ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Soft tissue sarcomas of the trunk wall (STS-TW) are usually studied together with soft tissue sarcomas of other locations. We report a study on STS-TW forming part of the French Sarcoma Group database. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three hundred and forty-three adults were included. We carried out univariate and multivariate analysis for overall survival (OS), metastasis-free survival (MFS) and local recurrence-free survival (LRFS). RESULTS: Tumor locations were as follows: thoracic wall, 82.5%; abdominal wall, 12.3% and pelvic wall, 5.2%. Median tumor size was 6.0 cm. The most frequent tumor types were unclassified sarcoma (27.7%) and myogenic sarcoma (19.2%). A total of 44.6% of cases were grade 3. In all, 21.9% of patients had a previous medical history of radiotherapy (PHR). Median follow-up was 7.6 years. The 5-year OS, MFS and LRFS rates were 60.4%, 68.9% and 58.4%, respectively. Multivariate analysis retained PHR and grade for predicting LRFS and PHR, size and grade as prognostic factors of MFS. Factors influencing OS were age, size, PHR, depth, grade and surgical margins. The predictive factors of incomplete response were PHR, size and T3. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest similar classical prognostic factors as compared with sarcomas of other locations. However, a separate analysis of STS-TW revealed a significant poor prognosis subgroup of patients with PHR.
Subject(s)
Sarcoma/mortality , Sarcoma/pathology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Databases as Topic , Female , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Survival Analysis , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Prognostic factors for pure mucinous carcinomas of the breast are controversial; data on DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction (SPF) are lacking. We examined the relation of these parameters with histological features and patient survival. METHODS: DNA flow cytometry was performed on 69 fresh or frozen pure mucinous carcinomas samples. Results were interpreted according to patient survival. RESULTS: Tumor size exceeded 2 cm in 40.5% of cases. Lymph nodes were involved in 11.5% of cases and never when tumor size was less than 2 cm. Aneuploidy was only observed in one-quarter of the tumors. Very few tumors had a high-SPF or a high histological grade (7.2% of all cases). These two parameters were of prognostic value respectively for disease-free (P=0.035) and overall survival (0.050). Patients with tumors>2 cm had shorter overall survival than patients with tumors≤2 cm (P=0.028). Disease-free and overall survivals were not influenced by nodal status and hormone receptors (HRs) status. Patients with aneuploid tumors had shorter disease-free survival than patients with diploid tumors (P=0.031). The combination of tumor size and DNA ploidy was strongly predictive of survival (P<10(-3)): six patients with large aneuploid tumors had a poor outcome (1-year overall survival 16.7%). CONCLUSION: We identified a subset of patients with a poor prognosis, namely those with large aneuploid tumors. This study confirms the good prognosis of pure mucinous carcinomas, particularly when tumor is less than 2 cm (corresponding to cases without lymph nodes involvement), thus challenging the need for axillary nodal examination.
Subject(s)
Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous/pathology , Breast Neoplasms/pathology , DNA/genetics , Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous/genetics , Adenocarcinoma, Mucinous/mortality , Adult , Aged , Aneuploidy , Breast Neoplasms/genetics , Breast Neoplasms/mortality , DNA/metabolism , Disease-Free Survival , Female , Flow Cytometry , Humans , Kaplan-Meier Estimate , Middle Aged , Prognosis , Tumor BurdenABSTRACT
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect on tumour growth of gemcitabine delivered by aerosol in an orthotopic model of lung carcinoma. Large cell carcinoma (NCI-H460) cells were implanted intrabronchially in 24 male BALB/c nude mice on day (d) 0. Aerosols were delivered once a week from d1 to d29 using an endotracheal sprayer. Altogether, 16 animals received gemcitabine at 8 (n=8) and 12 mg.kg-1 (n=8), and eight received a vehicle aerosol. Animals were sacrificed on d36 for histological examination. All animals in the vehicle group developed a large infiltrating carcinoma. Comparatively, four of 13 (31%) animals treated with gemcitabine had no visible tumour and nine of 13 (69%) had a smaller carcinoma with a mean+/-sem largest tumour diameter of 2.05+/-0.7 versus 5+/-0.3 mm in the vehicle group. Gemcitabine was well tolerated at 8 mg.kg-1. At 12 mg.kg-1, three cases of fatal pulmonary oedema were observed, prompting a dose reduction to 8 mg.kg-1 in the remaining animals. A dose effect was observed, with more marked tumour growth inhibition in the animals treated at 12 mg.kg-1 on d1 and d8. In conclusion, in this study, an animal model of aerosolised chemotherapy in lung cancer was developed and demonstrated inhibition of orthotopic tumour growth by aerosol delivery of gemcitabine.
