Napromienianie dwa razy dziennie podwyższoną dawką frakcyjną chorych z przerzutami nowotworów złośliwych do mózgu. Wyniki końcowe prospektywnego badania klinicznego w nierandomizowanej grupie chorych

AimTo evaluate the morbidity and effectivness of twice a day hypofractionation in patients with brain metastases.Material / methodsBetween 1992 and 2000, 116 patients with brain metastases have been treated with whole brain radiotherapy alone and only in 33 patients radiotherapy was applied as adjuvant treatment after surgery. Radiotherapy was given in two of 3 Gy fractions daily with minimum 6 hours intervals between fractions to total dose of 39 Gy. Mean age of treated patients was 55 years. All patients were in general performance status evaluated according to the Karnofsky Performance Scale of at least 50.ResultsEarly tolerance of treatment was acceptable. Of 116 patients only 20 patients were treated with supportive treatment (anti-oedema drugs). Improvement of the neurological status was obtained in 26 patients (22%). The one-year overall survival was 21%. The one–year survival without clinical progression of disease was observed in 10% of all treated patients. Patients with solitary brain metastases treated with surgery and radiotherapy showed the best results.ConclusionsOur results showed that twice a day hypo-fractionation radiotherapy for patients with brain metastases is well tolerated and may provides benefit.     

Mortality, Neonatal Morbidity and Two Year Follow-Up of Extremely Preterm Infants Born in the Netherlands in 2007

Background

Extremely preterm infants are at high risk of neonatal mortality and adverse outcome. Survival rates are slowly improving, but increased survival may come at the expense of more handicaps.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Prospective population-based cohort study of all infants born at 23 to 27 weeks of gestation in the Netherlands in 2007. 276 of 345 (80%) infants were born alive. Early neonatal death occurred in 96 (34.8%) live born infants, including 61 cases of delivery room death. 29 (10.5%) infants died during the late neonatal period. Survival rates for live born infants at 23, 24, 25 and 26 weeks of gestation were 0%, 6.7%, 57.9% and 71% respectively. 43.1% of 144 surviving infants developed severe neonatal morbidity (retinopathy of prematurity grade ≥3, bronchopulmonary dysplasia and/or severe brain injury). At two years of age 70.6% of the children had no disability, 17.6% was mild disabled and 11.8% had a moderate-to-severe disability. Severe brain injury (p = 0.028), retinopathy of prematurity grade ≥3 (p = 0.024), low gestational age (p = 0.019) and non-Dutch nationality of the mother (p = 0.004) increased the risk of disability.

Conclusions/Significance

52% of extremely preterm infants born in the Netherlands in 2007 survived. Surviving infants had less severe neonatal morbidity compared to previous studies. At two years of age less than 30% of the infants were disabled. Disability was associated with gestational age and neonatal morbidity.     

Use of Pulsed Low–Dose Rate Radiotherapy in Refractory Malignancies

BACKGROUND: Most tumor cell lines exhibited low-dose hyperradiosensitivity (LDHRS) to radiation doses lower than 0.3 Gy. Pulsed low–dose rate radiotherapy (PLDR) took advantage of LDHRS and maximized the tumor control process. In this study, we retrospectively analyzed patients receiving PLDR for refractory malignancies. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In total, 22 patients were included in our study: 9 females and 13 males. The median age was 61 years old. All the patients previously received multiline treatments and failed with an estimated survival less than 6 months. Thus, palliative PLDR was given. The PLDR was delivered using 10 fractions of 2 Gy/day, with an interval of 3 minutes, for 5 days per week. The dose rate was 6.67 cGy/min. The median follow-up was 1 year (range 8-30 months). Nine patients underwent PLDR for reirradiation due to locally recurrent diseases. The time interval from last irradiation was 11 to 168 months. Ten patients received PLDR due to poor performance status. Three patients were given PLDR for bulky tumor. The irradiated sites included primary disease (seven patients), locally recurrent disease (nine patients), and retroperitoneal adenopathy (six patients). RESULTS: Five patients developed grade 3 or 4 toxicities. No grade 5 toxicities occurred. All the toxicities recovered after treatments. In general, the 1-year local-regional control rate was approximately 40%, and almost all the patients developed progression at the second year after PLDR. The 6-month survival rate was 76%, and the 1-year survival rate was 69%. For the three patients given PLDR for bulky tumor, all of them achieved partial remission 1 month after the PLDR, and one patient achieved complete response at the fourth month. CONCLUSION: PLDR is an effective and safe option not only for reirradiation but also for patients with poor performance status or bulky tumors. A prospective clinical trial (NCT03061162) is ongoing to validate our results.     

多野照射、三维适形放疗与调强放疗对胃癌根治术患者癌周围组织的影响

目的:探讨多野照射、三维适形放疗与调强放疗对胃癌根治术患者癌周围组织的影响。方法:选取收治的103例行胃癌根治术的患者,将所有患者随机分为甲乙丙三组,其中甲组患者34例,均采用多野照射治疗;而乙组患者也是34例,均使用三维适形放疗;丙组患者则有35例,均使用调强放疗。观察比较各组患者放疗后的上腹部症状改善情况,并且检测各组患者的肝功能和血常规以及胰淀粉酶等临床指标,比较各组患者经治疗后的复发率以及生存率。结果:甲组患者的近期疗效显著低于乙组患者(P0.05),而乙组患者的近期疗效则明显低于丙组患者(P0.05);三组患者的钡餐造影均有所改善,但是其组间比较差异不具有统计学意义(÷2=9.012,P0.05)。甲组的不良反应率显著高于乙组和丙组(均P0.05),并且各组患者的不良反应中血常规异常的发生率显著高于肝功能和胰脏功能的异常(均P0.05),同时甲组患者出现放射性脊髓病的患者明显多于乙组(P0.05),仅丙组患者未见放射性脊髓病。随访三年间三组患者第一年随访生存率无明显差异(P0.05),而在第2年至第3年则三组患者的随访生存率有明显差异(均P0.05),其中随访生存率以丙组患者最高,其次为乙组患者;另外随访三年间甲组患者的随访复发率显著高于乙组和丙组患者(均P0.05),其复发率由低至高依次为丙组乙组甲组。结论:与多野照射治疗相比,三维适形放疗和调强放疗均能够更好地降低对胃癌周围组织的损伤和改善患者的临床症状,并且不良反应发生率低,对于降低复发率和提高生存率方面亦有不错的效果。     

Multimodality Treatment May Improve the Survival Rate of Patients with Metastatic Nasopharyngeal Carcinoma with Good Performance Status

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the benefit of chemotherapy, combined with palliative radiotherapy (PRT) and other local treatments to the metastatic sites, for patients with metastatic nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) who had a performance status 0–2. We conducted a retrospective review of available data from 197 biopsy-proven NPC patients who developed metastasis after their initial definitive treatment. These patients were grouped into three categories according to the different treatment paths that were followed: the best supportive care (64 patients), chemotherapy alone (55 patients), and multimodality treatment with chemotherapy combined with PRT and other local treatments to metastatic sites (78 patients). The 2-year metastatic survival rate of patients in the multimodality treatment group was 57.7%, which was significantly better than that of the patients in both the chemotherapy alone group and the best supportive care group (32.7% and 1.6%, respectively). The independent significant factors affecting survival were the disease-free interval prior to the detection of metastatic disease, the number of metastases, the number of chemotherapy cycles and the biological effective dose of PRT. In conclusion, multimodality treatment may improve survival of select patients with recurrent NPC with distant metastases.     

Survival among clinical stage I–III rectal cancer patients treated with different preoperative treatments: A population-based comparison

BackgroundRadical resection is regarded as the cornerstone of rectal cancer treatment. Preoperative (chemo)radiotherapy and adjuvant chemotherapy are often administered. This population-based study compares the survival in clinical stage I–III rectal cancer patients who received either preoperative radiotherapy, preoperative chemoradiotherapy or no preoperative therapy. As secondary research questions, the association of type of radical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy on survival is also investigated.MethodsPatients diagnosed between January 2006 and December 2011 with stage I–III rectal adenocarcinoma were retrieved from the Belgian Cancer Registry database. Multivariable Cox proportional hazards regression models were applied to evaluate the association of preoperative treatment, type of radical resection and use of adjuvant chemotherapy with survival, adjusting for the baseline characteristics age, gender, WHO performance status and clinical stage.ResultsA total of 5173 rectal cancer patients were identified. Preoperative treatment was as follows: none in 1354 (26.2%), radiotherapy in 797 (15.4%) and chemoradiotherapy in 3022 (58.4%) patients. The patient group who did not receive preoperative therapy or radiotherapy followed by radical resection had a lower observed survival compared to the patient group receiving preoperative chemoradiotherapy. The patient groups who underwent abdominoperineal excision and those receiving adjuvant chemotherapy had a worse observed survival compared to the patient group treated with sphincter-sparing surgery and no adjuvant therapy respectively. These effects were age-dependent. Multivariable analysis demonstrated similar findings for the observed survival conditional on surviving the first year since surgery.ConclusionIn this population-based study among clinical stage I–III rectal cancer patients treated with radical resection, a superior observed survival was noticed in the patient group receiving preoperative chemoradiotherapy compared to the patients groups receiving no or preoperative radiotherapy only, adjusting for case mix, type of radical resection and adjuvant chemotherapy. Additionally, higher adjusted observed survival was also detected for the patient groups with sphincter-sparing surgery or no adjuvant chemotherapy.     

Adjuvant gamma knife surgery and image-guided,intensity-modulated radiation therapy for the treatment of sacral chordomas

AimThe aim of this study was to confirm whether patients with sacral chordoma benefit from adjuvant radiotherapy and to determine the optimal photon radiotherapy module for comprehensive treatment.BackgroundChordoma is a rare slow-growing neoplasm arisen from cellular remnants of the notochord. About 50% occur in the sacrococcygeal region. Surgical resection and adjuvant radiation therapy are recommended treatment due to the improving local control rate.Materials and methods118 patients treated by surgery and adjuvant radiotherapy from August 2003 to May 2015 were retrospectively analyzed. All patients received surgical resection after diagnosis. Among these patients, 44 were treated by exclusive surgery, and 48 were treated with adjuvant image-guided, intensity-modulated radiation therapy (IG-IMRT). In addition, 26 patients were treated with gamma knife surgery (GKS) after surgical resection. The median follow-up was 54 months for all patients. Kaplan–Meier analysis was used to calculate recurrence-free survival (RFS) overall survival (OS).ResultsPatients treated with adjuvant radiotherapy had better RFS (p = 0.014) than those treated exclusively by surgery. The patients in the IG-IMRT group exhibited better recurrence-free survival (p = 0.01) than the GKS group. Moreover, in the IG-IMRT group, patients treated by higher dose were associated with better RFS (p = 0.04). No significant difference in OS was found. No grade 3 late toxicity was found.ConclusionsWe confirmed that adjuvant radiotherapy improved RFS but not OS in sacral chordoma patients after surgery. Furthermore, favorable RFS and low adverse event rates were observed following IG-IMRT. Our results suggest that high dose IG-IMRT is an appropriate module of adjuvant radiotherapy for sacral chordoma patients.     

Breast cancer in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia

In the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), hospital and population based statistics have shown that breast cancer has the highest crude frequency rate among Saudi women. The scarcity of reports about the disease in the KSA has been the impetus to this analysis about breast cancer in the eastem province of KSA. Data on female patients with invasive breast carcinoma seen at King Fahd Hospital of the University in the eastern province of KSA, were retrospectively reviewed. The analysis intended to examine the pattern of the disease and the outcome for patients. Between 1985 and 1995, 292 patients were identified. Their median age±SD (standard deviation) was 42±10.5 years. Most patients were younger than 50 years (78%) and were predominantly premenopausals (79%). Only 25 (9%) of patients had stage I cancer, whilst 130 (44%), 90 (30%), and 47 (16%) had stage II, III, and IV, respectively. Among patients with known axillary nodal status (242 patients), only 37% were node-negative whilst 32% and 31% had 1–3, and ≥4 positive nodes, respectively. Adjuvant chemotherapy and tamoxifen were commonly offered; nonetheless, other adjuvant modalities were rarely utilised. The median follow-up ±SD of all patients was 62.3±8.9 months: 152 patients (52%) were alive with no evidence of disease, 25 (9%) were alive with evidence of disease, and 115 (39%) were dead from breast cancer or its related complications. The median survival of the entire group was not obtained, but the 10-year projected survival was 55%. For stage I and II patients, 118 (76%) were alive with a projected 10-year actuarial survival of 64%. On the other hand, only 51 (57%) of patients with stage III disease were alive with a median survival of 41.5 months (95% Confidence interval (CI), 18.9 to 51.3). Patients with stage IV disease demonstrated a poor outcome with a median survival of 23.5 (95%, CI 12.2 to 31.4). Multivariate analyses were performed to explore the influence of independent variables on overall survival (OS) for patients with non-metastatic disease. Besides the expected adverse effect of disease progression, the favourable influence of adjuvant chemotherapy and tamoxifen prevailed. The amount of benefit gained from tamoxifen, however, was small. Similar analyses were undertaken to determine the influence of independent variables on progression-free survival (PFS). These analyses ascertained the adverse effects of advanced stage and the favourable impact of adjuvant chemotherapy. Breast cancer in the KSA has features that are distinctive from those of industrialised countries. Survival data, however, were comparable. The favourable influence of adjuvant chemotherapy was evident on both OS and PFS. Adjuvant tamoxifen, however, had little effect. Due to its infrequent use, the role of other adjuvant modalities could not be asserted.     

EGFR在晚期声门上型喉鳞癌组织中的表达及其临床意义

目的:研究表皮生长因子受体(epidermalgrowth factorreceptor,EGFR)在晚期声门上型喉鳞癌组织中的表达情况及其与临床各相关因素的关系,探讨EGFR能否作为判断晚期声门上喉鳞癌患者预后的预测性指标。方法:收集我院2004年1月~2008年4月共52例晚期(Ⅲ期、Ⅳ期)声门上型喉鳞癌患者手术后切除的肿瘤组织,应用免疫组化技术检测EGFR表达情况,运用统计学方法,结合临床资料分析其与肿瘤分期、淋巴结转移、病理分化程度、生存率及术后放疗对预后的影响等临床病理特征的关系。结果:EGFR在晚期声门上型喉鳞癌组织中存在阳性表达,阳性表达物质呈棕黄色,表达率为76.92%(40/52),其中过表达率为44.23%。EGFR的表达与晚期声门上型喉鳞癌患者的年龄、性别、吸烟无关,与浸润程度(P=0.005),淋巴结转移数目(P=0.018),TNM分期(P=0.003),病理分化程度(P=0.011)有关。单因素分析得出EGFR表达程度、T、N分期以及病理分化程度是影响无复发生存时间的危险因素(P0.05),T、N分期、病理分化程度是影响总生存时间的危险因素(P0.05)。多因素分析显示只有肿瘤浸润程度(T分期)和淋巴结转移(N分期)是影响无复发生存时间和总生存时间的独立预后因素。EGFR的阴性表达组与阳性表达组的3年、5年生存率不具有统计学差异(P0.05)。结论:EGFR在晚期声门上型喉鳞癌组织中存在过表达,证实了EGFR的过度表达与肿瘤的侵袭、转移相关,检测其表达水平对晚期喉癌的个体化治疗、靶向治疗有重要参考价值。但EGFR尚不能作为晚期声门上型喉鳞癌行手术及术后辅助放疗患者对无复发生存时间和总生存时间的预测指标。     

小剂量环磷酰胺联合参一胶囊治疗进展期非小细胞肺癌

目的：应用小剂量环磷酰胺（CTX）联合参一胶囊治疗Ⅲ、Ⅳ期非小细胞肺癌,观察其临床疗效及毒副作用。方法：Ⅲ、Ⅳ期非小细胞肺癌患者经标准化、放疗后随机分为两组,治疗组（38例）：CFX 50mg每日一次、参一胶囊20mg日两次口服,三至六个月;对照组（34例）：化疗后不用任何药物治疗。结果：联合治疗组患者外周血血管内皮生长因子（VEGF）表达下降。T淋巴细胞亚群CD4＋及CD4＋／CD8＋升高,病人生存质量及生存期提高。结论：Ⅲ、Ⅳ期NSCLC患者化疗后联合应用小剂量CTX联合参一胶囊治疗是一种安全有效的治疗方法,可以提高患者的生存质量及生存期。     

Age,pattern of consultation,and functional disability in elderly patients in one general practice.

OBJECTIVE--To examine how functional disability varies with sex, age, and other variables in patients aged 75 and over living in the community and to ascertain whether a statistical model derived from the variables in this population usefully predicted functional disability in another of similar age. DESIGN--Retrospective study of data collected by interview and by examination of medical records. SETTING--An urban general practice with five partners and a list of 15,000 patients, very few of whom belonged to ethnic minorities. PATIENTS--775 Patients (252 men, 523 women) aged 75 and over living in the community between September 1985 and August 1986; 13 other patients considered to be unsuitable and 14 who declined an interview were excluded. Also 94 patients who became 75 or joined the practice after August 1986. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE--The proportions of fit, partially disabled, and severely disabled (housebound) patients. RESULTS--90 Men (35.7%) and 128 women (24.5%) were fit, and 27 men (10.7%) and 116 women (22.2%) were housebound; in all age groups women were significantly more likely to be disabled than men. A significant trend towards greater disability was shown with increasing age and, more noticeably, with pattern of consultation when patients were divided into three categories based on the number of times they had attended the surgery and been visited at home over about two years. Statistical models gave the forecast percentage of fit and severely disabled patients for each sex, age group, and pattern of consultation, and a simple scheme was derived to identify from information wholly contained in medical records most of those patients most prone to severe disability. The scheme was verified applying it to a population of 94 elderly patients in 1988-9. CONCLUSION--Sex, age, and pattern of consultation together provide a quick indication of elderly patients'' tendency to severe disability, which can help in screening and in day to day consultations.     

Does Radiotherapy for the Primary Tumor Benefit Prostate Cancer Patients with Distant Metastasis at Initial Diagnosis?

Purpose/Objectives

Treatment of the primary tumor reportedly improves survival in several types of metastatic cancer. We herein evaluated the efficacy and toxicity of radiotherapy for the primary tumor in prostate cancer with metastasis.

Materials/Methods

The study cohort included 140 men with metastatic prostate cancer at initial diagnosis. Metastatic sites were divided into 4 groups as follows: solitary bone, 2–4 bones, ≥5 bones, and visceral organs. Patient, tumor, and treatment characteristics, and clinical outcomes were compared between patients treated with (prostate radiotherapy [PRT] group) or without radiotherapy to the primary tumor.

Results

Patients in PRT group presented with a statistically significantly younger age (p = .02), whereas other characteristics showed no significant difference. Overall survival (OS) and biochemical failure-free survival (BCFFS) were improved in PRT patients (3-year OS: 69% vs. 43%, p = 0.004; 3-year BCFFS: 52% vs. 16%, p = 0.002). Multivariate analysis identified PRT as a significant predictor of both OS (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.43, p = 0.015). None of the 38 PRT patients experienced severe (grade ≥3) genitourinary or gastrointestinal toxicity.

Conclusions

Our data suggest that radiotherapy to the primary tumor was associated with improved OS and BCFFS in metastatic prostate cancer. The results of this study warrant prospective controlled clinical trials of this approach in stage IV prostate cancer patients with limited extent of bone metastasis and good performance status.     

Radiotherapy for Adrenal Metastasis from Hepatocellular Carcinoma: A Multi-Institutional Retrospective Study (KROG 13-05)

Although the adrenal glands are not common sites of metastasis from hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), this metastasis can be met in patients with advanced HCC in some clinical settings. However, the effectiveness of radiotherapy against such metastases is unclear. Therefore, we performed the present multi-institutional study to investigate tumor response, overall survival (OS), treatment-related toxicity, and prognostic factors after radiotherapy. We retrospectively reviewed 134 patients who completed a planned radiotherapy for their adrenal metastases. Complete response was noted in 6 (4.3%), partial response in 48 (34.0%), and stable disease in 78 patients (55.3%). The median OS was 12.8 months, and the 1-, 2-, and 5-year OS rates were 53.1%, 23.9%, and 9.3%, respectively. Grade 3 anorexia occurred in 2 patients, grade 3 diarrhea in 1, and grade 3 fatigue in 1. Multivariate analyses revealed that the following factors had significant effects on OS: controlled intrahepatic tumor; controlled extrahepatic metastasis; and Child-Pugh class A. Although patients with adrenal metastasis from HCC had poor OS, radiotherapy provided an objective response rate of 38.3% and disease stability of 93.6%, with minimal adverse events. Therefore, radiotherapy for these patients could represent a good treatment modality, especially for patients with controlled intrahepatic tumors, controlled extrahepatic metastasis, and good hepatic function.     

PBSC collection in extremely low weight infants: a single-center experience

BACKGROUND: Peripheral blood progenitor cell (PBPC) collection has become the main source of hematopoietic cells for high-dose chemotherapy with stem cell rescue and, in some protocols, for allogeneic hematopoietic transplantation. This procedure is complicated in the smallest children because of difficulties related to their weight, and there is little published experience. We have conducted a prospective study to analyze the incidence of adverse events during PBPC collection in the smallest children (< or = 10 kg). METHODS: From January 2000 to November 2005, 257 leukapheresis were performed in our unit, and 13 of them (5%) in 12 children weighing up to 10 kg (median 9 kg, range 5.8-10.9 kg). RESULTS: Most cases had hypovolemic signs during the procedure (usually tachycardia); six cases had hypotension, five of them with pallor and diaphoresis, and, of those, two also had nausea. In all these cases infusion of saline or plasma volume expanders resolved the clinical findings. In two cases the nausea related to hypocalcemia was resolved after calcium gluconate infusion. Changes in platelet counts were also remarkable, with a median platelet loss of 52%. DISCUSSION: Leukapheresis with continuous-flow cell separators has frequent complications related to volume shift in the smallest children. These adverse events are mild and easily resolved with standard measures for hypovolemia, as plasma expander or normal saline infusions. However, we recommend that the procedure should only be performed by teams with extensive experience in the field.     

曲妥珠单抗联合多西紫杉醇在HER-2 阳性晚期乳腺癌中的应用

目的:探讨曲妥珠单抗联合多西紫杉醇在HER-2阳性晚期乳腺癌中的应用。方法:收取2010年2月至2016年1月我院收治的82例HER-2阳性晚期乳腺癌患者作为研究对象,根据不同治疗方案分为观察组及对照组。观察组43例患者给予曲妥珠单抗联合多西紫杉醇治疗,多西紫杉醇以3周为1个周期连续用药4个周期,曲妥珠单抗连续使用8周~52周。对照组39例患者只给予曲妥珠单抗单药治疗。对两组患者临床疗效、临床受益反应指数以及不良反应发生情况进行观察与比较。结果:51P1察组总有效率(60.47%)高于对照组(43.59%),但差异无统计学意义(P0.05)。观察组疾病控制率(90.70%)显著高于对照组(71.79%),差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。观察组临床受益反应有效率(76.74%)显著高于对照组(41.03%)差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。两组患者不良反应无显著差异(P0.05)。结论:曲妥珠单抗联合多西紫杉醇对于HER-2阳性晚期乳腺癌有较好的临床疗效及安全性,患者临床受益高。     

Bax expression is predictive of favorable clinical outcome in chemonaive advanced gastric cancer patients treated with capecitabine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan regimen

OBJECTIVE: Bax protein is a key mediator of apoptosis, and it might be related to chemosensitivity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic role of Bax in patients with advanced gastric cancer treated with triplet chemotherapy COI regimen (capecitabine, oxaliplatin, and irinotecan). METHODS: Pretreatment tissue blocks were available for 23 consecutive patients, selected for good performance status (ECOG ≤ 1) and consenting for treatment with first-line COI at a single institution. Bax levels were classified as positive or negative by immunohistochemistry (bax N20; Santa Cruz Biotechnology) and related to outcome in terms of response rate, progression-free survival, and overall survival. RESULTS: Bax-negative and -positive samples were 26% and 74%, respectively. Bax expression was associated with significantly higher response rate (87% vs 33%), progression-free survival (8.7 vs 4.9 months, P = .016), and overall survival (23.8 vs 12.7 months, P = .025). In multivariate analysis including Bax and performance status, low Bax independently predicted worse outcome, along with suboptimal performance status. CONCLUSIONS: In advanced gastric cancer, Bax expression was related to clinical benefit with COI regimen. Whether Bax is a prognostic or mixed prognostic/predictive factor warrants prospective confirmation. It is to be defined if Bax predicts sensitivity to platinum analogs or to whatever chemotherapy regimen.     

复发性卵巢癌患者放疗联合热疗的临床观察

目的:探讨热疗联合放疗在复发性卵巢癌治疗中的协同增敏作用。方法:68例晚期复发性卵巢癌患者,将其随机分为单纯放疗组(对照组)和热疗联合放疗组(实验组)。两组盆腔三维适形放疗单次剂量为200 c Gy,1次/日,5次/周。实验组在放疗结束后2小时内进行热疗,2次/周,共5周。治疗前及治疗结束后1个月均通过超声及CT检查对两组患者肿瘤体积的变化进行疗效评估,同时观察两组患者治疗后3年的生存情况。结果:近期疗效中发现,实验组11例完全缓解,17例部分缓解,对照组3例完全缓解,15例部分缓解,两组总有效率及完全缓解率差异均有统计学意义(P0.05)。实验组3年总的生存率明显高于对照组,差异有统计学意义(P0.05)。结论:热疗联合放疗可有效的杀灭复发的卵巢恶性肿瘤细胞,可缓解放疗副反应,明显提高患者的生存率。     

A Real-World Study in Advanced Non–Small Cell Lung Cancer with KRAS Mutations

BACKGROUND: KRAS gene mutations are well known as a key driver of advanced non–small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). The impact of KRAS-mutant subtypes on the survival benefit from salvage chemotherapy is controversial. Here, we present a real-world study in patients across China with advanced NSCLC with KRAS mutations using a website-based patient self-report system. METHODS: We identified a total of 75 patients diagnosed with KRAS-mutant (determined by molecular sequencing) advanced NSCLC between 2014/5/9 and 2019/5/30. KRAS mutation subtypes were divided into G12C and non-G12C groups for statistical analysis. The clinicopathological characteristics and treatment survival benefit in all patients with a KRAS mutation were evaluated. Programmed death-ligand 1 (PD-L1) expression data were collected from 30 patients in the same cohort. RESULTS: In this study, 23 patients with stage IIIB NSCLC and 52 patients with stage IV NSCLC were enrolled with 58 men and 17 women; the median age was 60 years (39–84). All patients received regular chemotherapy/radiotherapy/targeted therapy/immune therapy as per the disease condition. Four main KRAS mutation subtypes were detected: G12C (33%), G12V (19%), G12A (12%), and G12D (12%). Three predominant KRAS comutations were detected: TP53-KRAS (31%), EGFR-KRAS (11%), and STK11-KRAS (8%). Compared with the KRAS non-G12C mutation subtype, patients with the KRAS G12C mutation had potentially longer progression-free survival (PFS) after first-line chemotherapy (4.7 vs. 2.5 months, p < 0.05). Pemetrexed-based chemotherapy appeared to be superior to taxanes- and gemcitabine-based chemotherapies in all patients (PFS: 5.0 vs. 1.5 and 2.3 months, respectively, p > 0.05). Cox regression analysis showed that the KRAS G12C mutation and pemetrexed-based first-line chemotherapy were positive influencers for PFS after first-line (hazard ratios = 0.31 and 0.55, respectively, P < 0.05), but not second-line chemotherapies. CONCLUSION: The KRAS G12C mutation could be a predictive biomarker for better survival benefit from first-line chemotherapy in patients with advanced NSCLC and KRAS mutations. The first-line chemotherapy regimen could possibly influence the outcome in patients with KRAS mutations. Larger and prospective clinical trials are warranted to confirm our conclusions.     

Randomised controlled trial for evaluation of fitness programme for patients with chronic low back pain.

OBJECTIVE--To evaluate a progressive fitness programme for patients with chronic low back pain. DESIGN--Single blind randomised controlled trial. Assessments were carried out before and after treatment by an observer blinded to the study and included a battery of validated measures. All patients were followed up by postal questionnaire six months after treatment. SETTING--Physiotherapy department of orthopaedic hospital. SUBJECTS--81 patients with chronic low back pain referred from orthopaedic consultants for physiotherapy. The patients were randomly allocated to a fitness programme or control group. INTERVENTION--Both groups were taught specific exercises to carry out at home and referred to a back-school for education in back care. Patients allocated to the fitness class attended eight exercise classes over four weeks in addition to the home programme and backschool. RESULTS--Significant differences between the groups were shown in the changes before and after treatment in scores on the Oswestry low back pain disability index (P < 0.005), pain reports (sensory P < 0.05 and affective P < 0.005), self efficacy reports (P < 0.05), and walking distance (P < 0.005). No significant differences between the groups were found by the general health questionnaire or questionnaire on pain locus of control. A benefit of about 6 percentage points on the disability index was maintained by patients in the fitness group at six months. CONCLUSION--There is a role for supervised fitness programmes in the management of moderately disabled patients with chronic low back pain. Further clinical trials, however, need to be established in other centres to confirm these findings.