Pattern of Nutritional status in Node Negative versus Node Positive Head and Neck Cancer patients undergoing treatment - a prospective cohort study

Purpose The aim of this study was to study the nutritional profile of node negative and node positive patients undergoing treatment for head and neck squamous cell cancer (HNSCC). Methods This prospective cohort study was conducted between 2018 and 2020. Patients diagnosed with HNSCC, planned for treatment were enrolled after written informed consent. In Node negative(N0) and Node positive(N+) cohorts of patients, nutritional status was determined using- anthropometric measures and Subjective Global Assessment (SGA) scale pre-treatment, during and after treatment. Statistical analysis was performed using SPSS version 22. Data was analyzed using parametric and non-parametric tests, p value of 0.05 was considered significant. Results 161 patients were analyses, 73 N0 and 88 N+ cohorts. Pre-treatment, 9.6 to 20.4% patients in N0 and 23.9 to 32.8% patients in N+ cohorts were malnourished. Incidence of malnutrition at completion of treatment was 40.8–52.5% overall, 20.5–41.1% N0, 39.5–62.8% N+. Mean reduction in weight (11.1% ±7.82 v/s 6.26% ±8.3, p=0.000), mean reduction in BMI (2.57 ±1.87 v/s 1.29 ±1.62, p=0.000), median reduction in MUAC (2cm v/s 1cm, p=0.000) and median increase in SGA score were higher (13 v/s 6, p=0.000) in multi-modality as compared to single modality treatment. Similar findings were noted in N0 and N+ cohorts. Conclusion As compared to N0, N+ patients had higher burden of malnutrition at diagnosis, more worsening of nutritional parameters during treatment. More decline in Nutritional status was seen in patients receiving multi-modality as compared to single modality treatment.

D-dimer as a safe, convenient and easily available biomarker, when combined with conventional sentinel node biopsy in clinically node negative breast cancer to assess metastatic disease in axilla and reduce false negative results

Background: Breast cancer is frequently associated with activation of the hemostatic system and the extent of this activation correlates with a more advanced tumor stage. D-dimer is a biomarker that indicates the activation of hemostasis and fibrinolysis.Methods: This is a prospective, observational, analytical study in which we compare plasma D-dimer levels among three groups’ i.e., healthy subjects, benign patients and breast cancer patients. We have also evaluated plasma D-dimer levels in patients with lymphadenopathy and in those patients who did not have palpable lymph nodes. Plasma D-dimer levels were further characterized based on TNM classification in breast cancer patients where quantitative D-dimer levels were correlated with clinical stage grouping.Results: Through our study we have observed that D-dimer level is inexpensive and a convenient method for diagnosis and prognosis of breast cancer. We have used a control group so as to evaluate a more accurate result. Comparison between benign and malignant lesions was made and we have achieved a significant p value, which proved our study positive for raised D-dimer levels in cancer breast.Conclusions: D-dimer proves to be a safe, convenient and easily available biomarker which can be combined with conventional sentinel node biopsy in clinically node negative breast cancer to assess metastatic disease in axilla and reduce false negative results. Plasma D-dimer level was positively correlated with clinical stage of solid cancers.

Perineural Invasion is an Indication of Adjuvant Chemotherapy in Node Negative Colorectal cancer

Review question / Objective: Perineural invasion (PNI) is a possible route for metastatic spread in various cancer types, including colorectal cancer (CRC). PNI is linked to poor prognosis. For patients with lymph node positive colorectal cancer, a number of large-scale RCT studies have confirmed that they can benefit from chemotherapy, but there are still many controversies about whether colorectal patients with negative lymph nodes need adjuvant chemotherapy. At present, there is a general consensus that patients with stage II colorectal cancer who have risk factors such as PNI+ need chemotherapy. However, there are many recent literatures that show that patients with stage II colorectal cancer with nerve invasion risk factors can not prolong the OS and DFS of patients. At the same time, chemotherapy increases the toxicity, economic and mental burden of patients. Therefore, we hope to write this review to summarize the current research findings and provide some clinical guidance on whether patients with lymph node negative colon cancer who have perineural invasion should receive chemotherapy. Condition being studied: Patients with high-risk such as PNI+ stage II colon cancer (CC) are recommended to undergo adjuvant chemotherapy (ACT). However, whether such patients can benefit from ACT remains unclear. And recently studies shown that, ACT had no significant benefit among patients with PNI.

Lymphatic invasion is a prognostic factor of pathological N0 esophageal squamous cell carcinoma

Summary Adjuvant treatment after upfront esophagectomy for esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is indicated only for patients with lymph node metastasis in Japan. However, the recurrence rate after curative resection is high even for node-negative patients; thus, understanding the prognostic factors for patients with node-negative ESCC, which still remains unidentified, is important. Here, we aimed to reveal the prognostic factors for the long-term outcomes of patients with node-negative ESCC. Moreover, we compared the long-term outcomes among high-risk node-negative and node-positive patients. This single-institution retrospective study included 103 patients with pT1b-3N0 ESCC who underwent upfront surgery to identify the population at a high risk of recurrence. To compare overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) between high-risk node-negative and node-positive patients, 51 node-positive ESCC patients with pStage IIIA or less who had undergone upfront surgery were also included. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed using the Cox proportional hazard regression model. OS and RFS were compared using the log-rank test. Only lymphatic invasion (Ly+) was associated with worse 3-year OS (hazard ratio, 8.63; 95% confidence interval, 2.09–35.69; P = 0.0029) and RFS (hazard ratio, 4.87; 95% confidence interval, 1.69–14.02; P = 0.0034). The node-negative and Ly+ patients showed significantly worse OS (P = 0.0242) and RFS (P = 0.0114) than the node-positive patients who underwent chemotherapy. Ly+ is the only independent prognostic factor in patients with node-negative ESCC. Patients with node-negative and Ly+ ESCC may benefit from adjuvant treatment.

Prognostic Value of 18F-FDG PET/CT Volume-Based Metabolic Parameters in Patients with Node-Negative Stage II Esophageal Squamous Cell Carcinoma

Esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) is a major cancer prevalent in Asian males. Pretreatment tumor burden can be prognostic for ESCC. We studied the prognostic value of metabolic parameters of 2-deoxy-2-[18F] fluoro-D-glucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT) and the serum squamous cell carcinoma antigen (SCC-Ag) level in node-negative stage II ESCC patients. Eighteen males underwent staging evaluation were included. The volume-based metabolic parameters derived from 18F-FDG PET/CT, including metabolic tumor volume (MTV) and total lesion glycolysis (TLG), were obtained using the PET Volume Computer Assisted Reading application. The Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated to assess the relationship between metabolic parameters and pretreatment serum SCC-Ag levels. Based on the 5-year follow-up, patients were sub-divided into the demised and the stable groups. Potential prognostic value was assessed by independent t-test and the Mann–Whitney U test. The association of overall survival was assessed using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses. The demised group showed significant higher values in serum SCC-Ag, as well as in MTV and TLG, but not SUVmax and SUVmean. The SUVmax, MTV, TLG, and serum SCC-Ag showed significant association with overall survival. Our findings suggest potential usage of pretreatment volume-based metabolic parameters of 18F-FDG PET/CT and serum SCC-Ag as prognostic factors for node-negative stage II ESCC patients.