ABSTRACT
AIM: Lymph node (LN) status is an important prognostic indicator in patients with gastric cancer (GC). Although American Joint Committee on Cancer/International Union against Cancer (AJCC/UICC) is the most widely used staging system, there is a challenge in predicting survival of patients when the number of total harvested LNs is ≤15. Our aim was to investigate the prognostic performances of seventh edition AJCC/UICC, lymph-node ratio (LNR), and log odds of metastatic lymph nodes (LODDS) on the overall survival (OS) of GC patients with ≤15 examined LNs after gastric resection. MATERIAL AND METHOD: A total of 74 patients who underwent curative resection for gastric adenocarcinoma and had ≤15 LNs at the final histopathological examination were included in the study. The prognostic ability of three node staging models to predict OS was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: Of the 74 patients, 15 (20.3%) had no LN metastasis whereas 59 (79.7%) had nodal involvement. The median OS was 26 months. When assessed as a continuous variable, LNR was the strongest staging system to stratify GC patients on the basis of LN status. LODDS had superiority on other node staging models when the number of LNs retrieved was modeled as categorical variable. CONCLUSIONS: LNR (continuous) and LODDS (categorical) were the strongest indicators of OS in GC when the number of LN harvested was ≤15. Therefore, they may be considered as an alternative nodal staging systems for GC.
Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma/mortality , Adenocarcinoma/pathology , Cause of Death , Lymph Nodes/pathology , Stomach Neoplasms/mortality , Stomach Neoplasms/pathology , Adenocarcinoma/surgery , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Cohort Studies , Disease-Free Survival , Gastrectomy/methods , Humans , Kaplan-Meier Estimate , Lymph Node Excision/methods , Lymph Nodes/surgery , Lymphatic Metastasis , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Invasiveness/pathology , Neoplasm Staging , Prognosis , Proportional Hazards Models , ROC Curve , Retrospective Studies , Stomach Neoplasms/surgery , Survival AnalysisABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The spontaneous resolution rate of pancreatic pseudocysts (PPs) is 86%, and the serious complication rate is 3-9%. The aim of the present study was to develop a scoring system that would predict spontaneous resolution of PPs. METHODS: Medical records of 70 patients were retrospectively reviewed. Two patients were excluded. Demographic data and laboratory measurements were obtained from patient records. RESULTS: Mean age of the 68 patients included was 56.6 years. Female:male ratio was 1.34:1. Causes of pancreatitis were stones (48.5%), alcohol consumption (26.5%), and unknown etiology (25%). Mean size of PP was 71 mm. Pseudocysts disappeared in 32 patients (47.1%). With univariate analysis, serum direct bilirubin level (>0.95 mg/dL), cyst carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level (>1.5), and cyst diameter (>55 mm) were found to be significantly different between patients with and without spontaneous resolution. In multivariate analysis, these variables were statistically significant. Scores were calculated with points assigned to each variable. Final scores predicted spontaneous resolution in approximately 80% of patients. CONCLUSION: The scoring system developed to predict resolution of PPs is simple and useful, but requires validation.
