Prognostic value of temporal muscle thickness, a novel radiographic marker of sarcopenia, in patients with brain tumor: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Sarcopenia has been identified as a prognostic factor among certain types of cancer. However, it is unclear whether there is prognostic value of temporalis muscle thickness (TMT), a potential surrogate for sarcopenia, in adults patients with brain tumors. Therefore, we searched the Medline, Embase, and PubMed to systematically review and meta-analyze the relationship between TMT and overall survival, progression-free survival, and complications in patients with brain tumors and the hazard ratio (HR) or odds ratios (OR), and 95% confidence interval (CI) were evaluated. The quality in prognostic studies (QUIPS) instrument was employed to evaluate study quality. Nineteen studies involving 4570 patients with brain tumors were included for qualitative and quantitative analysis. Meta-analysis revealed thinner TMT was associated with poor overall survival (HR, 1.72; 95% CI, 1.45-2.04; P < 0.01) in patients with brain tumors. Sub-analyses showed that the association existed for both primary brain tumors (HR, 2.02; 95% CI, 1.55-2.63) and brain metastases (HR, 1.39; 95% CI, 1.30-1.49). Moreover, thinner TMT also was the independent predictor of progression-free survival in patients with primary brain tumors (HR, 2.88; 95% CI, 1.85-4.46; P < 0.01). Therefore, to improve clinical decision making it is important to integrate TMT assessment into routine clinical settings in patients with brain tumors.

Diagnostic and prognostic roles of serum vitronectin in hepatitis B-related hepatocellular carcinoma.

BACKGROUND: Vitronectin (VN) might be involved in the progression of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). OBJECTIVE: This study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic value of serum vitronectin among HCC patients. METHODS: A total of 105 patients with HCC, 91 with liver cirrhosis, 102 with chronic hepatitis, and 100 healthy subjects were recruited. Serum VN and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) levels were measured. RESULTS: Serum VN levels were significantly higher in HCC patients than in the other groups. Based on area under receiver operating characteristic curve, serum VN had similar diagnostic value, compared with serum AFP, in distinguishing HCC from the groups, and also improved the diagnostic value of AFP alone. Serum VN levels were associated with the degree of histological differentiation, multiple foci, vascular tumor thrombosis and tumor node metastasis stage. Serum VN was an independent predictor for early recurrence and disease-free survival. Moreover, serum VN possessed similar prognostic predictive performance as compared to serum AFP and also significantly enhanced the prognostic value of AFP alone. CONCLUSIONS: Elevated serum VN levels represented high diagnostic value and had close relation to clinicopathological factors and early recurrence, suggesting that serum VN might be a useful diagnostic and prognostic marker for HCC.