Shumo Cai

The prognosis of women with stage IB1-IIB node-positive cervical carcinoma after radical surgery.

BackgroundPelvic lymph nodes metastasis is an important prognostic factor for patients with cervical carcinoma. However, the relationships between the number of positive nodes, site of metastases nodes, adjuvant therapy and the prognosis is controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of positive lymph nodes on the prognosis of Chinese women with stage IB1-IIB cervical carcinoma.Patients and methodsBetween January 1992 and December 1997, 398 women with International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) stage IB1-IIB cervical carcinoma underwent radical surgery in Cancer Hospital, Fudan University. Of these sixty-six patients (16.6%) who were histologically confirmed to have positive pelvic lymph nodes were analyzed retrospectively. The survival was estimated using Kaplan-Meier method. The differences in survival were compared with Log-rank test. Multivariate analyses were performed with the Cox proportional hazard model.ResultsThe 5-year survival of the patients with pelvic lymph nodes metastases was 40.7%. Cox proportional hazard model analysis showed that cellular differentiation, the number of positive nodes and adjuvant therapy to be the independent prognostic factors (P < 0.05). The 5-year survival of patients with one positive node was higher than that of those with two or more positive nodes (56.5% vs. 36.4%, P < 0.05). The distant metastasis rate in the former group (5.9%) was lower than the latters (32.7%) (P = 0.05). However, there was no significant difference of pelvic recurrence between the two groups (P > 0.05). The number of positive nodes positively correlated with the level of positive nodes (P < 0.01). The 5-year survival of the patients who had no adjuvant therapy (12.6%) was much lower than that (53.7%) of those with adjuvant therapy (P < 0.05). However, there was no obvious difference between adjuvant radiotherapy, chemotherapy and chemo-radiotherapy (P > 0.05).ConclusionsThe prognosis of patients with stage IB1-IIB node-positive cervical carcinoma who underwent radical surgery alone was very poor. Adjuvant therapy increases the survival rate, decreases the pelvic recurrence and distant metastasis.

Recurrence patterns and prognostic factors in chinese patients with squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva treated with primary surgery

The purpose of this study was to identify the prognostic factors for disease-free survival (DFS) and recurrence patterns in Chinese women with squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva treated with primary surgery. From 1980 through 2002, 100 patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva treated with primary surgery were included in this retrospective study. Survival analyses included the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox proportional hazards model. The 5- and 10-year DFS rates were 66.5% and 45.2%, respectively. Among all the tumor-related variables age, International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stage, lymphovascular space invasion, and lymph node status were found to be significant predictors of DFS for the univariate analysis. Multivariate analysis proved that age (risk ratio, 6.572; 95% confidence interval, 1.759-24.546) and lymph nodes metastasis (risk ratio, 4.178; 95% confidence interval, 1.358-12.855) were the most significant prognostic factors of DFS (P < 0.05). The overall recurrence rate was 34.0% (34/100). Among the patients with recurrences, the locations of the recurrent disease were as follows: local recurrence in 20 (58.8%), groin recurrence in 2 (5.9%), local and groin in 1 (2.9%), distant metastases in 5 (14.7%), and local recurrence and distant metastases in 5 (14.7%); data were missing for 1 (2.9%) patients. Older age and lymph nodes metastases were the independent predictors of poor prognosis for patients with invasive squamous cell carcinoma of the vulva treated with primary surgery. Local recurrence was the main recurrence pattern after primary surgery which would be improved by multidisciplinary treatment.

A prospective randomized controlled study on multiple neoadjuvant treatments for patients with stage IB2 to IIA cervical cancer.

Objective Patients with stage IB2 to IIA cervical cancer have a poor survival regardless of what primary treatment is performed. We conducted a study to demonstrate whether neoadjuvant treatment could offer survival benefits to those patients. Methods Between January 2006 and December 2009, 123 patients with stage IB2 to IIA cervical cancer were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive 1 of the following 4 treatments: radical surgery alone (arm RS), brachytherapy with a total dose of 15Gy to point A followed by radical surgery (arm BT), intravenous chemotherapy with cisplatin 50 mg/m2 plus 5-fluorouracil 750 mg/m2 at a 2-week interval for 2 courses followed by radical surgery (arm IVCT), or intra-arterial chemotherapy with the same regimen as the IVCT arm followed by radical surgery (arm IACT). Two weeks after neoadjuvant treatment, all patients underwent evaluation for response and operability. Those who were not amenable to surgery received concurrent chemoradiotherapy. Results With a mean follow-up of 34.8 months, 120 patients were evaluable. Baseline characteristics were similarly distributed in the 4 arms. Clinical overall response rates were 61.3%, 42.9%, and 79.3% in the BT, IVCT, and IACT groups, respectively. Two patients achieved pathological complete response. Three-year progression-free survival rates were 70.7%, 66.3%, 81.5%, and 79.7% in the RS, BT, IVCT, and IACT arms, respectively (P = 0.354). Three-year overall survival was 73.3%, 68.3%, 82.9% and 80.4%, respectively (P = 0.431). Multivariate analysis showed that only lymph node status correlated with progression-free survival. Conclusions Neoadjuvant treatment had no significant impact on the outcomes of patients with stage IB2 to IIA cervical cancer.

The role of secondary cytoreductive surgery for recurrent mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer (mEOC)

BACKGROUND Mucinous epithelial ovarian cancer (mEOC) may exhibit a distinct biological behavior in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC). The role of secondary cytoreductive surgery was evaluated in patients with recurrent mEOC, and the prognosis was assessed. METHODS Twenty-one patients with stages IIc to IV mEOC who experienced disease recurrence and received secondary cytoreductive surgery at Fudan University Cancer Hospital between Jan. 1997 and Dec. 2005 were retrospectively reviewed. Survival curves were generated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the significant comparison of survival rate was estimated by the log-rank test. RESULTS The median progression-free interval (PFI) was 14 months (range, 5-46 months) after the first cytoreduction. Seven patients (33%) who received secondary cytoreductive surgery were optimally cytoreduced with residual disease less than or equal 1cm, and the other 14 patients (67%) underwent suboptimal surgical cytoreduction. The overall median survival time was 27 months (range, 8-64 months). The median survival time after recurrence was 10 months (range, 3-32 months). There was no significant statistical difference in median survival between patients with optimal and suboptimal secondary surgical cytoreduction, with an estimated survival of 10 months and 9.8 months, respectively (P>0.05). CONCLUSION Optimal primary cytoreductive surgery for advanced mEOC was very important. Once it recurs, the prognosis is very poor. Patients with recurrent mEOC should be carefully assessed before performing secondary cytoreductive surgery, as this may have limited impact on the overall survival rates.

Addition of intraperitoneal cisplatin and etoposide to first-line chemotherapy for advanced ovarian cancer: a randomised, phase 2 trial

BackgroundWe assessed the efficacy of adding intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy to standard first-line intravenous (IV) chemotherapy in epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) patients.MethodsPatients with stage IIIC-IV EOC who underwent optimal debulking surgery were randomly assigned to four cycles of weekly IP chemotherapy with cisplatin (50 mg/m2) and etoposide (100 mg/m2) followed by six cycles of IV chemotherapy every 3 weeks (IP/IV arm), or were administered IV chemotherapy alone (IV arm). The primary endpoint for this study was the 12-month non-progression rate (NPR).ResultsBetween 4/2009 and 9/2015, 218 patients were randomised, of whom 215 initiated treatment. In the IP/IV arm, 90.6% of patients completed 4 cycles of IP chemotherapy. The 12-month NPRs were 81.9% and 64.2% in the IP/IV and IV groups, respectively (HR 0.48 (95% CI 0.27–0.82)). The median progression-free survival (PFS) was increased in the IP/IV arm compared with that in the IV arm (22.4 vs. 16.8 months; HR 0.66 (0.48–0.91)) and in a subgroup with no gross cytoreduction (31.1 vs. 16.8 months; HR 0.46 (0.26–0.82)). Similar findings were detected with regard to time to first subsequent anticancer therapy (TFST) (25.9 vs. 18.0 months; P = 0.009) and time to second subsequent anticancer therapy (TSST) (40.8 vs. 30.1 months; P = 0.042). Grade 3/4 leukopenia, anaemia and gastrointestinal events were more common in the IP/IV arm, but the treatment burden was considered acceptable.ConclusionsIP chemotherapy prior to IV chemotherapy was associated with an increased 12-month NPR and a longer TSST than IV alone in patients with EOC, albeit with acceptable toxic effects. Long-term follow-up is warranted to identify the effects of IP therapy on overall survival.

The Prognosis of Patients with Stage Ib-IIb Node Positive Cervical Carcinoma after Radical Surgery

ObjectiveTo investigate the influence of positive lymph nodes on the prognosis for patients with stage Ib-IIb cervical carcinoma.MethodsSixty-six patients with stage Ib∼IIb cervical carcinoma who underwent a radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymphadenectomy were analyzed retrospectively. The potential prognostic factors were calculated by the Cox proportional hazard model.ResultsThe 5-year survival of the patients with pelvic lymph node metastasis was 40.7%. The Cox proportional hazard model analysis showed that cellular differentiation, the number of positive nodes and adjuvant therapy were independent prognostic factors (P< 0.05). The 5-year survival of patients with 1 positive node was higher than that of those with 2 or more positive nodes (56.5% vs 36.4%,P< 0.05). The distant metastasis rate in the former group (5.9%) was lower than the latter’s (32.7%) (P=0.05). However, there was no significant difference of pelvic recurrence between the 2 groups (P> 0.05). The 5-year survival of the patients who had no adjuvant therapy (12.6%) was much lower than that (53.7%) of those with adjuvant therapy (P< 0.05). However, there no obvious differences among the effect of adjuvant radiotherapy, chemotherapy and chemoradiotherapy (P> 0.05).ConclusionThe prognosis of patients with stage lb∼llb node-positive cervical carcinoma who underwent radical surgery was poor. Adjuvant therapy can increase the survival rate, decrease the pelvic recurrence and distant metastasis.