Sins of omission: A meta-research study evaluating the omission of operability in published retrospective comparisons of surgery with stereotactic body radiotherapy in patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer.

INTRODUCTION: Patients receiving stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for early-stage non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are typically inoperable, in concordance with guidelines that advocate surgical resection as preferred treatment for operable patients. This differential treatment allocation complicates retrospective comparisons of surgery with SBRT by introducing the potential for confounding by operability. METHODS: PubMed was queried for manuscripts reporting primary data from retrospective comparisons of overall survival (OS) between patients undergoing surgery versus SBRT for early-stage NSCLC. Each manuscript was categorized for two outcomes: (1) whether treatment allocation was based on a determination of patient operability, and (2) whether a direct OS comparison between operable SBRT patients and surgically treated patients was included. Associations with variables of interest were measured with statistical significance prespecified at p < 0.10. RESULTS: From 3,072 manuscripts identified in our query, sixty-one analyses met screening criteria. Twenty-one (34 %) reported operability status influencing treatment allocation. These were more likely to be published in journals with a surgical focus (52 vs 20 %) and impact factor < 5 (81 vs 58 %), and to contain cohorts from institutional datasets (81 vs 55 %), and to have a radiation oncologist as first (43 vs 25 %) or senior (43 vs 28 %) author. Seven (11 %) manuscripts featured a direct OS comparison between SBRT and surgery. CONCLUSION: Nearly-two-thirds of peer-reviewed retrospective studies that have compared OS between surgery and SBRT for early-stage NSCLC lack information on patient operability status, and nearly 90% lack a direct comparison between operable SBRT patients and those receiving surgery.

"What if I do nothing?" The natural history of operable cancer of the alimentary tract.

INTRODUCTION: "Natural history", or anticipated survival without treatment, is critical for patients weighing risks and benefits of cancer surgery. Current estimates concerning the natural history of cancer includes patients whose poor health precludes treatment; a cohort whose fate is likely distinctly worse than those eligible for surgery ("operable"). The study objective was to evaluate survival among patients recommended for cancer surgery but went untreated, to determine the natural history of "operable" alimentary tract cancer. METHODS: The NCDB was queried for untreated patients with clinical stage I-III esophageal, gastric, colon, and rectal cancer diagnosed between 2003 and 2009. Untreated patients who were recommended for surgery were considered "operable," while patients coded as surgically ineligible for health reasons were "inoperable." RESULTS: 5-year survival of untreated, "operable" alimentary tract cancers varied by clinical stage: esophageal cI = 10.0%, cII = 9.8%, cIII = 4.6%; gastric cI = 9.2%, cII = 5.8%, cIII = 4.3%; colon cI = 18.4%, cII = 5.0%, cIII = 10.4; and rectal cI = 17.1%, cII = 14.0%, cIII = 19.9%. At every timepoint, stage-specific survival of "operable" patients was superior to inoperable patients (p < 0.05). Additionally, median survival among "operable" patients at least doubled "inoperable" patients for each tumor. CONCLUSION: Natural history of patients with "operable" alimentary tract cancer is superior to that of "inoperable" patients. Preoperative counseling should be refined to reflect this distinction.

Increased carotid artery intima-media thickness following venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in the neonatal period.

OBJECTIVE: To compare left carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and biochemical markers for atherogenesis in neonatal venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) survivors with normal controls during childhood. METHODS: Venoarterial ECMO survivors and healthy patients between 12 and 18 years of age were enrolled in a matched control prospective study. ECMO survivors were matched to controls based on chronological age and percentage of body mass index (BMI). Measured CIMT of the posterior left carotid artery and CIMT values corrected for carotid artery size were used for data analysis. RESULTS: Thirty-one neonatal venoarterial ECMO survivors were matched to 31 healthy controls. No significant differences were found between ECMO survivors and controls for age, weight, percentage of BMI, total fat composition, lipid profiles, ultrasensitive C-reactive protein or homocysteine levels. Significant differences between ECMO and controls patients were found in systolic, diastolic and mean left CIMT. CONCLUSION: Compared with controls, the thickness of the left carotid intima media is significantly increased at the age of 12 to 18 years in neonatal venoarterial ECMO survivors. The clinical significance of this increased CIMT is unknown. ECMO centers may want to incorporate assessment of CIMT in their follow-up protocols.