Chinese medical journal
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Chinese medical journal · Sep 2021
Correlation of circulating tumor DNA EGFR mutation levels with clinical outcomes in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma.
Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) is a promising biomarker for non-invasive epidermal growth factor receptor mutations (EGFRm) detection in lung cancer patients, but existing methods have limitations in sensitivity and availability. In this study, we used the ΔCt value (mutant cycle threshold [Ct] value-internal control Ct value) generated during the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay to convert super-amplification-refractory mutation system (superARMS) from a qualitative method to a semi-quantitative method named reformed-superARMS (R-superARMS), and evaluated its performance in detecting EGFRm in plasma ctDNA in patients with advanced lung adenocarcinoma. ⋯ Detecting EGFRm in ctDNA using R-superARMS can identify patients who are more likely sensitive to targeted therapy, reflect the molecular load of patients, and predict the therapeutic efficacy and clinical outcomes of patients.
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Chinese medical journal · Sep 2021
Meta AnalysisRegional anesthesia and cancer recurrence in patients with late-stage cancer: a systematic review and meta-analysis.
Whether regional anesthesia may help to prevent disease recurrence in cancer patients is still controversial. The stage of cancer at the time of diagnosis is a key factor that defines prognosis and is one of the most important sources of heterogeneity for the treatment effect. We sought to update existing systematic reviews and clarify the effect of regional anesthesia on cancer recurrence in late-stage cancer patients. ⋯ RCTs reveal that OS and RFS were similar between regional and general anesthesia in late-stage cancers. The selection of anesthetic methods should still be based on clinical evaluation, and changes to current practice need more support from large, well-powered, and well-designed studies.
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Chinese medical journal · Sep 2021
ReviewTranscatheter arterial chemoembolization followed by surgical resection for hepatocellular carcinoma: a focus on its controversies and screening of patients most likely to benefit.
Surgical resection (SR) is recommended as a radical procedure in the treatment of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, postoperative recurrence negatively affects the long-term efficacy of SR, and preoperative adjuvant therapy has therefore become a research hotspot. Some clinicians adopt transcatheter arterial chemoembolization (TACE) as a preoperative adjuvant therapy in patients undergoing SR to increase the resection rate, reduce tumor recurrence, and improve the prognosis. ⋯ Some studies have confirmed that preoperative TACE cannot improve the long-term survival rate of patients with HCC and might even negatively affect the resection rate. Which factors influence the efficacy of preoperative TACE combined with SR is a topic worthy of investigation. In this review, existing clinical studies were analyzed with a particular focus on several topics: screening of the subgroups of patients most likely to benefit from preoperative TACE, exploration of the optimal treatment regimen of preoperative TACE, and determination of the extent of tumor necrosis as the deciding prognostic factor.