ABSTRACT
Although the introduction of the perioperative chemotherapy on the management of gastric cancer has improved patients survival, heterogeneity of clinical outcomes has been evidenced in parallel to different histopathological regression pattern of gastric cancer cells. Thus, this study evaluated the tumor regression grading (TRG) in a series of post-treatment gastric tumors and its associations with HER2, MET, and FOXP3 expression. Material of 54 gastric cancer samples was available for TRG evaluation and immunohistochemistry. We found that total and subtotal pathologic response were significantly associated to the intestinal subtype (p = 0.04) and that well-differentiated tumors were significantly correlated with total or partial response (p = 0.019). Although not associated with the TRG, FOXP3 expression in gastric tumors was associated to poorly differentiated tumors (p = 0.03), to the diffuse and mixed subtypes together (p = 0.04) and to the presence of vascular infiltration (p = 0.04), while HER2 overexpression was associated to better differentiated cases (p = 0.04) and to the absence of vascular infiltration (p = 0.02). MET expression, however, showed no association with the analyzed clinicopathological factors. This study highlights the role of tissue differentiation on pathological response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in gastric cancer and shows no impact between FOXP3, HER2 and MET expression in terms of TRG.
Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma/pathology , Forkhead Transcription Factors/analysis , Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-met/analysis , Receptor, ErbB-2/analysis , Stomach Neoplasms/pathology , Adenocarcinoma/chemistry , Adult , Aged , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neoplasm Grading , Stomach Neoplasms/complicationsABSTRACT
RESUMO Nas últimas duas décadas, ocorreram mudanças curriculares nos cursos de Medicina com o objetivo de formar profissionais humanizados e capazes de atender às demandas atuais. No contexto desse novo modelo, ressalta-se a importância do ensino de comunicação da má notícia na graduação, habilitando acadêmicos a atuar de maneira empática e eficiente. O conteúdo carregado de emoção reforça a necessidade de o médico se preparar adequadamente para saber lidar com as reações dos pacientes e com os próprios sentimentos. Este artigo é um estudo transversal que avaliou, por meio de checklist, a habilidade de comunicação da má notícia apresentada por acadêmicos de Medicina do ciclo pré-clínico em prova prática no modelo Objective Structured Clinical Examination (Osce). Foram avaliados 119 alunos do quarto semestre do curso de Medicina da Universidade de Fortaleza, dos quais 67% obtiveram desempenho global superior ou igual a 90%. A maior dificuldade observada foi em realizar um "anúncio breve" do problema ao transmitir a má notícia, com 35,3% de erro. Em contrapartida, os estudantes foram eficazes em não "dourar a pílula" ao comunicarem o diagnóstico, quesito que obteve índice absoluto de acertos. Além disso, foi analisada a capacidade dos alunos em identificar a influência dos sintomas na vida do paciente, por meio dos estágios do luto de Kübler-Ross e da escala de desempenho clínico Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (Ecog), obtendo uma porcentagem de acertos de 84,1%. Embora o desempenho global tenha sido avaliado como excelente, estudantes de Medicina do ciclo pré-clínico mostram-se hesitantes em suas primeiras consultas e no primeiro contato com os pacientes, em especial naqueles de forte conteúdo emocional, fato que ficou evidente ao se identificarem as principais falhas cometidas pelos discentes durante a prova prática de comunicação da má notícia. Dessa forma, com o intuito de aprimorar essa habilidade tão importante para a prática médica, reforça-se o uso de nossas experiências de ensino-aprendizagem, como pacientes atores, treinamento entre os pares, abordagem de protocolos padronizados e reflexões acerca da importância dessas estratégias no ensino da má notícia.
ABSTRACT Over the last two decades, curriculum changes and developments have taken place at medical schools, aimed at humanizing medical training. It is believed that this will enable these professionals to meet the current demands of the changing health care system. Within context of this new approach, one can highlight the importance of methods of breaking bad news being included in undergraduate medical training. This will aid students to act empathetically and efficiently in not only this specific situation, but all situations. Emotionally-loaded content reinforces the need for student medics to be adequately prepared to know how to deal with both the reactions of patients and their own feelings. This article consists of a cross-sectional study, in which we evaluated the ability of delivering bad news and the communication skills of medical students. The students were from a preclinical science training course and analyzed by means of a checklist during an OSCE (Objective Structured Clinical Examination). A sample consisting of 119 second-year students from the University of Fortaleza medical school was evaluated, of which 67% reported an overall performance of greater than 90%. The greatest difficulty observed when breaking bad news was their making of a "brief announcement" at the beginning of the consultation (35.3%). However, the students were efficient at not "sugarcoating" the bad news, with none of the students failing in this aspect of the evaluation. Furthermore, the ability of identifying the influence of the symptoms in the patient's life using the Kübler-Ross model of grief and loss and Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) scale was assessed, with 84.1% of the students identifying it correctly. Therefore, in order to improve this essential skill in medical practice, one can underline the importance of drawing on personal experiences in teaching-learning, as patient actors, of training among peers, of an approach that includes standardized procedures and reflections on the importance of these strategies in teaching how to break bad news.
ABSTRACT
As the perioperative chemotherapy has been widely implemented on the management of gastric cancer patients, heterogeneity of clinical outcomes has been evidenced in parallel to different histopathological regression pattern of gastric cancer cells. Tumor histological response to preoperative therapy has been graded by various systems in order to categorize the amount of regressive changes induced by chemotherapy in relation to residual tumor. In this context, tumor regression grading (TRG) systems might provide important prognostic information as the variety of tumor response may imply on different clinical outcomes with impact in survival rates. Moreover, gastric cancer behavior varies enormously upon individual factors such as histological classification and tumor anatomic site of involvement that have been shown to affect the TRG interpretation. On the other hand, some studies have assessed the role of molecular markers as a predictor of tumor response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy in terms of TRG. Thus, the aim of this review is to evaluate how TRG has been interpreted in gastric cancer, discuss their clinical and prognostic relevance and also address the molecular markers involved in this process.
