ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Enhanced recovery after surgery advocates that consuming carbohydrates two hours before anesthesia is beneficial to the patient's recovery. Patients with diabetes are prone to delayed gastric emptying. Different guidelines for preoperative carbohydrate consumption in patients with diabetes remain controversial due to concerns about the risk of regurgitation, aspiration and hyperglycemia. Ultrasonic gastric volume (GV) assessment and blood glucose monitoring can comprehensively evaluate the safety and feasibility of preoperative carbohydrate intake in type 2 diabetes (T2D) patients. AIM: To evaluate the impact of preoperative carbohydrate loading on GV before anesthesia induction in T2D patients. METHODS: Patients with T2D receiving surgery under general anesthesia from December 2019 to December 2020 were included. A total of 78 patients were randomly allocated to 4 groups receiving 0, 100, 200, or 300 mL of carbohydrate loading 2 h before anesthesia induction. Gastric volume per unit weight (GV/W), Perlas grade, changes in blood glucose level, and risk of reflux and aspiration were evaluated before anesthesia induction. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in GV/W among the groups before anesthesia induction (P > 0.05). The number of patients with Perlas grade II and GV/W > 1.5 mL/kg did not differ among the groups (P > 0.05). Blood glucose level increased by > 2 mmol/L in patients receiving 300 mL carbohydrate drink, which was significantly higher than that in groups 1 and 2 (P < 0.05). CONCLUSION: Preoperative carbohydrate loading < 300 mL 2 h before induction of anesthesia in patients with T2D did not affect GV or increase the risk of reflux and aspiration. Blood glucose levels did not change significantly with preoperative carbohydrate loading of < 200 mL. However, 300 mL carbohydrate loading may increase blood glucose levels in patients with T2D before induction of anesthesia.
ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Cisplatin combined with 5-fluorouracil (5-Fu) is widely used in the management of advanced nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC). However, catheters and pumps are necessary for the continuous infusion of 5-Fu, which add to the cost, immobility and inconvenience of treatment. Capecitabine, an oral fluoropyrimidine, is a potentially more active and more convenient substitute to 5-Fu. A phase II study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of a capecitabine and cisplatin combination in metastatic NPC. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the multicenter, open-label, single-arm phase II study, patients with metastatic NPC who previously received no palliative chemotherapy were enrolled. Patients received oral capecitabine (1,000 mg/m(2) twice daily from day 1 to 14) and intravenous cisplatin (80 mg/m(2), day 1) every 3 weeks. RESULTS: A total of 48 patients were enrolled and included in the intention-to-treat analysis of efficacy and adverse events. There were 3 patients (6.3%) with complete response and 27 patients (56.3%) with partial response, giving an overall response rate of 62.5% (95% CI, 49.1-76.4%). The median duration of response in the 30 responding patients was 7.5 months (range 1.4-22.4 months). With a median follow-up period of 13.3 months (range 2.3-50 months), the median time to progression and median overall survival for all patients were 7.7 months (95% CI, 6.3-9.2 months) and 13.3 months (95% CI, 9.4-17.2 months), respectively. Toxicities were moderate and manageable. Grade 3/4 toxicities included neutropenia (14.6%), anemia (4.2%) and thrombocytopenia (2.1%), nausea (8.3%), vomiting (10.4%), diarrhea (8.3%), stomatitis (6.3%) and hand-foot syndrome (HFS) (4.2%). CONCLUSIONS: The combination of capecitabine and cisplatin is active and well tolerated as a first-line therapy for patients with metastatic NPC.
