Ultrasound features of extranodal extension in the metastatic cervical lymph nodes of papillary thyroid cancer:a case-control study

Objective：Extranodal extension in cervical lymph nodes is an important risk factor for the progression and prognosis of papillary thyroid cancer.The purpose of this study was to identify the common and characteristic preoperative ultrasonography features that are associated with the pathologic extranodal extension of metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma.Methods：We retrospectively assessed and compared clinicopathologic and ultrasound features between 60 papillary thyroid cancer patients with extranodal extension and 120 control patients with papillary thyroid cancer without extranodal extension.Results：With respect to the pathological N stage and clinicopathologic features,N1b stage papillary thyroid carcinomas were more frequently found in patients who were extranodal extension-positive,in comparison with those who were extranodal extension-negative（78.3%vs.63.3%,P=0.043）.Extranodal extension was detected most frequently in level VI cervical lymph nodes（48.7%）.In our univariate analysis of patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma,cervical lymph nodes with extranodal extension showed higher incidences of node matting,microcalcification,cystic area,aspect ratio＆lt;2,and larger diameter than those without extranodal extension（all P〈0.05）.Our multivariate analysis demonstrated that node matting and cystic area were independent risk factors for the presence of extranodal extension[odds ratio（OR）：4.751,95%confidence interval（CI）：1.212~18.626,P=0.025;OR：2.707,95%CI：1.127~6.502,P=0.026].Conclusions：Common ultrasound features may indicate the presence of extranodal extension in patients with metastatic cervical lymph nodes of papillary thyroid carcinoma.

Radiological assessment of extranodal extension in patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma

The prognosis of patients with head and neck squamous cell cancer(HNSCC)decreases with the presence of extranodal extension(ENE)in lymph node metastases.Therefore,ENE was introduced in the 8th Edition TNM Classification(TNM8)for Head and Neck Cancer as a staging variable in all HPV-negative HNSCC.Patients with ENE may benefit from adjuvant or even primary chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.There is a clear discrepancy between the definition of clinical ENE and pathological ENE.In TNM8,the radiological evaluation of ENE only plays a supportive role.Since not all patients with advanced disease will undergo a neck dissection,histologic proof of ENE will not always be available.In these cases,it would be of great help to be able to accurately determine ENE with radiological imaging.In this review,an update is given of the ability of radiological imaging to identify and grade ENE.

Prognostic impact of tumor deposits on overall survival in colorectal cancer:Based on Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database

BACKGROUND In colorectal cancer, tumor deposits(TDs) are considered to be a prognostic factor in the current staging system, and are only considered in the absence of lymph node metastases(LNMs). However, this definition and the subsequent prognostic value based on it is controversial, with various hypotheses. TDs may play an independent role when it comes to survival and addition of TDs to LNM count may predict the prognosis of patients more accurately.AIM To assess the prognostic impact of TDs and evaluate the effect of their addition to the LNM count.METHODS The patients are derived from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results database. A prognostic analysis regarding impact of TDs on overall survival(OS) was performed using Cox regression model, and other covariates associating with OS were adjusted. The effect of addition of TDs to LNM count on N restaging was also evaluated. The subgroup analysis was performed to explore the different profile of risk factors between patients with and without TDs.RESULTS Overall, 103755 patients were enrolled with 14131(13.6%) TD-positive and 89624(86.4%) TD-negative tumors. TD-positive patients had worse prognosis compared with TD-negative patients, with 3-year OS rates of 47.3%(95%CI, 46.5%-48.1%) and 77.5%(95%CI, 77.2%-77.8%, P < 0.0001), respectively. On multivariable analysis, TDs were associated poorer OS(hazard ratio, 1.35;95%CI, 1.31-1.38;P < 0.0001). Among TD-positive patients, the number of TDs had a linear negative effect on disease-free survival and OS. After reclassifying patients by adding TDs to the LNM count, 885 of 19 965(4.4%) N1 patients were restaged as p N2, with worse outcomes than patients restaged as p N1(3-year OS rate: 78.5%, 95%CI, 77.9%-79.1% vs 63.2%, 95%CI, 60.1%-66.5%, respectively;P < 0.0001).CONCLUSION TDs are an independent prognostic factor for OS in colorectal cancer. The addition of TDs to LNM count improved the prognostic accuracy of tumor, node and metastasis staging.