Background::Early detection of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) can considerably improve the prognosis of patients. Aberrant cell-free DNA (cfDNA) methylation signatures are a promising tool for detecting ESCC. However, available markers based on cell-free DNA methylation are still inadequate. This study aimed to identify ESCC-specific cfDNA methylation markers and evaluate the diagnostic performance in the early detection of ESCC.Methods::We performed whole-genome bisulfite sequencing (WGBS) for 24 ESCC tissues and their normal adjacent tissues. Based on the WGBS data, we identified 21,469,837 eligible CpG sites (CpGs). By integrating several methylation datasets, we identified several promising ESCC-specific cell-free DNA methylation markers. Finally, we developed a dual-marker panel based on methylated KCNA3 and OTOP2, and then, we evaluated its performance in our training and validation cohorts. Results::The ESCC diagnostic model constructed based on KCNA3 and OTOP2 had an AUC of 0.91 [95% CI: 0.85–0.95], and an optimal sensitivity and specificity of 84.91% and 94.32%, respectively, in the training cohort. In the independent validation cohort, the AUC was 0.88 [95% CI: 0.83–0.92], along with an optimal sensitivity of 81.5% and specificity of 92.9%. The model sensitivity for stage I–II ESCC was 78.4%, which was slightly lower than the sensitivity of the model (85.7%) for stage III–IV ESCC. Conclusion::The dual-target panel based on cfDNA showed excellent performance for detecting ESCC and might be an alternative strategy for screening ESCC.

Pulmonary blast injury has become the main type of trauma in modern warfare, characterized by externally mild injuries but internally severe injuries, rapid disease progression, and a high rate of early death. The injury is complicated in clinical practice, often with multiple and compound injuries. Currently, there is a lack of effective protective materials, accurate injury detection instrument and portable monitoring and transportation equipment, standardized clinical treatment guidelines in various medical centers, and evidence-based guidelines at home and abroad, resulting in a high mortality in clinlcal practice. Therefore, the Trauma Branch of Chinese Medical Association and the Editorial Committee of Chinese Journal of Trauma organized military and civilian experts in related fields such as thoracic surgery and traumatic surgery to jointly develop the Clinical treatment guideline for pulmonary blast injury ( version 2023) by combining evidence for effectiveness and clinical first-line treatment experience. This guideline provided 16 recommended opinions surrounding definition, characteristics, pre-hospital diagnosis and treatment, and in-hospital treatment of pulmonary blast injury, hoping to provide a basis for the clinical treatment in hospitals at different levels.

Objective    To investigate the risk factors for lymph node metastasis (LNM) and prognosis of T1-stage esophageal squamous carcinoma (ESC). Methods    Clinical data of 387 patients with T1-stage ESC who underwent surgical treatment in our hospital from March 2013 to March 2018 were collected. There were 281 males and 106 females aged 60 (41-80) years. The patients were divided into a lymph node metastasis group (n=77) and a non-metastasis group (n=310). The risk factors for LNM and prognosis were analyzed. Results    Among 387 patients with T1-stage ESC, 77 (19.9%) patients had LNM. The incidence of LNM was 8.4% (8/95) in T1a-stage patients and 23.6% (69/292) in T1b-stage patients. Univariate analysis showed that tumor size, differentiation degree, depth of invasion and vascular tumor thrombus were associated with LNM (P<0.05). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that invasion depth of tumor [OR=2.456, 95%CI (1.104, 5.463), P<0.05] and vascular tumor thrombus [OR=15.766, 95%CI (4.880, 50.938), P<0.05] were independent risk factors for LNM. The follow-up time was 41 (12, 66) months. The 1-year, 3-year and 5-year survival rates were 98.71%, 89.67% and 86.82%, respectively. Univariate analysis showed statistically significant differences in tumor invasion depth, vascular tumor thrombus and LNM between the survival group and the death group. Cox analysis showed that LNM [OR=3.794, 95%CI (2.109, 6.824), P<0.05] was an independent risk factor for prognosis. Conclusion    T1-stage ESC patients with deeper invasion or vascular tumor thrombus have a higher risk of LNM. The prognosis of T1-stage ESC with LNM is relatively poor.

Objective    To investigate the impact of thoracic duct ligation (TDL) on metabolism and postoperative complications during esophagectomy in patients with type-2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods    We conducted a retrospective clinical data analysis of 230 esophageal carcinoma patients with T2DM who underwent esophagectomy in our hospital from January 2003 to December 2018. Patients were divided into a TDL+ group (n=112), including 78 males and 34 females aged 63.47±7.23 years, and a TDL– group (n=118), including 84 males and 34 females aged 64.38±7.57 years. We compared the blood glucose, liver function parameters and lipid metabolic parameters at different time points before and after surgery. In addition, we compared the postoperative major complications between the two groups. Propensity score-matched (PSM) was used to control the observed confounders. Results    Compared with the TDL–group, patients in TDL+ group had higher blood glucose level (P<0.05, except the fourth postoperative day). The total protein and albumin levels on the first and fourth postoperative days in the TDL+ group were lower than those in the TDL– group (P<0.05). The alanine transaminase (P=0.027) and aspartate transaminase (P=0.007) levels on the fourth postoperative day in the TDL+ group were higher than those in the TDL– group. More pulmonary complications (P=0.014) and anastomotic leaks (P=0.047) were found in the TDL+ group. Conclusion    Given that TDL may aggravate metabolic disorders, increase anastomotic leaks and the pulmonary complications, it is cautious to perform TDL, and prophylactic TDL should not be performed routinely for patients with T2DM.

Benign anastomotic stricture is one of the most common complications after esophagectomy,which can result in the dysphagia and weight loss of patients.It can severely impair the patient's quality of life with the progress of the stricture.What is more,refractory benign stricture is a major challenge for physicians and needs repeated treatments,which aggravates the patient's pain and increases extra costs.Benign anastomotic stricture is associated closely with various risk factors,which can be prevented by adopting some measures.Dilation remains the first-line treatment to manage benign anastomotic stricture and it may be effective to combine with drug therapy.Endoscopic incisional therapy is a promising method as a new treatment therapy.The use of various stents fails to improve overall long-term dysphagia-free rate.In addition,stent has a possible risk of migration and hyperplastic tissue growth,which should be used by weighing the pros and cons.

Objective To explore the effect of HDAC1 deacetylase inhibition on the proliferation differentiation and invasion in human gastric cancer stem cells (GCSCs) .Methods The GCSCs were selected as CD44 marker by using flow cytometry .RT-qPCR and Western Blot were used to detect the expression of HDAC 1 in GCSCs and non GCSCs .The effect of proliferation and in-vasion in GCSCs were observed by CCK-8 assay ,colony formation and transwell assay after the cells were treated with TSA .The expression of proteins related apoptosis ,differentiation and invasion were detected by using RT-qPCR and Western blot .Results The expression of HDAC1 in GCSCs was higher than that in non GCSCs .The capacities of proliferation and invasion in experimen-tal group were attenuated compared to the control group .The proteins related differentiation was down regulated ,and epithelial mesenchymal transition was mediated .Conclusion After the deacetylation of HDAC1 was inhibited ,the proliferation ,differentia-tion and invasion of GCSCs were reduced .

Background and objectiveIt is so far not clear that how myasthenia gravis (MG) affected the prognosis of thymoma patients. The aim of this assay is to compare the postoperative survival between patients with thymoma only and those with both thymoma and MG.MethodsThe Chinese Alliance for Research in Thymomas (ChART) registry recruited patients with thymoma from 18 centers over the country on an intention to treat basis from 1992 to 2012. Two groups were formed according to whether the patient complicated MG. Demographic and clinical data were reviewed, Patients were fol-lowed and their survival status were analyzed.Results There were 1,850 patients included in this study, including 421 with and 1,429 without MG. Complete thymectomy were done in 91.2% patients in MG group and 71.0% in non-MG group (P<0.05). There were more percentage of patients with the histology of thymoma AB, B1, or B2 (P<0.05) in MG group, and more percentage of patients with MG were in Masaoka stage I and II. The 5 year and 10 year OS rates were both higher in MG group (93%vs 88%; 83%vs 81%,P=0.034) respectively. The survival rate was signiifcantly higher in patients with MG when the Masaoka staging was III/IV (P=0.003). Among patients with advanced stage thymoma (stage III, IVa, IVb), the constitu-ent ratios of III, IVa, IVb were similar between MG and Non-MG group. Histologically, however, there were signiifcantly more proportion of AB/B1/B2/B3 in the MG group while there were more C in the non-MG group (P=0.000). Univariate analyses for all patients showed that MG, WHO classiifcation, Masaoka stage, surgical approach, chemotherapy and radiotherapy and resectability were signiifcant factors, and multivariate analysis showed WHO Classiifcation, Masaoka stage, and resectability were strong independent prognostic indicators.ConclusionAlthough MG is not an independent prognostic factor, the sur-vival of patients with thymoma was superior when MG was present, especially in late Masaoka stage patients. Possible reasons included early diagnosis of the tumor, better histologic types, an overall higher R0 resection and less recurrence.

Background and objectiveTo compare the predictive effect of the Masaoka-Koga staging system and the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC)/the International Thymic Malignancies Interest Group (ITMIG) proposal for the new TNM staging on prognosis of thymic malignancies using the Chinese Alliance for Research in Thymomas (ChART) retrospective database.MethodsFrom 1992 to 2012, 2,370 patients in ChART database were ret-rospectively reviewed. Of these, 1,198 patients with complete information on TNM stage, Masaoka-Koga stage, and survival were used for analysis. Cumulative incidence of recurrence (CIR) was assessed in R0 patients. Overall survival (OS) was evalu-ated both in an R0 resected cohort, as well as in all patients (any R status). CIR and OS were ifrst analyzed according to the Masaoka-Koga staging system. Then, they were compared using the new TNM staging proposal.Results Based on Masaoka-Koga staging system, signiifcant difference was detected in CIR among all stages. However, No survival difference was revealed between stage I and II, or between stage II and III. Stage IV carried the highest risk of recurrence and worst survival. According to the new TNM staging proposal, CIR in T1a was signiifcantly lower comparing to all other T categories (P<0.05) and there is a signiifcant difference in OS between T1a and T1b (P=0.004). T4 had the worst OS comparing to all other T categories. CIR and OS were signiifcantly worse in N(+) than in N0 patients. Signiifcant difference in CIR and OS was detected between M0 and M1b, but not between M0 and M1a. OS was almost always statistically different when comparison was made between stages I-IIIa and stages IIIb-IVb. However, no statistical difference could be detected among stages IIIb to IVb.Conclusion Compared with Masaoka-Koga staging, the IASLC/ITMIG TNM staging proposal not only describes the extent of tumor invasion but also provides information on lymphatic involvement and tumor dissemination. Further study using prospectively recorded information on the proposed TNM categories would be helpful to better grouping thymic tumors for predicting prognosis and guiding clinical management.

Background and objectiveTo evaluate the role of preoperative induction therapy on prognosis of local-ly advanced thymic malignancies.MethodsBetween 1994 and 2012, patients received preoperative induction therapies (IT group) in the Chinese Alliance for Research in Thymomas (ChART) database, were compared with those having surgery di-rectly atfer preoperative evaluation (DS group). All tumors receiving induction therapies were locally advanced (clinically stage III-IV) before treatment and those turned out to be in pathological stage I and II were considered downstaged by induction. Clinical pathological characteristics were retrospectively analyzed. To more accurately study the effect of induction therapies, stage IV patients were then excluded. Only stage I-III tumors in the IT group and stage III cases in the DS group were selected for further comparison in a subgroup analysis.Results Only 68 (4%) out of 1,713 patients had induction therapies, with a R0 resection of 67.6%, 5-year recurrence of 44.9%, and 5- and 10-year overall survivals (OS) of 49.7% and 19.9%. Seventeen pa-tients (25%) were downstaged atfer induction. Signiifcantly more thymomas were downstaged than thymic carcinomas (38.7%vs 13.9%,P=0.02). Tumors downstaged atfer induction had signiifcantly higher 5-year OS than those not downstaged (93.8%vs 35.6%,P=0.013). For the subgroup analysis when stage IV patients were excluded, 5-year OS was 85.2% in the DS group and 68.1% in the IT group (P<0.001), although R0 resection were similar (76.4%vs 73.3%,P=0.63). However, 5-year OS in tumors downstaged atfer induction (93.8%) was similar to those in the DS group (85.2%,P=0.438), both signiifcantly higher than those not downstaged atfer induction (35.6%,P<0.001).ConclusionOnly 68 (4%) out of 1,713 patients had induction therapies, with a R0 resection of 67.6%, 5-year recurrence of 44.9%, and 5- and 10-year overall survivals (OS) of 49.7% and 19.9%. Seventeen patients (25%) were downstaged atfer induction. Signiifcantly more thymomas were downstaged than thy-mic carcinomas (38.7%vs 13.9%,P=0.02). Tumors downstaged atfer induction had signiifcantly higher 5-year OS than those not downstaged (93.8%vs 35.6%,P=0.013). For the subgroup analysis when stage IV patients were excluded, 5-year OS was 85.2% in the DS group and 68.1% in the IT group (P<0.001), although R0 resection were similar (76.4%vs 73.3%,P=0.63). However, 5-year OS in tumors downstaged atfer induction (93.8%) was similar to those in the DS group (85.2%,P=0.438), both signiifcantly higher than those not downstaged atfer induction (35.6%,P<0.001).

Background and objectiveVideo-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) theoretically offers advantages over open thymectomy for clinically early-stage (Masaoka-Koga stage I and II) thymic malignancies. However, longterm outcomes have not been well studied. We compared the postoperative outcomes and survival from a cohort study based on the database of the Chinese Alliance for Research in Thymomas (ChART).MethodsBetween 1994 and 2012, data of 1,117 patients hav-ing surgery for clinically early-stage (Masaoka-Koga stage I and II) tumors were enrolled for the study. Among them, 241 cases underwent VATS thymectomy (VATS group), while 876 cases underwent open thymectomy (Open group). Univariate analyses were used to compare the clinical character and perioperative outcomes between the two groups. And multivariate analysis was performed to determine the independent predictive factors for long-term survival.Results Compared with the Open group, the VATS group had higher percentage of total thymectomy (80.5%vs 73.9%,P=0.028), resection rate (98.8%vs 88.7%,P<0.001) and less recurrence (2.9%vs 16.0%,P<0.001). Five-year overall survival was 92% atfer VATS and 92% atfer open thymectomy, with no signiifcant difference between the two groups (P=0.15). However, 5-year disease free survival were 92% in VATS group and 83% in Open group (P=0.011).Cox proportional hazards model revealed that WHO classiifcation, Masaoka-Koga stage and adjuvant therapy were independent predictive factors for overall survival, while surgical approach had no signiifcant impact on long-term outcome.ConclusionhTis study suggests that VATS thymectomy is an effective approach for clinically early-stage thymic malig-nancies. And it may offer better perioperative outcomes, as well as equal oncological survival.