Development of Web-Based Nomograms to Predict Treatment Response and Prognosis of Epithelial Ovarian Cancer / Journal of the Korean Cancer Association, 대한암학회지

PURPOSE: Discovery of models predicting the exact prognosis of epithelial ovarian cancer (EOC) is necessary as the first step of implementation of individualized treatment. This study aimed to develop nomograms predicting treatment response and prognosis in EOC. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We comprehensively reviewed medical records of 866 patients diagnosed with and treated for EOC at two tertiary institutional hospitals between 2007 and 2016. Patients’ clinico-pathologic characteristics, details of primary treatment, intra-operative surgical findings, and survival outcomes were collected. To construct predictive nomograms for platinum sensitivity, 3-year progression-free survival (PFS), and 5-year overall survival (OS), we performed stepwise variable selection by measuring the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) with leave-one-out cross-validation. For model validation, 10-fold cross-validation was applied. RESULTS: The median length of observation was 42.4 months (interquartile range, 25.7 to 69.9 months), during which 441 patients (50.9%) experienced disease recurrence. The median value of PFS was 32.6 months and 3-year PFS rate was 47.8% while 5-year OS rate was 68.4%. The AUCs of the newly developed nomograms predicting platinum sensitivity, 3-year PFS, and 5-year OS were 0.758, 0.841, and 0.805, respectively. We also developed predictive nomograms confined to the patients who underwent primary debulking surgery. The AUCs for platinum sensitivity, 3-year PFS, and 5-year OS were 0.713, 0.839, and 0.803, respectively. CONCLUSION: We successfully developed nomograms predicting treatment response and prognosis of patients with EOC. These nomograms are expected to be useful in clinical practice and designing clinical trials.

Blood Safety Management System in Foreign Countries / 대한수혈학회지

In an effort to improve the blood safety management system, Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention visited the national agencies and blood centers of foreign countries. In Japan, the management system for Human T-lymphotropic virus positive donors is operated. In Germany, Red Cross Blood Centers provide 75~80% of national blood consumption, and hospital blood centers provided 15~20%. In addition, the Paul Ehrlich Institut is engaged in blood center management and blood product safety, and the Robert Koch Institut manages transfusion-transmitted infection. The standard temperature of RBC transport is 1~10degrees C. In Austria, haemovigilance is operated by the National Blood Authority and adverse reactions following transfusion are investigated by Blood Centers. In Britain, blood is provided by National Health Service Blood and Transplant, and the Serious Hazards of Transfusion, haemovigilance system is operated. Universal leukoreduction has been performed since 1999 in order to prevent transmission of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.