TP53, encoding p53, is one of the most famous tumor suppressor genes. The majority of human cancers demonstrate the inactivation of the p53 pathway. Mutant p53 not only, no longer, functions as a ...tumor suppressor but can also exert tumor-promoting effects. The basic function of p53 is to respond to cellular stress. We herein review the recent advances in p53 research and focus on apoptosis, cell cycle arrest, and senescence in response to stress. We also review the clinical applications of p53-based therapy for human cancer.
Purpose
This study aimed to compare short-term outcomes of minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) with those of open esophagectomy (OE) for thoracic esophageal cancer using a nationwide Japanese ...database.
Methods
Overall, 9584 patients with thoracic esophageal cancer who underwent esophagectomy at 864 hospitals in 2011–2012 were evaluated. We performed one-to-one matching between the MIE and OE groups on the basis of estimated propensity scores for each patient.
Results
After propensity score matching, operative time was significantly longer in the MIE group (
n
= 3515) than in the OE group (
n
= 3515) 526 ± 149 vs. 461 ± 156 min,
p
< 0.001, whereas blood loss was markedly less in the MIE group than in the OE group (442 ± 612l vs. 608 ± 591 ml,
p
< 0.001). The populations of patients who required more than 48 h of postoperative respiratory ventilation was significantly less in the MIE group than in the OE group (8.9 vs. 10.9%,
p
= 0.006); however, reoperation rate within 30 days was significantly higher in the MIE group than in the OE group (7.0 vs. 5.3%,
p
= 0.004). There were no significant differences between the MIE and OE groups in 30-day mortality rates (0.9 vs. 1.1%) and operative mortality rates (2.5 vs. 2.8%, respectively).
Conclusions
MIE was comparable with conventional OE in terms of short-term outcome after esophagectomy. It was particularly beneficial in reducing postoperative respiratory complications, but may be associated with higher reoperation rates.
Background
Esophageal cancer is the eighth most common cause of cancer mortality in Japan. More than 11,000 people had died from esophageal cancer in 2018. The Japan Esophageal Society has collected ...the data on patients' characteristics, performed treatment, and outcomes annually.
Methods
We analyzed the data of patients who had first visited the participating hospitals in 2013. In 2019, the data collection method was changed from an electronic submission to a web-based data collection using the National Clinical Database (NCD). Japanese Classification of Esophageal Cancer 10th by the Japan Esophageal Society (JES) and UICC TNM Classification 7th were used for cancer staging
Results
A total of 8019 cases were registered from 334 institutions in Japan. Squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma accounted for 87.8% and 6.3%, respectively. The 5-year survival rates of patients treated using endoscopic resection, concurrent chemoradiotherapy, radiotherapy alone, or esophagectomy were 88.3%, 32.4%, 24.4%, and 59.3%, respectively. Esophagectomy was performed in 4910 cases. The operative and the hospital mortality rates were 0.77% and 1.98%, respectively. The survival curves showed a good discriminatory ability both in the clinical and pathologic stages by the JES system. The 5-year survival rate of patients with pStage IV in the UICC classification that included patients with supraclavicular node metastasis was better than that of patients with pStage IVb in JES classification.
Conclusion
We hope this report contributes to improving all aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal cancer in Japan.
In Japan, the treatment of esophageal cancer has undergone significant development since the Japanese Society for Esophageal Diseases was established in 1965 by Doctors Komei Nakayama, Shigetsugu ...Katsura, and Ichiro Akakura. When the Society was established, surgery was the first‐line treatment for esophageal cancer. Since then, the Society has been led by three successive chairpersons—Doctors Katsura, Nakayama, and Satoh. Over this time, surgery‐related mortalities declined to 5%‐6% because of the rapid improvements in surgical technique. Beginning in 1980, the bilateral cervical lymph node dissection technique gained attention, and favorable long‐term outcomes were gradually reported. A nationwide questionnaire survey, conducted by the Society in 1990, showed that more favorable long‐term outcomes were achieved by following the three‐field lymph node dissection technique than by following the two‐field lymph node dissection technique. Since then, the three‐field lymph node dissection technique has been recognized and widely used as the standard surgical procedure for treating esophageal cancer. After clinical studies examined the utility of various pre‐ and postoperative adjunctive therapies in outcome improvements, preoperative chemotherapy was recognized as the standard treatment in the therapy guidelines. Additionally, less invasive surgical methods have been developed, including endoscopic and robot‐assisted surgeries, which are applied in general practice now. However, unresectable and recurrent esophageal cancers remain difficult to treat, and additional treatments should be developed.
We aimed to elucidate whether minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE) can be safely performed by reviewing the Japanese National Clinical Database.
MIE is being increasingly adopted, even for advanced ...esophageal cancer that requires various preoperative treatments. However, the superiority of MIE's short-term outcomes compared with those of open esophagectomy (OE) has not been definitively established in general clinical practice.
This study included 24,233 esophagectomies for esophageal cancer conducted between 2012 and 2016. Esophagectomy for clinical T4 and M1 stages, urgent esophagectomy, 2-stage esophagectomy, and R2 resection were excluded. The effects of preoperative treatment and surgery on short-term outcomes were analyzed using generalized estimating equations logistic regression analysis.
MIE was superior or equivalent to OE in terms of the incidence of most postoperative morbidities and surgery-related mortality, regardless of the type of preoperative treatment. Notably, MIE performed with no preoperative treatment was associated with significantly less incidence of any pulmonary morbidities, prolonged ventilation ≥48 hours, unplanned intubation, surgical site infection, and sepsis. However, reoperation within 30 days in patients with no preoperative treatment was frequently observed after MIE. The total surgery-related mortality rates of MIE and OE were 1.7% and 2.4%, respectively (P < 0.001). Increasing age, low preoperative activities of daily living, American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status ≥3, diabetes mellitus requiring insulin use, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, congestive heart failure, creatinine ≥1.2 mg/dL, and lower hospital case volume were identified as independent risk factors for surgery-related mortality.
The results suggest that MIE can replace OE in various situations from the perspective of short-term outcome.
Background
The registration committee for esophageal cancer in the Japan Esophageal Society (JES) has collected the patients' characteristics, treatment, and outcomes annually.
Methods
We analyzed ...the data of patients who had visited the participating hospitals in 2014. We collected the data with a web-based data collection system using the National Clinical Database. We used the Japanese Classification of Esophageal Cancer 10th edition by JES and the TNM classification 7th edition by the Union of International Cancer Control (UICC) for cancer staging.
Results
A total of 9026 cases were registered from 344 institutions in Japan. Squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma accounted for 87.9% and 7.1%, respectively. The 5-year survival rates of patients treated using endoscopic resection, concurrent chemoradiotherapy, radiotherapy alone, and esophagectomy were 87.1%, 33.7%, 25.3%, and 59.3%, respectively. Esophagectomy was performed in 5204 cases. Concerning the approach used for esophagectomy, 48.1% of the cases were treated thoracoscopically. The operative mortality (within 30 days after surgery) was 0.75%, and the hospital mortality was 2.0%. The survival curves showed an excellent discriminatory ability both in the clinical and pathologic stages by the JES system. The survival of pStage IV was better than IIIC in the UICC system, because pStage IV included the patients with supraclavicular lymph-node metastasis (M1 LYM).
Conclusion
We hope that this report contributes to improving all aspects of diagnosing and treating esophageal cancer in Japan.
The revision of the TNM Classification of Malignant Tumors, 7th Edition, suggests the lymph node (LN) status to be the most significant risk factor in esophageal cancer. This article reviews the ...current status of LNs as indicators of prognosis. The significance of the number of metastatic LNs, the number of resected LNs, and a novel index, the “LN ratio” (metastatic LNs/removed LNs) in patients with esophageal cancer, were reviewed. The number of metastatic LNs independently predicted the prognosis of both overall survival and relapse-free survival. The number of positive LNs was also the best predictive marker of survival. Furthermore, overall survival significantly depended on the number of surgically removed LNs, and the LN ratio closely correlated with survival. The LN status is considered to be the most significant information that can be used to predict the prognosis. However, there are many issues that still need to be resolved. Better knowledge of the N-status is therefore needed to effectively utilize this information. Further research should focus on the N-status of patients with esophageal cancer.