Background
With improved short-term surgical outcomes, laparoscopic distal gastrectomy has rapidly gained popularity. However, the safety and feasibility of laparoscopic total gastrectomy (LTG) has ...not yet been proven due to the difficulty of the technique. This single-arm prospective multi-center study was conducted to evaluate the use of LTG for clinical stage I gastric cancer.
Methods
Between October 2012 and January 2014, 170 patients with pathologically proven, clinical stage I gastric adenocarcinoma located at the proximal stomach were enrolled. Twenty-two experienced surgeons from 19 institutions participated in this clinical trial. The primary end point was the incidence of postoperative morbidity and mortality at postoperative 30 days. The severity of postoperative complications was categorized according to Clavien–Dindo classification, and the incidence of postoperative morbidity and mortality was compared with that in a historical control.
Results
Of the enrolled patients, 160 met criteria for inclusion in the full analysis set. Postoperative morbidity and mortality rates reached 20.6% (33/160) and 0.6% (1/160), respectively. Fifteen patients (9.4%) had grade III or higher complications, and three reoperations (1.9%) were performed. The incidence of morbidity after LTG in this trial did not significantly differ from that reported in a previous study for open total gastrectomy (18%).
Conclusions
LTG performed by experienced surgeons showed acceptable postoperative morbidity and mortality for patients with clinical stage I gastric cancer.
It is unclear whether laparoscopic distal gastrectomy for locally advanced gastric cancer is oncologically equivalent to open distal gastrectomy. The noninferiority of laparoscopic subtotal ...gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy for locally advanced gastric cancer compared with open surgery in terms of 3-year relapse-free survival rate was evaluated.
A phase III, open-label, randomized controlled trial was conducted for patients with histologically proven locally advanced gastric adenocarcinoma suitable for distal subtotal gastrectomy. The primary end point was the 3-year relapse-free survival rate; the upper limit of the hazard ratio (HR) for noninferiority was 1.43 between the laparoscopic and open distal gastrectomy groups.
From November 2011 to April 2015, 1,050 patients were randomly assigned to laparoscopy (n = 524) or open surgery (n = 526). After exclusions, 492 patients underwent laparoscopic surgery and 482 underwent open surgery and were included in the analysis. The laparoscopy group, compared with the open surgery group, suffered fewer early complications (15.7%
23.4%, respectively;
= .0027) and late complications (4.7%
9.5%, respectively;
= .0038), particularly intestinal obstruction (2.0%
4.4%, respectively;
= .0447). The 3-year relapse-free survival rate was 80.3% (95% CI, 76.0% to 85.0%) for the laparoscopy group and 81.3% (95% CI, 77.0% to 85.0%; log-rank
= .726) for the open group. Cox regression analysis after stratification by the surgeon revealed an HR of 1.035 (95% CI, 0.762 to 1.406; log-rank
= .827;
for noninferiority = .039). When stratified by pathologic stage, the HR was 1.020 (95% CI, 0.751 to 1.385; log-rank
= .900;
for noninferiority = .030).
Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy was comparable to open surgery in terms of relapse-free survival for patients with locally advanced gastric cancer. Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy could be a potential standard treatment option for locally advanced gastric cancer.
Abstract
Osteoarthritis (OA), primarily characterized by articular cartilage destruction, is the most common form of age-related degenerative whole-joint disease. No disease-modifying treatments for ...OA are currently available. Although OA is primarily characterized by cartilage destruction, our understanding of the processes controlling OA progression is poor. Here, we report the association of OA with increased levels of osteoclast-associated receptor (OSCAR), an immunoglobulin-like collagen-recognition receptor. In mice, OSCAR deletion abrogates OA manifestations, such as articular cartilage destruction, subchondral bone sclerosis, and hyaline cartilage loss. These effects are a result of decreased chondrocyte apoptosis, which is caused by the tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) in induced OA. Treatments with human OSCAR-Fc fusion protein attenuates OA pathogenesis caused by experimental OA. Thus, this work highlights the function of OSCAR as a catabolic regulator of OA pathogenesis, indicating that OSCAR blockade is a potential therapy for OA.
To compare short-term surgical outcomes including financial cost of robotic and laparoscopic gastrectomy.
Despite a lack of supporting evidence, robotic surgery has been increasingly adopted as a ...minimally invasive modality for the treatment of gastric cancer because of its assumed technical superiority over conventional laparoscopy.
A prospective, multicenter comparative study was conducted. Patients were matched according to the surgeon, extent of gastric resection, and sex. The primary endpoint was morbidity and mortality. Outcomes were analyzed on an intention-to-treat and per-protocol basis.
A total of 434 patients were enrolled for treatment with either robotic (n = 223) or laparoscopic (n = 211) gastrectomy for intention-to-treat analysis, and a total of 370 patients (n = 185 per treatment) were compared in per-protocol analysis. Results were similar between both analyses. In per-protocol analysis, both groups showed similar overall complication rates (robotic = 11.9% vs laparoscopic = 10.3%) and major complication rates (robotic = 1.1% vs laparoscopic = 1.1%) with no operative mortality in either group. Patients treated with robotic surgery showed significantly longer operative time (robotic = 221 minutes vs laparoscopic = 178 minutes; P < 0.001) and significantly higher total costs (robotic = US$13,432 vs laparoscopic = US$8090; P < 0.001), compared with those who underwent laparoscopic gastrectomy. No significant differences between groups were noted in estimated blood loss, rates of open conversion, diet build-up, or length of hospital stay.
The use of robotic systems is assumed to provide a technically superior operative environment for minimally invasive surgery. However, our analysis of perioperative surgical outcomes indicated that robotic gastrectomy is not superior to laparoscopic gastrectomy. Clinical trials identification: NCT01309256.
Disease course of non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA) has been extensively studied in non-Asian population; however, there are limited data in Asian population. This study aimed to ...evaluate the long-term disease course of non-radiographic axSpA in Asian patients and identify factors associated with progression to radiographic axSpA.
In this retrospective observational cohort study, 56 Korean patients newly diagnosed with non-radiographic axSpA between 2006 and 2015 were included. All patients fulfilled the Assessment of SpondyloArthritis international Society classification criteria for axSpA, and did not fulfil the radiological criterion of the 1984 modified New York criteria. Disease course was assessed by the rate of progression to radiographic axSpA. Factors associated with the risk of progression to radiographic axSpA were assessed using multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis.
The mean age at baseline was 31.4±13.3 years, and 37 (66.1%) patients were men. Over a mean observation period of 8.4±3.7 years, 28 (50.0%) patients progressed to radiographic axSpA. In multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression analysis, the presence of syndesmophytes at diagnosis (adjusted hazard ratio HR: 4.50, 95% confidence interval CI: 1.54-13.15, p = 0.006) and active sacroiliitis on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at diagnosis (adjusted HR: 5.88, 95% CI: 2.05-16.82, p = 0.001) were significantly associated with a higher risk of progression to radiographic axSpA, whereas longer exposure to tumor necrosis factor inhibitors (TNFis) was significantly associated with a lower risk of progression to radiographic axSpA (adjusted HR: 0.89, 95% CI: 0.80-0.98, p = 0.022).
During long-term follow-up, a substantial proportion of Asian patients with non-radiographic axSpA progressed to radiographic axSpA. The presence of syndesmophytes and active sacroiliitis on MRI at the time of non-radiographic axSpA diagnosis were associated with a higher risk of progression to radiographic axSpA, while longer exposure to TNFis was associated with a lower risk of progression to radiographic axSpA.
The oncologic outcomes of laparoscopy-assisted gastrectomy for the treatment of gastric cancer have not been evaluated. The aim of this study is to validate the efficacy and safety of laparoscopic ...gastrectomy for gastric cancer in terms of long-term survival, morbidity, and mortality retrospectively.
The study group comprised 2,976 patients who were treated with curative intent either by laparoscopic gastrectomy (1,477 patients) or open gastrectomy (1,499 patients) between April 1998 and December 2005. The long-term 5-year actual survival analysis in case-control and case-matched population was conducted using the Kaplan-Meier method. The morbidity and mortality and learning curves were evaluated.
In the case-control study, the overall survival, disease-specific survival, and recurrence-free survival (median follow-up period, 70.8 months) were not statistically different at each cancer stage with the exception of an increased overall survival rate for patients with stage IA cancer treated via laparoscopy (laparoscopic group; 95.3%, open group: 90.3%; P < .001). After matching using a propensity scoring system, the overall survival, disease-specific survival, and recurrence-free survival rates were not statistically different at each stage. The morbidity of the case-matched group was 15.1% in the open group and 12.5% in the laparoscopic group, which also had no statistical significance (P = .184). The mortality rate was also not statistically significant (0.3% in the open group and 0.5% in the laparoscopic group; P = 1.000). The mean learning curve was 42.
The long-term oncologic outcomes of laparoscopic gastrectomy for patients with gastric cancer were comparable to those of open gastrectomy in a large-scale, multicenter, retrospective clinical study.
The aim of the study was to evaluate the short-term outcomes of KLASS-02-RCT, a multicenter randomized controlled trial comparing laparoscopic distal gastrectomy (LDG) with D2 lymphadenectomy with ...open distal gastrectomy (ODG).
Although several benefits of laparoscopic gastric cancer surgery have been reported, strong evidence is still limited, especially in locally advanced gastric cancer which requires extensive lymph node dissection.
Enrollment criteria included histologically confirmed cT2-4a and N0-1 gastric adenocarcinoma. Thirty-day morbidity, 90-day mortality, postoperative pain, and recovery were compared between LDG and ODG groups.
A total of 1050 patients were randomly assigned to LDG (n = 526) or ODG group (n = 524) between November 2011 and April 2015. After excluding patients who received bypass or no surgery, 1011 patients were analyzed as actual treatment group. Mean number of totally retrieved lymph nodes was similar in both groups (LDG = 46.6 vs ODG = 47.4, P = 0.451). Early morbidity rate was significantly lower after LDG (16.6%) than after ODG (24.1%; P = 0.003). Postoperative analgesics use and patients' reported pain score were significantly lower after LDG. First day of flatus was earlier after LDG (3.5 vs 3.7 d, P = 0.025) and postoperative hospital stay was shorter in LDG group (8.1 vs 9.3 d, P = 0.005). Ninety days' mortality rate was similar in both groups (LDG = 0.4% vs ODG = 0.6%, P = 0.682).
Laparoscopic distal gastrectomy with D2 lymphadenectomy for locally advanced gastric cancer shows benefits in terms of lower complication rate, faster recovery, and less pain compared with open surgery.
To determine the safety of laparoscopy-assisted distal gastrectomy (LADG) compared with open distal gastrectomy (ODG) in patients with clinical stage I gastric cancer in Korea.
There is still a lack ...of large-scale, multicenter randomized trials regarding the safety of LADG.
A large-scale, phase 3, multicenter, prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted. The primary end point was 5-year overall survival. Morbidity within 30 postoperative days and surgical mortality were compared to evaluate the safety of LADG as a secondary end point
: A total of 1416 patients were randomly assigned to the LADG group (n = 705) or the ODG group (n = 711) between February 1, 2006, and August 31, 2010, and 1384 patients were analyzed for modified intention-to-treat analysis (ITT) and 1256 were eligible for per protocol (PP) analysis (644 and 612, respectively). In the PP analysis, 6 patients (0.9%) needed open conversion in the LADG group. The overall complication rate was significantly lower in the LADG group (LADG vs ODG; 13.0% vs 19.9%, P = 0.001). In detail, the wound complication rate of the LADG group was significantly lower than that of the ODG group (3.1% vs 7.7%, P < 0.001). The major intra-abdominal complication (7.6% vs 10.3%, P = 0.095) and mortality rates (0.6% vs 0.3%, P = 0.687) were similar between the 2 groups. Modified ITT analysis showed similar results with PP analysis.
LADG for patients with clinical stage I gastric cancer is safe and has a benefit of lower occurrence of wound complication compared with conventional ODG.
The dissolution of a horizontal salt body is theoretically and numerically investigated by considering the coupled dynamics of the dissolution reaction and the diffusive and convective mass transfer ...at the salt surface. To take into account the nature of the recessing salt surface and the dissolution-driven convection, a dynamic moving boundary condition coupled with a dissolution reaction are employed By employing a newly derived moving interface condition and parameters, a theoretical analysis predicts the onset of gravitational instability, suggesting scaling relationships between parameters to describe the onset of instability (in transport-dominant (Damkholer number $Da \to \infty $ and Rayleigh number $Ra > {10^5}$), onset time ${\tau _d}\sim R{a^{ - 2/3}}$ and ${\tau _d}\sim (RaDa)^{1/4}$ for reaction-dominant regimes $(Da \to 0)$). The scaling relationships on dissolution (the average height change, $\Delta {h_{avg}}\sim \sqrt \tau $ for the diffusion-dominant regime and $\Delta {h_{avg}}\sim R{a^{0.79/3}}{\tau ^{0.86}}$ for the convection-dominant regime) are also suggested to explain the pattern formation. Under a convective mass transfer condition, the concentration gradient of the solute developed during the recession of the salt surface results in an adverse density gradient, which causes gravitational instability motion and finally determines the formation of a dissolution pattern. In addition, two-dimensional and three-dimensional numerical simulations visualize dissolution-driven convective flow fields, the recession of the liquid-solid interface and pattern formation on the dissolving interface. Theoretical and numerical analyses of the dissolution process suggest that the control of gravitational instability is important to prevent or enhance dissolution pattern formation. This systematic parameter study provides a deep understanding of the effect of gravitational instability on convection-driven dissolution in a horizontal geometry.
Despite the ongoing spread of MERS, there is limited knowledge of the factors affecting its severity and outcomes. We analyzed clinical data and specimens from fourteen MERS patients treated in a ...hospital who collectively represent a wide spectrum of disease severity, ranging from mild febrile illness to fatal pneumonia, and classified the patients into four groups based on severity and mortality. Comparative and kinetic analyses revealed that high viral loads, weak antibody responses, and lymphopenia accompanying thrombocytopenia were associated with disease mortality, whereas persistent and gradual increases in lymphocyte responses might be required for effective immunity against MERS-CoV infection. Leukocytosis, primarily due to increased neutrophils and monocytes, was generally observed in more severe and fatal cases. The blood levels of cytokines such as IL-10, IL-15, TGF-β, and EGF were either positively or negatively correlated with disease mortality. Robust induction of various chemokines with differential kinetics was more prominent in patients that recovered from pneumonia than in patients with mild febrile illness or deceased patients. The correlation of the virological and immunological responses with disease severity and mortality, as well as their responses to current antiviral therapy, may have prognostic significance during the early phase of MERS.
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