ObjectiveTo analyze the relationship between occupational type of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and decision-making and curative effect of neoadjuvant therapy in the current version of the Database from Colorectal Cancer (DACCA). MethodsThe eligible CRC patients were collected from June 29, 2022 updated DACCA according to the screening criteria, in which the data items analyzed included: gender, age, BMI, blood type, marriage, occupation, neoadjuvant therapy, symptomatic changes, imaging changes, and tumor regression grade (TRG), and the occupations were classified into the mental labour group, physical labour group, and the unemployed and resident groups according to the type of labour, then compared the decision-making and curative effect of neoadjuvant therapy among the 3 groups. ResultsA total of 2 415 eligible data were screened, of which 1 160 (48.0%) were the most in the manual labour group, followed by 877 (36.3%) in the unemployed and resident group, and finally 378 (15.7%) in the mental labour group. The proportion of those who did not use targeted drugs was higher in both patients ≤60 years old and >60 years old [75.6% (958/1 267) vs. 82.5% (947/1 148)], with both differences being statistically significant (P=0.004 and P=0.019), and among patients >60 years old, the different occupational types were associated with symptomatic changes and imaging changes after neoadjuvant therapy, with the highest number of both changes to partial remission [71.5% (161/225) vs. 66.7% (148/222)], both differences being statistically significant (P=0.001 and P=0.017). ConclusionThe analysis results of DACCA data reveal that the occupational type of CRC patients was associated with the choice of neoadjuvant therapy, and that different occupational types were associated with changes in curative effect before and after neoadjuvant therapy in CRC patients >60 years old, which needs to be further analysis for the reasons.
Objective To investigate the perioperative differences between video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and thoracotomy after neoadjuvant therapy in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Methods Clinical data of NSCLC patients who underwent VATS or thoracotomy after neoadjuvant therapy at Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital from June 2020 to May 2022 were retrospectively collected. Perioperative outcomes were compared between the two groups. Results A total of 260 patients were enrolled, 184 (70.8%) patients underwent VATS and 76 (29.2%) patients underwent thoracotomy. After propensity matching, there were 113 (62.4%) patients in the VATS group and 68 (37.6%) patients in the thoracotomy group. VATS had similar lymph node dissection ability and postoperative complication rate with thoracotomy (P>0.05), with the advantage of having shorter operative time (146.00 min vs. 165.00 min, P=0.006), less intraoperative blood loss (50.00 mL vs. 100.00 mL, P<0.001), lower intraoperative blood transfusion rate (0.0% vs. 7.4%, P=0.003), less 3-day postoperative drainage (250.00 mL vs. 350.00 mL, P=0.011; 180.00 mL vs. 250.00 mL, P=0.002; 150.00 mL vs. 235.00 mL, P<0.001), and shorter postoperative drainage time (9.34 d vs. 13.84 d, P<0.001) and postoperative hospitalization time (6.19 d vs. 7.94 d, P=0.006). Conclusion VATS after neoadjuvant therapy for NSCLC is safer than thoracotomy and results in better postoperative recovery.
Objective To analyze the relation between the marital status of patients with colorectal cancer and neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) regimen decision-making and outcomes in the current version of the Database from Colorectal Cancer (DACCA). Methods The version of DACCA selected for this analysis was updated on June 29, 2022. The patients were enrolled according to the established screening criteria and then assigned to 5 groups: the unmarried, married, divorced, remarried and widowed groups. The differences in the NAT regimen decision-making and changes of symptom, imaging, and cancer markers in these 5 groups were analyzed. Results A total of 3 053 data that met the screened criteria were enrolled. The results of statistical analysis reflected that the difference in the constituent ratio of patients chosen NAT strategies among 5 groups was obviously statistically significant (χ2=27.944, P=0.004), showing that remarried patients were inclined to adopt combined target drug. No statistical differences were found in changes of symptom (H=5.717, P=0.221), image (H=8.551, P=0.073), and cancer markers (H=11.351, P=0.183) of the 5 groups after NAT. Conclusion Through analysis of DACCA data, it is found that in the selection of NAT strategy for colorectal cancer, more married and remarried patients tended to choose chemotherapy combined target drug regimen.
ObjectiveTo analyze the relation between educational level of patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and decision-making and curative effect of neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) in the current version of the Database from Colorectal Cancer (DACCA). MethodsThe eligible CRC patients were collected from June 29, 2022 updated DACCA according to the screening criteria and were assigned into 4 groups according to their educational level, namely, uneducated, primary educated, secondary educated, and tertiary educated. The differences in NAT decision-making, cancer marker change, symptomatic change, gross change, imaging change, and tumor regression grade (TRG) among the CRC patients with different educational levels were compared. ResultsA total of 2 816 data that met the screening criteria were collected, 138 of whom were uneducated, 777 of whom were primary educated, 1 414 of whom were secondary educated, and 487 of whom were tertiary educated. The analysis results revealed that the difference in the composition ratio of patients choosing NAT regimens by educational level was statistically significant (χ2=30.937, P<0.001), which was reflected that the composition ratio of choosing a simple chemotherapy regimen in the uneducated CRC patients was highest, while which of choosing combined targeted therapy regimen in the tertiary educated CRC patients was highest. In terms of treatment outcomes, the composition ratios of changes in cancer markers (H=4.795, P=0.187), symptoms (H=1.722, P=0.632), gross (H=2.524, P=0.471), imaging (H=2.843, P=0.416), and TRG (H=2.346, P=0.504) had no statistical differences. ConclusionsThrough data analysis in DACCA, it is found that the educational level of patients with CRC can affect the choice of NAT scheme. However, it is not found that the educational level is related to the changes in the curative effect of patients with CRC before and after NAT, and further analysis is needed to determine the reasons for this.
The incidence of esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma is gradually increasing, and gastrointestinal surgery and thoracic surgery are paying more and more attention to its surgical treatment. “Chinese expert consensus on the surgical treatment of adenocarcinoma of esophagogastric junction (2018 edition)” discussed the core issues in the field of surgical treatment such as definition, classification, surgical approach, lymphadenectomy, digestive tract reconstruction, and neoadjuvant therapy for esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma, and gave recommendations. However, there is still some controversy about these issues. The author discussed the consensus and controversial issues relevant to esophagogastric junction adenocarcinoma and related research progress in recent years.
Surgery remains as the primary definitive therapy for resectable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) currently. However, quite a few NSCLC patients, especially in the later stage, suffered tumor recurrence after resection. Safer and more effective perioperative treatment is urgently needed to reduce the recurrence risk after NSCLC surgery. Immune checkpoint inhibitors can effectively prevent tumor immune evasion and have been shown to be a feasible, safe and effective neoadjuvant therapy for resectable NSCLC. Nevertheless, certain crucial problems, including the final effect on NSCLC recurrence, the selection of beneficial group and optimal treatment protocol are yet unsolved. Fortunately, several phase Ⅲ randomized controlled trials are ongoing to answer these questions and will hopefully provide stronger evidence.
ObjectiveTo explore the clinical protocols of neoadjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma and to provide a perspective on its future prospects. MethodLiterature search and review were conducted in CNKI, Wanfang, VIP, PubMed and other databases using keywords such as “hepatocellular carcinoma”, “neoadjuvant therapy”, “interventional therapy”, “radiotherapy”, “targeted therapy”, “immunotherapy”, etc in recent five years. ResultsNeoadjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma included neoadjuvant interventional therapy, radiotherapy, targeted therapy, and immunotherapy. Neoadjuvant interventional therapy and radiotherapy had significant advantages for hepatocellular carcinoma patients with portal vein tumor thrombus, while neoadjuvant targeted therapy and immunotherapy had achieved initial results in tumor pathological remission rate, providing more ideas for the diagnosis and treatment of patients with resectable hepatocellular carcinoma. ConclusionsNeoadjuvant therapy is an emerging treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma, which has shown great potential in clinical applications and is moving towards individualization, precision, and systematization. We believe that with in-depth research on the mechanism of immunotherapy for hepatocellular carcinoma and continuous clinical practice, a comprehensive treatment strategy based on immunotherapy will become the key to neoadjuvant therapy for hepatocellular carcinoma in the future.
We reported three cases of stageⅢ/N2 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) treated with neoadjuvant immunotherapy and stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) in our hospital, including 2 males and 1 female with a mean age of 65.7 years. The patients received two doses of the programmed cell death protein-1 inhibitor toripalimab after 1 week of SBRT. Thereafter, surgery was planned 4-6 weeks after the second dose. One patient achieved pathologic complete response, one achieved major pathologic response (MPR), and one did not achieve MPR with 20% residual tumor. There were few side effects of toripalimab combined with SBRT as a neoadjuvant treatment, and the treatment did not cause a delay of surgery.
Objective To summarize the current value of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NAC) for potentially resectable gastric cancer. Methods The recent 5-year literatures searched through the PubMed with the key words: stomach neoplasm, gastric cancer/carcinoma, neoadjuvant therapy/chemotherapy and preoperative therapy/chemotherapy as well as the relevant reports presented in the ASCO Annual Meeting in 2007 and 2008 were analyzed. The present status of NAC for advanced gastric cancer was summarized, the necessity and feasibility were evaluated, and the patients features for selecting, the predictors for response, the mainly existing problems and development trend of NAC were analyzed. Results At present, there were 7 randomized control trails (RCT) published, and among them 3 were phase Ⅲ. It was safe, effective and feasible to most of trails in NAC for gastric cancer. However, it was still little to obtain survival benefit for NAC RCT, and short of randomized trial comparing strict preoperative chemotherapy to surgery alone or perioperative chemotherapy to surgery plus adjuvant chemotherapy. It remained lots of problems such as how to select the appropriate patients, the effective induced regimes and the predicted factors, the evaluated indices for response. Conclusion NAC is a safe, feasible and efficient method to potentially resectable gastric cancer, but strict phase Ⅲ randomized trials are needed. In the future, substantial improvements of treatment outcome will likely depend on the novel drugs and molecular biological targeted therapies.
Objective To explore the accuracy of contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in predicting pathological complete remission (pCR) in breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant therapy (NAC). Methods The clinicopathological data of 245 patients with invasive breast cancer who had completed the surgical resection after NAC in the Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University from March 2020 to April 2022 were collected retrospectively. According to the results of hormone receptor (HR) and human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) detected by immunohistochemistry, all patients were divided into four subgroups: HR+/HER2–, HR+/HER2+, HR–/HER2+ and HR–/HER2–. The value of MRI in evaluating the efficacy of NAC was analyzed by comparing the postoperative pathological results as the gold standard with the residual tumor size assessed by preoperative MRI. Meanwhile, the sensitivity, specificity and positive predictive value (PPV) of pCR predicted by the evaluation results of enhanced MRI were analyzed, and further analyzed its predictive value for pCR of different subtypes of breast cancer. Results There were 88 cases (35.9%) achieved radiological complete response (rCR) and 106 cases (43.3%) achieved pCR in 245 patients. Enhanced MRI in assessing the size of residual tumors overestimated and underestimated 12.7% (31/245) and 9.8% (24/245) of patients, respectively. When setting rCR as the MRI assessment index the specificity, sensitivity and PPV were 84.2% (117/139), 62.3% (66/106) and 75.0% (66/88), respectively. When setting near-rCR as the MRI assessment index the specificity, sensitivity and PPV were 70.5% (98/139), 81.1% (86/106), and 67.7% (86/127), respectively. The positive predictive value of both MRI-rCR and MRI-near-rCR in evaluating pCR of each subtype subgroup of breast cancer was the highest in the HR–/HER2+ subgroup (91.7% and 83.3%, respectively). In each subgroup, compared with rCR, the specificity of near-rCR to predict pCR decreased to different degrees, while the sensitivity increased to different degrees. Conclusions Breast contrast-enhanced MRI can more accurately evaluate the efficacy of localized breast lesions after NAC, and can also more accurately predict the breast pCR after NAC. The HR–/HER2+ subgroup may be a potentially predictable population with pCR exemption from breast surgery. However, the accuracy of the evaluation of pCR by breast enhancement MRI in HR+/HER2– subgroup is low.