Preoperative short-course radiotherapy (5 × 5 Gy) with delayed surgery versus preoperative long-course radiotherapy for locally resectable rectal cancer: a meta-analysis.

PURPOSE: Preoperative short-course radiotherapy (PSRT) and preoperative long-course radiotherapy (PLRT) are standard treatment regimens for locally advanced rectal cancer. However, whether the efficacy and safety of PSRT with delayed surgery (more than 4 weeks) are superior to those of PLRT remains unresolved and was explored in this meta-analysis. METHODS: Studies published in PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and ClinicalTrials.gov databases were systematically searched. RevMan 5.3 was used to calculate pooled hazard ratios (HR) and relative risk (RR). RESULTS: Seven studies including 4973 patients were identified in the meta-analysis. Pooled statistics showed that there was no statistically significant difference in overall survival (HR = 1.30, 95% CI 0.58-2.89, P = 0.52) or disease-free survival (HR = 1.10, 95% CI 0.73-1.66, P = 0.64) between the preoperative short-course and long-course radiotherapy groups. Moreover, pathological complete remission, early postoperative complications, treatment-related grade 3/4 toxicity, local recurrence, and distant metastasis were similar between the two groups. Interestingly, a subgroup analysis revealed that preoperative short-course radiotherapy without adjuvant chemotherapy not only resulted in lower treatment-related grade 3/4 toxicity than the long-course radiotherapy group (RR = 0.19, 95% CI 0.08-0.48, P < 0.01) but also resulted in significantly lower overall survival and pathological complete remission (P = 0.02, P < 0.01, respectively). Disappointingly, pooled statistics observed few advantages over long-course radiotherapy in short-course radiotherapy with the adjuvant chemotherapy subgroup. CONCLUSIONS: PSRT with delayed surgery was as effective as PLRT for the management of locally resectable rectal cancer. However, not adding additional chemotherapy to PSRT not only significantly decreased grade 3/4 toxicity but also decreased pathological complete remission and overall survival. TRIAL REGISTRATION: The protocol for this meta-analysis was prospectively registered with PROSPERO (CRD42019133641).

Hospitalization days and costs of patients with acute cholecystitis in different departments by DRGs / 中华医院管理杂志

Objective To analyze the differences in hospitalization days and costs of patients with acute cholecystitis in different departments or diagnosis related groups ( DRGs ), and provide scientific references for clinical medical management. Methods All the medical record homepages of the patients with acute cholecystitis were selected from a tertiary hospital from January 2017 to December 2017. The hospital analysis system of DRGs was used to calculate the classification results of DRGs. The Kruskal-Wallis H test was used to analyze the differences in hospital stays and costs between different DRGs or departments. Results The average length of stay was the shortest and the hospitalization cost in the department of hepatobiliary surgery was lower than other departments among patients with surgery and non-surgical(all P<0.05); The average length of stay at the department of hepatobiliary surgery was lower than the same other DRGs groups, namely the department of digestive medicine and gastrointestinal surgery(all P<0.05). There was no significant difference in the cost of " acute biliary tract disease with complications" between the various departments(P>0.05). The average cost in the department of hepatobiliary surgery was the lowest, and the average cost of gastrointestinal surgery was the highest in two DRGs of " acute biliary disease without complications and concomitant symptoms" and " laparoscopic cholecystectomy without common bile duct exploration" ( all P < 0.05 ). Conclusions Department of hepatobiliary surgery was better than other departments in the treatment of acute cholecystitis. Medical institutions should follow the principle of special treatment to reduce interdisciplinary patients and improve the professional competitiveness of the department.

Management practice and thinking of different DRGs grouped patients in clinical pathway / 中华医院管理杂志

Objective To analysis the clinical pathway management efficiency under different DRG groups, for a basis for further optimizing clinical pathway management. Methods The retrospective analysis method was used to compare the average length of stay, sub-average costs, and drug proportions of patients with different DRGs in the same clinical pathway. Shapiro-Wilk was used to detect the normality of the samples, t test was used to analyze measurement data conformed to the normal distribution, non-parametric test was used to analyze the abnormal distribution data, and enumeration data was detected by using chi-square test. Results For patients with a clinical pathway of bronchial pneumonia, patients with severe complications and concomitant symptoms had no significant difference in mean hospitalization and sub-costs, regardless of whether they completed or entered the clinical pathway ( P >0.05). For the other two DRG patients, the difference between the average length of stay, sub-average costs, and the proportion of medications for patients who completed the clinical pathway and withdrew from or did not complete the clinical pathway was significant(P<0.05). In the severe surgical group, the length of stay and average cost for patients who completed the clinical pathway were lower than those who exited or did not enter the clinical pathway(P<0.05). Conclusions Patients with different severity of DRGs should be cautious when they are enrolled in the clinical pathway.