Medicine
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The aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and safety of the extended use of platinum-based doublet chemotherapy (PT-DC) plus endostatin in patients with advanced nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC). We performed a retrospective analysis of 200 newly diagnosed advanced NSCLC patients who had received at least 1 cycle of endostatin plus PT-DC between September 2009 and November 2014. Of these patients, 155 received 4 or more cycles of therapy (the extended therapy group), while 45 received less than 4 cycles of therapy (the control group). ⋯ There were statistically significant differences in median PFS and OS between these 2 arms. Hematologic and gastrointestinal toxicities occurred more frequently in the extended therapy group, but no statistically significant difference was detected in grade 3 to 4 toxicities overall between these 2 groups. In conclusion, extended treatment using endostatin combined with PT-DC can provide additional survival benefits and satisfactory toxicity profiles in previously untreated patients with NSCLC, which merits further evaluation in a larger prospective study.
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Esophageal cancer is the sixth leading cause of cancer mortality. More than 90% of patients with esophageal cancer in Taiwan have squamous cell carcinoma. Survival of such patients is related to socioeconomic status (SES). ⋯ Patients living in disadvantaged areas with high individual SES were more likely to receive surgery than those with low SES (odds ratio 1.45, 95% confidence interval 1.11-1.89). Esophageal cancer patients with low individual SES have the worst 5-year survival, even with a universal healthcare system. Public health, education, and social welfare programs should address the inequality of esophageal cancer survival.
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Hypertension is commonly associated with autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD), often discovered before the onset of renal failure, albeit the pathogenetic mechanisms are not well elucidated. Hyperaldosteronism in ADPKD may contribute to the development of insulin resistance and endothelial dysfunction, and progression of cardiorenal disease. The aim of study was to evaluate the prevalence of primary aldosteronism (PA) in ADPKD patients and identify some surrogate biomarkers of cardiovascular risk. ⋯ Respect to group A, group B showed a significant higher mean value of LVMI, HOMA-IR and Hcy (P = 0.001, P = 0.004, P = 0.018; respectively), and a lower value of FMD and 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25-OH-VitD) (P = 0.037, P = 0.019; respectively) with a higher prevalence of non-dipper pattern at Ambulatory Blood Pressure Monitoring (ABPM) (65% vs 40%, P < 0.05) at an early stage of the disease. In this study, we showed a high prevalence of PA in ADPKD patients, associated to higher LVMI, HOMA-IR, Hcy, lower FMD, and 25-OH-VitD, considered as surrogate markers of atherosclerosis, compared to ADPKD patients with normal PAC values. Our results indicate a higher overall cardiovascular risk in ADPKD patients with inappropriate aldosterone secretion, and a screening for PA in all patients with ADPKD is recommended.
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Patients on antiplatelet therapy following percutaneous coronary intervention can become coagulopathic due to infection. Performing regional anesthesia for bilateral surgery in such cases is challenging. We report a case of successful combined inguinal femoral and subgluteal sciatic nerve blocks (CFSNBs) for simultaneous bilateral below-knee amputations in a coagulopathic patient on antiplatelet therapy. ⋯ The timely placement of bilateral CFSNBs immediately before the corresponding limb surgery, which lasted for less than 2 hours, provided successful surgical anesthesia in both lower limbs without LAST or pain due to regression of the CFSNBs that were performed during the first surgery.
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Digestive tract sarcoidosis (DTS) is rare and case-series are lacking. In this retrospective case-control study, we aimed to compare the characteristics, outcome, and treatment of patients with DTS, nondigestive tract sarcoidosis (NDTS), and Crohn disease. We included cases of confirmed sarcoidosis, symptomatic digestive tract involvement, and noncaseating granuloma in any digestive tract. ⋯ On the last follow-up, patients with DTS showed no need for surgery (versus 31% for patients with Crohn disease; P = 0.0013), and clinical digestive remission was frequent (76% vs. 35% for patients with Crohn disease; P = 0.0002). The differential diagnosis with Crohn disease could be an issue with DTS. Nevertheless, the 2 diseases often have different clinical presentation and outcome.