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Objective:To compare the safety and short-term prognosis of laparoscopic hepatectomy after conversion therapy versus pure laparoscopic hepatectomy for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods:A total of 740 patients with HCC undergoing laparoscopic hepatectomy at Sun Yat-sen Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University between January 2019 and December 2022 were screened for study eligibility, among which 433 patients were eligible, including 364 males and 69 females, aged (57.2±11.1) years. Patients who underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy after conversion therapy (including interventional therapy combined with targeted therapy or targeted therapy combined with immunotherapy, etc.) were marked as conversion resection group ( n=36), and those who underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy alone were marked as pure resection group ( n=397). After propensity score matching (PSM), 29 cases in the conversion resection group and pure resection group were finally enrolled. Preoperative (tumor number, maximum tumor diameter, etc.), intraoperative (operation time, intraoperative blood loss, etc.) and postoperative (hospital stay, drainage volume, complications, etc.) data and short-term prognosis were compared between the two groups. Survival curves and rates were analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and log-rank test. Results:The baseline characteristics including the occurrence of liver cirrhosis, the tumor number and maximum diameter showed no significant differences between the two groups after PSM (all P>0.05), indicating comparability. There were no statistical differences between the two groups in terms of operation time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospital stay, postoperative drainage volume etc. (all P>0.05). The incidences of postoperative complications and severe complications (Clavien-Dindo grade ≥Ⅲ) were 34.5% (10/29) and 6.9% (2/29) in pure resection group, and 41.4% (12/29) and 10.3% (3/29) in conversion resection group, respectively, with no significant difference between the two groups (χ 2=0.29, 0, P=0.588, 1.000). The recurrence-free survival rates at 6, 12 and 18 months after surgery were 79.2%, 70.7% and 70.7% in conversion resection group and 86.2%, 82.8% and 79.3% in pure resection group, the overall survival rates at 6, 12, and 18 months after surgery were 96.4%, 89.5%, 74.6% in conversion resection group, and 100.0%, 96.6% and 93.1% in pure resection group, with no significant difference (χ 2=1.90, 1.91, P=0.168, 0.167). Conclusion:Laparoscopic hepatectomy after conversion therapy for initially unresectable HCC has comparable safety and short-term prognosis with the pure laparoscopic hepatectomy.
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Objective:To evaluate the efficacy and safety of transhepatic arterial chemoembolization (TACE) combined with tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) and programmed death-1 (PD-1) inhibitors in the treatment of patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods:The clinical data of 42 patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma who were admitted to the Department of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Zhengzhou University from January 2020 to December 2022 were included. There were 31 males and 11 females, with a median age of 56 years old (range, 45-72 years old). All patients received TACE+ TKI+ PD-1 inhibitor combined treatment. The systemic treatment cycles were calculated by the regimen of immunotherapy. The timing of local treatment depends on tumor size, blood supply and treatment response. Patients were followed up through hospitalization, outpatient visits and telephone review. The Kaplan-Meier curves were obtained for survival analysis.Results:The dosing cycle to achieve optimal imaging response in the patients was 4 (3, 7) [ M( Q1, Q3)], with a systemic treatment time of 141 (65, 194) d [ M( Q1, Q3)] and 2 (1, 3) times [ M( Q1, Q3)] of local treatments. All patients were evaluated by modified response evaluation criteria in solid tumors criteria after treatment, including nine patients with complete response (CR), 21 with partial response, eight with stable disease, and four with progressive disease. Objective response rate and disease control rate were 71.4% (30/42) and 90.5% (38/42), respectively. Treatment-related adverse reactions occurred in 85.7% (36/42) of patients and grade Ⅲ or Ⅳ adverse reactions occurred in 16.7% (7/42). There was no level Ⅳ adverse reactions. All adverse reactions were controlled after dose reduction and symptomatic treatment. Thirteen patients (31.0%, 13/42) redeemed resectable after treatment and underwent radical surgery. Seven patients had pathological CR after surgery. In two patients, the pathological residual cancer tissue was less than 10%. The cumulative overall survival rates of the 42 patients at 6 months, 1 year, 1.5 years after treatment were 100%, 91.7%, and 65.0%, respectively. The postoperative 1-year survival rate of patients undergoing surgery after successful conversion was 83.3%. Conclusion:This study preliminarily showed the safety and efficacy of TACE, TKI, and PD-1 inhibitor combined therapy in patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.
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Surgery-led comprehensive treatment is an important consensus in the management of liver carcinoma. Hepatectomy and liver transplantation are the most important means for patients with liver carcinoma to achieve long-term survival. With the development of liver surgery techniques, liver surgery is no longer off-limits. Translational therapy offers the hope of surgical radical treatment for patients with initially unresectable liver carcinoma. This article discusses the conversion therapy for unresectable liver carcinoma with future liver remnant surgery, the downstaging conversion therapy of oncologically unresectable intermediate to advanced liver carcinoma, the timing of surgery after conversion, and safety and efficacy. Prospect for the formation of the standardization of translational therapy for liver carcinoma is made.
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Objective:To assess the clinical efficacy of sequential radical surgery after immune and targeted therapy in downstaging patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma.Methods:Data were prospectively collected from December 2018 to July 2022 on patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma which were downstaged to undergo sequential surgery after treatment with immune and targeted therapy at the Faculty of Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Surgery, Chinese PLA General Hospital. There were 79 patients, with 69 men and 10 women, aged (53.0±10.9) years, being enrolled into this study. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate the survival rate, and the log-rank test was used for survival rate comparison. Univariate and multivariate Cox regression were used to analyze factors influencing patient prognosis.Results:There were 7 patients (8.9%) with China Liver Cancer Staging (CNLC) Ⅰb, Ⅱa, Ⅱb who had insufficient residual liver volume or tumor rupture before the downstaging therapy, and 38 patients (48.1%) with CNLC Ⅲa and 34 patients (43.0%) with CNLC Ⅲb. These 79 patients underwent R 0 resection after 3-20 cycles (median 5 cycles) of immune and targeted therapy. Based on the modified response evaluation criteria in solid tumor, the results of preoperative imaging assessment were: complete remission in 12 patients (15.2%), partial remission in 50 patients (63.3%), stable disease in 15 patients (19.0%), and disease progression in 2 patients (2.5%). The overall survival rates of patients at 1, 2, and 3 years after diagnosis were 96.1%, 83.5%, and 76.6%; and the recurrence-free survival rates at 1, 2, and 3 years after surgery were 62.1%, 52.9%, and 34.7%, respectively. On multivariate Cox regression analysis, patients with a preoperative alpha-fetoprotein >20 μg/L ( HR=2.816, 95% CI: 1.232-6.432, P=0.014) and a high proportion of pathological residual tumors ( HR=1.015, 95% CI: 1.004-1.026, P=0.006) had a higher risk of postoperative recurrence; and patients with a high proportion of pathological residual tumors ( HR=1.028, 95% CI: 1.007-1.049, P=0.007) and preoperative alpha-fetoprotein >400 μg/L ( HR=4.099, 95% CI: 1.193-14.076, P=0.025) had a higher risk of death. Conclusion:Immunotherapy combined with targeted therapy and sequential surgery for patients with initially unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma provided long-term survival benefits. Elevated preoperative alpha-fetoprotein and a high proportion of pathological residual tumor were independent risk factors for recurrence-free survival and overall survival in this group of patients.
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Most patients with primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are already in advanced stage when they are diagnosed, with a short survival period and an extremely poor prognosis. HCC seriously threatens the life and health of Chinese people. In recent years, breakthroughs have been made in systemic treatment of HCC, especially in immunotherapy represented by immune checkpoint inhibitors, which has broken the single therapy situation of molecular targeted drugs. And the strategy of immunotherapy combined with anti-angiogenic therapy has shown superiority and profoundly changed the treatment strategy of HCC. This article focuses on several hotspots of immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with anti-angiogenic targeted drugs in the perioperative scenario of HCC, and takes stock of the latest research progress of immunotherapy combined with anti-angiogenic drugs regimens in the perioperative application of HCC.
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Objective:To investigate the clinical efficacy of radical resection of pancreatic cancer after neoadjuvant conversion therapy.Methods:The retrospective and descriptive study was conducted. The clinicopathological data of 23 patients who underwent radical resection of pancreatic cancer after neoadjuvant conversion therapy in Nanjing Drum Tower Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing University Medical School from January 2019 to May 2022 were collected. There were 17 males and 6 females, aged 58(range, 33-73)years. After neoadjuvant conversion therapy, the three-dimensional (3D) visualization was used to evaluate and classify tumor vascular invasion, and surgical plan was planned and implemented. Observation indicators: (1) situations of neoadjuvant conversion therapy; (2) surgical situations; (3) postoperative histopathological examination; (4) postoperative recovery; (5) follow-up. Measurement data with normal distribution were represen-ted as Mean± SD, and measurement data with skewed distribution were represented as M(range) or M( Q1, Q3). Count data were described as absolute numbers. Results:(1) Situations of neoadjuvant conversion therapy. All 23 patients received the AG combination chemotherapy (albumin-paclitaxel+gemcitabine), including 14 patients combined with stereotactic body radiation therapy. Of the 23 patients, 22 cases achieved partial response, and 1 case showed stable disease. The CA19-9 of the 23 patients was 85.06(29.74,634.5)U/mL and 13.96(9.74,25.02)U/mL before and after neoadjuvant conversion therapy, respectively. (2) Surgical situations. According to the results of preoperative 3D visualization of tumor vascular invasion, 7 of the 23 patients were evaluated as arterial invasion, 8 cases were evaluated as venous invasion, 5 cases were evaluated as arterial and venous invasion, and there were 3 cases showing negative of vascular invasion. Of the 23 patients, 12 cases underwent pancreaticoduodenectomy, 4 cases underwent radical antegrade modular pancreatosplenectomy, 7 cases underwent total pancreaticoduodenectomy. For vascular reconstruction, there were 10 patients without vascular reconstruction, and there were 13 patients undergoing artificial vascular vein reconstruction. The operation time and volume of intraoperative blood loss of the 23 patients was (524±171)minutes and 1 000(400,1 600)mL, respectively. (3) Postoperative histopathological exami-nation. Results of postoperative histopathological examination in 23 patients showed that there were 2 cases with moderate-well differentiated tumor, 10 cases with moderate differentiated tumor, 7 cases with moderate-poorly differentiated tumor, 2 cases with poorly differentiated tumor, and 2 cases negative of tumor. The number of lymph node dissected in 23 patients was 16±7. There were 5 cases with lymph node metastasis and 18 cases without lymph node metastasis. There were 17 cases with nerve invasion and 6 cases without nerve invasion. All 23 patients were negative of vascular invasion. Of the 23 patients, there were 21 cases with R 0 resection and 2 cases with R 1 resection. For pathological TNM staging, there were 2 cases with 0 stage, 13 cases with Ⅰ stage, 7 cases with Ⅱ stage, and 1 case with Ⅳ stage. For postoperative pathological scoring, there were 2 cases achieved 0 point (complete pathological remission), 16 cases achieved 2 points (partial remission), and 5 cases achieved 3 points (no significant effect). (4) Postoperative recovery. The postoperative duration of hospital stay of 23 patients was 19(14,31)days. There were 17 of 23 patients underwent postoperative complications, including 11 cases with Clavien-Dindo Ⅱ stage complications, 3 cases with Clavien-Dindo Ⅲa stage complications, 1 case with Clavien-Dindo Ⅲb stage complication, 1 case with Clavien-Dindo Ⅳ stage complication, and 1 case with Clavien-Dindo Ⅴ stage complica-tion. (5) Follow-up. There were 22 patients underwent follow-up, with follow-up time as 12(9,23)months. There were 9 patients underwent postoperative recurrence and metastasis, with recurrence and metastasis time as 7.8(range, 6.0-12.0)months. During the follow-up, 15 of the 22 patients survived. Conclusion:Radical resection of pancreatic cancer after neoadjuvant conversion therapy is feasible.
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In China, gastric cancer is the top three malignant tumors with high incidence and mortality, which seriously endangers the lives and health of people. The comprehensive treat-ment based on surgery is still the main treatment for gastric cancer. Through the unremitting efforts and hard works of gastric cancer experts, the treatment effect of gastric cancer in China has made great progress. However, gastric cancer surgery still faces some outstanding problems. How to further improve preoperative accurate diagnosis? How to further rationalize the treatment of early gastric cancer? Where is the future development of minimally invasive techniques for gastric cancer surgery? How to break through the bottleneck of conversion therapy? These are the challenges for gastric cancer surgery. Based on relevant literature and combined with own clinical practice, the author explores the hot issues of gastric cancer surgery.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is characterized by a low resection rate and a high postoperative recurrence rate. Conversion therapy and neoadjuvant therapy are effective stra-tegies to improve the long-term prognosis of patients with HCC. With the clinical application of new technologies and methods and the continuous emergence of new anti-tumor drugs, the conversion therapy and neoadjuvant therapy of HCC have ushered in an unprecedented development. At the same time, they are also facing many new challenges. Based on our own clinical experience and the latest progress in conversion therapy and neoadjuvant therapy of HCC, the authors classify and summarize the selection of treatment strategies and the challenges faced in HCC conversion therapy and neoadjuvant therapy.
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Objective:To investigate the efficacy of different conversion therapies for colorectal cancer with unresectable simultaneous liver metastasis.Methods:A total of 170 patients of colorectal cancer complicated with liver metastasis who were admitted to the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University from Jan 2015 to Dec 2020 were included in the study. Patients were divided into an initial resectable group (42 cases) and an initial non-resectable group (128 cases).Results:There were no significant differences in OS and PFS between patients with CRLM (colorectal cancer with liver metastasis) who were resected initially and those successfully underwent transformation therapy ( P>0.05). The median OS was 36 months in the group with successful transformation, while it was 21 months in the group with simple primary tumor resection and no liver metastasis resection ( P=0.014), HR=0.48 (0.27-0.86). The median PFS was 28 months in the successful conversion group, while it was 10 months in the primary tumor resection only and no liver metastasis resection ( P=0.005), HR=0.43 (0.24-0.77). The OS difference between the group with simple primary tumor resection and no resected liver metastasis and the group with neither primary tumor nor liver metastasis resection was statistically significant: (21 months vs.13 months), HR=0.52 (0.32-0.86) ( P=0.01), while the PFS between the two groups was not statistically significant, ( P>0.05). Conclusions:Chemotherapy combined with targeted therapy has the best effect among the conversion therapies, and can improve the resection rate and survival rate of patients undergoing R 0 surgery. Resection of the primary lesion alone can also prolong the patient's survival.
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This commentary examines the space-attitude-administrative complex of mainstream mental health systems with regard to its responses to decriminalisation of non-heteronormative sexual identities. Even though the Supreme Court, in its 2018 order, instructed governments to disseminate its judgment widely, there has been no such attempt till date. None of the government-run mental health institutions has initiated an LGBTQIA+ rights-based awareness campaign on the judgment, considering that lack of awareness about sexualities in itself remains a critical factor for a non-inclusive environment that forces queer individuals to end their lives. That the State did not come up with any awareness campaign as mandated in the landmark judgment reflects an attitude of queerphobia in the State. Drawing on the concept of “biocommunicability”, analysing the public interfaces of state-run mental health institutions, and the responses of mental health systems to the death by suicide of a queer student, I illustrate how mental health institutions function to further anti-LGBTQIA+ sentiments of the state by churning out customer-patients out of structural violence and systemic inequalities, benefitting the mental health economy at the cost of queer citizens on whom curative violence is practised.
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Objective:To study the safety and efficacy of a treatment protocol using immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) and antiangiogenic targeted drugs (AATDs) in converting 41 patients with initially unresectable to resectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).Methods:The data of 41 patients with initially unresectable HCC treated with immunotherapy combined with targeted therapy from December 2018 to April 2021 in Chinese PLA General Hospital were analysed. There were 34 males and 7 females, aged (51.8±10.7) years. The clinical characteristics, conversion to resectable HCC, adverse drug reactions, surgical data and postoperative complications were analysed. Patients were followed-up by outpatients clinics or telephone calls.Results:There were 5 patients with Chinese Liver Cancer Staging (CNLC)-Ⅰb, 4 with CNLC-Ⅱ, 28 with CNLC-Ⅲa and 4 with CNLC-Ⅲb before the treatment protocol. Among them, 28 patients had portal vein tumor thrombosis (PVTT) and 4 had retroperitoneal lymph node metastases. All patients had a mean tumor diameter of (9.16±4.43) cm before and (6.49±4.69) cm after the treatment protocol. The latter was based on the last assessment before hepatectomy. The efficacy of the treatment protocol in converting unresectable to resectable HCC was assessed by the modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors after 3-15 cycles (median dose cycles, 5) of protocal therapy: 15 patients achieved a complete response; 15 patients achieved a partial response; 6 patients had a stable disease, and 5 patients had a progressive disease. 21 patients (51.2%) experienced adverse reactions associated with drug treatment, which resolved with symptomatic treatment or brief discontinuation of the therapy. All patients underwent successful hepatectomy. Postoperative complications of grade Ⅱ or higher occurred in 9 patients (22.0%). The cumulative overall survival rates at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years from diagnosis were 100.0%, 92.6% and 64.7% respectively. The cumulative overall survival rates at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after surgery were 95.1%, 74.7% and 60.8%, and the recurrence-free survival rates at 6 months, 1 year and 2 years after surgery were 87.8%, 56.7% and 48.6%, respectively.Conclusions:This study provided preliminary evidences that surgical resection after immunotherapy combined with targeted therapy in patients with initially unresectable HCC was safe and efficacious.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is common in China. Most patients are at advanced stages of HCC at diagnosis, with short survival outcomes and poor prognosis. It is a major disease that seriously affects the health of many people. In recent years, the medical community has attempted to prolong survival and improve quality of life of patients by using multidisciplinary treatments. Immune checkpoint inhibitors, when combined with antiangiogenic targeted drugs, have achieved encouraging results in treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma. This paper focuses on the issues of using salvage surgery after conversion of initially unresectable to resectable HCC by immune checkpoint inhibitors combined with antiangiogenic targeted drugs in treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma, and makes a prediction on the prospect of this therapy protocol in treatment of these patients.
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Gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (GEP-NENs) refer to a group of relatively rare and heterogeneous tumors. The treatment and prognosis are distinct for GEP-NENs of different genetic phenotypes, differentiation degree, pathological categories, staging and grading, clinical characteristics. Neoadjuvant therapy is becoming increasingly accepted in the compre-hensive treatment of GEP-NENs. More and more researches show that neoadjuvant therapy contri-butes to improve R 0 resection rate and eliminate metastasis of malignancies. However, the value of neoadjuvant therapy and whether it improves overall survival of GEP-NENs patients remain contro-versial. The principle of neoadjuvant therapy is to bring survival benefits for selective patients treated by optimal therapy at appropriate time. It is important to master certain degrees for above event nodes. Whether the neoadjuvant /conversion therapy serve as castle in the air or Noah's ark for GEP-NENs requires prospective randomized controlled tests to answer. Combined with guidelines at home and abroad, the authors systematically review the evidence based medicines on neoadju-vant and conversion therapy for GEP-NENs, demonstrate relative research progress, carry an indepth discussion on hot and difficult subjects and controversial issues, aiming to provide references for individualized, precised and standardized comprehensive treatment of GEP-NENs.
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Conversion therapy has become the core in the treatment of borderline resectable or unresectable liver cancer, which provides resectable opportunities for more advanced liver cancer patients. In accordance with the first-choice treatment regimen recommended by the guidelines, the authors reported a successful case of Atezolizumab and Bevacizumab (T+A regimen) conversion therapy. The patient with initially borderline resectable advanced liver cancer was performed liver segment resection sucessfully after conversion therapy, and non-tumor recurrence was observed at postoperative 9 months. Postoperative pathological examination showed combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma, which also indicated the important value of T+A regimen in the conversion therapy of combined hepatocellular-cholangiocarcinoma.
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Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has an insidious onset, and most HCC patients have reached the intermediate-advanced stage when they were diagnosed, which lead to missing the opportunity for radical treatment and suffering a poor prognosis. Conversion therapy is an important tool to improve the prognosis of patients with unresectable HCC by creating resectable opportunities. With the new targeted agents, anti-vascular agents, immune agents and multi-dimensional treatment regimens bringing high objective response rate and long duration of remission in HCC treatment, conversion therapy has emerged as a hot spot in the clinical research of HCC. In the era of targeted therapy combined with immunotherapy, the connotation of conversion therapy for HCC continues to expand, with strategies constantly being updated. As such, conversion therapy for HCC has entered a rapid development period, but still faces many challenges. Combined with clinical experience and the latest research progress, based on the efficacy of systematic therapy with targeted combined immunotherapy as the core and combined local therapy in advanced HCC, the authors summarize the definition and expansion of conversion therapy and the conversion therapy strategies in oncology.
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Hepatectomy is the main optimal curative treatment of hepatocellular carci-noma (HCC) to achieve long-term survival. However, most patients in China do not fulfill the criteria for surgery due to the intermediate-advanced stage of HCC at their initial diagnosis. With the promising advances in locoregional and systematic therapies, development of targeted drugs, success of immunotherapy, as well as the emergence of the therapeutic alliance, conversion therapy has well developed nowadays and become a hotspot in recent years. A part of unresectable HCC patients have afforded sequent radical surgery opportunities and prolonged the overall survival through improving liver function, increasing the residual liver volume, and minimizing tumor volume. At present, target therapy combined immunotherapy, local therapy combined systemic therapy are commonly used and widely applicable conversion therapy modes in China. Based on expansion of conversion therapy concepts, more high-level evidences are needed to exploit the full potential of conversion treatment strategies, accurately select candidates, determine the timing of surgery, improve conversion rate, guarautee the safety and long-term efficacy, which requires further investigation and research.
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Primary liver cancer is the fourth most common malignancy and the second most common cause of cancer death in China, which poses a serious threat to the life and health of the Chinese people. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) represents more than 90% of the pathology of primary liver cancer, among them around 60% of patients are at the intermediate-advanced stage when diagnosed. Therefore, increasing the rate of resection via conversion therapies is particularly important to improve the prognosis of these patients. Vascular interventional therapies represented by transarterial chemoembolization and hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy are important treatment methods for HCC patients in intermediate-advanced stage, showing good rates of tumor response and surgical conversion. Combined with research data at home and abroad, the authors analyze research progress of vascular interventional therapy in the conversion therapy of HCC, review the history and the strategies of conversion therapies based on vascular interventional therapy in this article.
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Surgery is the cornerstone of gastric cancer treatment. Surgical treatment of gastric cancer has shown new trends in the context of precision surgery. From standardized D 2 radical surgery to function-saving surgery, minimally invasive surgery and enhanced recovery after surgery, the controlling of surgical trauma and improving life quality of patients are getting more and more attention under the premise of ensuring radical cure. At the same time, the comprehensive treatment including immunotherapy has broadened the boundaries of gastric cancer surgery. Combined with the relevant data at home and abroad, the authors elaborate the new trends in surgical treatment of gastric cancer oriented by stage of gastric cancer, in order to provide new ideas for clinical work.
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Objective:To assess the efficacy and safety of the combination therapy of camrelizumab, apatinib, nab-paclitaxel, and S-1 for patients with locally unresectable advanced gastric cancer.Methods:From September 1, 2019 to August 1, 2021, in Beijing Friendship Hospital Affiliated to Capital Medical University, 17 patients with advanced gastric cancer were enrolled in this prospective, single-arm study. All the enrolled patients received camrelizumab, nab-paclitaxel, apatinib and S-1 combination therapy (in each 21 days cycle, camrelizumab 200 mg intravenously, D1; nab-paclitaxel 240 mg/m 2 intravenously, D2; apatinib 500 mg orally, once a day, D1-D21; S-1 40-60 mg twice a day, D1-D14). Patients who have been evaluated by multidisciplinary team to be eligible for radical surgery should stop treatment for at least 2 weeks. Patients were discontinued from the study when disease progression or unbearable toxicity, or withdrew consent. We analyzed the conversion rate, objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), overall survival (OS) and safety.Statistical data were show by numbers and persentages(%), and comparisons between subgroups were assessed by Fisher′s exact probability method. Patients survival was analyzed using Kaplan-Meier curves and compared between groups using Log-rank. Results:At the data of cutoff (December 15, 2021), the median follow-up duration was 19.6 months. Eight of 17 patients underwent gastrectomy, and all of them were R0 resection (47.1%, 95% CI: 0.262-0.690). ORR was 47.1%, DCR was 82.4%, the median overall survival was 23.63 months. Grade 3 and 4 adverse events occurred in 3 patients (17.6%), including neutropenia, thrombocytopenia, anemia and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage. There were no serious treatment-related adverse events or treatment-related deaths. Conclusion:In this trial, the combination of camrelizumab, apatinib, nab-paclitaxel and S-1 as the conversion therapy showed significant anti-tumor activity and manageable adverse events, providing a new option for locally unresectable advanced gastric cancer.
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Objective:To investigate clinicopathological characteristics and efficacy of conversion therapy in patients with metastatic gastric cancer.Methods:The clinicopathological and follow-up data of metastatic gastric cancer patients at the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery of Peking University People's Hospital from Jan 2018 to Jun 2021 were retrospectively studied. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis was used to identify independent characteristics for pathological complete response (PCR). The influence of stage of metastatic gastric cancer and pathological response on prognosis were analyzed by Kaplan-Meier curve.Results:A total of 31 patients were enrolled, and 13 tumors located at the cardia or fundus, 8 at body, other 10 at pylorus or antrum . Baseline CT evaluation showed retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis in 10 cases, intraperitoneal metastasis in 10 cases, liver metastasis in 2 cases, adrenal and splenic metastasis in 1 case respectively, and multiple metastasis in 5 cases. After conversion therapy, 8 (26%) cases had pathological T0, 16 cases (52%) had pathological N0 and 7 cases (22%) had pathological complete response. Multivariate Logistic regression analysis showed retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis ( OR: 20.082, 95% CI: 2.141-188.315, P=0.009) was the only independent risk factor of PCR. Meanwhile, Kaplan-Meier curve showed pT0 improved disease-free survival significantly ( P=0.021). Conclusions:Metastatic gastric cancer patients with retroperitoneal lymph node metastasis alone had a tolerable conversion therapy effect. pT0 is a significant factor in improving prognosis.