ObjectiveTo understand the impact of preoperative nutritional status on the postoperative complications for patients with low/ultra-low rectal cancer undergoing extreme sphincter-preserving surgery following neoadjuvant therapy. MethodsThe patients with low/ultra-low rectal cancer who underwent extreme sphincter-preserving surgery following neoadjuvant therapy from January 2009 to December 2020 were retrospectively collected using the Database from Colorectal Cancer (DACCA), and then who were assigned into a nutritional risk group (the score was low than 3 by the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002) and non-nutritional risk group (the score was 3 or more by the Nutrition Risk Screening 2002). The postoperative complications and survival were analyzed for the patients with or without nutritional risk. The postoperative complications were defined as early-term (complications occurring within 30 d after surgery), middle-term (complications occurring during 30–180 d after surgery), and long-term (complications occurring at 180 d and more after surgery). The survival indicators included overall survival and disease-specific survival. ResultsA total of 680 patients who met the inclusion criteria for this study were retrieved from the DACCA database. Among them, there were 500 (73.5%) patients without nutritional risk and 180 (26.5%) patients with nutritional risk. The postoperative follow-up time was 0–152 months (with average 48.9 months). Five hundreds and forty-three survived, including 471 (86.7%) patients with free-tumors survival and 72 (13.3%) patients with tumors survival. There were 137 deaths, including 122 (89.1%) patients with cancer related deaths and 15 (10.9%) patients with non-cancer related deaths. There were 48 (7.1%) cases of early-term postoperative complications, 51 (7.5%) cases of middle-term complications, and 17 (2.5%) cases of long-term complications. There were no statistical differences in the incidence of overall complications between the patients with and without nutritional risk (χ2=3.749, P=0.053; χ2=2.205, P=0.138; χ2=310, P=0.578). The specific complications at different stages after surgery (excluding the anastomotic leakage complications in the patients with nutritional risk was higher in patients without nutritional risk, P=0.034) had no statistical differences between the two groups (P>0.05). The survival curves (overall survival and disease-specific survival) using the Kaplan-Meier method had no statistical differences between the patients with and without nutritional risk (χ2=3.316, P=0.069; χ2=3.712, P=0.054). ConclusionsFrom the analysis results of this study, for the rectal cancer patients who underwent extreme sphincter-preserving surgery following neoadjuvant therapy, the patients with preoperative nutritional risk are more prone to anastomotic leakage within 30 d after surgery. Although other postoperative complications and long-term survival outcomes have no statistical differences between patients with and without nutritional risk, preoperative nutritional management for them cannot be ignored.
Patients with locally advanced thyroid cancer often face challenges in achieving radical surgery during initial diagnosis. This has become a significant hurdle in the treatment of thyroid cancer. With the continuous development of systemic therapy for thyroid cancer, several studies have demonstrated that neoadjuvant therapy can shrink tumors in some patients, thereby increasing the chances of complete resection and improving prognosis. Targeted therapy plays a crucial role as a core component of neoadjuvant treatment. Simultaneously, the potential efficacy of immunotherapy has gained attention, showing promising prospects. We aim to summarize the research progress and existing issues regarding neoadjuvant therapy for locally advanced thyroid cancer. We look forward to more high-quality clinical studies providing robust evidence for neoadjuvant therapy in locally advanced thyroid cancer, expanding the breadth of treatment options.
Pancoast tumor, a special subtype of non-small cell lung cancer originating from the apex of the upper lobe, is characterized by its complex clinical manifestations and high treatment difficulty due to its unique anatomical location, often leading to a relatively poor prognosis. Currently, guidelines recommend neoadjuvant concurrent chemoradiotherapy followed by surgery as the standard treatment strategy, which has significantly improved overall patient survival compared to previous approaches. However, this regimen has limitations, including significant toxicity, increased surgical complexity, and a lack of individualized treatment options. In recent years, new strategies such as neoadjuvant targeted therapy and immunechemotherapy combinations have shown higher pathological response rates and manageable safety profiles in clinical studies, offering new directions for treating Pancoast tumors. This case report describes a 56-year-old female diagnosed with stage ⅢC Pancoast tumor harboring co-mutations in EGFR and ERBB2 and high PD-L1 expression. Through dynamic biopsy-guided precise targeted therapy, a neoadjuvant strategy incorporating immunotherapy and chemotherapy, and successful surgical intervention, pathological complete response was achieved. This case highlights the critical value of a multidisciplinary team approach and precision medicine in the management of Pancoast tumor.
Objective To explore the clinical value, latest research progress, and clinical controversy of total neoadjuvant therapy (TNT) in locally advanced rectal cancer (LARC). Method We searched and reviewed on the latest literatures about studies of the clinical research of TNT in LARC. Results TNT could make the tumor downstage rapidly and improve the patients’ treatment compliance. In terms of organ preservation rate, 3-year disease-free survival and pathological complete remission rate, TNT had advantages and was a especial potential treatment strategy compared with traditional methods. Conclusions TNT decreases local recurrence rate and improves the long-term survival. For LARC patients with strong desire for organ preservation, TNT is a good treatment choice and has the value of clinical promotion.
ObjectiveTo investigate the value of a predictive model for sentinel lymph node (SLN) metastasis after neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) based on the radiomic features from multi-modality magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in combination with clinicopathologic data. MethodsThe clinical data and MRI images of breast cancer patients (initially diagnosed with cN0, all underwent NAT and surgical treatment) from two hospitals (Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University and Suining Central Hospital) from January 2018 to September 2024, were retrospectively collected. The radiomic features from the multi-modality images, including T2-weighted short tau inversion recovery (T2STIR), diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE), were extracted and selected. The predictive models for SLN metastasis after NAT were constructed using four algorithms: LightGBM, XGBoost, support vector machine (SVM), and logistic regression (LR), in combination with clinicopathologic data. The models were evaluated for performance and interpretability using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves, calibration curves, decision curve analysis, and Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) analysis. ResultsA total of 236 breast cancer patients were enrolled in this study. Among them, 216 patients from the Southwest Medical University were subdivided in an 8∶2 ratio into a training set (n=173) and internal validation set (n=43), while 20 patients from the Suining Central Hospital served as the external validation set. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the lymphovascular invasion [OR (95%CI)=21.215 (4.404, 102.202), P ＜0.001] and perineural invasion [OR (95%CI)=25.867 (1.870, 357.790), P=0.002] were the risk factors, while high Ki-67 expression [OR (95%CI)=0.119 (0.035, 0.404), P＜0.001] was the protective factor of SLN metastasis after NAT. The predictive models utilizing multi-modality MRI and clinicopathologic data yielded area under the ROC curve values of the internal and external validation sets of 0.750 [95%CI=(0.395, 1.000)] / 0.625 [95%CI=(0.321, 0.926)] for LightGBM, 0.878 [95%CI=(0.707, 1.000)] / 0.778 [95%CI=(0.525, 0.986)] for XGBoost, 0.641 [95%CI=(0.488, 0.795)] / 0.681 [95%CI=(0.345, 1.000)] for SVM, and 0.667 [95%CI=(0.357, 0.945)] / 0.583 [95%CI=(0.196, 0.969)] for LR. The XGBoost demonstrated the best predictive performance. Further SHAP analysis revealed that the lymphovascular invasion, T2STAR-MRI_FIRSTORDER_Minimum, and platelet were the key features influencing the predictions of the models. ConclusionThe findings of this study suggest that XGBoost prediction model based on radiomic features derived from multi-modality MRI (T2STIR, DWI, and DCE) in combination with clinicopathologic data is able to predict SLN metastasis after NAT in patients with breast cancer.
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is the leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. Although surgery can cure some early-stage resectable patients, the postoperative recurrence rate remains as high as 30%-55%. Perioperative immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI) therapy, which includes "neoadjuvant" therapy before surgery and "adjuvant" therapy after surgery, has significantly improved survival outcomes in resectable NSCLC patients. Large clinical studies, such as CheckMate 816, have demonstrated the superiority of neoadjuvant ICIs combined with chemotherapy in increasing the pathological complete response rate (pCR) and prolonging event-free survival (EFS). However, even with these advanced treatments, some patients do not achieve long-term benefits and experience early recurrence. This paper reviews the latest research progress of perioperative ICIs in NSCLC treatment, particularly the effectiveness of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy in improving pCR and extending EFS. It further explores the recurrence patterns, resistance mechanisms, and potential biomarkers in NSCLC patients after neoadjuvant immunotherapy. By integrating basic research and clinical data, we analyze the mechanisms of early recurrence following perioperative immunotherapy and discuss future research directions and therapeutic strategies, providing new insights into precision treatment and recurrence prevention for NSCLC patients.
ObjectiveTo describe the constructive process of neoadjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer part in the West China Colorectal Cancer Database (DACCA).MethodWe used the form of text description.ResultsThe specific concept of neoadjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer including neoadjuvant treatment therapies, compliance of patients with neoadjuvant therapy, neoadjuvant therapy intensity scheme, the CEA value of patients during neoadjuvant therapy, changes of symptoms, changes of primary tumor size in colorectal cancer, and TRG grading of the DACCA in the West China Hospital were defined. Then the neoadjuvant therapies were detailed for their definition, label, structure, error correction, and update.ConclusionThrough detailed description and specification of neoadjuvant therapy for colorectal cancer in DACCA in West China Hospital, it can provide a reference for the standardized treatment of colorectal cancer and also provide experiences for the peers who wish to build a colorectal cancer database.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the efficacy and safety of programmed cell death receptor 1 (PD-1) inhibitor combined with chemotherapy in the preoperative neoadjuvant treatment of stage Ⅲ non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).MethodsThe clinical data of 68 patients with stage Ⅲ NSCLC who underwent preoperative neoadjuvant treatment in our hospital from June 2019 to October 2020 were analyzed and divided into two groups according to a random number table. There were 34 patients in the control group including 19 males and 15 females with an average age of 59.41±4.77 years. In the observation group, there were 34 patients including 21 males and 13 females with an average age of 61.15±6.24 years. The patients in the control group were treated with albumin-bound paclitaxel and cisplatin for injection, and the patients in the observation group were treated with carrelizumab on the basis of the control group, and both groups received 2 cycles of preoperative neoadjuvant therapy. We compared the clinical efficacy of imaging, T lymphocyte subsets, drug side effects, surgical resection rate, major pathological remission (MPR), complete pathological remission (pCR) and postoperative complications of the two groups of patients, and analyzed the influencing factors for MPR.ResultsThe objective response rate (ORR) of imaging in the observation group (70.6%) was higher than that in the control group (38.2%, P<0.05). The positive rate of CD3+ cells, the positive rate of CD4+ cells, the positive rate of CD8+ cells and the ratio of CD4+/CD8+ cells in the observation group after treatment were higher than those in the control group (P<0.05). The drug toxicity of the observation group was higher than that of the control group in the reactive cutaneouscapillary endothelial proliferation (RCCEP)/rash, abnormal thyroid function, and abnormal myocardial enzymes (P<0.05). The MPR (66.7%) and pCR (51.9%) of the surgical observation group were higher than those of the surgical control group (MPR: 19.2%, pCR: 7.7%, P<0.05). There was no statistical difference in surgical resection rate and postoperative complications between the two groups (P>0.05). Univariate analysis showed that ECOG score, pathological type, neoadjuvant treatment plan and surgical resection were related to MPR (P<0.05). The results of binary logistic regression analysis showed that Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) score and neoadjuvant treatment plan were independent risk factors for MPR (P<0.05).ConclusionThe clinical efficacy of PD-1 inhibitor combined with chemotherapy in the preoperative neoadjuvant treatment of stage Ⅲ NSCLC patients is definite, and it can significantly improve the patients' MPR, pCR and cellular immune function, but the side effects caused by immunotherapy drugs need to be concerned.
ObjectiveTo investigate the influencing factors of total pathological complete response (tpCR) in newly treated human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2)-positive breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant targeted chemotherapy, so as to provide more reference for the formulation of surgical plan and prognosis assessment. MethodsNinety-five newly treated HER2-positive breast cancer patients after neoadjuvant targeted chemotherapy were retrospectively chosen in the period from January 2021 to January 2023 in our hospital and all patients were divided into tpCR group (51 cases) and non-tpCR group (44 cases) according to whether tpCR was achieved after neoadjuvant targeted chemotherapy or not. Univariate and multivariate methods were used to evaluate the independent influencing factors of tpCR after neoadjuvant targeted chemotherapy in newly treated HER2-positive breast cancer patients. The prediction model based on the above independent influencing factors was constructed and the potential predictive efficacy of this model for tpCR after neoadjuvant targeted chemotherapy was evaluated. ResultsAmong 95 patients, 51 patients achieved tpCR after neoadjuvant targeted chemotherapy and 44 patients did not achieve tpCR. The results of the multivariate logistic regression model analysis showed that the patients with HER2 3+(OR=6.102, P=0.014), HER2+/hormone receptor– (HER2+/hormone receptor+ OR=0.129, P=0.006), and trastuzumab+pantomizumab treatment (OR=6.582, P=0.014) had higher tpCR rate, estrogen receptor 3+ (OR=0.122, P=0.0.033), progesterone receptor 3+ (OR=0.179, P=0.020), Ki-67 index of 15%–30% (OR=0.088, P=0.030) and 31%–60% (OR=0.066, P=0.017) had lower tpCR rate. The predicted area under the curve of this model was 0.881 [95%CI (0.815, 0.947)]. ConclusionsThe achievement of tpCR after new adjuvant treatment in newly diagnosed HER2 positive breast cancer patients is related to the expression level of HER2 in immunohistochemistry, molecular typing and new adjuvant targeted treatment scheme. At the same time, the prediction model based on these influencing factors can predict the effect of tpCR after new adjuvant treatment in patients to a certain extent.
Objective To investigate the feasibility, safety, and short-term efficacy of minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy (MIME) in patients with locally advanced thoracic esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (TESCC) after neoadjuvant immunotherapy. Methods The clinical data of the patients with locally advanced TESCC in the First Affiliated Hospital of University of Science and Technology of China from July 2022 to March 2023 were restrospectively analyzed. They were divided into a neoadjuvant immunotherapy (NI) group and a non-neoadjuvant immunotherapy (NNI) group according to different preoperative neoadjuvant therapy. The perioperative clinical data and 3-month follow-up data were compared between the two groups. Results A total of 47 patients were collected, including 31 males and 16 females with a mean age of (67.57±7.64) years. There were 29 patients in the NI group and 18 patients in the NNI group. There were no statistical differences in baseline data, perioperative complications, short-term complications, surgical time, intraoperative bleeding, postoperative adjuvant therapy, metastasis/recurrence within 3 months, R0 resection rate, postoperative pathological staging decline, or College of American Pathologists (CAP) tumor regression grade between the two groups (P＞0.05). Conclusion Neoadjuvant immunotherapy combined with minimally invasive McKeown esophagectomy can be safely and effectively performed for patients with locally advanced TESCC without increasing operation time, intraoperative blood loss and perioperative complications.
