•Treatment outcomes of 3328 NPC patient treated with IMRT in Hong Kong.•8 year local/regional control remained promising.•Confirmed benefits of concurrent chemotherapy with IMRT.•Additional ...chemotherapy onto backbone of concurrent chemo-irradiation warrants further investigation.•Various severe symptomatic complications after IMRT remained low.
To evaluate treatment outcomes, failure patterns and late toxicities in patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) treated by intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) in 6 public hospitals in Hong Kong over a 10-year period from 2001 to 2010.
Eligible patients were identified through the Hong Kong Cancer Registry data base. Clinical information was retrieved and verified by oncologists working in the individual centers. Treatment details, survival outcomes and late toxicities were analyzed.
A total of 3328 patients were recruited. The median follow-up time was 80.2 months. The 8-year actuarial overall survival (OS), local failure-free survival (LFFS), regional failure-free survival (RFFS), distant failure free survival (DFFS), progression-free survival (PFS) for the whole group was 68.5%, 85.8%, 91.5%, 81.5% and 62.6% respectively. Male gender, older age, advanced T and N stage were adverse prognostic factors for OS, DFFS and PFS, whereas use of chemotherapy in form of concurrent chemo-irradiation (CRT), neoadjuvant + CRT, or CRT + adjuvant chemotherapy were favorable prognostic factors for OS and PFS. The local control was adversely affected by advanced T stage. N stage remained as the single adverse prognostic factor for regional control. Distant metastasis was the commonest site of failure.
IMRT is an effective treatment for NPC with excellent overall loco-regional control. Distant metastasis is the major site of failure. Concurrent chemotherapy with cisplatin has an established role in NPC patients treated by IMRT.
A common imaging finding in brain abscess and necrotic glioblastoma is a T2 hypointense margin. The features of this hypointense rim on SWI have not been previously described, to our knowledge. We ...aimed to differentiate abscesses from glioblastomas by assessing the morphology of their lesion margin by using SWI.
T2WI and SWI were performed in 12 abscesses and 20 rim-enhancing glioblastomas. On T2WI and SWI, the prevalence and the border types (complete versus incomplete) of hypointense rims were qualitatively assessed. On SWI, the contour (smooth versus irregular) and the location of hypointense rims relative to the contrast-enhancing rims as well as the prevalence of the "dual rim sign," defined as 2 concentric rims at lesion margins with the outer one being hypointense and the inner one hyperintense relative to cavity contents, were also analyzed.
Prevalence and the border types of the hypointense rims on T2WI were not different between abscesses and glioblastomas. On SWI, there were significantly more hypointense rims that were complete (P < .001) and smooth (P < .001), having the same location as the contrast-enhancing rims (P < .001) for abscesses. A dual rim sign was present in 9 of 12 abscesses but absent in all glioblastomas (P < .001).
SWI may be helpful in differentiating pyogenic abscesses from necrotic glioblastomas. The dual rim sign is the most specific imaging feature distinguishing the 2.
Contrast leakage results in underestimation of the CBV of brain tumors. Our aim was to compare the diagnostic performance of DSC perfusion MR imaging without and with mathematic contrast-leakage ...correction in differentiating PCNSLs and glioblastomas.
Perfusion parameters-CBV, corrected CBV, and leakage coefficient-were measured in enhancing tumor portions and contralateral NAWM of 15 PCNSLs and 20 glioblastomas, respectively. The ratios of CBV and corrected CBV were calculated by dividing the tumor values by those obtained from contralateral NAWM. A paired t test was used to compare tumor K2 and NAWM K2, as well as tumor CBV ratios without and with leakage correction. Comparisons of CBV, corrected CBV, and K2 between PCNSLs and glioblastomas were done by using a 2-sample t test. The diagnostic performance of DSC perfusion MR imaging without and with contrast-leakage correction was assessed with receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.
PCNSLs and glioblastomas demonstrated higher K2 than those in their contralateral NAWM. Corrected CBV ratios were significantly higher than the uncorrected ones for both tumors. PCNSLs had lower CBV ratios (P < .001), lower corrected CBV ratios (P < .001), and higher K2 (P = .001) compared with glioblastomas. In differentiating between PCNSLs and glioblastomas, the area under the curve of the CBV ratio, corrected CBV ratio, and K2 were 0.984, 0.940, and 0.788, respectively.
PCNSL can be differentiated from glioblastoma with CBV ratios, corrected CBV ratios, and K2. CBV without contrast-leakage correction seems to have the best diagnostic performance in differentiating the 2 tumors.
Differentiating between primary cerebral lymphoma and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) based on conventional MR imaging sequences may be impossible. Our hypothesis was that there are significant ...differences in fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) between lymphoma and GBM, which will allow for differentiation between them.
Preoperative diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was performed in 10 patients with lymphoma and 10 patients with GBM. Regions of interest were placed in only solid-enhancing tumor areas and the contralateral normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) to measure the FA and ADC values. The differences in FA and ADC between lymphoma and GBM, as well as between solid-enhancing areas of each tumor type and contralateral NAWM, were analyzed statistically. Cutoff values of FA, FA ratio, ADC, and ADC ratio for distinguishing lymphomas from GBMs were determined by receiver operating characteristic curve analysis.
FA and ADC values of lymphoma were significantly decreased compared with NAWM. Mean FA, FA ratio, ADC (x10(-3) mm(2)/s), and ADC ratios were 0.140 +/- 0.024, 0.25 +/- 0.04, 0.630 +/- 0.155, and 0.83 +/- 0.14 for lymphoma, respectively, and 0.229 +/- 0.069, 0.40 +/- 0.12, 0.963 +/- 0.119, and 1.26 +/- 0.13 for GBM, respectively. All of the values were significantly different between lymphomas and GBM. Cutoff values to differentiate lymphomas from GBM were 0.192 for FA, 0.33 for FA ratio, 0.818 for ADC, and 1.06 for ADC ratio.
The FA and ADC of primary cerebral lymphoma were significantly lower than those of GBM. DTI is able to differentiate lymphomas from GBM.
Breast cancer survivors (BCSs) often have potential unmet needs. Identification of the specific needs of BCSs is very significant for medical service provision. This study aimed to (1) investigate ...the unmet needs and quality of life (QoL) of BCSs in China, (2) explore the diverse factors associated with their unmet needs, and (3) assess the association between their unmet needs and QoL.
A multicentre, cross-sectional survey was administered to 1210 Chinese BCSs. The Cancer Survivor Profile-Breast Cancer and the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Breast scale were administered to survivors who gave informed consent to participate. Data were analysed using t-test, ANOVA, multiple regression analysis, and Pearson correlations.
The 1192 participants completed questionnaires (response rate 98.51%). Our study reveals that the most prevalent unmet needs were in the 'symptom burden domain'. The unmet needs of BCSs depend on eleven factors; age, time since diagnosis, education level, occupation, payment, family income status, stage of cancer, treatment, family history of cancer, pain, and physical activities. To ensure the provision of high-quality survivorship care and a high satisfaction level, more attention should be paid to actively identifying and addressing the unmet needs of BCSs. The problem areas identified in the Cancer Survivor Profile for breast cancer were negatively associated with all subscales of QoL except the health behaviour domain, with the correlation coefficient ranging from - 0.815 to - 0.011.
Chinese BCSs exhibit a high demand for unmet needs in this study, and the most prevalent unmet needs were in the 'symptom burden domain'. There was a significant association between patients' unmet needs (as defined in the Cancer Survivor Profile for breast cancer) and QoL. Future research should focus on enhancements to survivorship or follow-up care to address unmet needs and further improve QoL.
Abstract
Cancer is a collection of genetic diseases, with large phenotypic differences and genetic heterogeneity between different types of cancers and even within the same cancer type. Recent ...advances in genome-wide profiling provide an opportunity to investigate global molecular changes during the development and progression of cancer. Meanwhile, numerous statistical and machine learning algorithms have been designed for the processing and interpretation of high-throughput molecular data. Molecular subtyping studies have allowed the allocation of cancer into homogeneous groups that are considered to harbor similar molecular and clinical characteristics. Furthermore, this has helped researchers to identify both actionable targets for drug design as well as biomarkers for response prediction. In this review, we introduce five frequently applied techniques for generating molecular data, which are microarray, RNA sequencing, quantitative polymerase chain reaction, NanoString and tissue microarray. Commonly used molecular data for cancer subtyping and clinical applications are discussed. Next, we summarize a workflow for molecular subtyping of cancer, including data preprocessing, cluster analysis, supervised classification and subtype characterizations. Finally, we identify and describe four major challenges in the molecular subtyping of cancer that may preclude clinical implementation. We suggest that standardized methods should be established to help identify intrinsic subgroup signatures and build robust classifiers that pave the way toward stratified treatment of cancer patients.
Nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) is an endemic malignancy in Southeast Asia, particularly Southern China. The classical non-keratinising cell type is almost unanimously associated with latent ...Epstein–Barr virus (EBV) infection. Circulating plasma EBV DNA can be a useful biomarker in various clinical aspects, but comprehensive recommendations and international guidelines are still lacking. We conducted a systematic review of all original articles on the clinical application of plasma EBV DNA for NPC; we further evaluated its strengths and limitations for consideration as standard recommendations.
The search terms ‘nasopharyngeal OR nasopharynx’, and ‘plasma EBV DNA OR cell-free EBV OR cfEBV’ were used to identify full-length articles published up to December 2020 in the English literature. Three authors independently reviewed the article titles, removed duplicates and reviewed the remaining articles for eligibility.
A total of 81 articles met the eligibility criteria. Based on the levels of evidence and grades of recommendation assessed, it is worth considering the inclusion of plasma EBV DNA in screening, pre-treatment work-up for enhancing prognostication and tailoring of treatment strategy, monitoring during radical treatment, post-treatment surveillance for early detection of relapse, and monitoring during salvage treatment for recurrent or metastatic NPC. One major limitation is the methodology of measurement requiring harmonisation for consistent comparability.
The current comprehensive review supports the inclusion of plasma EBV DNA in international guidelines in the clinical aspects listed, but methodological issues must be resolved before global application.
•Plasma Epstein–Barr virus DNA has been the most reliable and accurate marker in nasopharyngeal carcinoma management.•We provide evidence-based recommendations on its use in various clinical settings.•We support its inclusion in international guidelines in the aspects listed.•Limitations and methodological issues must be resolved before its global application.
PDF
