ABSTRACT
Introduction: Growth, proliferation, survival, and differentiation are the prominent characteristics of cells, which are affected by cancer. Epidermal growth factor receptor [EGFR] plays a pivotal role in the effective control of these features. Given the significance of EGFR signaling pathway in non-small cell lung cancer [NSCLC], EGFR expression is influential on these cell characteristics. In this paper, we studied EGFR expression and its association with demographic factors, clinicopathological features, and prognosis of NSCLC patients
Materials and Methods: In this retrospective cohort study which was done during 2009-12 at Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran. EGFR expression was evaluated in 96 patients with formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded NSCLC tissues [43 adenocarcinomas, 48 squamous-cell carcinomas, and 5 large-cell carcinomas] using immunohistochemistry [IHC]. Data analysis was performed by SPSS version 20.0
Results: Out of 96 specimens, approximately 53% were classified as positive for EGFR expression. The study group consisted of 68% [N=65] male and 32% [N=31] female subjects, with the mean age of 61.1 +/- 9.03 years. There was no difference between EGFR-positive and EGFR-negative patients in terms of the overall survival rate [P=0.49]. In addition, no association was observed between tumor histology and EGFR expression [P=0.08], while EGFR-positive adenocarcinoma [N=28, 29%] was more prevalent compared to other subtypes of NSCLC. Moreover, there were no differences between tumor subtypes and the overall survival rate of the patients [P=0.21], and no association was found between EGFR expression and the patients' demographic factors [e.g. age and gender]
Conclusion: The results of this study indicated that EGFR expression could not be a prognostic marker in NSCLC patients; however, it seems that using standardized IHC scoring is likely to yield more reliable data in this regard
ABSTRACT
Introduction: Sentinel node mapping is a new technique of lymph nodal staging in solid tumors, which can decrease the morbidity of regional lymph node dissection considerably. Intra-thoracic tumors including non-small cell lung cancer [NSCLC] and esophageal carcinoma [EC] are among the solid tumors in which sentinel node [SN] mapping has been applied. In the current systematic review, we gathered the best available evidence [systematic reviews] in this regard and presented the results in a systematic review format
Material and methods: We searched MEDLINE and SCOPUS since the inception till 13 December 2014 using the following keywords: [lung OR esophagus OR esophageal] AND sentinel AND [systematic review OR meta-analysis OR metaanalysis]. No language limit was imposed on the search strategy. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses on SN mapping in EC or NSCLC were included in the current study. Narrative review articles were excluded from the study
Results: Overall five systematic review were included. One of the included studies was on SN mapping in NSCLC and four were on EC. Overall detection rate and sensitivity for EC and NSCLC were high and both were related to mapping technique, pathological involvement of the mediastinal nodes, size and location of the tumors
Conclusion: SN mapping is feasible and highly accurate in EC and NSCLC. Attention to the technique [using radiotracers, peri-tumoral injection] and restriction of the patients to less advanced cases [cN0 and T1, 2] would ensure the best results with high detection rate and sensitivity