Survival data include the occurrence and duration of an event. As most survival data are distributed irregularly, the Kaplan-Meier method is often used in survival analysis; however, studies usually only report the Kaplan-Meier curve and median survival time and do not provide the original survival data, which creates issues for subsequent secondary research. This study introduced a systematic method whereby image processing software and R software were used to process and extract survival data from published Kaplan-Meier curves. It also introduced the specific steps required to obtain survival data using an example to show the accuracy and feasibility of the extraction method and provided references for the effective secondary use of survival data.
ObjectiveTo investigate the prognostic factors for inflammatory breast cancer based on the data from West China Hospital with a relatively large sample.
MethodsClinical data of 41 patients with histopathologically confirmed inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) who received treatment at West China Hospital Oncology Center of Sichuan University between January 2009 and December 2014 were collected and analyzed. Log-rank test and Cox regression model were used for statistical analysis.
ResultsIn the study, negative estrogen receptor, negative progestrone receptor and positive human epidermal growth factor receptor-2 were identified in 58.5%, 61.0% and 34.2% of the inflammatory breast cancer tissues, respectively. Progress free survival (PFS) were between 2 and 60 months, with a median of 35 months. Univariate analysis showed that Tumor Node Metastasis (TNM) stage (P=0.016) and therapeutic effect (P=0.002) influenced the survival. Multivariate analysis showed that TNM stage (P=0.006), therapeutic effect (P=0.002), and anthracycline-taxane based chemotherapy (P=0.041) were the significant prognostic factors.
ConclusionTNM stage is the major prognostic factor for IBC. Preoperative chemotherapy with paclitaxel-epirubicin combination can improve the PFS of IBC. Comprehensive treatment mode with operation is recommended for the treatment of IBC.
ObjectiveTo investigate the predictive value of thyroid transcription factor-1 (TTF-1) in the treatment of advanced lung adenocarcinoma with different chemotherapy regimens.MethodsA total of 126 patients with advanced lung cancer were divided into three groups according to the chemotherapy regimen, namely a pemetrexed+nedaplatin group (PEM+NDP group), a pemetrexed+cisplatin/carboplatin group (PEM+DDP/CBP group) and a third-generation (3G) chemotherapy+cisplatin/carboplatin group (3G agent+DDP/CBP group). The predictive value of TTF-1 in the above three treatment regimens was analyzed. The patients were followed up by telephone or outpatient visit until April 2017.ResultsThere were no significant differences in disease control rate or objective response rate between the three different chemotherapy regimens (all P>0.05). The survival rate of PEM+NDP group was significantly higher than that of PEM+DDP/CBP group and 3G agent+DDP/CBP group (9.68%vs. 5.56% and 6.80%, both P<0.05). ECOG score and brain metastasis were independent risk factors for the prognosis of chemotherapy regimens. TTF-1 was an independent risk factor for PEM+NDP therapy.ConclusionTTF-1 is an independent risk factor for PEM+NDP chemotherapy, but not for 3G agent + DDP/CBP or PEM+DDP/CBP regimens.
Objective To investigate the clinical characteristics, short-term therapy outcome and survival in patients of lung cancer with different smoking status. Methods 3751 cases were enrolled and the differences in age, sex, pathological type, stage, treatment modality, efficiency and survival were compared according patients′smoking status. Results 1206 ( 32. 2% ) patients were never smokers and 2545 ( 67. 8% ) were smokers. 80. 3% male patients and 10. 5% female patients were smokers. Among never smoking lung cancer patients, proportion of female gender, adenocarcinoma, second primary neoplasm,advanced stages and non-operative treatment were high. In the smokers, much more COPD and pulmonary tuberculosis, squamous cancer and operative treatmentwere found. No statistical differences were detected in overall outcome and survival. Conclusions The clinical characters and treatmentmodalities of patients with lung cancer of different smoking status were significant different, but had the same survival. Patients’smoking status should be accountted into the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer.
Objective
To analyze the clinical features and survival of lung cancer with pleural effusions.
Methods
A total of 982 consecutive patients with a newly diagnosed lung cancer from January 2008 to December 2014 were retrospectively reviewed. To analyze the clinical features and survival differences, the total patients were divided into the following two groups: with (n=204) or without (n=778) pleural effusions.
Results
Lung cancer comprised 682 (69.5%) males and 300 (30.5%) females, with an average age of 59.74 years (19–93 years). There were 487(49.6%) squamous carcinoma, 254 (25.9%) adenocarcinoma and 166 (16.9%) small cell lung cancer; 113 (11.5%) lung cancer at early stage (Ⅰ–Ⅱ), 247 (25.2%) cases at stage Ⅲ and 567 (57.7%) at stage Ⅳ. The median survival time of all patients was 12 months. Patients with pleural effusions had a worse prognosis compared to patients without (median survival time: 11 vs.12 months, P=0.003), the median survival time could be reduced by 1 month in males (P=0.004), 3 months in elder patients over 60 years (P<0.001), 4 to 8 months in carcinoma and small cell lung cancer (P≤0.001), and 2 to 3 months in advanced lung cancer (stage Ⅲ and Ⅳ) (P<0.05). Any or combined treatment of surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and targeted therapy was associated with an improved overall survival of about 2 months (P=0.009), and targeted therapy could even improve the median survival time by 1 to 8 months (P=0.002).
Conclusions
About 20.8% of the patients developed pleural effusion at the same time during the course of lung cancer. Pleural effusion is a poor prognostic factor of lung cancer.
Objective To investigate surgical outcomes and prognostic factors for patients with coronary heart disease and low left ventricular ejection fraction （LVEF≤40%） undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting （OPCAB）. Methods We retrospectively analyzed clinical records of 63 discharged patients with coronary heart disease and low LVEF who underwent OPCAB in Peking University People’s Hospital from 2001 to 2004 year. There were 48 males and 15 females with mean age of 65.1±9.2 years and mean LVEF of 33.8%±5.0%. Regular follow-up evaluation was completed. We investigated risk factors for long-term survival of the patients by Kapalan-Meier survival curve, log-rank test and Cox regression model.?Results?Follow-up time was 3-107 （71.3±24.4） months, and six patients were lost during the follow-up. Nineteen patients （30.2%） died during follow-up including 10 patients （15.9%） who had cardiac-related death. The survival rate at 1, 3, 5 and 8 year was 96.7% （61）, 94.9% （60）, 85.9% （55）, 77.2% （53） respectively. Univariate analysis shows LVEF≤30% and acute myocardial infarction within 30 days are risk factors for long-term survival（P＜0.05）. Cox regression analysis showed that LVEF≤30%（RR=4.662, P＜0.05）and acute myocardial infarction within 30 days（RR=5.544, P＜0.05）were two independent risk factors for cardiac-related death after discharge. Conclusion Patients with coronary heart disease and low LVEF can have satisfactory surgical outcomes after OPCAB. LVEF≤30% and acute myocardial infarction within 30 days are the two independent risk factors for cardiac-related death after discharge.
Objective To investigate the expression of Jumonji domain-containing protein 3 ( JMJD3) in lung cancer tissue. Methods The cancer tissue slides from 53 lung cancer patients with different TNMstages were immunostained with JMJD3 antibody. The relationship between the expression of JMJD3 and type of pathology, TNM stage, survival time was analyzed. Results 94. 3% lung cancer tissue expressed JMJD3 protein. The expression of JMJD3 was negatively correlated with TNMstage( r = - 0. 347,P =0. 002) . The patients with decreased JMJD3 expression had shorter survival time than the patients with high JMJD3 expression ( X2 = 17. 83, P = 0. 001) . Conclusion Decreased expression of JMJD3 may promote the lung cancer progression.
ObjectiveTo analyze the clinical characteristics and related prognostic factors of post-renal transplantation pneumonia.MethodsThe clinical data of 89 patients with post-renal transplantation pneumonia in Sichuan Academy of Medical Sciences & Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital from 1st January 2014 to 31st December 2015 were collected in the study. Kaplan-Meier method was used to calculate overall survival. Cox analysis was used to analyze the related prognostic factors.ResultsPost-renal transplantation pneumonia occurred mainly within 6 months after renal transplantation. The prominent clinical manifestations were cough (95.5%), fever (56.1%), and dyspnea (12.3%). The mortality of post-renal transplantation pneumonia was 11.2% and all death occurred within 5 months after transplantation. The overall survival rate significantly decreased in the patients with C-reactive protein (CRP) ≥40 mg/L (P<0.001), procalcitonin ≥1 ng/ml (P=0.002), brain natriuretic peptide >100 pg/ml (P<0.001), platelet ≤100×109/L (P<0.001), or those with occurrence time of pneumonia <180 days (P=0.013). Platelet ≤100×109/L could increase the risk of death by 66.6 times (RR=0.015, P=0.006), and CRP ≥ 40 mg/L could increase the risk of death by 20 times (RR=0.05, P=0.029).ConclusionsPost-renal transplantation pneumonia has prominent clinical characteristics. Platelet ≤100×109/L or CRP ≥40 mg/L can increase the risk of death and can be used as an independent prognoctic factor of post-renal transplatation pneumonia.
ObjectiveTo explore the expression of chloride intracellular channel protein 1 (CLIC1) protein in the matched colorectal normal mucosa tissue, colorectal adenoma tissue， and colorectal cancer tissue, and its relationship with tumorigenesis, tumor progression， and prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer . MethodsThe expression of CLIC1 protein was detected in 150 cases of colorectal normal mucosa tissues, 62 cases of colorectal adenoma tissues, and 187 cases of colorectal cancer tissues by using immunohistochemistry tissue microarray, and the relationships between the expression of CLIC1 protein and clinicopathologic features, and the survival rate of patients with colorectal cancer were analyzed. ResultsThe positive rate of CLIC1 protein expression in normal mucosa tissues (26.00%, 39/150), colorectal adenoma tissues (66.13%, 41/62), and colorectal cancer tissues (82.89%, 187/155) increased in turn and the difference was statistically significant (Plt;0.001). The expression of CLIC1 protein was related to TNM staging (P=0.007), but it was not related to gender (P=0.553), age (P=0.206), tumor diameter (P=0.185), tumor differentiation (P=0.062), and tumor location (P=0.598). The median survival time after surgery in patients with CLIC1 protein positive expression was 80 months, and it was 111 months in patients with CLIC1 protein negative expression. The survival rate of patients with CLIC1 protein positive expression was lower than that with CLIC1 protein negative expression by log-rank test (66.40% vs. 80.00%, P=0.031). ConclusionsThe expression of CLIC1 protein is related to the tumorigenesis and progression of colorectal cancer as well as the survival of patients with colorectal cancer. CLIC1 is a potential tumor biomarker.
ObjectiveTo investigate the application status of survival analysis in studies published in Chinese oncology journals, and assess their reporting quality and summarize the existing problems, so as to promote the application of survival analysis and reporting quality.
MethodsStudies that used survival analysis were collected from 1 492 studies published in Chinese Journal of Oncology, Chinese Journal of Clinical Oncology, Chinese Journal of Radiation Oncology and Chinese Journal of Cancer Prevention and Treatment in 2013. The application status of survival analysis of included studies was analysed and their reporting quality was evaluated.
ResultsA total of 242 survival analysis studies were included. Among them, the utilization rates of Kaplan-Meier method, life table method, log-rank test, Breslow test and Cox proportional hazards model were 91.74%, 3.72%, 78.51%, 0.41% and 46.28%, respectively. 112 studies did multivariate analysis through Cox proportional hazards model. A total of 396 end points and 10 different types of survival time were reported. Overall survival (OS) was reported in 233 studies (92.15%). Survival terms were defined to 158 end points (39.90%) of 103 studies (42.56%). The follow-up rates were mentioned in 155 studies (64.05%), of which 4 studies were under 80% and the lowest was 75.25%, 55 studies were 100%. The main problems of survival analysis studies published in Chinese journals were as follows:None of the studies which used Cox proportional hazards model reported the proportional hazards assumption. None of the studies used the method of parametric survival analysis. 130 studies (53.72%) did not use the method of multiple factor analysis. 139 studies (57.44%) did not define the survival terms. Only 11 of 100 studies which reported loss to follow-up had stated how to treat it in the analysis. None of the studies reported the methods of calculating sample size. None of the studies reported the censoring proportion.
ConclusionThe methods of survival analysis are used in a low rate in studies published in Chinese oncology journals, and the overall reporting quality of survival analyses is poor. So the reporting guideline of survival analysis should be developed and the authors should be encouraged to cooperate with professional statisticians, in order to improve the design, analysis and reporting quality of survival analysis studies.
