Prognostic Significance of Preoperative Serum Carcinoembryonic Antigen Varies with Lymph Node Metastasis Status in Colorectal Cancer

Background. Preoperative serum level of carcinoembryonic antigen (pCEA) is generally recognized as a prognostic factor for colorectal cancer (CRC), but the stage-specific role of pCEA in colorectal cancer remains unclear. Objective. We investigated the prognostic significance of pCEA levels in different tumor stages of nonmetastatic CRC patients. Methods. Six hundred and fifteen CRC patients at stage I–III were retrospectively analyzed. All of them received curative tumor resection. The X-tile program was used to generate stage-specific cutoff values of pCEA for all patients and two subpopulations (lymph node-positive or -negative). The prognostic significance of pCEA was assessed using Kaplan–Meier analysis and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. A nomogram model that combined pCEA score and clinical feature indexes was established and evaluated. Results. Two cutoff values were identified in the study population. At a cutoff value of 4.9 ng/mL, a significantly higher 5-year overall survival (OS) rate (82.16%) was observed in the pCEA-low group (<4.9 ng/mL) compared with 65.52% in the pCEA-high group (≥4.9 ng/mL). Furthermore, at the second cutoff value of 27.2 ng/mL, 5-year OS was found to be only 40.9%. Stratification analysis revealed that preoperative serum level of pCEA was an independent prognostic factor (OR = 1.991, P < 0.01 ) in the subpopulation of lymph node metastasis (stage III) patients, and the relative survival rates in the pCEA-low (≤4.9 ng/mL), pCEA-medium (4.9–27.2 ng/mL), and pCEA-high (≥27.2 ng/mL) groups were 73.4%, 60.5%, and 24.8%, respectively ( P < 0.05 ). However, no such effect was observed in the lymph node nonmetastasis (stage I and II) subgroup. The established nomogram showed acceptable predictive power of the 5-year OS rate (C-index: 0.612) in lymph node-positive CRC patients, with an area under the curve value of 0.772, as assessed by ROC curve analysis. Conclusions. Pretreatment serum CEA levels had different prognostic significance based on the lymph node metastasis status. Among stage III CRC patients, pCEA was an independent prognostic factor. Five-year OS rates could be predicted according to the individual pCEA level at the different cutoff values.

EP.TH.335Through the Lens of a Pandemic: The Impact of COVID-19 on Breast Cancer

Aims On March 11th 2020 the UN accorded COVID-19 pandemic status. On March 15th, the Association of Breast Surgery released guidelines in light of the pandemic. Eight days later the UK government announced the first lockdown. GP referrals fell in April/May. The aim of this study is to review how COVID-19 affected breast cancer management. Methods This is a retrospective analysis of patients diagnosed with breast cancer attending their initial appointment between March 16th to September 18th (pandemic phase) and 1st January to 15th March(pre-pandemic). Primary outcomes were pandemic-related modification of treatment plans, and diagnosis of COVID-19 or related complications. Secondary outcomes were delay in presentation or advanced disease. B-Map-C and the CovidSurg Collaborative were used as Gold Standards. Results 39 patients were in the pandemic phase and 45 in the pre-pandemic. 3/39(7.69%) and 14/45(31%) had surgery delayed. There were no COVID diagnoses. In-situ cancers were held on a deferred list until local guidelines changed. 2 patients had interim endocrine therapy. 9/39 underwent chemotherapy, of which 4 were neoadjuvant. 2/39 patients presented late to their GP, of which one had widespread metastases. 9/39(23.08%) were lymph node positive. In the pre-pandemic group, 6/45(13.3%) were lymph node positive, 2/45(4.4%) had distant metastases. Conclusions This study shows that breast surgery can be safely carried out during this pandemic and treatment postponement should be avoided as the pandemic continues. It remains to be seen if delayed treatments during 2020 will impact on local relapse and overall survival rates.

Clinical outcomes of salvage treatment in lymph node-positive prostate cancer patients after radical prostatectomy

Introduction The optimal salvage treatment strategies for lymph node-positive (LNP) patients after radical surgery have not been clearly defined in prostate cancer with biochemical recurrence or persistence of elevated prostate-specific antigen (PSA). In this study, we compared the clinical outcomes of two different salvage treatments, androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) alone versus ADT with radiotherapy (RT). We also investigated prognostic factors that could support the use of ADT with RT in LNP prostate cancer. Materials and methods We retrospectively reviewed 94 LNP prostate cancer patients who underwent radical prostatectomy (RP) followed by salvage treatment between 2004 and 2018. Salvage treatments involved either ADT alone or ADT with RT according to the clinical judgment of the physician. We analyzed clinicopathological and treatment factors related to 2nd biochemical failure (2nd BCF), clinical progression (CP), and progression-free survival (PFS). The cumulative failure after salvage treatment was defined as including both 2nd BCF and CP. Results The median duration of follow-up was 55 months (interquartile range, 35–97 months). Thirty-seven (39.4%) patients were treated with ADT alone, and 57 patients (60.6%) were treated with a combination of ADT with RT. During follow-up period, the incidence of failure after salvage treatment in the ADT alone group and the combined treatment group was 89.2% and 45.6%, respectively (HR, 22.4; 95% CI 5.43–92.1; P < 0.001). The combination of ADT with RT was associated with better 2nd BCF and PFS than ADT alone (P = 0.007 and P = 0.015, respectively). In multivariate analyses, number of positive LN ≥ 2 and PSA nadir ≥ 0.005 ng/ml after RP were associated with poor 2nd BCF, CP, and PFS after salvage treatment. Salvage by combined ADT plus RT showed better 2nd BCF and PFS than ADT alone. Specifically, patients with number of positive LN ≥ 2 or PSA nadir ≥ 0.005 ng/ml after RP showed better 2nd BCF (P = 0.004) or PFS (P = 0.011) when treated with ADT plus RT rather than ADT alone. Conclusions In patients with LNP prostate cancer, salvage ADT plus RT improved 2nd BCF and PFS compared to ADT alone. In particular, when the patients had more than two positive lymph nodes or PSA nadir ≥ 0.005 ng/ml after RP, ADT with RT seems to be a more beneficial salvage treatment resulting in better 2nd BCF and PFS.