ABSTRACT
As the scarcity of published research that comprehensively and meticulously analyzed the patient, disease, and treatment factors of prognostic significance in Ewing sarcoma (EWS) in Egypt; This study aimed at assessing survival outcomes of EWS in Upper Egypt, delineating factors of prognostic significance in comparison to other leading oncology centers in Egypt and internationally. By retrospectively reviewing medical records of 85 patients with a verified diagnosis of EWS in the period from 2001 to 2015 at Pediatric and Medical Oncology Departments at South Egypt Cancer Institute; We gathered data relevant to the patient, disease, and treatment variables of the study. Survival was estimated using the Kaplan Meier method and differences between various groups were determined by log rank test. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed using Cox regression. With a median follow-up period of 62.7 months (95% CI 52.2-73.2, SE=5.4) for the study patients, the estimates of event-free survival (EFS) and overall survival (OS) at 3 and 5 years were 42.1% and 50.6%, and 40.8% and 48.5%, respectively. Metastatic disease at initial presentation (HR=8.91, 95% CI, 4.00-19.9; P<0.0001) stood as the most powerful predictor of OS in the multivariable analysis, followed by surgery used as a local modality (HR=0.16, 95% CI, 0.06-0.44; P=0.0004). Response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (HR=2.61, 95% CI, 1.11-6.13; P=0.028), primary tumor size (HR=2.49, 95% CI, 1.03-6.03; P=0.044) were also shown to be significantly associated with OS. Radiotherapy as a local modality, whose effect, apparently shown to increase the hazard of events occurrence in the univariable analysis, an effect that was reversed to reveal EFS advantage (HR=0.41, 95% CI, 0.18-0.95; P=0.036) after control of other variables. With 5-year OS of 48.5%, our survival results were comparable to those previously published from Egypt; however, differences still exist between centers due to varied representative study samples. However, outcomes in Egypt in general are still inferior to internationally published studies.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Pharmacologic treatment is not successful in all cases of postmastectomy pain syndrome (PMPS). Some patients continue suffering pain while taking their medications, and others cannot tolerate the side effects of antineuropathic analgesics. Radiofrequency technology has provided promising results in the management of chronic neuropathic pain. OBJECTIVES: Considering that affection of intercostobrachial nerves are the main reason behind PMPS, we aimed to evaluate and compare the analgesic efficacy of pulsed radiofrequency (PRF) when delivered either on thoracic dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of intercostobrachial nerves (thoracic DRG 2, 3, and 4) or their corresponding thoracic paravertebral nerves (PVNs). STUDY DESIGN: Prospective randomized-controlled clinical trial. SETTINGS: Interventional pain unit, tertiary center, university hospital. METHODS: Sixty-four patients complaining of PMPS were randomized to either group DRG (n = 32) that received PRF on thoracic DRG, or group PVN (n = 32) that received PRF on thoracic PVN. The outcome variables were that the patients showed > 50% reduction in their visual analog scale (VAS) pain score; the VAS pain score and global perceived effect (GPE) was evaluated during a 6-month follow-up period. RESULTS: The percentage of patients who showed > 50% reduction of their VAS pain score was significantly higher in group DRG compared with group PVN, assessed at 4 and 6 months postprocedure (23/29:79.3% vs. 13/29:44.8%; P = 0.007) and (22/29:75.9% vs. 7/29:24.1%; P < 0.001), respectively, however, the 2 groups did not significantly differ at 1, 2, and 3 months postprocedure (DRG vs. PVN), (21/29: 72.4% vs. 21/29: 72.4%; P = 0.542), (24/29: 82.8% vs. 23/29: 79.9%; P = 0.778), and (24/29: 82.8% vs. 19/29: 65.5%; P = 0.136), respectively. There was a statistically significant reduction of VAS pain score at 4 and 6 months (DRG vs. PVN, mean ± standard deviation, 2.9 ± 2 vs. 3.9 ± 1.5; mean difference (95% confidence interval), 1 (0.06:1.9); P = 0.038; 3 ± 1.94 vs. 5.1 ± 1.5; mean difference (95% confidence interval), 1.9 (1:2.9); P < 0.001, respectively), however, the 2 groups did not significantly differ at 1, 2, and 3 months postprocedure. With regard to the patient's satisfaction (i.e., GPE), assessed at 3 and 6 months postprocedure, there was a significantly higher satisfaction in group DRG compared with group PVN (median [interquartile range (IQR)], 6 (5:7) vs. 3 (2:4);P < 0.001), however, the patient's satisfaction was similar between groups at 3 months postprocedure: median (IQR), 6 (4:7) vs. 6 (5:6); P = 0.327. LIMITATIONS: The study follow-up period is limited to 6 months only. CONCLUSIONS: PRF of both the thoracic DRG and the thoracic PVN are effective treatments for PMPS; however, PRF of DRG provided a better long-term analgesic effect. Nevertheless, given the inherent risk of performing thoracic foraminal interventions and the technical difficulty of targeting thoracic DRG, we recommend that PRF of DRG should be reserved for cases that failed to gain adequate response to PRF of thoracic PVN in conjunction with medical treatment. KEY WORDS: Postmastectomy pain syndrome, radiofrequency, dorsal root ganglion, paravertebral nerve.
