To evaluate the value of 2D-3D registration method which combines improved mutual information and image pyramid.Methods:The continuous image representation of the cubic B-spline curve and Parzen histogram estimation were fused into the algorithm. The chest was used as the research object. The reconstruction of the orthogonal X-ray image generated by the radiographic image and the image after a certain transformation with itself were used for registration experiments to study the registration accuracy and time.Results:After 50 sets of controlled experiments, compared with the traditional registration method, the displacement accuracy of this method in the X and Y directions was improved by 53.39% and 21.33%, and the registration time was shortened by 91.93%. Compared with the modified algorithms in recent years, the displacement accuracy of the improved algorithm in the X and Y directions was increased by 17.65% and 13.79%. And the registration time was further increased by 19.64%.Conclusions:This method can effectively improve the registration accuracy and efficiency of 2D and 3D images, and both meet the requirements of image registration within 2 mm during surgery. The high efficiency and accuracy of this method provide beneficial information for clinical diagnosis and radiotherapy automation, which also lays the foundation for tumor position error correction and automatic positioning of medical robotic arms.

Objective:To investigate the relationship between systematic immune-inflamma-tion index(SII) and clinicopathological characteristics for colorectal cancer.Methods:The retrospec-tive cohort study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 513 patients with colorectal cancer who were admitted to the Beijing Friendship Hospital of Capital Medical University from February 2019 to May 2021 were collected. There were 311 males and 202 females, aged (64±12)years. Observation indicators: (1) SII of colorectal cancer and relationship between SII and clinicopatholo-gical characteristics; (2) influencing factors for SII in colorectal cancer patients. According to the median of SII as the cutoff value, the patients were divided into high SII and low SII patients. Measurement data with normal distribution were represented as Mean± SD, and comparison between groups was analyzed using the t test. Count data were represented as absolute numbers or percen-tages, and comparison between groups was conducted using the chi-square test. Measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M( P25, P75), and comparison between groups was analyzed using the non-parameter rank sum test. Comparison of ordinal data was analyzed using the Mann-Whitney U non-parameter test. Variables with statistically significant differences between groups were included for further analysis. Pearson correlation coefficient analysis was used for continuous data, and Wilcoxon or Kruskal-Willas analysis was used for categorical data and Bonferroni correction was performed. Univariate and multivariate linear regression analyses were conducted. Results:(1) SII of colorectal cancer and relationship between SII and clinicopathological charac-teristics: the SII of 513 patients was 355(253,507). Taking the median SII 355 as the cutoff value, 257 of 513 patients with SII>355 had high SII and 256 cases with SII≤355 had low SII. Of high SII patients, the Karnofsky performance status(KPS) score, preoperative albumin(Alb), CA125, cases with tumor located at left or right hemicolon, tumor diameter, cases with laparoscopic assisted surgery or laparotomy (surgical approach), cases in stage T0, T1, T2, T3, T4 (pathological T staging), cases in stage Ⅰ, Ⅱ, Ⅲ, Ⅳ (pathological TNM staging) were 87±17, (37±5)g/L, 8.80 U/mL(5.90 U/mL, 14.15 U/mL), 174, 83, (5.2±2.8)cm, 208, 44, 5, 19, 25, 131, 63, 34, 98, 94, 14. The above indicators of low SII patients were 91±13, (38±4)g/L, 7.20 U/mL(5.40 U/mL, 10.03 U/mL), 200, 56, (4.0±1.9)cm, 221, 24, 8, 39, 35, 118, 45, 61, 84, 79, 12. There were significant differences in above indicators between the two groups ( t=-2.770, -3.211, Z=-3.799, χ2=7.050, t=5.324, χ2=6.179, Z=-3.390, -2.227, P<0.05). Results of Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that SII was positively correlated with the tumor diameter ( r=0.390, P<0.05), and negatively correlated with preoperative Alb ( r=-0.200, P<0.05). Results of Wilcoxon analysis showed that SII was 447(311,720), 352(251,493) in patients with tumor located at right hemicolon and left hemicolon, 439(284,640), 345(243,481) in patients undergoing laparotomy and laparoscopic assisted surgery, respectively. There were signi-ficant differences in SII between patients with tumor located at right and left hemicolon,between patients undergoing laparotomy and laparoscopic assisted surgery ( P<0.05). Results of Kruskal-Willas analy-sis showed that SII was 289(201,463), 296(210,398), 329(252,446), 369(265,505), 434(274,631) in patients with pathological T staging as stage T0, stage T1, stage T2, stage T3, stage T4, respectively, and 307(226,400), 380(260,503), 381(272,563), 376(273,634) in patients with patho-logical TNM staging as stage Ⅰ, stage Ⅱ, stage Ⅲ, stage Ⅳ, respectively. There were significant differences in SII between patients with different pathological T staging and between patients with different pathological TNM staging ( P<0.05). (2) Influencing factors for SII in colorectal cancer patients: results of univariate analysis showed that KPS score, preoperative Alb, CA125, tumor location, tumor diameter, patholo-gical N staging, pathological TNM staging were related factors for SII in colorectal cancer patients ( Beta=-3.5, -15.8, 3.7, 106.3, 51.8, 115.1, 104.7, 141.2,95% confidence interval as -5.7 to -1.3, -22.6 to -9.1, 1.8 to 5.5,34.6 to 177.9, 38.5 to 65.2, 40.5 to 189.7, 11.2 to 198.2, 46.9 to 235.9, P<0.05). Multivariate analysis showed that tumor location and tumor diameter were independent influencing factors for SII in colorectal cancer patients ( Beta=79.5, 42.5, 95% confidence interval as 8.4 to 150.7, 26.6 to 58.4, P<0.05). Conclusions:The SII is correlated with tumor location, tumor diameter, preoperative Alb, pathological T staging, pathological TNM staging. Preoperative hypoproteinemia indicates a high SII score. The longer of tumor diameter, right hemicolon tumor and high TNM staging indicate the more serious immune-inflammatory imbalance. Tumor location and tumor diameter are independent influencing factors for SII in colorectal cancer patients.